Dr. Islam Ashry named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors

By David Murphy

Dr. Islam Ashry, a research scientist based in the KAUST Photonics Laboratory, has been named to the National Academy of Inventors’ 2023 class of Senior Members. Ashry will be officially inducted as a Senior Member at the 12th NAI Annual Meeting, which will take place from June 26-27, 2023, in Washington D.C., U.S.

 NAI Senior Membership comprises faculty, scientists and administrators who have successfully patented, licensed and commercialized their research. Ashry was recognized by the NAI as an academic inventor and rising leader in his field, with success in patents, licensing and commercialization. He was also acknowledged for producing “technologies that have brought or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society.” 

Ashry joined 94 of his fellow accomplished academic inventors from around the world in the NAI’s latest class of Senior Members. The 2023 class are named inventors on over 1,200 issued U.S. patents, with 96 of those being licensed.

In his new role as a Senior Member, Ashry will foster a spirit of innovation within KAUST while educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors. He is the second KAUST Senior Member of the NAI, along with Professor of Electrical Engineering Ahmed Eltawil.   

“My election as a Senior Member of the NAI has occurred at the right time to recognize my efforts and highlight the importance of translational research, which finds innovative solutions to real-world challenges and moves technology from the laboratory to the field and industry,” he stated.

Ashry's research interests include optical sensors, fiber-optic sensors, nano-photonics, plasmon sensing, fluorescence dynamics, fiber optics, optical communications and machine learning. His current research at KAUST focuses mainly on developing AI-assisted fiber-optic sensors that can be deployed in the oil and gas industry and agricultural applications. Before joining KAUST, he worked at Virginia Tech's Center for Photonics Technology, developing large-scale, high-sensitivity fiber-optic sensing networks.