Division of Research & Economic Development
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Fiscal Year 2026 Annual Report
MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR Wayne Swann
I am pleased to report that FY 2026 was another successful year for the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT). We were able to meet or exceed our metric goals relating to innovation, intellectual property and licensing. The Office also continued to serve as a strategic partner with other administrative units towards helping Morgan attain the Carnegie R1 research designation. In FY 2026, the number of Intellectual Property Disclosures (IPD) saw a dramatic increase to 46, 39% higher than Morgan’s all-time high set in 2025 (33). Morgan is now generating a new innovation every 8 days. While New U.S. Patent Applications (35) remained steady at about three per month, Tech Transfer Agreements (13) grew 44%, surpassing one/month, and Start-up Companies (4) increased 33% - creating one new startup per quarter, both setting new all-time highs. Finally, Morgan was awarded its 54th U.S. Patent in FY 2026, while we continued our reign as the #1 HBCU in issued U.S. Patents per calendar year - for the third year in a row. OTT’s proactive in-reach programs, led by our Innovation Works (I-Works) Initiative, has continued to make a difference throughout the university, with 14 Awards to faculty/staff across 10 departments and six Schools, Colleges, and Divisions. In FY 2026, OTT published the sixth issue of its Innovation Works Newsletter and recognized the 2025 Innovation of the Year awardees, continuing its tradition of recognizing and rewarding innovation at Morgan. This year’s event also recognized Innovation Leaders, those who set the standard among their peers and for advancing innovation here at Morgan. The office also continued our work in positioning Morgan innovations for grant funding and commercialization through the state’s MII and MIPS programs. As the University continues its work towards attaining R1 classification by 2030, the OTT Team has led a number of initiatives in achieving this goal. In addition to developing Carnegie projection models for 2027 and 2030, and supporting increasing in capturing R&D expenditures, we continued our partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Science Magazine on an awareness campaign highlighting the diversity of the Morgan experience and shaping the narrative of Morgan as a well-respected, well-recognized and well-rounded institution. To support long-term growth in R1 metrics we also continued tracking Morgan’s Science and Technology Capabilities and Skills (SATCAS) among faculty and research staff and students with the growth of our SATCAS database and have categorized all of Morgan’s innovations. The progress made by the University in the technology transfer arena would not be possible without the strong support of Morgan’s leadership, university-wide engagement at the department level, experienced OTT staff, and of course, our many innovators. Continued progress in Morgan’s innovation ecosystem will benefit the City and State and lend gravitas to Morgan’s designation as "Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University."
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Morgan State University Annual Output Metric Data
Intellectual Property Disclosures (IPDs) by Fiscal Year 50
46
40 30
30 25
31
30
31
33
27
21
20
9
10 2
0
4
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
INNOVATION PORTFOLIO 300+ Innovations (IPDs) One New IPD every 8 days. - 39% increase above our FY25 all time high >30% Include Student Innovators >90% Minority Inventor 35 Different Department/Units MORGAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISCLOSURES BY TYPE
3%
3%
2%
2%
1%
1%
3%
8% 42%
Life Sciences 23.3%
Physical Sciences 30.6%
Information Sciences 46.2%
35%
Engineering
Liberal Arts
Sciences
Business
Research Division
Other Units
Education
Social Work
Architecture
Health
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U.S. Utility Patent Portfolio - Cumulative Totals by FY 60
54
50 40
36
30
41
22
20
13
10
0
2
1
7
20 15 20 16 20 17 20 18 20 19 20 20 20 21 20 22 20 23 20 24 20 25 20 26
0
1
4
15
License and Options Agreements by Fiscal Year
14
13
12 10 8
7
8
9
9
9
6 4
2
2
0
0
0
20 15 20 16 20 17 20 18 20 19 20 20 20 21 20 22 20 23 20 24 20 25 20 26
0
2
3
New Start-Up Companies Formed: Cumulative Totals by FY 25
23 19
20
16 15
13
10
6 5
0
10
4
0
20 15 20 16 20 17 20 18 20 19 20 20 20 21 20 22 20 23 20 24 20 25 20 26
0 0
2
8
4
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER University In-Reach Programs
Through OTT’s strategic In-Reach Programs, the office engages individuals, departments and colleges/schools to identify and document university innovations; provide informational presentations to departments/units; and assist with the development of technology transfer plans for campus units.
Innovation of the Year (IOY) Awards The Eighth Annual Innovation of the Year awards were held on March 10, 2026 in the University Student Center. The annual celebration recognized Morgan innovation that continues to lead to noteworthy accolades in intellectual property disclosures, startup companies, published patent applications and issued patents. The Office of Technology Transfer also highlighted innovators who have made substantial impact in their respective fields since the office was established. These innovators, presented the Innovation Leader awards, and recognized for setting the standard among their colleagues and taking innovation and experiential learning opportunities for their students to new heights.
2025 Award Season Recipients Innovation Leader Awardees Innovation Leader Awardees are recognized for setting the standard among their peers and for advancing innovation and experiential learning opportunities for their students — helping to shape the next generation of innovators. These honorees are leaders among their colleagues in intellectual property disclosures and issued U.S. utility patents. Each has submitted the highest number of intellectual property disclosures in their respective category, with 15 or more new innovations, and has included students on more than 50% of those innovations.
Innovation Leader in Physical Science Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani School of Engineering Transportation and Urban Infrasturcture Studies National Transportation Center, Director Safety & Mobility Advancement Regional Transportation and Economics Research (SMARTER) Center, Director
Innovation Leader in Information Science Dr. Kevin Kornegay School of Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center, Director
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2025 Award Season Recipients continued Intellectual Property Innovation Awards Information Science Awardee Zero Trust Authentication Method Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Dr. Vinton Morris Life Science Awardee Method for Detection of HGMA2 RNA Isoforms in Prostate Cancer Tissue Dr. Valerie Odero-Marah, Dr. Fahmi Khalifa, Dr. Bor-Jang Hwang, Shay-Oluwatunmise Akinniyi Physical Science Awardee - TIE Two-step Method to Establish Scalable Growth of WSE2 Films on Silicon Substrates Dr. Rohit Srivastava, Dr. Ramesh Budhani Plasmonic Applications of Semimetal, Semiconductor Interfaces Dr. MVS Chandrashekhar, Dr. Michael Spencer, Dr. Joshua Burrow, Daniel Harrison, Ahamed Raihan, Astrid Dzotcha Kengne
Community Innovator Awards Instructional Innovator of the Year Dr. Naja Mack Assistant Professor Computer Science Staff Innovator of the Year Claton Lewis Assistant Director, Career Readiness Center for Career Development Student Innovator of the Year Clyde Tandjong Computer Science
Innovation Leader Awardee Dr. Kevin Kornegay pictured with his students and Dr. May and Provost Yu
Dr. Willie May, Innovation Leader Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani and Provost Hongtao Yu
Dr. Willie May and Provost Yu pictured with, Dr. Naja Mack, the Instructional Innovator of the Year awardee
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2025 Award Season Recipients continued 2025 Patent Awardees Fluorescent Turn-on Chemosensors for Detection of Aluminum Ion and Azide U.S. Patent #12,287,326 Dr. Fasil Abebe Engineered Cyanobacteria with Enhanced UV Tolerance U.S. Patent #12,331,336 Dr. Viji Sitther, Dr. Samson Gichuki Method and Device for Fellow-Eye Corneal Topography U.S. Patent #12,364,392 Dr. Shiva Mehravaran Ensemble Intrusion Detection System for IoT Platforms U.S. Patent #12,399,994 Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Otily Toutsop Manufacturing of a Flexible Piezoelectric Fil-based Power Source U.S. Patent #12,414,469 Dr. Birol Ozturk, Dr. Peker Milas System and Method for Synchronization of Asynchronous Datasets U.S. Patent #12,499,118 Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani, Snehanshu Banerjee, Mahmoud Ayman Sayed Detection and Countermeasures for Autonomous Navigation U.S. Patent #12,438,890 Dr. Md Tanvir Arafin, Dr. Kevin Kornegay Silver Nanoparticle Surface Enabled Self-Assembly of Organic Dye Models U.S. Patent #12,455,217 Dr. Hua Deng, Dr. Hongtao Yu Image Deblurring Using a Multi-Layer LSTM Network U.S. Patent #12,475,532 Dr. Arlene Cole-Rhodes, Dr. Greig Richmond Unmanned Vehicle Safety Assurance System U.S. Patent #12,487,610 Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Dr. Denzel Hamilton
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INNOVATION WORKS Translating Innovation Into Jobs
Innovation Works, the Office of Technology Transfer’s signature initiative, consists of innovation, technology transfer, and economic development programs for university faculty, staff, students and the Morgan community. The overarching goal is translating innovation into local economic development opportunities and jobs. Throughout the year, OTT has partnered with a number of students, faculty, staff and community members to manifest projects and ideas, facilitate start-up businesses, and strengthen relationships within the Morgan community.
FY26 I-GAP STATISTICS 14 AWARDS 10 DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS 6 SCHOOLS/COLLEGES/UNITS
The awarding of I-GAP grants to MSU innovators helps to facilitate transitioning results of laboratory research to the public, to generate societal value through new and improved products and services. The grants were awarded to faculty and staff members representing a diverse group of University departments and divisions looking to advance the University and greater Baltimore community and the state.
INNOVATION WORKS (I-WORKS) INITIATIVE PROGRAMS I-GAP • The Innovation Grant Assistance Program provides early stage seed grants (e.g. pre-TEDCO MII) to MSU faculty inventors to support future grant applications. I-Works ISO • Reaches out to both new and seasoned entrepreneurs, in-search-of innovations for new technology-based businesses. The program also works to connect and match Morgan students, graduating college seniors and advanced degree candidates with new and early stage companies in search of interns and employees. I-Works Community • Engages the PEARL Aquaculture community and other regional and business communities to promote and enhance innovation. I-Start • Developing Pre-Incubator and Start-Up spaces for entrepreneurs and start-up companies, as well as students and I-Start Centers.
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OTT AS AN R1 STRATEGY PARTNER Morgan’s ascension towards R1 designation
The Office of Technology Transfer serves as a strategic partner with other University administrative units in Morgan’s ascension to a R1 research university designation, on behalf of the Division of Research and Economic Development. In alignment with President Wilson’s strategic vision of Morgan attaining R1 designation by 2030, OTT developed metric projection models that track our status against Carnegie R1 criteria. Since 2020, and parallel with Morgan’s significant increases in its Carnegie metric numbers, the OTT/R1 Team has made improvements in capturing (and properly classifying) Morgan’s metric outputs and outcomes - consistent with Doctoral Research Universities and Carnegie guidelines. In FY 2026, the R1 Team continued to work on automating the collection process for a major subcategory of Institutional R&D Expenditures (IR&DE) and the categorization of all expenditures in compliance with NSF HERD reporting requirements. As Morgan makes strides to attain R1 designation, the University must also tell the Morgan story to audiences beyond the Greater Baltimore area. OTT continued their partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Science magazine and extended the Well-3R Awareness campaign, featuring additional articles on Science print and digital entities. The ongoing campaign thematically positions Morgan as a Well-Recognized, Well-Respected, and Well-Rounded research institution, highlighting our state-funded research centers, graduate school, academic programs, economic impact and how innovation contributes to Morgan’s ascension to R1 designation and our mission of “Growing the Future, Leading the World.” In addition to the Well-3R Campaign, The Office of Technology Transfer, continued the development of the Science and Technology Capabilities and Skills (SATCAS) Database. The database categorizes the knowledge base of Morgan faculty, staff and research students, innovations and intellectual property, and will soon become a searchable cloud-based system. The database was developed to support long-term increases in capabilities and capacity, industry and government connections, recognition, reputation and long-term increases in Carnegie metrics. Phase I of this initiative identified 20 science and technology categories and 100 subcategories and development of a searchable database is in process. Science Magazine Ads and Feature Links
Morgan State Center Advances Equitable AI Morgan State Builds a Cybersecurity Culture
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OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
9-Year Imprint: Innovation, Technology Transfer, and Social & Economic Development
INNOVATION OF THE YEAR AWARDS
I-GAP
EED
FUNDING
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER INITIATIVES INNOVATION, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, R&D AND COMMERCIALIZATION FUNDING, STARTUPS, STATE PARTNERSHIPS, S&T CAPABILITIES, ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORTS, COI IN R&D EXEMPTIONS I-WORKS SEED FUNDING PROGRAMS, AND R1 STRATEGIC GOAL.
ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORT SATCAS DATABASE Morgan Historical Data Metric Comparisons Morgan Innovation & Technology Metric3
All-Time Recorded through FY 2010
FY 2011-2026
Intellectual Property Disclosures
1
309
New U.S. Patent Applications Filed1
0
240
U.S. Utility Patents Issued2
0
54
License Agreements & Options
0
62
New Start-up Companies
0
23
1
New U.S. Provisional Patent Applications and New First Filings of U.S. Utility Patent Applications At the end of FY 2026 Morgan also had 47 U.S. Utility Patents Pending 3 In accordance with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) metric classifications 2
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