The provost and two faculty members at University of South Florida have been selected
as 2025 Fellows to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) -- considered the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic
inventors. The newest NAI fellows from USF are: Prasant Mohapatra, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs who also serves as a distinguished
professor of computer science; Christian Bréchot, a professor in the Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine at the
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; and Chandrakant Patel, a professor in the
USF Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation.
“NAI Fellows are a driving force within the innovation ecosystem, and their contributions
across scientific disciplines are shaping the future of our world,” said NAI President
Paul R. Sanberg, who is also a USF Distinguished University Professor. “We are thrilled
to welcome this year’s class of 185 Fellows to the Academy. They are truly an impressive
cohort, and we look forward to honoring them at our 15th Annual Conference in Los
Angeles next year.”
Prasant Mohapatra, PhD
Provost Prasant Mohapatra, who is also a distinguished university professor in USF's
Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity & Computing, has made groundbreaking
advances in security and robustness issues in wireless networks and the Internet of
Things. He is recognized for pioneering an understanding of how to quantify the quality
of surveillance in a wireless sensor network. For more than 20 years he has worked
with Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation advancing the state of the art in wireless
mesh networks for mobile communications and partnered with the U.S. Army Research
Office to improve mobility and security in wireless networks.
Mohapatra is an elected member of the Pan American Academy of Engineering and the
Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida; a fellow of the AAAS and
IEEE; and a distinguished professor at the University of California-Davis, where he
previously served as vice chancellor for research. He has published more than 400
articles, with more than 25,000 citations. Mohapatra, who holds nine U.S. patents
and two international patents, is the founder of Airpackets, LLC and co-founder of
Mapiz, Inc. He has served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, member of the editorial board for five journals, and guest editor for nine journals
and special issues.
Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD
Christian Bréchot currently serves USF as a professor in the Morsani College of Medicine,
senior associate dean for research in global affairs, and associate vice president
for international partnerships and innovation. From 2017 to 2023, he was president
of the Global Virus Network, where he now serves as vice chair of the board and emeritus
president. For six years, he was the director general of INSERM, France’s premier
biomedical research agency, where he advanced international collaboration in science
and research policy. He cofounded three biotechnology companies—Rarecells, ALFACT
Innovation and THAC—which are developing first-in-class therapeutic approaches to
address insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases, leveraging
the neuroprotective role of the C-type lectin Reg3A/HIP.
Bréchot holds 12 U.S. patents, has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed publications,
with an h-index of 127 and over 70,000 citations, and has been recognized as one of
the world’s most cited researchers on hepatitis C. His leadership and scientific impact
have been honored with numerous prestigious awards, including Fellow of the American
Academy of Microbiology (2025), the Recognition Award from the European Association
for the Study of the Liver (2024), Officer of the French National Order of Merit (2023),
and Knight of the French Legion of Honor (2005). His work continues to shape international
policy, drive biomedical discovery, and inspire the next generation of scientists
and innovators worldwide.
Chandrakant Patel, MS
Chandrakant Patel, a professor in the USF Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation,
worked for 38 years at Hewlett Packard, serving as a senior vice president, chief
engineer and senior fellow until his retirement in 2024. He shaped advancements in
chips, high-performance computing systems, storage, networking, 3D additive manufacturing
systems and software platforms. Pioneering energy-efficient data center solutions,
Patel founded the Smart Data Center research program at HP Laboratories that led to
successful infrastructure and services business. His technical interests span cyber-physical
systems, AI, energy and thermal management, energy efficient data centers, sustainable
cities and 3D additive manufacturing.
He served as an adjunct faculty member at University of California-Berkeley Extension,
San Jose State University and Santa Clara University. He also taught at Chabot College,
a community college in California where he placed more than 500 students in Silicon
Valley jobs over 16 years. An IEEE Fellow, ASME Fellow, member of the National Academy
of Engineering (NAE) and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, Patel holds
165 U.S. patents and has published more than 150 papers. In 2025, he received the
IEEE Itherm Richard Chu Award for Excellence in Thermal and Thermo-Mechanical Management
of Electronics, and the ASME Honorary Member Award for unprecedented creativity, breadth,
and permanent impact on engineering. In 2022, he was awarded the ASME Next Gen Award
for empowering the next generation of engineers.