Awards
2011 R&D 100 Award for HybridSil
R&D Magazine named HybridSil™, a new coating technology that provides fire, blast and ballistic protection to various types of structures from ships to buildings, as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced worldwide in 2011. The Chicago Tribune has called these R&D awards “The Oscars of Invention.” This award marks the second time NanoSonic, Inc. has won a Research and Development 100 Award in the international competition. The first time was for its development of Metal Rubber Textiles.
2008 Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech
Richard O. Claus, president and founder of NanoSonic, received the title of "professor emeritus" by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in 2008. The title of emeritus is conferred on retired professors for exemplary service to the university. While at Virginia Tech, Claus, who held the Lewis A. Hester Chair of Engineering, won numerous awards for teaching and research, including: the 2005 State of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the Norman Medal Innovation Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the 1998 American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Adaptive Structures and Materials System Prize, the Alumni Award for Research Excellence, the Willis G. Worcester Professorship of Electrical Engineering, Fellow of Optical Engineering Society, Ralph R. Tutor Educator Award by Society of Automotive Engineers, C. Holms MacDonald Award from Eta Kappa Nu, the Electrical Engineering Honor Society, the 1983-84 Sporn Award for Undergraduate Teaching at Virginia Tech, among others.
2007 DARPATech Top 5 Small Business Award
NanoSonic received recognition as one of the top five U.S. small businesses developing technology for DARPA at the 2007 DARPATech held in Anaheim, California. Two of NanoSonic's new materials - Metal Rubber and an early version of a high performance aerospace adhesive - were on display in two different DARPA technology office display areas. Since 2007, Metal Rubber has been transitioned to multiple applications, and an improved version of the aerospace adhesive is currently under development with NASA.
2007 R&D 100 Award
R&D Magazine named NanoSonic a recipient of one of its coveted 2007 R&D 100 (research and development) awards. The award is for the development of Metal Rubber™ Textiles, a spin off of the company’s patented Metal Rubber™. The Chicago Tribune has called these R&D awards “The Oscars of Invention.” In announcing the award, R&D Magazine credited NanoSonic with creating one of the 100 “most technologically significant new products of the year” after it reviewed “entries from many of the most prestigious companies, research organizations and universities in the world.”
2007 Top 25 MicroNano Award
NanoSonic was the recipient of an inaugural Micro/Nano 25 Award in 2007 from R&D Magazine, receiving the award for its Metal Rubber Textiles. Some of the advantages of NanoSonic's novel e-textiles over its competitors are its greatly reduced weight, low manufacturing costs (with only aqueous byproducts), the ability to stretch the material without the incorporated metal and polymer nanoparticles separating, and durability to withstand repeated washings.
2006 - Virginia Business Magazine Names NanoSonic the Small Business of the Year
Virginia Business magazine selected NanoSonic as its 2006 Small Buiness of the Year. In making the announcement, Virginia Business magazine's cover article on NanoSonic stated the company “is a good example of research spinoff that Virginia hopes to nurture.”
2006 - NanoSonic Leads the 13 Southern States in Small Business Success in Nanotechnology
The Southern Technology Council and Georgia Tech surveyed the 13 Southern states on the strength of small businesses in nanotechnology; NanoSonic, Inc., of Blacksburg, Va., emerged as the regional leader in terms of the overall dollar amount of contracts it received, as well as the number of grants awarded between 1995 and 2002. The report, Connecting the Dots: Creating a Southern Nanotechnology Network, released in the summer of 2006, cited only five nanotechnology firms in the 13 states that received the upper limit of 14 to 39 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards, totaling from $3.6 million to more than $10 million. NanoSonic emerged as the leader in both categories with the 39 awards, totaling $10,347,956 in funding.
2006 NASA's Top Nanostructured Products
Metal Rubber was recognized as one of the top nanostructured products of 2006 by NASA. According to Nanotech Briefs®, NanoSonic was one of the winners of the second annual Nano 50™ Awards, which recognizes the top 50 technologies, products, and innovators that have significantly impacted - or are expected to impact – the state of the art in nanotechnology. The winners of the Nano 50 awards are the “best of the best” – the innovative people and designs that will move nanotechnology to key mainstream markets. Nano 50 nominations were judged by a panel of nanotechnology experts. The technologies, products and innovators receiving the 50 highest scores were named Nano 50 award.
2005 Virginia Tech Outstanding Young Engineering Alumnus Award
While working at NanoSonic, Andrea Hill won Virginia Tech’s Outstanding Young Engineering Alumna Award for 2005-06. She is shown here with NanoSonic's innovative Metal Rubber nanocomposite material. She used this nanocomposite to further identify a family of materials that optimized Metal Rubber’s unique qualities.
2002 SPIE Lifetime Achievement Award: R. O. Claus
NanoSonic President Rick Claus received the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Optical Engineering, now known as SPIE.
Virginia's 2001 Outstanding Scientist Award
NanoSonic's founder Richard Claus was chosen as a 2001 Outstanding Scientist by the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia.
2000 Innovative Technology Award
NanoSonic President Rick Claus received the 2000 Innovative Technology Award at the New Century Technology Council's Tech Nite.
