that’s used to determine if the fighter pilot is hitting his or her target–much like the combat simulation in the movie Top Gun. “I work on it from beginning to end. I’m looking at what it takes to design that system,†says the Atmore, Alabama, native. “I look at how we control it; how we test it once it gets out into the field and the military starts to use it. We have engineers that go out into the field with them and make sure that our products are working properly, and they let me know how it’s going. Any problem that may occur with that system with regards to the software, I get a report back on it to let me know whether or not we need to make a change.â€
January’s employer, Parsippany, New Jersey-based DRS Technologies, is a supplier of integrated products, services, and support to military forces, intelligence agencies, and prime contractors worldwide.
LONNIE G. JOHNSON
Founder
Johnson Research and Development Co. Inc.
Johnson, probably best known for inventing the überpopular Super Soaker, is now focused on developing the next generation of rechargeable batteries. Through Johnson Electrical Mechanical Systems, Johnson will develop and introduce the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter, an electric heat engine powered by converted energy streams derived from solar energy and waste heat produced by the industrial process.
Innovation: Johnson holds more than 100 patents with 20 additional patents pending.
PAUL Q. JUDGE
Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder
PureWire Inc.
In 2007, Judge helped to launch PureWire, an Atlanta-based provider of Web securities solutions. A former IBM and NASA employee, Judge was also the chief technology officer and network security architect developing key security algorithms for the firm CipherTrust, which was sold to Secure Computing in 2006 for $273 million.
Innovation:Â Judge already holds six patents. He has 20 additional patents pending.
KUNLE OLUKOTUN
Director, Pervasive Parallelism Laboratory
Stanford University
In addition to teaching computer architecture, programming, and digital design courses at Stanford, Olukotun’s research focuses on creating and designing computer chip multiprocessors to help enable the next stage of parallel computing so that computers can process and transfer larger pieces of information at much higher rates.
Innovation: Olukotun also leads Stanford’s Hydra chip project, which is designed to help introduce the next stage of micro-architecture in microprocessor computing chips.
REGINALD SMITH
Molecular Biologist
General Electric
Smith is the lead biologist on a cell technology program exploring new techniques and technology to efficiently harvest stem cells. This will minimize (and potentially bypass) the use of animal products by enabling the production of many therapeutic doses from each donor sample.
Innovation: Smith has several patents, and one pending that covers instrumentation to be used by the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors for real-time quality control as well as more rapid production of protein-based drugs.
Further Reading: Black Icons in Science
ASHITEY TREBI-OLLENNU
Senior Robotics Engineer
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Not many people can use technology to solve a problem that’s happening 100 million miles away. Trebi-Ollennu is one who can.
When one of the Mars rovers had a failed actuator, Trebi-Ollennu was