The university and the National Academy of Inventors will celebrate visiting scientists with a Hollywood Walk of Fame-style celebration, complete with Oscar-size Tommy Trojan statuettes. (Photo/Courtesy of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation)
USC among hosts for next year’s National Academy of Inventors annual meeting in L.A.
The prestigious academy announced Thursday that USC will take part in hosting next year’s event and will celebrate inventors with a special event at Town and Gown.
USC plans to give scientists the Hollywood star treatment next year for the National Academy of Inventors’ annual conference in Los Angeles, organizers announced Thursday.
The university will host the invitation-only opening reception next summer as part of the June 1-4 conference to be held in Southern California. Inventors from around the country will come to Town and Gown at the USC University Park Campus, where the university and the academy will celebrate them with a Hollywood Walk of Fame-style celebration — complete with Oscar-size Tommy Trojan statuettes.
The theme of NAI 2026 is “Spotlight on Our Stars” to celebrate inventors as stars in their own right who have illuminated the world with their innovations and inventions.
Other events will take place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, which is adjacent to the Dolby Theatre where the Academy Awards are held annually.
“USC is honored to host NAI 2026. Los Angeles is home to a thriving ecosystem of world-class research institutions and a robust network of biotech companies and startups that work with academia,” said Ishwar K. Puri, USC senior vice president of research and innovation. “We attract and produce highly skilled professionals, researchers and students from around the world.”
The National Academy of Inventors, founded in 2010, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing and promoting academic inventors. NAI Fellow status is nationally recognized as the highest professional distinction awarded to inventors. The organization also has a partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Together, they honor and celebrate visionary inventors whose groundbreaking research and patented technologies are driving meaningful societal and economic advancements across the national innovation landscape.
L.A. “natural fit” for National Academy of Inventors annual conference
“Los Angeles, as well as the state of California, is a powerful hub of innovation and an engine for social and economic impact for the nation and the world,” said Paul Sanberg, NAI founder and president. “With it being home to inventive institutions such as the University of Southern California, UCLA, Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, L.A. was the natural fit for our milestone 15th annual conference.”
“We are excited to partner with our member institution USC for what will be an inspiring and insightful gathering of the world’s brightest visionaries in innovation,” Sanberg said.
USC is one of 274 NAI member institutions. The university is home to 29 NAI Fellows and 26 Senior Members. The university’s NAI Fellows include USC Life Trustee and Qualcomm co-founder Andrew Viterbi, as well as Ming Hsieh, whose 2006 donation has supported the USC Viterbi Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering/Electrophysics; ophthalmologist and engineer Mark Humayun at USC Viterbi and the Keck School of Medicine of USC; and Shrikanth Narayanan, the research director of the Information Sciences Institute at USC Viterbi and the university’s vice president for presidential initiatives.
USC Senior Members include Emily Liman, a professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences who holds the Harold Dornsife Chair in Neurosciences, and Dean Pinchas Cohen of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Among the USC Fellows is Ellis Meng, USC Viterbi vice dean for technology innovation and entrepreneurship as well as a professor of biomedical engineering and electrical engineering.
This week, the academy inducted Francisco Valero-Cuevas, a USC Viterbi professor of Biomedical Engineering, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and a professor at the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy.
