Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park and Aydin Babakhani Elected Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors

Two UCLA Samueli School of Engineering faculty members, Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park and Aydin Babakhani, have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of their success translating academic research into technologies that improve society and drive economic progress.

Park is the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of civil and environmental engineering. Her research focuses on sustainable energy and materials conversion pathways, with an emphasis on integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies. Park’s work supports clean energy innovation and climate solutions, including the recovery of critical minerals and rare earth elements from industrial waste for sustainable energy transitions.

Babakhani is a professor of electrical and computer engineering whose research centers on integrated systems and sensor chips. His research group, the UCLA Integrated Sensors Laboratory, develops millimeter-wave and terahertz systems, miniature low-power implantable and wearable devices, including cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, neurostimulation devices and various biosensors for monitoring vital signs and improving patient diagnostics and care.

Park and Babakhani are among the 230 individuals from 82 institutions named to the academy’s 2026 class of senior members. They will be formally inducted into the academy at its annual conference in June in Los Angeles. Collectively, the academy’s 945 senior members hold more than 11,000 U.S. patents.

Founded in 2012, the National Academy of Inventors honors the contributions of academic researchers whose discoveries result in widespread real-world commercial applications. Other UCLA Samueli faculty recently named senior members include Nasim Annabi, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; C. K. Ken Yang, a professor and holder of the Tatsuo Itoh Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Aaswath Raman, an associate professor of materials science and engineering.