Detweiler to receive President's Excellence Award, NU's top faculty honor

Innovative research has earned Carrick Detweiler, Susan J. Rosowski Professor in the School of Computing, the President's Excellence Award, the University of Nebraska system's most prestigious faculty honor.

The two President's Excellence Awards were announced May 23. Detweiler, co-director of the NIMBUS Lab, was chosen to receive the Faculty Intellectual Property Innovation and Commercialization Award (FIPICA) for his work developing unmanned aerial vehicles for use with water, fire and crops. The FIPICA recognizes faculty who have developed and nurtured significant new intellectual property from concept to licensing and/or startup business.

"Great faculty are at the heart of the University of Nebraska's work and mission. We are fortunate that our classrooms and research labs are led by people who care deeply about creating a strong future for students and our state," said Chris Kabourek, interim NU president. "I'm honored to have this opportunity to lift up the work of some of the University of Nebraska's most outstanding faculty, and I thank them for all they do to change lives in Nebraska and around the world."

Award recipients are selected by systemwide committees of faculty members and community members. Recipients each receive a $10,000 stipend. They will be honored at the Aug. 8 Board of Regents meeting.

Faculty IP Innovation and Commercialization Award

Carrick Detweiler

Detweiler's research is focused on developing systems and software to enable interactions of unmanned aerial vehicles with water, fire and crops. As co-founder of Drone Amplified, he has successfully transferred his innovative and transdisciplinary work to the market and is helping to save lives and the environment.

The company's signature product is IGNIS, a drone-based system that allows firefighters to remotely ignite backburns and prescribed burns while staying out of harm's way. These burns effectively eliminate the fuel wildfires rely on to spread out of control and are critical tools for federal, state and local agencies charged with reducing fire danger. More than 150 IGNIS systems have been sold and used by public and private entities.

Drone Amplified is also growing the innovation economy, employing a number of university graduates including several who moved to Nebraska specifically to work for the company, and expanding high-wage, high-skill jobs in the Cornhusker State.

Detweiler is also a fellow of the Robert B. Daughterty Water for Food Institute and a faculty fellow with the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.