Patrice Jackson-Ayotunde, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, received the Invention of the Year Award from the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Jackson-Ayotunde, who shares the award with one of her former graduate students, Tawes Harper, was honored for research on a new medication to treat epilepsy.
Dr. Jackson-Ayotunde is a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee. She earned a master’s degree in organic chemistry from Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Shontavia Johnson, associate professor of intellectual property law at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa, received the 2014 Ladas Memorial Award from the International Trademark Association. The award stems from a yearly competition that honors the best original papers in the world on the subject of trademark law. Professor Johnson won in the professional category for her paper entitled “Trademark Territoriality in Cyberspace: An Internet Framework.”
Professor Johnson is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina, where she majored in biosystems engineering. She earned a juris doctorate at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
