Wu Named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

Min Wu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, was just named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

This honor recognizes academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in developing outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Wu, who has an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), was recognized for her contributions to the field of signal processing, particularly for multimedia security and forensics.

“I am honored to be named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and feel very blessed to have had supportive inventors as mentors and collaborators along the way,” says Wu. “Not only do I find joy in discovery and innovations that can make a positive impact on the society, I also appreciate the opportunities to give back by sharing invention process with students and helping them become future inventors.”

She joins 167 other researchers elected as NAI Fellows this year, and will officially be inducted at the NAI's national meeting on April 10, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona.

“We are proud to have another NAI Fellow amongst our faculty, and this recognition of Min Wu is much deserved," says Julie Lenzer, chief innovation officer at the University of Maryland. “She represents the mindset and culture of innovation we hope to continue spreading across our campus.”

Wu came to Maryland in 2001 after receiving her doctorate in electrical engineering from Princeton University.

She launched the Media and Security Team at UMD, which carries out a number of research and educational activities related to multimedia signal processing and information security.

In 2015, her work was selected as an Invention of the Year winner in the information sciences category in at annual UMD-sponsored competition. Wu and two of her graduate students won the award for their research in extracting nearly invisible power signatures from complex video recordings.

Their innovative technology could help verify the source of video streams, offering possibilities for a variety of security and forensic applications. This work was highlighted in a Terp magazine article.

Wu also received a 2012 Innovator of the Year award from the Maryland Daily Record for her work in multimedia security and forensics.

In addition to research and innovation, Wu is a noted educator, having served as an ADVANCE professor representing the A. James Clark School of Engineering in a program that supports the recruitment, retention and advancement of women and underrepresented minority faculty at UMD.

She is also a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.

Additionally, Wu is the recipient an NSF CAREER Award, the IEEE Harriett B. Rigas Educator Award, an MIT TR100 Young Innovator Award, an ONR Young Investigator Award, a Computer World “40 Under 40” IT Innovator Award, the IEEE Mac Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award, and the IEEE Distinguished Lecturer recognition.

Wu has published two books and more than 180 papers in major international journals and conferences, and holds 10 U.S. patents as well as five international patents.

Wu has taken on significant technical leadership, having served as Vice President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society from 2010-2012 and Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Information Forensics and Security from 2012–2013. She was also the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine from 2015-2017, a high-impact publication in electrical and computer engineering.

In 2011, Wu was named an IEEE Fellow for her contributions to multimedia security and forensics.

She is the third person affiliated with UMIACS to be named an NAI Fellow, with Rita Colwell and Ben Shneiderman having previously received this distinction.