Indiana University to honor innovators and entrepreneurs during upcoming event

Two Indiana University faculty and one alumna will receive this year's Wylie Innovation Catalyst Medal, an honor that celebrates the university's longstanding legacy of innovation and groundbreaking discoveries.

Distinguished Professors David Clemmer and Martin Jarrold, both Robert and Marjorie Mann Chairs of Chemistry, and Jane Martin, a graduate of IU and retired venture capitalist, will be honored by IU President Pamela Whitten during an event April 4.

"The leadership of this year's Wylie Medal honorees has resulted in cutting-edge discoveries and impactful contributions to society," Whitten said. "On behalf of Indiana University, I'm delighted to recognize Martin, David and Jane on their achievements and commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship."

Named for Theophilus A. Wylie and Samuel Brown Wylie, two early faculty members who received a patent in 1887 for a new and improved cyclograph, the Wylie Innovation Catalyst Medal was established in 2020 to recognize IU alumni, faculty and friends who have made significant contributions to advance the university's culture of innovation and commercialization.

The inaugural medal was awarded to Richard DiMarchi, IU Distinguished Professor and Linda and Jack Gill Chair in Biomolecular Science, and retired IU trustee and adjunct professor Jack Gill.

"Recognizing the inventors and entrepreneurs who drive IU's research efforts to innovative advances in the market shows the emphasis that President Pam Whitten and the university have placed on entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Simran Trana, associate vice president of IU's Innovation and Commercialization Office. "Through this event, we celebrate the success of exemplary market and science innovators associated with IU, and the past, current and future faculty whose ideas are changing the world."

About this year's honorees

Martin Jarrold

Jarrold joined the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Chemistry in 2002. His developments in charge detection mass spectrometry have allowed accurate molecular weights to be measured for very large molecules and assemblies. The molecular weight is one of the most important properties used to characterize molecules, and prior to these developments, the molecular weight could only be accurately measured for relatively small molecules.

His work with charge detection mass spectrometry has made it possible to obtain accurate molecular weights for a wide range of previously inaccessible particles, including viruses, vaccines, lipoproteins and nanoparticles. This work has had translational applications in the analysis of gene therapy vectors, in understanding virus assembly and disassembly, and in the analysis of lipoprotein particles implicated in cardiovascular diseases.

In 2018, Jarrold received the John B. Fenn Award for Distinguished Contributions in Mass Spectrometry from the American Society of Mass Spectrometry, the most prestigious recognition in his field.

"It is a great honor to receive this award," Jarrold said. "The initial research would not have been possible without the fantastic electronic and machining support staff in the chemistry department. I also can't say enough about the help we received from the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office."

David Clemmer

Clemmer joined IU as an assistant professor in 1995 and was promoted to professor in 2001. He served for four years as chair of the Department of Chemistry and has served since 2012 as associate dean of natural and mathematical sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Clemmer is internationally known in his field and a leading figure in commercial and academic ion mobility spectrometry. He is the inventor and developer of nested ion mobility/mass spectrometry instrumentation and methodology. These technologies are now used widely around the world to study complex mixtures such as those encountered in the emerging fields related to genomics such as proteomics, glycomics and metabolomics.

His research has diverse applications in the life sciences and has been used to probe deeply into the proteome of plasma as a new dimension for tissue imaging, to understand how post-translational modifications influence conformation, to assess structures of large protein complexes and to understand the fundamental characteristics of disease, including neurodegenerative diseases.

He is the scientific co-founder of Beyond Genomics, now BG-Medicine, a systems biology company in Boston that employs more than 50 scientists.

Jarrold and Clemmer are co-founders of Megadalton Solutions, a company based on technology developed at IU that recently licensed technology to Waters Corp., a global leader in laboratory instruments and analytical software. The company employs proprietary charge detection mass spectrometry, which allows researchers to analyze, measure and describe large, complex molecules in solution at previously unknown levels of accuracy.

"We had an idea of where this might go, but everything crystallized when we recruited research scientist Ben Draper as Megadalton's first employee," Clemmer said. "He generated a lot of excitement around the technology and demonstrated commercial feasibility. We are excited that this work is being recognized by the university."

Jane Martin

Martin is a 1972 graduate of the Kelley School of Business and a retired venture capitalist. Her career spanned nearly five decades, beginning in Chicago in the 1970s with Allstate's $250 million venture portfolio that included FedEx, MCI, Control Data, MaryKay and Memorex. In the 1980s, she joined U.S. Venture Partners in Menlo Park, California, as a general partner in the first four funds: Sun Microsystems, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Gymboree and Callaway Golf.

She spent the 1990s as a limited partner in multiple venture funds. She did pro bono, nonprofit work and was the CEO of Indiana University's first technology spinout, Wisdom Tools. She later joined Massachusetts-based Village Ventures as a general partner. She also co-founded an affiliate Indiana-based fund, Spring Mill Ventures, focusing on Indiana businesses such as Biostorage Technology, Sonarmed, PerfectServe and Scale.

During her retirement, Martin has continued to serve her community. She took part in Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton's Wage Growth Task Force, which addressed concerns about the city's lack of economic recovery after the Great Recession. She is a past board president of the Dimension Mill and an emerita IU Foundation Board member, and she has been integral to the success of several entrepreneurship and investment programs at IU.

"After working as a venture capitalist on both coasts and in Chicago, it has been gratifying to see how the innovation culture has permeated every corner of South Central Indiana centered around the IP which proliferates in IU Bloomington and IUPUI," she said. "From informatics to chemistry to the O'Neill School and the IU School of Medicine, there's plenty of fodder for startups. I'm honored to receive this award and to be in the rarified company of earlier awardees Jack Gill and Richard DiMarchi."