Business awards earned in Tucson and Southern Arizona

Social Venture Partners: Social Venture Partners Tucson has selected eight local nonprofits to participate in its ninth annual Fast Pitch program. During the March 26 event, the organizations will pitch to a live audience of donors for a shot at more than $100,000 in on-stage sponsored grants. All program participants will receive unrestricted funding support on-stage and donations made by the audience in real time. Those live donations will be matched up to $40,000, with support from the Connie Hillman Family Foundation.

The selected nonprofits are:

Borderlinks

Casa de los Niños

Children’s Clinics

Interfaith Community Services

Parent Aid

Special Needs Solutions

The Haven

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TMM Family Services, Inc.

Each organization will receive training for two months following the event to support them in building donor connections and creating comprehensive marketing strategies. And for the first time, each nonprofit will have access to a Participant Chair, who was a previous Fast Pitch award recipient.

National Academy of Inventors: The National Academy of Inventors has elected two University of Arizona faculty members to its 2023 class of fellows.

Douglas Loy, professor of materials science and engineering, and Wolfgang Fink, professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, each received the designation. As fellows, they have created inventions that have made an impact on the quality of life and welfare of society as defined by the academy’s standards. NAI fellow status is the highest professional distinction awarded by the organization, and only academic inventors are eligible for the honor.

Prior to coming to the UA, Loy was a member of the research team at Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Lab. His research has contributed to polymer synthesis and sol-gel science — areas focused on producing solid materials from small molecules.

Fink has focused the majority of his work on biomedical engineering for health care, specifically on ophthalmology and vision care; human/brain-machine interfaces such as artificial vision implants; smart platforms for mobile- and telehealth; and autonomous systems, such as those used for robotic space exploration.

Including Loy and Fink, UA has more than 35 NAI honorees on its faculty — 17 fellows and 19 senior members. The latter designation is reserved for inventors who are earlier in their careers.