News & Media

WiSys names UW-Green Bay’s Md Maruf Hossain 2019 Innovator of the Year

GREEN BAY—For exemplary contributions to Wisconsin innovation, UW-Green Bay’s Md Maruf Hossain will receive the 2019 Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year Award.

The honor will be given to Hossain at WSTS, a two-day UW System-focused research and innovation symposium, that will be held at UW-Stout in July.

“Dr. Maruf Hossain is a worthy recipient of this award as a role model with high-quality research and strong attention to student success,” said WiSys President Arjun Sanga. “We are excited to present him with this award.”

Hossain, an assistant professor of engineering technology, has helped build a culture of innovation on the UW-Green Bay campus and across the UW System as a teacher and inventor.

The professor’s interest in electrical power systems and renewable energy led him to research and develop wind turbines with help from UW System and WiSys research grants. Earlier this year, Hossain filed for a patent, working with WiSys, for an “Integrated Vertical Axis Wind Power Generation System” and recently developed a prototype to test his ideas.

“We are extremely proud of Dr. Maruf Hossain for being selected as the WiSys Innovator of the Year,” said UW-Green Bay Chancellor Gary Miller. “Dr. Hossain is a leading researcher in the Resch School of Engineering and a most valued member of our university community. Maruf exemplifies the commitment and innovative spirit of the UW-Green Bay faculty. This award is a much-deserved affirmation of the importance of his groundbreaking work.”

In 2018, Hossain was selected to participate in the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s Accelerator Program—an exclusive program that provides expert advice and targeted funding to help inventors advance commercially promising technologies closer to the marketplace.

In addition to pursuing his own interests, Hossain has been an advocate for student research at UW-Green Bay by encouraging students to pursue research opportunities as part of their education.

Prior to joining UW-Green Bay, Hossain was the Herff Fellow at the University of Memphis. He also served as an assistant professor at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh for about nine months, and as a lecturer at the American International University-Bangladesh for about four and a half years.

Hossain received a Ph.D. from the University of Memphis and both M.Sc. and B.Sc. in electrical and electronic engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

Hossain’s teaching and research expertise are mostly in the field of electrical and electronic engineering, especially in electrical power systems. Hossain has several peer-reviewed research articles published in reputed journals and has presented at national and international conferences.

The Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year Award is presented to a UW System faculty, staff member or student making exemplary contributions as a WiSys Innovator. The award, given in conjunction with WSTS, was created to honor the former managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation who supported WiSys throughout his 16-year tenure.

WiSys is a nonprofit organization that works with faculty, staff, students and alumni of the UW System to facilitate cutting-edge research programs, develop and commercialize discoveries, and foster a spirit of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking across the state.