The Eastern New York Intellectual Property Law Association (ENYIPLA) has awarded Leonard Interrante and Christopher Whitmarsh the 2007 Inventor of the Year Award for a patent that was integral to the development of Malta-based Starfire Systems Inc., a high-tech advanced materials manufacturer.

The criteria for selection were creativity, economic value, the difficulty of the problem, the contribution to the well-being of society as a whole, and the status of the invention and inventor in their field. 

The research for the patent was performed in the late 1980s by Whitmarsh, a former Rensselaer researcher and current senior chemist at Starfire Systems Inc., and Interrante, professor of chemistry and chemical biology. The team developed a special polymer that would later become the Starfire matrix polymer, the only commercially available, pure silicon carbide-forming polymer in the world. This polymer enables the processing of high-temperature, high-strength ceramic composites that are finding applications in a wide variety of areas from aerospace to motorcycles.

After patenting their technology and demonstrating its broad utility as a liquid source of silicon carbide, an otherwise difficult-to-process, high-temperature ceramic material, Whitmarsh and Interrante joined forces with Starfire founder Walter Sherwood to reincorporate Starfire Systems in 1994. As part of this arrangement, Rensselaer transferred this technology to Starfire Systems.

Starfire Systems has continued to grow through the further expansion and market acceptance of this unique enabling polymer technology. The technology has helped Starfire create highly versatile, low-cost, environmentally friendly advanced ceramic materials-forming technologies.

The award will be presented to the patent’s original developers and Starfire Systems on Feb. 27, 2007 at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia, N.Y.

The patent, U.S. 5,153,295, is titled “Carbosilane Polymer Precursors To Silicon Carbide Ceramics.”

Published February 26, 2007