WiSys would like to congratulate all the award winners who were recognized for their contributions to innovation, students, universities, and Wisconsin at the WiSys SPARK Symposium held at UW-Oshkosh in the summer of 2023. There were four individual Innovation Champions, as well as a 14-member planning committee. WiSys would also like to recognize two Universities of Wisconsin faculty who received the Carl. E Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year award.  

Innovators of the Year: 

• Dr. David E. Lewis, Professor Emeritus at UW-Eau Claire 

• Dr. Sujat Sen, Assistant Professor at UW-La Crosse 

Innovation Champions: 

• Elaine Coughlin, Director of Investments and Entrepreneurship at Pablo Group 

• Matthew Jewell, Associate Professor at UW-Eau Claire 

• William Parker, Associate Professor at UW-Parkside 

• Philip J. Parker, Interim Dean for the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science at UW-Platteville  

• UW-Green Bay’s WiSys Innovation On-Ramp Planning Committee: Susan Craver, Nazim Choudhury, Susan Gallagher-Lepak, Doreen Higgins, Wendi Holschbach, Myunghee Jun, Kim Krueger, Kathryn Marten, Stephanie Rhee, Nischal Thapa, Dean VonDras, Evelyn Olson, Tony Hanson, and Adhira Sunkara