Georgetown Scientist J. C. Smart Elected to National Academy of Inventors
Computer science professor J. C. Smart, PhD, the inventor of transformative knowledge-systems technologies, has been elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the academy announced today (Dec. 11, 2025).
A research professor with Georgetown since 2011, Smart holds six U.S. patents and serves as chief scientist of Georgetown’s AvesTerra Initiative for the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research. Smart is the inventor of two transformative technologies, AvesTerra and ATra, both landmark achievements in large-scale knowledge representation, secure computing, and privacy-preserving analytics. These platforms have been deployed across mission-critical domains including clinical public health, humanitarian logistics, national defense, and sustainability science.
“It is an honor to be recognized among this accomplished group of colleagues,” Smart said. “The greatest reward of this work is knowing that it has not only advanced the frontiers of knowledge systems and high-assurance analytics but has also directly improved outcomes for millions of individuals globally.”
NAI fellowship is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors. The 2025 class of fellows includes 185 inventors: 169 U.S. distinguished academic and institutional inventors and 16 international fellows. In addition to Smart, fourteen Georgetown inventors have been elected as fellows and senior members of the academy since 2013.
“Georgetown has built momentum in research translation and commercialization in recent years, as demonstrated by our growing list of NAI fellows. J.C. Smart has made a lasting contribution to his field, and, moreover, provides an example of how these achievements bridge technical excellence and real-world impact.”
– Tatiana Litvin-Vechnyak, PhD
Vice President for Technology Commercialization, Georgetown University
Among Smart’s inventions is the ATra technology for secure and private information-sharing, available for licensing from Georgetown’s Office of Technology Commercialization. The ATra system is in operational use across more than 40 U.S. jurisdictions, enabling the jurisdictions to securely analyze HIV surveillance data while preserving the privacy of individuals and submit more complete, accurate, and timely data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This has set a new national standard for privacy-assured analytics and has tangibly strengthened public health infrastructure.
As chief scientist leading the AvesTerra initiative, Smart provides technical leadership and strategic oversight of Georgetown’s multidisciplinary, integrative science activity to build an extreme-scale knowledge representation of the planet to address issues of sustainability, global health, and global security.
Spiros Dimolitsas, PhD, senior vice president for research at Georgetown, has known Smart for more than 30 years.
“What truly distinguishes Dr. Smart’s career is his ability to seamlessly translate innovations developed for national security into unclassified, commercial applications—and vice versa—delivering meaningful impact in both spheres,” Dimolitsas said. “He has consistently demonstrated visionary leadership in the invention, development, and application of cutting-edge technologies for the national security sector, while uniquely extending these innovations to address critical, interdisciplinary challenges in the broader economy.”
Prior to Georgetown, Smart served as the chief technology officer for the Intelligence and Information Systems business at Raytheon. He also served as senior technical director of the National Security Operations Center at the National Security Agency and began his technical career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Smart earned a BS in electrical engineering with special emphasis in computer science and logic from Northwestern University. He completed his MS and PhD in computer science at the University of California – Davis.
Together, members of the 2025 class of NAI Fellows hold more than 5,300 U.S. patents and include recipients of the Nobel Prize, the National Medals of Science and Technology & Innovation, and members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, among others. This year’s 169 U.S. Fellows represent 127 universities, government agencies, and research institutions, across 40 U.S. states.
Spanning every major field of discovery, including quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and regenerative medicine, NAI Fellows are tackling the biggest and most pressing issues of our time. Their success in translating research into products and services that improve lives demonstrates the continuing importance of the U.S. patent system.
– Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, FNAI
“NAI Fellows are a driving force within the innovation ecosystem, and their contributions across scientific disciplines are shaping the future of our world. We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of Fellows to the Academy. They are truly an impressive cohort, and we look forward to honoring them at our 15th Annual Conference in Los Angeles next year.”
NAI President
The NAI Fellows program was founded in 2012 and has grown to include 2,253 distinguished researchers and innovators, who hold over 86,000 U.S. patents and 20,000 licensed technologies. Their innovations have generated an estimated $3.8 trillion in revenue and 1.4 million jobs.
The 2025 Class of Fellows will be honored and presented their medals by a senior official of the United States Patent and Trademark Office at the NAI 15th Annual Conference on June 4, 2026 in Los Angeles.
Below is a list of the Georgetown inventors who have been elected as fellows and senior members of the academy since 2013.
Esther Chang, Senior Member, 2020
Fellows
- Spiros Dimolitsas, 2013
- Anatoly Dritschilo, 2014
- Albert Fornace, 2020
- Ophir Frieder, 2013
- Usha Kasid, 2015
- Kai Liu, 2022
- Makarand Paranjape, 2024
- Richard Schlegel, 2014
- J. C. Smart, 2025
- Jill Smith, 2021
- Jeffrey Toretsky, 2017
- Aykut Uren, 2019
- Louis Weiner, 2018
- Christian Wolf, 2023