Two Iowa State researchers have won awards for their inventions.

Steve Martin, an ISU associate professor of materials and engineering, and Gerald Shirk, a Cedar Rapids gynecologist in association with Full Spectrum Inc., won an RND, Research and Development Top 100 Award for 1995.

Abdel Soufiane, an ISU postdoctoral student, was also named for the award.

The team created the ULE fiber, an ultra-low expansion fiber, which is able to hold greater amounts of heat without deteriorating during laser surgery, Martin said.

ISU and the Institute for Physical Research and Technology nominated Martin, Shirk and Soufiane.

Nominations are evaluated by 75 judges and the top 100 inventions worldwide are selected, Martin said. Nominations come from five groups: government agencies, universities, private institutions, industrial companies and other countries.

“This award recognizes ISU’s commitment to technology transfer and helping the public,” Martin said.

The ULE fiber is an invention that is already being used in surgery, producing tremendous benefits for patients, Martin added.

John Gustafson, an ISU associate professor of computer science, and graduate student Quinn Snell are co-developers of HINT, Hierarchical INTegration, a computer method to measure speed of any computer.

Gustafson and Snell also won an RND Top 100 Award. It is Gustafson’s third.

Gustafson said there has been no other program to measure the speed of a computer like his invention does.

HINT is not yet out in the public market, but Gustafson said he hopes to get the program into consumer hands soon.

HINT will help consumers choose what computer to buy because the program will determine which computers work more efficiently, Gustafson said.

The award ceremony will be held tonight in Chicago.