Mehdi Yazdanpanah is the CEO and founder of NaugaNeedles LLC. In 2006, he started a postdoc position at the University of Louisville. In 2007, he founded NaugaNeedles, and after two years became the first fulltime employee in 2009. While running NaugaNeedles’ business side, he is also actively involved in various research and development projects, has published more than 25 papers in journals, and holds four issued U.S. patents and seven pending patents. Yazdanpanah has co-invented more than 10 different products. Yazdanpanah is the recipient of the 2009 Vogt Innovation Award, the Kauffman Fellowship award in 2009, the 2013 Kentucky Small Business Person of the Year Award, and the 2013 Kentucky Pacesetter Award. He received his PhD from University of Louisville. Yazdanpanah also holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in physics from Iran.