SBIR Hall of Fame Recognizes Ultra-Scan and Founder, John Schneider

EE is proud to announce that alumnus and adjunct professor John K. Schneider's company Ultra-Scan, has been inducted into the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Hall of Fame. 

The SBIR Hall of Fame Awards honor those small firms judged to exemplify notable lifetime achievement in innovation research and that have achieved extraordinary success as a result of the SBIR program.  Founded by Dr. Schneider in 1991, Ultra-Scan, located in Amherst, NY,  is an identity management solutions provider and a forerunner in the development of high-accuracy fingerprint identification technology.

While pursuing his PhD at UB, Schneider pioneered the use of high-frequency ultrasound as a superior method for live-scan fingerprint identification. Previous fingerprinting methods, which relied on taking pictures of the finger, were unreliable and susceptible to errors. The use of high-resolution ultrasound significantly improves identification accuracy, and even permits imaging despite contamination and poor finger conditions.

Schneider has more than 110 patents and has authored several papers and textbooks related to biometrics and fingerprint identification. In 2012, his was the first and only non-optical fingerprint sensor technology to receive FBI certification in the industry’s history.  Schneider has served as a research scientist for government agencies including NASA, the United States Army, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and, most recently, the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Schneider has raised millions in R&D funding and led a multi-disciplinary team of experts from eight countries to develop an innovative low-cost, high-performance ultrasonic camera with possible applications in medical imaging, non-destructive testing, and consumer touch navigation applications, in addition to fingerprint identification.

The SBIR award is just one of many accolades received by John Schneider.  He was elevated to the position of IEEE Fellow for leadership in advanced the field of ultrasonic imaging and fingerprint identification in 2013.  He is the recipient of the prestigious UB Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award presented to those individuals who have distinguished themselves in a field of science, thereby bringing honor to the university.  Other recognition includes Western New York’s Inventor of the Year in 2009, the Small Business Innovative Research Tibbets award in 2007, Frost and Sullivan’s Entrepreneur of the year in 2004, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the year in 2001, R&D 100 Award in 1996 and the Niagara Frontier Inventor of the Year award in 1993. He currently serves as Senior Director of Technology at Qualcomm, Inc.