Cummins announced the 2025 recipients of the company’s most prestigious technical award, the Dr. Julius Perr Innovation award. Now in its 25th year, the award recognizes employees who demonstrated excellence in innovation and technology by developing significant intellectual property for Cummins’ products.
This year’s recipients are Craig Calmer, Daniel Dempsey, Kenneth Follen, Tony Hall, Tejas Kinjawadekar, Nathanael Long, Jairo Sandoval and David Stroh.
About the Innovations
The first winning patents relate to ADEPT, Cummins’ Advanced Dynamic Efficient Powertrain Technology.
Calmer, Dempsey, Follen, Hall, Kinjawadekar, Long and Sandoval created a suite of advanced electronic features for the ISX15 engine that interacts with automated manual transmissions, dynamically adapting to operating conditions to help drivers operate more efficiently. ADEPT enhances fuel economy with no impact to productivity, harnessing the electronic capabilities of the engine and transmission to make powertrain control decisions in real time. To learn more about ADEPT, see ADEPT and Cummins ADEPT: Driving Fuel Economy Improvement Forward.
For the second winning technology, Stroh invented a method of detecting internal combustion engine misfire based on the exhaust manifold pressure. This approach streamlines the diagnostic to be fuel agnostic across the broad portfolio of Cummins engines, while also performing in the diverse applications of the company’s customers. This invention was introduced to the market starting in 2016 to meet OBD regulations.
About the Awards
This award was created to honor Dr. Julius Perr, who retired from Cummins in 1997 as vice president – fuel systems. Dr. Perr, who died in 2005, joined Cummins in 1958 after fleeing Communist Hungary. He made Columbus, Indiana, home and began a 41-year career as a Cummins engineer and leader. In his lifetime, he was named the inventor or co-inventor of 186 granted patents and remains an inspiration to many in our industry.
2025 Ceremony
The Dr. Julius Perr Innovation Awards Ceremony was held on May 5 and featured Jon Wood and other leaders. Special guests also included members of the Perr Family and review committee.
Review Committee
Members of a selection committee, made up of leaders from across all business units, meet yearly to evaluate patents that have created significant value for Cummins’ products. In 2025, nearly 1500 patents were reviewed for consideration before selecting the final patent award recipients. Since 2000, only 92 patents have been selected for this prestigious award with each invention adding value to the company’s brand promise of innovation and dependability, Cummins said.
