Forty Under 40: Justin Patton

Justin Patton has seen the University of Arkansas’ RFID Research Center grow from “basically the corner of a classroom” to the verge of the 20,000-SF space expected to open in September.

Patton believes the growth is due to the center’s successful marriage of business and technology. The result is an ever-expanding focus, whether that be in the form of the radio frequency identification tags currently in use for retail inventory or toll passes, or emerging areas like electronic signage or checkout systems.

“The resources are there, the momentum is there,” Patton said. “This is a perfect area and institution to do it.

“We’re always on the cutting edge. There’s something new every day.”

Patton should know. He was there in the beginning, as a computer engineering grad student who met the center’s founder, Bill Hargrave.

“From there, it kind of morphed into my job,” Patton said.

These days, he runs the current 10,000-SF center, splitting time between speaking to companies (and potential clients), giving tours and demonstrations, and coordinating much of the research.

A native of Wynne, Patton earned a physics degree at Hendrix College, then spent two years teaching English and bartending in Japan before coming to the UA.

He’s been an active amateur auto racer in the past, and is getting married in December.