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Office of Research and Innovation 
NC State Office of Research Commercialization

NAI Fellows

The NAI Fellows Program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

About NAI Fellows

The program has 1,060 Fellows worldwide representing more than 250 prestigious universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. Collectively, the Fellows hold more than 38,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 11,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than 36 million jobs. In addition, over $1.6 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

With the induction of the 2018 class, there are now more than 125 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 502 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; 40 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 57 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science, 34 Nobel Laureates, 3 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering recipients, 304 AAAS Fellows, 200 IEEE Fellows, and 164 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.

Call for Nominations

Nomination Requirements:

  • A citation of impact from the Nominator containing evidence of the nominee’s outstanding contributions/achievements in innovation, describing the nominee’s work and the impact that their work, inventions, companies and/or products have had on society. No more than one (1) page.
  • A description of how the nominee has supported and enhanced an environment of innovation in Universities or the non-profit sector. Please note that only nominations with strong and documentable evidence with regard to this key NAI Fellow selection criterion will be considered for nomination by the Chancellor. No more than one-half (1/2) page.
  • Nominee’s CV to include a Full List of U.S. patents.
  • Full List of any Startup companies or other companies that the nominee has worked with.
  • Full List of any products that have resulted from the nominee’s work.
  • List of service activities related to intellectual property and entrepreneurship (ie. involvement with NAI activities and publications, IP organizations such as GAIN, NSF iCorp, etc.).

Submit nominations (in full) to the Office of Research Commercialization at commercialization@ncsu.edu by June 1st. 

Current NAI Fellows

Yuntian Zhu, 2022

Distinguished Emeritus Professor

Fred A. Kish, 2021

M.C. Dean Distinguished Professor
Tom Ranney

Tom Ranney, 2020

J.C. Raulston Distinguished Professor

Behnam Pourdeyhimi, 2020

Associate Dean for Industry Research and Extension, William A. Klopman Distinguished Professor, and Executive Director, NWI

Rodolphe Barrangou, 2019

Professor of Food Science, Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Scholar in Probiotics Research, NC State University

Kenneth R. Swartzel, 2019

William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, Emeritus

Carlos Pignataro, 2019

CTO at Cisco Systems, Adjunct Lecturer for Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sylvia M. Blankenship, 2018

Emerita Professor and Senior Associate Dean, NC State University

Koji Sode, 2018

Professor of Biomedical Engineering, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina

Donald Bitzer, 2017

Distinguished University Research Professor, NC State University

William Ditto, 2017

Professor, NC State University

Robert Heath Jr., 2017

Lampe Distinguished Professor

Alexander V. Kabanov, 2017

Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, Mescal S. Ferguson Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina

Jayant Baliga, 2016

Distinguished University Professor, NC State University

Ruben Carbonell, 2016

Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor, NC State University

Harold Kohn, 2016

Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina

Frances Ligler, 2016

Lampe Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina

Nancy Allbritton, 2014

Kenan Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, Chair, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina

Jay Narayan, 2014

John C. Fan Distinguished Chair Professor, NC State University

David Aspnes, 2013

Distinguished University Professor and Director of Graduate Programs, NC State University

Jerry Cuomo, 2013

Distinguished Research Professor, NC State University

Joseph DeSimone, 2013

Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina

Oliver Smithies, 2012

Nobel Laureate, Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina

Franky So, 2012

Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor