Dean Webster, a professor and chair of the coatings and polymeric materials department at North Dakota State University (NDSU), has been named one of 170 Fellows for 2024 by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Webster will be formally inducted during the annual NAI conference in Atlanta in June 2025.

The NAI Fellows Program recognizes 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. As the highest professional distinction conferred by the Academy, NAI Fellow status is accorded solely to academic inventors. Among the current 1,898 NAI Fellows, Webster joins Raj Bridgelall, an associate professor in the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, as NAI Fellows at NDSU.

NDSU Dean of Arts and Sciences Kimberly Wallin sees Webster as an innovator and change agent and celebrated his work in her recommendation to the NAI. “With an illustrious career marked by innovation, impact, and leadership, Dr. Webster epitomizes the qualities of a trailblazer in the field of coatings and polymer science,” she said.

Recognized globally as a pioneer in his field, Webster has secured significant funding from agencies like the Office of Naval Research (ONR). He has nurtured a long-standing research partnership in response to the U.S. Navy’s need for improved and non-toxic anti-fouling coatings. His research has resulted in novel inventions of coatings having hydrophobic and amphiphilic surfaces that have revolutionized marine coatings by improving their anti-fouling and, in addition, anti-icing properties.

NDSU Vice President of Research Colleen Fitzgerald noted the importance of this work to the nation. “Federal agencies like ONR and the Department of Defense (DoD) support Dr. Webster’s research given the many important national security impacts. Even more importantly, his research safeguards the vessels that carry our service personnel and provides them with the best possible environment to conduct their work.”

Webster has always enjoyed challenges presented to him in his work and at times, he finds himself either improving an existing material or developing a completely novel one. When ONR was looking for an eco-friendly material to replace the biocidal copper coatings used to reduce the attachment of oceanic organisms like barnacles, newer silicone-based options started gaining traction but, while effective, they were not a perfect replacement. “The silicone coatings are about the thickness of a piece of processed cheese and just as soft and that size really added up when you’d coat an entire ship,” he said, “so we developed a new coating that was only microns in thickness and much tougher instead.”

“Everything I do is about environmentally sustainable solutions,” he said. “Throughout my research career I’ve been driven to find eco-friendly alternatives that have either the same or better characteristics of those we’re trying to replace.”

This philosophy has driven Webster to look for components and additives from agriculture products. “I appreciate living in North Dakota because of the variety of sustainable agriculture materials for my work.” His soy-based resins developed through the United Soybean Board proved to be an effective alternative to traditional processing aids used in automotive tire treads.

Another area of interest to Webster is robotic combinatorial and high throughput materials. His Combinatorial Materials Research Laboratory (CMRL) utilizes an automated approach with robotic systems to rapidly synthesize and test large libraries of diverse materials. This allows for efficient screening of new materials with desired properties by quickly generating and analyzing a wide range of compositions in parallel using automated techniques including robotic sample preparation and high-throughput characterization methods. Webster’s research group has utilized this system to study both anti-fouling and ice-resistant coatings materials.

After discovering a love for organic chemistry in high school, Webster went on to major in chemistry and soon discovered the world of polymers in his undergraduate and graduate research. Upon graduation, he was hired by paint and coating manufacturer Sherwin-Williams and he became knowledgeable about the coatings program at NDSU when the company sent him to Fargo for a short course. After Sherwin-Willams, he spent nearly a decade at Eastman Chemical Company.

“NDSU is one of only five universities in the country with a coatings and polymeric program as in depth as ours,” he said. “Ours is the only standalone program and is considered to be a leader in the nation. Our graduates typically have multiple job offers even before they are finished with their degrees.” To date, Webster has mentored 45 graduate students and numerous undergraduate researchers.

Given his history in industry and as the founder of Renuvix LLC (a Fargo-based high-performance resin and polymer company), Webster learned the importance of commercialization and he notes that he continues to stress this with his students. “My experience in industry taught me that everything I create should be available to be commercialized. I always remind my students that while many researchers can create and combine components, it’s important to always consider how to do so with scalability and expense in mind.”

Webster has received other accolades including being named as an American Chemical Society Fellow and winning numerous national and international awards including the Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings from the American Chemical Society and the Mattiello Memorial Lecture Award from the American Coatings Association.

A previous James A. Meier Senior Professor at NDSU, Webster is a named inventor on 47 U.S. Patents and four foreign patents in the field of polymers and coatings from his tenure as a scientist at Eastman Chemical Company and at NDSU. He is also director of the Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (CB²). A National Science Foundation Industry & University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC), CB² focuses on developing high-value biobased products from agricultural and forestry feedstocks.

Fitzgerald commented how Webster’s work is of global and individual stature. “Dr. Webster’s work has impacted groups across globe by improving the science behind coatings, which has resulted in high performance products that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. His entrepreneurship has also built upon and driven NDSU’s coatings research reputation and resulted in opportunities for his students to create their own impacts.”

In an press release from NAI announcing the 2024 Fellows Class, Dr. Paul Sanberg, FNAI, President of the NAI said, “This year’s Class of NAI Fellows represents a truly impressive caliber of inventors. Each of these individuals are tackling real-world issues and creating solutions that propel us into the future. NAI Fellows as a whole are a driving force of innovation, generating crucial advancements across scientific disciplines and creating tangible impacts as they move their technologies from lab to marketplace.”

About the NAI: A member organization comprising U.S. and international universities; governmental agencies; and non-profit research institutes, the NAI was founded to recognize and encourage inventors with U.S. patents, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and to create wider public understanding of how its members’ inventions benefit society.

• Complete list of 2024 NAI Class of Fellows
• Webster Research Group
• Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (CB²)