dr christodoulos a floudas director of the texas a&m energy institute and the erle nye 59 chair professor for engineering excellence in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering at texas a&m university has been named a fellow of the national academy of inventors (nai) election to nai fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to 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 the nai fellows will be inducted on april 15 as part of the fifth annual conference of the national academy of inventors at the united states patent and trademark office (uspto) in alexandria virginia uspto deputy commissioner for patents andrew hirshfeld will provide the keynote address for the induction ceremony fellows will be presented with a special trophy medal and rosette pin in honor of their outstanding accomplishments floudas is a world-renowned authority in mathematical modeling and optimization of complex systems he has received numerous awards and honors for teaching and research including election to the national academy of engineering in 2011 being named a siam fellow in 2013 a tias fellow and eminent scholar for 2013-14 and aiche fellow in 2013 a thomson reuters highly cited researcher and recipient of the constantin caratheodory prize in 2015 floudas earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from carnegie mellon university in 1986 and joined the faculty at princeton university as an assistant professor later that year prior to coming to texas a&m floudas was a professor of chemical and biological engineering at princeton and served as the stephen c macaleer 63 professor in engineering and applied science a total of 168 individuals were named nai fellows bringing the total number of fellows to 582 representing more than 190 prestigious research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions the 2015 fellows account for more than 5 300 issued us patents bringing the collective patents held by all nai fellows to more than 20 000 these academic luminaries have made a significant impact to the economy through innovative discoveries creating startup companies and enhancing the culture of academic inventions included among all nai fellows are more than 80 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes 310 members of the other national academies (nas nae nam) 27 inductees of the national inventors hall of fame 32 recipients of the us national medal of technology and innovation and us national medal of science 27 nobel laureates 14 lemelson-mit prize recipients 170 aaas fellows and 98 ieee fellows about nai: the national academy of inventors® is a 501(c)(3) non profit member organization comprised of us and international universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions with over 3 000 individual inventor members and fellows spanning more than 200 institutions and growing rapidly it was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the us patent and trademark office enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation encourage the disclosure of intellectual property educate and mentor innovative students and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society the nai edits the multidisciplinary journal technology and innovation published by cognizant communication corporation (ny)