President Alan W. Cramb

Alan W. Cramb, president of Illinois Institute of Technology, was inducted as a Fellow into the prestigious National Academy of Inventors (NAI), joining 168 leaders of invention and innovation with this distinction.

Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.

“I am honored to be inducted into the National Academy of Inventors,” said Illinois Tech President Alan W. Cramb, an internationally recognized metals and materials engineer. “Being named in the same category as other globally distinguished innovators and inventors in the NAI is a privilege. It is also a testament to Illinois Tech’s 126-year legacy of excellence in fostering innovations and inventions that have changed the course of history.”

The NAI Fellows Selection Committee chose Cramb for induction because he has “demonstrated a highly 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.”

Cramb joined 168 leaders of invention and innovation who were also named to Fellow status. Those named bring the total number of NAI Fellows to 582, representing over 190 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2015 Fellows account for 5,368 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 20,000.

Cramb was officially inducted on April 15, 2016, as part of the Fifth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors during the Fellows Induction Ceremony on April 15, 2016 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. In honor of his outstanding accomplishments, he was presented with a special trophy, medal, and rosette pin. Following his induction, Cramb attended a Fellows Only Reception located inside the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum.

Illinois Tech was recently named as a Member Institution of the NAI, joining a network of the world’s leading academic and research institutions of highest distinction.