Six Lehigh University professors have been named Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors. The 2025 cohort comprises 162 academic inventors representing 64 NAI Member Institutions across the United States. Collectively, they are named inventors on over 1200 U.S. patents.

“This year’s class comes from a multitude of impressive fields and research backgrounds from across the world,” said NAI President Paul R. Sanberg. “We applaud their pursuit of commercialization to ensure their groundbreaking technologies can make a difference by tackling the world’s most pressing issues, improving quality of life across society, and advancing the economy.”

Included in the cohort is Volkmar Dierolf, professor of physics, and Xiaoji Xu, associate professor of chemistry. Dierolf's research centers on understanding the role of defects in insulating and semiconducting materials and leveraging these insights to create innovative optical materials and devices. His work has significant real-world applications, particularly in fields such as micro-displays and optoelectronic devices. Dierolf is a co-inventor on patents related to glass waveguides with Himanshu Jain in the PC Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

Xu's research focuses on developing scanning probe microscopy-based multimodal chemical nano-imaging and infrared spectroscopy tools. His research has led to the development of several new modes of atomic force microscopes. Lehigh has three licenses with Bruker Nano for Xu's technologies.

Also named NAI Senior Members are two faculty members in the College of Engineering: Jonas Baltrusaitis, associate professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering; Xuanhong Cheng, professor, bioengineering and materials science and engineering; Siddha Pimputkar, associate professor, materials science and engineering; and Yahong Rosa Zheng, professor, electrical and computer engineering.

The 2025 class of Senior Members will be celebrated during a ceremony at the NAI’s 14th Annual Conference, June 23-26, in Atlanta.

Learn more about the National Academy of Inventors and the Senior Member program on the NAI website.