The University of Notre Dame has earned a spot on the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents in 2025, a list published annually by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
The Top 100 U.S. Universities ranking highlights and celebrates U.S. academic institutions that play a large role in advancing innovation through the critical step of protecting their intellectual property through patents. A strong patent portfolio enables and empowers researchers to translate their inventions: bringing important technologies to the marketplace, bolstering the economy and creating impactful societal solutions.
Patents awarded to Notre Dame over the past year include new printable electronics and biosensing devices; highly specific insecticides; new methods for cancer drug development, single-cell capture and nanoparticle assembly; new systems to enable fast flight; novel dyes for bioimaging; new technologies for making wireless communication more secure and more energy-efficient; and more.
“Securing a place among top patent grantees requires a robust research and innovation ecosystem, one which we have cultivated here at the University,” said Karen Deak, executive director of the University’s IDEA Center. “We’re proud to empower our researchers to translate their discoveries into impact, and ensure that Notre Dame’s research does not merely exist in the lab, but is positioned to drive economic growth and improve lives through commercialization.”
“These universities and their inventive faculty are at the forefront of driving national innovation and competitiveness,” said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI. “By moving their ideas to market and protecting their IP with patents, these institutions are ensuring that the U.S. not only remains competitive on the global stage, but directly shapes the future of innovation.”
The NAI has published the Top 100 Worldwide Universities list since 2013 and introduced the Top 100 U.S. Universities list in 2023 to provide a more focused view of the national innovation landscape and the contributions made by U.S. academic institutions.
In addition to its institutional rankings, the NAI also recognizes individual academic inventors through its fellows and senior member programs. Current Notre Dame faculty who have also been elected NAI fellows include Nosang Myung, the Bernard Keating-Crawford Professor of Engineering and the faculty director of the Analytical Science and Engineering at Notre Dame (ASEND) core facility and the Materials Characterization Facility; Edward Maginn, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Engineering and associate vice president for research; Ashley Thrall, the Myron and Rosemary Noble Collegiate Professor of Structural Engineering; Hsueh-Chia Chang, the Bayer Corporation Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Gary Bernstein, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Electrical Engineering.
Recently, three faculty members were selected as senior members: Jonathan Chisum, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering; Patrick Fay, the Stinson Professor of Nanotechnology; and Tom O’Sullivan, the Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Biomedical Electronics.
Learn more about innovation at Notre Dame on the IDEA Center’s website.
Originally posted at news.nd.edu by Erin Fennessy on March 19, 2026.