December 17, 2025

UW Researchers David Baker and Lih-Yuan Lin elected to National Academy of Inventors

UW researchers David Baker and Lih-Yuan Lin have been elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 2025 class of NAI Fellows. The NAI Fellowship, founded in 2012, is the highest professional distinction awarded to solely to inventors.

David Baker, Head of the Institute for Protein Design and Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, and Lih-Yuan Lin, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, will be inducted at the NAI 15th annual meeting in June 2026. Their selection brings to the total number of NAI Fellows at the UW to 10.

The 2025 NAI Fellows class includes 169 distinguished academic and institutional inventors in the U.S., representing 127 universities and institutions across 40 states, and 16 international Fellows. Their achievements span all major fields of discovery, and their research translated into products and services that improve lives and help solve the most pressing issues of our time.