National Academy of Inventors Fellows at Purdue
NAI Fellow 2025
David Nolte
College of Science
The NAI Fellows Program celebrates academic inventors whose work spans multiple disciplines and exemplifies their collaboration, dedication and innovation to transform research into real-world commercial technologies that contribute to the betterment of society.
Breakthroughs in light‑based imaging and diagnostics
Nolte is an internationally recognized researcher in holography and laser interferometry. He’s known for pioneering the BioCD, creating inexpensive diagnostic tools used in the companion-animal veterinary marketplace. His research group uses laser interferometry to study the interaction of light with living and active matter with a focus on biological tissue, offering innovative biomedical imaging applications.
He has written more than 200 journal papers and 15 book chapters or encyclopedia articles, as well as three trade books explaining modern technology physics and science history in simple terms.
From research to patent to product
Nolte is an integral part of Purdue’s commercialization of intellectual property. He has secured many patents in interferometric optics and biophotonics and was a technical founder of two Purdue-based startup companies focused on biological applications of interferometric detectors.
Relevant recent stories
In Print: ‘Interference: The History of Optical Interferometry and the Scientists Who Tamed Light’
