National Academy of Inventors Fellows at Purdue
NAI Fellow 2021
Nien-Hwa (Linda) Wang
College of Engineering
Norman and Jane Li Professorship in Chemical Engineering
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.
Professor Wang’s research interests are in chemical and biochemical separations. She leads a team that developed innovative technologies to separate and purify rare earth and battery elements from a variety of sources including ores, postindustrial wastes, and recycled magnets.
She is a member of the Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame, and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
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issued U.S. patents
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US/PCT and provisional filings
(Prov: 23, US: 22, PCT: 13)
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disclosures
Her inventions have been licensed or optioned by over a dozen companies, including Fortune 500 companies. ReElement Technologies initially licensed Wang’s rare earth elements technology in 2021 from the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization with a 2024 license agreement which significantly expanded the fields of use and allowed the company to separate and purify rare earth and battery elements from any feedstock material.
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