Corie L. Cobb, ME professor and Washington Research Foundation Innovation Professor in Clean Energy, has been named a 2024 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

NAI Fellowship is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors. Those chosen for induction have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Cobb’s research lies at the intersection of manufacturing and engineered materials with a focus on renewable energy and environmental sustainability. Over the last 16 years of her professional career, she has advanced the commercialization and development of new manufacturing methods for semiconductors, energy storage and energy conversion materials. Her research has been recently funded by grants from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and industry partners. Cobb has 20 U.S. patents, seven U.S. patent applications and 45 international patents in the areas of additive manufacturing, materials processing, lithium-ion batteries and solar cells.

In 2023, Cobb was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in recognition of her outstanding record of scientific and technical achievements in advanced manufacturing and materials processing technologies. She also received the DARPA Director’s Fellowship in 2021 for her research on developing new additive manufacturing methods for energy storage materials. At the UW, she is an active member of the Clean Energy Institute and serves on the scientific advisory council for the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute.

This year’s 170 NAI Fellows hail from 135 research universities, governmental and non-profit research institutions worldwide. They collectively hold over 5,000 issued U.S. patents and whose innovations are making significant tangible societal and economic impacts. The 2024 Fellows will be honored and presented their medals by a senior official of the United States Patent and Trademark Office at the NAI 14th Annual Meeting in June 2025.