University of Delaware innovator Darrin Pochan has been elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) — the highest professional distinction awarded solely to academic inventors. 

Pochan, Distinguished Professor of Materials Science, is among 170 academic inventors nationwide named to NAI’s 2024 Class of Fellows, which was announced on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

NAI fellow status is reserved for inventors who create or facilitate “outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.” 

Pochan, who joined UD in 1999, is internationally known as a leader in the study of soft materials and polymers. His work involves designing molecules that zip up, or self-assemble, into unique structures with desirable properties. 

For example, Pochan uses peptides — protein building blocks — to form new materials. Hydrogels invented by Pochan, in collaboration with former UD professor Joel Schneider, have been patented at UD and licensed by Gel4Med, a Harvard University-based company, to advance wound care and healing. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two new wound management products that include Pochan’s patented hydrogels, which are being piloted in health care settings in the United States.

“Dr. Pochan’s foundational work in the field of soft matter and polymer materials areas has helped guide the field and drives others toward new ideas. Gel4Med is just the first of many impacts to be realized from Pochan’s work,” said Julius Korley, associate vice president of UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships (OEIP), the unit responsible for managing intellectual property at UD.

Among his other inventions, Pochan and his collaborators Chris Kloxin at UD and Jeff Saven at Penn, along with their research groups, created bundlemers, a new, self-assembled peptide particle that serves as a fundamental building block to create new materials and drive new discoveries. Bundlemer building blocks are being used to enable new hybrid nanomaterials with wide-ranging applications, from high-performance fibers to liquid crystals. Advances in the computational design of positively charged bundlemer peptides were recently highlighted in Nature Communications.

Pochan holds five patents and three patents-pending. Many of his patented peptides have been licensed to companies for commercialization into practical applications.

“Professor Pochan's ability to bridge the gap between academia and industry is truly commendable, as he demonstrates the transformative power of academic research in addressing real-world challenges,” wrote Levi Thompson, who served as dean of the College of Engineering from 2018 until July 31, 2024.

Collaboration has been a hallmark of Pochan’s career that has led to cooperative, interdisciplinary projects with peers at UD and at other institutions. As one example, Pochan co-leads an interdisciplinary research group of UD’s Center for Hybrid Active and Responsive Materials (CHARM), along with April Kloxin, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and materials science and engineering. CHARM is a National Science Foundation-funded Materials, Research, Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) with over $18 million in funding for various projects, many of which focus on materials that Pochan co-invented.

Pochan is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, American Chemical Society, American Physical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His career accolades include being awarded the American Physical Society’s John H. Dillon medal in 2007. 

A dedicated teacher and mentor, Pochan currently advises 14 graduate students and has previously advised over 30 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, including 22 doctoral students. He also is a servant-leader, having completed eight years as chair of UD’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, among other roles.

Pochan is the author or coauthor of more than 170 publications that, collectively, have been cited over 26,000 times. He is a frequent reviewer for multiple scientific journals and has held several editorial appointments, including as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Soft Matter, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2025, Pochan will chair the Gordon Research Conference.

Worldwide, there are 2,068 NAI fellows, including Nobel laureates, members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and/or the U.S. National Medal of Science, placing Pochan among an elite group of individuals. Pochan will be formally inducted to the 2024 Class of Fellows at the 14th NAI Annual Conference, June 23-26, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Growing contingent of NAI fellows at UD

UD is a nationally classified R1 research powerhouse, as well as a land grant, sea grant, space grant and community engagement university. The University’s expanding culture of innovation and entrepreneurship continues to contribute creative problem-solving and economic vitality serving Delaware, the region and beyond.  

Pochan joins a select group of UD inventors who have been recognized as NAI fellows since 2012. This growing list includes 2010 Chemistry Nobel Laureate, Richard “Dick” Heck, whose chemical synthesis discoveries, including the “Heck reaction,” led to advances in pharmaceuticals, genome sequencing and electronic display devices, as well as John Elias and Wayne Westerman, founders of FingerWorks, who developed the touchscreen technology used in smart devices today.

The full list of UD inventors previously selected for NAI fellow status includes Joseph Fox, professor of chemistry and biochemistry (2023); Gonzalo Arce, Charles Black Evans Professor of Electrical Engineering (2022); Kelvin Lee, Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering and director of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL); Thomas Epps, Allan and Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, with a joint appointment in Materials Science and Engineering (2021); Eleftherios “Terry” Papoutsakis, Unidel Eugene du Pont Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2020); Kristi Kiick, Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (2019); Yushan Yan, Henry Belin du Pont Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Center for Clean Hydrogen at UD (2018); Dennis Prather, Engineering Alumni Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (2017); the late Richard Heck, a Nobel laureate and Willis F. Harrington Professor Emeritus of Chemistry; Norm Wagner, Unidel Robert L. Pigford Chair in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2015); the late Babatunde Ogunnaike, William L. Friend Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2014); John Elias, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Wayne Westerman, who earned a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering at UD (2013); and former UD President Patrick Harker (2012).