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Basset named 2016 NAI fellow

Jean-Marie Basset, KAUST distinguished professor of chemical science and director of the University's Catalysis Center, has been named a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors. File photo.

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Jean-Marie Basset, KAUST distinguished professor of chemical science and director of the University's Catalysis Center, has been named a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Basset joins two other KAUST faculty who are also NAI fellows, 2015 fellow Charlotte Hauser, professor of bioscience, and Jean Fréchet,​ distinguished professor of chemical science and vice president for research.

"Election to NAI fellow status attests to the innovation and impact of Basset's discoveries," said KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau.​ "This is a well-deserved honor for Basset, who continues to make outstanding contributions to chemistry in academia and industry."

The NAI Fellow program is the highest professional recognition accorded solely to academic inventors who 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.

Basset has over 50 patents and has authored more than 500 scientific papers and reports. He is best known for his development of surface organometallic chemistry, a new field of chemistry that has resulted in the discovery of a number of new catalytic reactions.

Basset holds various professional memberships to societies such as the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Academia Europaea, French Academy of Technologies and French Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of several national and international awards: the Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, the Max Planck Research Award, the Grand Prix de la Société Française de Chimie, the Distinguished Achievements Award of IMPI and the Augustine Award of the ORCS, among others.

With the election of the 2016 class, there are now 757 NAI fellows representing 229 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2016 fellows will be inducted on April 6 next year as part of the Sixth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.