After serving in the US Air Force R&D and a successful 26-year career in industry including manufacturing engineering and management positions, Dr. Wells joined the academic world to pursue his love of teaching. In 2000, he accepted the invitation to come to the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department at NDSU. He led the department for a number of years and continued as professor for 17 years.

Dr. Wells had a unique ability to connect with his students. Not only did he teach the hard sciences involved with engineering courses, he was able to help students learn about business and industry to innovate and seek entrepreneurial opportunities. Dr. Wells' teaching style was discovery-led, allowing the students to seek out answers by applying theories in real-life scenarios. He set high standards, but then worked tirelessly to help students achieve them. His methodology drew students to sign up for his innovation team multiple semesters. Success to him meant seeing his students develop a new company, file a patent application, or seeing alumni career trajectories. This connection helped light the path for many students' careers and defines his significant contributions to the IME Department.

Dr. Wells was not only involved with the academic life at NDSU, he also became a regular contributor in the local Fargo-Moorhead entrepreneurial community and served in many professional organizations at the national level. He and his family also enjoyed Bison athletics and area fine arts events.