NDSU Professor and Chair of Coatings and Polymeric Materials Dean Webster was honored during North Dakota Senator John Hoeven’s annual State of Technology conference recently held in Fargo.

During his career, Webster has been the recipient of numerous patents for his research and he was presented with his latest directly by Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, who keynoted at the event.

Webster’s patent was issued on September 11, 2018 and is entitled “Biobased cyclic carbonate functional resins and polyurethane thermosets.” During the conference, he was called to stage and presented the patent by Iancu.

Webster didn’t know ahead of time that he would receive the patent that day. He commented, “It was a privilege to be able to meet the director of the USPTO in person and then to be handed my most recent United States Patent was incredible. It was an experience I will never forget.”

Along with serving as Chair of the Coatings and Polymeric Materials department, Webster is also Director of the Center for Sustainable Materials Science (CSMS). The CSMS and Webster’s patent are both supported by the National Science Foundation under ND EPSCoR Award #IIA-1355466 and by the State of North Dakota.