University of Georgia professors John Ruter and Yajun Yan have been elected Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). This recognition brings the university’s total to 19 faculty members who have received this honor since 2012, marking the seventh consecutive year UGA has had faculty elected.
Election as an NAI Fellow is regarded as the highest professional distinction for academic inventors. The award recognizes individuals whose innovations have significantly influenced quality of life, economic development, and societal welfare.
“The election of John Ruter and Yajun Yan as National Academy of Inventors Fellows highlights the depth and breadth of innovation taking place at the University of Georgia,” said Chris King, interim vice president for research. “Their work reflects the university’s commitment to translating discovery into practical solutions that benefit society, strengthen our partnerships with industry and create meaningful impact that’s measured both in dollars and enhanced quality of life for people in Georgia and beyond.”
John Ruter holds the Allan Armitage Endowed Professorship in Horticulture at UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and directs the UGA Trial Gardens. He is known internationally for his contributions to ornamental plant breeding, focusing on developing new cultivars with improved aesthetics, resilience, and sustainability. Ruter has secured 30 issued U.S. plant patents, with more pending domestically and abroad; all have been licensed to industry partners. These cultivars have generated nearly $750,000 in royalties and are widely used within ornamental horticulture.
“Becoming a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors is quite an honor,” Ruter said. “I enjoy developing and patenting new ornamental plants and seeing the positive impact that they have on the nursery and landscape industries. Gratitude is indeed expressed to those staff, graduate students and student workers who have helped me over the years, as well as support from the Innovation Gateway at UGA.”
In addition to his research work, Ruter mentors graduate students and participates in community outreach through programs such as Experience UGA, Trial Gardens tours, and other extension initiatives. He has previously been named a Fellow by both the American Society for Horticultural Science and Southern Region International Plant Propagators’ Society. His accolades include awards from professional societies such as the Julian C. Miller Senior Distinguished Research Award from ASHS, UGA Inventor of the Year Award, Plant Licensing Innovation Award from CAES at UGA, and D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Research.
Yajun Yan is a professor in biochemical engineering at UGA’s College of Engineering. His research focuses on industrial metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and biochemical engineering aimed at creating sustainable microbial processes for manufacturing valuable natural products or industrial compounds. Yan is listed on 24 invention disclosures at UGA that resulted in 13 domestic patents plus four foreign patents; most are licensed commercially.
Among his notable achievements is developing a scalable microbial process to produce 5-hydroxytryptophan—a serotonin precursor used in supplements—via sustainable means. Through these discoveries he helped found two startups: BiotecEra and Genedartec; together they attracted over $20 million in investment funding while creating more than 50 jobs.
Yan has received several honors including UGA Entrepreneur of the Year Award; American Heart Association National Scientist Development Award; NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award; Lowry H. Gillespie Jr. Engineering Curriculum Enhancement Award; along with UGA’s Excellence in Research award for engineering.
“This recognition is a profound honor that affirms the significance of my research in advancing synthetic biology and metabolic engineering toward more sustainable and impactful biomanufacturing solutions,” Yan said. “It reflects the collective efforts of my students, collaborators and institutional support at UGA and reinforces the broader societal impact of our work in enabling greener pathways for producing chemicals, materials and medicines.
“Most importantly, it motivates me to continue pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary research and translating fundamental discoveries into technologies that address global challenges.”
Ruter and Yan will be formally inducted as Fellows during a ceremony scheduled June 4 at the NAI Annual Conference in Los Angeles.
