Dr. Mark E. Benden ’89, ’06 was inducted by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as a Fellow last month at the NAI 13th Annual Conference, Unlocking Innovation: Keys to Societal Solution, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Benden is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering and the Wm Michael Barnes ’66 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University, a faculty researcher at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station's Center for Remote Health Technologies & Systems, the department head for Environmental & Occupational Health at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, and director of the Center for Worker Health.
He is one of multidisciplinary engineering's most prolific faculty chairs and supervises several interdisciplinary engineering Ph.D. students, including Andrea Porter, the 2023-2024 winner of Texas A&M's 3 Minute Thesis competition.
"I hope that receiving this honor might encourage other young academic inventors and entrepreneurs," Benden said. "Most importantly, it will challenge me to keep pushing invention and discovery."
The NAI is comprised of U.S. and international universities, non-profit research institutes and governmental research institutes. It recognizes inventors with patents focused on academic technology and innovation that are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
For the last 35 years, Benden's research has focused on ergonomics and, in the past decade, digital humans and AI. He received a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary engineering from Texas A&M. His 25-year professional career in occupational safety and ergonomics has produced multiple processes, tools and devices to ease injury and illness risk and improve comfort and productivity.
His recognition follows a long career in discovery and invention with 25 U.S. patents and several more pending. Most of his inventions have been commercialized, and many are still in production. Sales of items carrying his patents have totaled more than $1 billion, and those designs' expected lifetime economic impact exceeds $2.5 billion.
I hope that receiving this honor might encourage other young academic inventors and entrepreneurs. Most importantly, it will challenge me to keep pushing invention and discovery.
His inventions include ergonomic seating and standing desks for adults and schoolchildren. These inventions were either the first of their kind or designed early in particular sectors. With numerous patent citations and multi-billion-dollar markets created by his inventions, Benden's work has proved foundational in his field.
"Ergonomic seating with adjustable features, standing desks and desk risers are not simply successful products," Benden said. "The research tied to their invention and development are a permanent part of multiple industry standards which impacts all products produced in those industries."
The most common question he has received in the past weeks following his NAI induction is, 'What is your best invention?'
"It's an easy question to answer – my next one. I still expect to create, innovate, improve, design, prototype and test the next best thing to help people prosper and remain safe."