Robert J. Webster, the Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt, has been elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as well as elevated to IEEE Fellow, a prestigious title awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to members who have made significant contributions to the fields of engineering, science, and technology.
The NAI Fellow program recognizes academic inventors who have made significant contributions to innovation and society through their inventions and is considered the highest professional distinction awarded solely to academic inventors.
Each year, following a rigorous evaluation procedure, the IEEE Fellow Committee recommends a select group of recipients for elevation to IEEE Fellow. Less than 0.1% of voting members are selected annually for this member grade elevation. Webster was elevated for “contributions to medical robotics, haptics, and minimally invasive surgical technologies.”
“I have admired the past IEEE and NAI fellows for many years, and I’m deeply honored to be counted among them,” said Webster, Senior Associate Provost for Commercialization and Technology Transfer and co-founder of the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering. “Honors like these, while bestowed on an individual, are really the product of the ingenuity and hard work of scores of students, postdocs, and staff I’ve had the pleasure to work with over my 18 years at Vanderbilt, and each of them shares in this recognition. I am inspired and excited to be able to continue to work every day to make Vanderbilt a national and world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, so that we can powerfully impact the world with the amazing ideas produced at Vanderbilt every day.”
Webster, one of the inaugural Vanderbilt Innovation Ambassadors, is a pioneering figure in surgical robotics, leading transformative work in minimally invasive surgical procedures. His innovations have resulted in more than 75 patents and applications, and he has founded two startup companies, Virtuoso and EndoTheia. Both have received Breakthrough Device designation from the U.S. FDA, EndoTheia in 2023, and Virtuoso in 2025.
Last year, a multi-institutional team led by Webster was awarded up to $12 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a surgical robot capable of performing an entire surgery without human intervention. Webster also spearheaded a $12 million entrepreneurship hub that helps faculty and students across a four state network start companies.
“These latest honors are a testament to the meaningful, impactful work of Professor Webster,” said Krish Roy, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor. “His pioneering innovations, which have the potential to improve health across the globe, align directly with the School of Engineering’s mission to solve the grand societal and scientific grand challenges of our era, particularly in the fields of human health, energy and the environment, national security, and innovation beyond Earth. Congratulations to Professor Webster for these recognitions of his significant achievements.”
Webster will be formally inducted into the NAI during the 15th Annual NAI Conference, taking place June 1-4, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.
Contact: Lucas Johnson, lucas.l.johnson@vanderbilt.edu