Dr. Noel Anderson earned a Ph.D. in computer engineering from Iowa State University. He was on the faculty of the electrical engineering department at North Dakota State University from 1988 until 1994 when he started a 30+ year career in the ag equipment industry, working for Concord Inc, Case Corporation (now CNH), and John Deere. In 2019, Noel was named a John Deere Fellow in Strategic Intellectual Property. In June 2024, he left John Deere and has been working as a collaborative consultant and educator on invention, innovation, and technology.

Noel’s creativity and prolific invention was recently recognized through the issuance of his 230th US patent. Many of his patents focus on ag equipment automation and autonomy spanning tillage, planting and seeding, crop care, harvesting, and logistics. These patents have garnered over 5500 forward citations on later granted patents. Sensing, machine health, machine intelligence, ag UAV applications, and precision agriculture are other major themes in his patent portfolio.