Dr. Grewell received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Welding Engineering from Ohio State University.  He spent over a decade in industry, including engineering positions at the Edison Welding Institute and Branson Ultrasonic Corporation.  His academic career has been at Iowa State University, where, for the past 13 years, Professor Grewell worked in the areas of biorenewable biodegradable polymers, high-power ultrasonics, micro-fabrication, and polymer and metal welding.

A fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers, he serves as the United States’ representative for the International Institute of Welding and edited the Plastics and Composite Welding Handbook.  He has published over 65 journal papers, 14 book chapters, and over 60 refereed proceedings.  During his tenure at Iowa State he secured nearly $7M in competitive, external grants as PI and built a strong portfolio, including 15 US patents.  He founded, directed, and developed a highly successful NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCUR) focused on Bioplastics and Biocomposites (CB2) co-located at Iowa State University and Washington State University, with more than 25 industry member companies.  One of his goals at NDSU is to serve as a bridge connecting industry, government and NDSU, as well as mentor those researchers who desire to engage extramural and nongovernmental funding entities.