Sharpe wins ASEE Roe engineering honor

The American Society for Engineering Education honored ASME Fellow William N. Sharpe, Jr., in June for his contributions to engineering education accreditation by giving him its 2007 Ralph Coats Roe Award during the society's annual conference in Honolulu.

The ASEE Ralph Coats Roe Award, which includes a $10,000 honorarium for the winner, is widely regarded as the most prestigious mechanical engineering education award, according to Stephen T. McClain, Roe Award Committee chair for the society's mechanical engineering division. The award recognizes engineering educators for outstanding teaching skills and notable contributions to the mechanical engineering education profession.

William N. Sharpe, Jr.

Sharpe, the Drucker Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, was recognized "for his contributions to engineering education accreditation through service as an evaluator, team leader, and board member of ABET (formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology); for his leadership in reestablishing the department of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University by serving as department chair for 11 and a half years, by developing new courses, facilities, and an accredited curriculum, and by founding student sections of ASME and Pi Tau Sigma," according to ASEE's award designation.

The award also acknowledges Sharpe's "innovative research in optical strain measurement over short gage lengths in hostile environments as applied to elastoplastic metal behavior, and more recently to the mechanical properties of MEMS materials."

After receiving his doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1966, Sharpe worked at Michigan State University as an assistant professor and professor until 1978, when he joined the faculty at Louisiana State University as professor and chairman of the mechanical engineering department. He returned to Johns Hopkins in 1983 to serve as professor and chairman of the university's newly reestablished mechanical engineering department.

Sharpe, a founding member of ASME's Committee on Engineering Education, became an ABET evaluator in 1985, before either ABET or ASME had a formal process for training and reviewing evaluators. After serving a term as ABET chairman and helping develop the training and reviewing guidelines for the organization, Sharpe served a five-year term as one of five ASME members on ABET's Engineering Accreditation Commission. He then served for three years on ABET's Board of Directors. It was during this period that ABET introduced its EC2000 accreditation criteria, which compelled engineering programs to develop and implement systems for continuous improvement.

An ASME member since 1974, Sharpe has been a recipient of two ASME Dedicated Service Awards, as well as the Society's Nadai Medal for contributions and achievements that broaden the field of materials engineering.

back to news & features