Engineers Without Borders' Amadei Among ASME Members Elected to the NAE

Benedict Bahner
ASME News Online

Last month, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released its list of 65 new members and nine foreign associates. Five ASME members, including Engineers Without Borders founder Bernard Amadei, were among the engineers and scientists elected to the academy.

This total U.S. membership in NAE is now 2,227 while the number of foreign associates named to the academy now numbers 194.

Bernard Amadei

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Amadei, who is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, was selected for "the creation of Engineers Without Borders, leadership in sustainable development education, and research on geomechanics." Amadei, who was the keynote speaker at the 2007 ASME Congress in Seattle, was the recipient of the ASME Ralph Coats Roe Medal in 2006.

Dennis N. Assanis

ASME Fellow Dennis N. Assanis, the John R. and Beverly S. Holt Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was also elected to the academy last month. Assanis, an ASME member since 1987, was recognized for "scientific contributions to improving fuel economy and reducing emissions of internal combustion engines, and for promoting automotive engineering education." He is a member of the Mechanical Engineering Department Heads Committee, as well as the 1990 winner of ASME's Pi Tau Sigma Gold Award.

Robert H. Dodds, Jr.

Robert H. Dodds, Jr., professor and department head at the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was cited by the academy for "contributions to distributed algorithms and the security of cryptosystems." Dodds has been an ASME member since 1993. Stephen Malkin, an ASME Life Fellow, was named to the NAE for "pioneering research in and the implementation of grinding-system simulation and optimization."

Stephen Malkin

Malkin, an ASME member since 1968, is a distinguished professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a member of the Society's Mechanical Engineering Department Heads Committee and the 1993 recipient of ASME's Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award.

Robert F. Sawyer

Longtime ASME member Robert F. Sawyer, Professor of Energy Emeritus in the University of California, Berkeley's mechanical engineering department, was named to the academy for his "pioneering work in reducing energy consumption and improving the environment, and for contributions to our understanding of air pollution." Sawyer, a Society member since 1957, was the recipient of ASME's Soichiro Honda Medal in 2003.

Zhigang Suo

Zhigang Suo, the Allen E. and Marilyn M. Puckett Professor of Mechanics and Materials at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, was elected for "fundamental and applied contributions to the thermo-mechanical performance of electronic material systems, actuators materials, and composites." Suo, an ASME Fellow, is an active member of ASME's Applied Mechanics Division, and was the recipient of the Society's Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal in 1994. He has been a member of ASME since 1990.

For the complete list of new NAE members and foreign associates, visit www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.
aspx?RecordID=02082008.

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