Three members of the MIT School of Engineering — Anant Agarwal, John Hansman, and Edward Merrill — are among the 69 new members and 11 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) on Feb. 7. MIT President Emeritus Charles M. Vest, , NAE president since 2007, made the announcement today.
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to 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.”
- Anant Agarwal, president of edX and a professor of computer science and engineering, was cited for contributions to shared-memory and multicore computer architectures.
- John Hansman PhD ’82, the T. Wilson Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was recognized for development of aviation display and alerting systems for air safety.
- Edward Wilson Merrill ScD ’47, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was recognized for contributions to biocompatible materials, bio-rheology, and biomedical engineering education.
“Anant, John, and Ed have made outstanding contributions to their fields, and I am delighted to see them acknowledged by the National Academy of Engineering,” says Ian Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering. “They are dedicated scholars and educators, and fantastic members of MIT’s community.”
Including this year’s inductees, 175 members of MIT’s engineering community have been elected to the NAE. With this week’s announcement, NAE’s total U.S. membership stands at 2,250; the number of foreign associates is at 211.
A number of MIT alumni were also named to the NAE this year, including Joseph Beaman Jr. ScD ‘79; Weng Cho Chew ’76, SM ’78, PhD ’80; David Dill ’79; Helen Greiner ’89, SM ’90; Maurice Herlihy SM ’80, PhD ’84; Edward Kavazanjian ’73, SM ’75; Charles Kolb ’67; Enrique Lavernia SM ’84, PhD ’86; Raphael Lee ScD ’80; José Moura SM ’73, ScD’75; and Jens Rasmussen ScD ’64 (as foreign associate). Ursula Burns, a member of the MIT Corporation and the 2011 Commencement speaker, was also among this year’s inductees.