Eight members of the MIT community — Hari Balakrishnan, Sangeeta Bhatia, Emery N. Brown, Anantha Chandrakasan, Eric D. Evans, Karen K. Gleason, L. Rafael Reif, and Daniela Rus — are among the 67 new members and 12 foreign associates elected today to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to American engineers. 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.”  

Elected this year:

“MIT’s contribution to this year’s cohort is remarkable,” says Ian A. Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “I’m deeply gratified to see the accomplishments of so many members of our engineering community acknowledged. The range, depth, and scale of the accomplishments of these individuals is amazing.”

Including this year’s inductees, 131 current faculty and staff from MIT are members of the National Academy of Engineering. With this week’s announcement, NAE’s total U.S. membership stands at 2,263; the number of foreign associates is at 221.   

At least 14 MIT alumni were also named to the NAE this year, including Harry A. Atwater Jr. ’81, PhD ’87; Wesley G. Bush ’83, SM ’83; Jonathan P. Caulkins PhD ’90; Janet G. Hering PhD ’88; Thomas M. Jahns ’73, PhD ’78; John Klier ’84; Philip L-F Liu PhD ’74; Samir S. Mitragotri PhD ’96; Radia J. Perlman ’73, PhD ’88; Ghavam Shahidi ’81, PhD ’89; Doros N. Theodorou PhD ’85; Harry L. Van Trees Jr. ScD ’61; and Eric Franklin Wood ’73, ScD ’74.

Reprinted with permission of MIT News