Awards

21 February 2001 |

National Academy of Engineering honors five Berkeley professors
Five Berkeley professors — leaders in water pollution control, materials science, non-invasive surgery, microelectromechanical systems, and mineral exploration — have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional honor for an American engineer.

New members are David Jenkins, professor in the graduate school of civil and environmental engineering; Albert Pisano, professor of mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering and computer sciences; Robert Ritchie, professor of materials science and engineering; Shankar Sastry, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and professor of bioengineering; George Brimhall, a professor with a joint appointment in materials science and engineering, and earth and planetary science.

An authority on water quality, Jenkins was recognized for “theoretical and practical contributions to improving water quality worldwide through applied research on biological waste-water treatment processes.” He specializes in biological waste treatment, wastewater treatment, and water and wastewater chemistry.

Ritchie, an expert on the mechanical properties of materials, joined the faculty in 1981, and currently heads the structural materials department, materials science division, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He was recognized for his “contributions to the understanding of fatigue fracture and the failure of engineering structures.”

Sastry, whose research interests include minimally invasive surgery, interactive visualization, and rapid prototyping, was cited for “pioneering contributions to the design of hybrid and embedded systems.” He has been a Berkeley faculty member since 1983. Sastry recently served as director of the Information Technology Office at the federal government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

A faculty member since 1983, Pisano was honored by the academy for “contributions to the design, fabrication, commercialization, and educational aspects of MEMS.” Pisano, director of the Electronics Research Laboratory, also holds the FANUC Chair in Mechanical Systems.

Brimhall, joined the Berkeley faculty in 1978. An authority in mineral exploration, Brimhall is director of the Earth Resources Center. Brimhall was recognized for “contributions to the advancement of geological modeling and ore deposit exploration.”

The new members will be inducted into the academy at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. this October.