ASME Honors Nine Engineering Innovators at IMECE 2016
ASME Honors Nine Engineering Innovators at IMECE 2016
Dec. 9, 2016
The professional achievements of nine distinguished engineers — including J.N. Reddy, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University, James Duderstadt, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, and Helen L. Reed, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University — were recognized by ASME at this year’s Honors Assembly. The multimedia ceremony, which was held Nov. 13 during the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Phoenix, was co-hosted by ASME President Keith Roe and Krishna Gupta, chair of the Committee on Honors.
Dr. Reddy, the Oscar S. Wyatt endowed chair professor, distinguished professor, and Regents Professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, received the Society’s highest award, the ASME Medal, during the awards ceremony. The ASME Medal, which was established in 1920, recognizes eminently distinguished engineering achievement. Reddy, an ASME Fellow, received the award for his contributions to applied mechanics through authored textbooks and the development of shear deformation plate and shell finite elements for the accurate determination of interlaminar stresses in composite structures, which have had a major impact on engineering education and practice.
Dr. Duderstadt, president emeritus and university professor of science and engineering at the University of Michigan, was presented the ASME Ralph Coats Roe Medal, which recognizes an outstanding contribution toward a better public understanding and appreciation of the engineer’s worth to contemporary society. Duderstadt was honored for his significant contributions to the engineering profession and society through research, teaching, public policy and service activities. In his current position at the University of Michigan, he is co-director of the school’s Science, Technology and Public Policy Program and director of the Millennium Project, a research center that explores the impact of over-the-horizon technologies on society.
Dr. Reed, professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University, received the ASME Kate Gleason Award for lifetime achievement in the fundamental understanding and control of boundary layer transition for high-efficiency aerospace vehicles, and in pioneering small satellite design and implementation. The award, which was established in 2011 in honor of the first female engineer to become a full member of ASME, recognizes women engineers who are either highly successful entrepreneurs in a field of engineering or who have had a lifetime of achievement in the engineering profession. Reed, an ASME Fellow, is currently Regents Professor, Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence and holder of the Edward “Pete” Aldridge ’60 Professorship at Texas A&M.
Evangelos Trifon Laskaris, Ph.D., chief engineer in diagnostics imaging and biomedical technologies at GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y., was also among the honorees at the event. Dr. Laskaris was the recipient of the Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy and Roland V. Fitzroy Medal, for pioneering contributions to the frontiers of engineering leading to breakthroughs in existing technology or leading to new applications or new areas of engineering endeavor. Laskaris was honored for his pioneering contributions to the design and construction of superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging systems and energy applications, and for his continued efforts to increase the affordability and availability of MRI equipment within the world’s underserved regions.
Bernard E. Hrubala, until recently the global business development manager for pressure equipment certification at TÜV Rheinland AIA Services LLC in Houston, received the ASME Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal for his outstanding leadership in ASME Standards and Certification, particularly the advancement and promulgation of the Society’s conformity assessment programs, the global acceptance of ASME codes and standards, and the implementation of key initiatives that continue to enhance ASME’s position as a world-renowned standards development organization. An ASME Fellow, Hrubala has nearly 40 years of experience in the pressure equipment industry in such areas as international conformity assessment, ASME codes and standards compliance, jurisdictional requirements, inspection, and auditing.
Lijie Grace Zhang, Ph.D., an associate professor at the George Washington University, was this year’s recipient of the Society’s Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award, which honors research excellence in experimental, computational or theoretical aspects of mechanics of materials by young investigators within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D. degree. Dr. Zhang was recognized her pioneering research in tissue engineering and biomechanics for the development of novel biologically inspired nanomaterials; and for research in the integration of nanobiomaterials with advanced 3D bioprinting for complex tissue and organ regeneration.
Three ASME Fellows — Christina H. Amon, Ph.D., Ashwani Gupta, Ph.D., and Shiv G. Kapoor, Ph.D. — were elevated to the highest level membership in the Society, Honorary Membership, at the Honors Assembly this year. The award, which was first bestowed in 1880, the founding year of the Society, recognizes a lifetime of distinguished service by individuals whose work has contributed substantially to the highest goals of the engineering profession.
Dr. Amon, the dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and alumni chair professor of bioengineering at the University of Toronto, was recognized for her outstanding contributions as a researcher focusing on heat transfer, as dean of engineering at the University of Toronto, as a leader in ASME and the engineering community, and as an advocate for increased diversity within the profession. In addition to her role as dean, Amon is also a renowned researcher in the development of computational fluid dynamics for formulating and solving thermal design problems subject to multidisciplinary competing constraints, with a focus on nanoscale thermal transport in semiconductors, energy systems and bioengineered devices.
Dr. Gupta, a distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland (UMD), was honored for his distinguished research and educational contributions, particularly those related to energy and environmental sustainability; for mentoring high school students; and for providing services to government and industry. An expert in combustion engineering with more than 40 years of experience, Gupta is internationally recognized for his contributions to energy and environmental sustainability. Gupta’s current research focuses on the development of near zero emission combustion with uniform thermal field under high intensity combustion conditions for stationary gas turbines.
Dr. Kapoor, the third recipient of ASME Honorary Membership at the ceremony, was recognized for his more than 30 years of pioneering contributions to manufacturing engineering through basic and applied research with close collaboration with industrial users, the education and mentoring of young engineers, and lifelong service to ASME and other professional societies. Currently the Grayce Wicall Gauthier Chair in mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kapoor is the director of the Manufacturing Research Center and a former director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Machine Tool Systems Research.
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