Duke Members of the National Academy of Engineering

Since its founding in 1964, more than two dozen Duke alumni and faculty have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering—considered the greatest professional honor accorded an engineer in the United States.

9 Duke faculty are NAE members

Members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) are national leaders who have distinguished themselves in industry, research, and public policy.

At present, nine NAE members are on the Duke Engineering faculty.

NAE citations for our faculty and alumni are inscribed onto the Recognition Wall in the Fitzpatrick Center—creating a permanent record of achievement and a tangible source of inspiration for all Duke Engineers.

2019

Ana Barros

Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

For contributions to understanding and prediction of precipitation dynamics and flood hazards in mountainous terrains.

Vahid Tarokh

Rhodes Family Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering

For contributions to space-time coding and its applications to multi-antenna wireless communications.

2017

Blake S. Wilson, '74, '15

Adjunct Professor of Surgery

For engineering development of the cochlear implant that bestows hearing to individuals with profound deafness.

2016

William A. Hawkins III, '76

For leadership in biomedical engineering and translational medicine.

Kristina Johnson

Dean of Engineering, 1999-2007

For development and deployment of liquid crystal on silicon display technologies, the basis for high speed optoelectronic 3D imaging.

Jennifer West

Fitzpatrick Family University Professor of Engineering

For developments in photothermal and theranostic therapies and bioabsorbed scaffolds for tissue regeneration.

2015

Ingrid Daubechies

James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics
Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

For contributions to the mathematics and applications of wavelets.

Mark R. Wiesner

James B. Duke Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

For contributions to membrane technologies for water treatment and understanding of environmental behavior and risk of nanomaterials.

2014

M. Katherine Banks, '89

For contributions to phytoremediation of petroleum contamination, and for leadership in engineering education.

2011

Fred Lee, '72, '74

For contributions to high-frequency power conversion and systems integration technologies, education, industry alliances, and technology transfer.

2009

Frank L. Bowman, '66, '03

For leadership in the design of nuclear-reactor propulsion plants to support the power requirements of evolving combat systems.

Robert L. Cook, '73

For building the motion picture industry's standard rendering tool.

J. Turner Whitted, '69, '70

For contributions to computer graphics, notably recursive raytracing.

2005

Robert Calderbank

Charles S. Sydnor Professor of Computer Science
Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

For leadership in communications research, from advances in algebraic coding theory to signal processing for wire-line and wireless modems.

Edmund M. Clarke, Jr. '68

For contributions to the formal verification of hardware and software correctness.

2002

Douglas M. Chapin, '62

For improvements in reliability and the prevention and mitigation of core damage accidents in nuclear reactors worldwide.

2000

Joseph A. Yura, '59

For research and educational contributions on bracing and stability for steel structures.

1999

Theodore C. Kennedy, '52

For leadership and innovation in advancing the nation's construction industry.

1998

Robert M. Koerner, '68

For design and use of geosynthetics in the constructed environment.

1998

Charles H. Townes, '37, '66

For development of the maser and laser.

1997

Henry Petroski

Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering

For books, articles, and lectures on engineering and the profession that have reached and influenced a wide range of audiences.

1994

John H. Gibbons, '54, '97

For leadership in a broad spectrum of initiatives toward the development and communication of national policies for technological issues.

1993

Charles B. Duke, '59

For providing the theoretical foundations for developments in xerography.

Earl H. Dowell

William Holland Hall Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Dean Emeritus

For contributions to aeroelasticity and structural dynamics, which provide continuing insights into the behavior of complex structural systems.

1989

Robert E. Fischell, '51

For pioneering contributions to satellite altitude control and for leadership and innovation in bringing aerospace technology to implantable biomedical devices.

1986

Walter L. Brown, '53

For the discovery of semiconductor surface channels crucial in field effect transistors, and for contributions to ion beam uses in semiconductor diagnostics and processing.

Robert Plonsey

Pfizer-Pratt Professor Emeritus

For the application of electromagnetic field theory to biology, and for distinguished leadership in the emerging profession of biomedical engineering. Read a remembrance of Bob Plonsey »

1979

John Cocke, '45, '56, '88

For leadership in high performance computer design and contribution to the field of optimizing compilers.

Robert R. Everett, '42, '92

For pioneering of digital computers and their application to real-time control systems

1976

Frederick P. Brooks. Jr. '53

For contributions to computer system design and the development of academic programs in computer sciences.

Charles H. Holley, '41

For pioneering contributions to the evolution of turbine-generator design.

1974

Lewis M. Branscomb, '45, '71

For leadership in advancing national and international science and technology.