Seven Women Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering recently elected 66 new members, bringing the total membership to 2,254. WIAReport has determined that among the 66 new members, only seven are women.

(L to R) Barbara D. Boynan, Mary C. Boyce, Joan F. Brennecke, Victoria F. Haynes, Diane M. McKnight, Christine A. Shoemaker, and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

Barbara D. Boynan holds the Price Gilbert Jr. Chair in Tissue Engineering and is the associate dean for research at the College of Engineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was elected for her work on engineering implant technologies for bone and cartilage repair.

Dr. Boynan holds bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees, all from Rice University in Houston.

Mary C. Boyce is the Ford Professor of Engineering and chair of the department of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was selected for her work on the mechanics of deformation in engineered and natural polymeric solids.

Professor Boyce has been on the faculty at MIT since 1987. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from MIT.

Joan F. Brennecke is the Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Energy Center at the University of Notre Dame. Professor Brennecke was chosen for membership for “innovation in the use of ionic liquids and supercritical fluids for environmentally benign chemical processing.”

Dr. Brennecke is a graduate of the University of Texas. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

Victoria F. Haynes is president and CEO of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. She was honored for integrating research, economics, and social sciences to solve multidisciplinary problems.

Dr. Hayes has been president of RTI since 1999, but recently announced her retirement. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Boston University.

Diane M. McKnight is a professor of civil, environmental, and archietectural engineering at the University of Colorado. She is a fellow of the university’s  Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The academy recognized her research on the interrelationship of natural organic matter and heavy metals in streams and lakes.

Professor McKnight holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Christine A. Shoemaker is the Joseph P. Ripley Professor of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She was elected for her development of decision-making alogorithms for environmental and water resesources problems.

Dr. Shoemaker has been on the Cornell faculty since 1972. She is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Southern California.

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic is a professor of biomedial engineering and director of the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia University in New York City. She was elected to the academy for her work in bioreactor systems and for modeling approaches for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Professor Vunjak-Novakovic holds a Ph.D. from the University of Belgrade.