Eight Women Faculty Members Named to the National Academy of Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering has 83 new members who will be inducted in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on September 30. The new members bring the total number of U.S. members to 2,293.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. 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.”

According to an analysis of the new membership list by WIAReport, it appears that there are 19 women among the 83 new members of the National Academy of Engineering. This is the same number as a year ago. Women appear to make up 22.9 percent of the new members. Eight of the 19 new women members currently hold faculty posts in academia.

Angela M. Belcher, Constance Jui-Hua Chang-Hasnain, Carolina Cruz-Neira, and Jennifer H. Elisseeff

Angela M. Belcher is the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is being honored for the “development of novel genetic evolution methods for the generation of new materials and devices.” Professor Belcher joined the faculty at MIT in 2001. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Constance Jui-Hua Chang-Hasnain is the John R. Winnery Distinguished Chair Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She taught at Stanford University from 1992 to 1996 after earning a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Chang-Hasnain was cited for “contributions to wavelength tunable diode lasers and multiwavelength laser arrays.”

Carolina Cruz-Neira is the director of the George R. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center and interim chair of the department of computer science at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. She is a graduate of the Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she majored in systems engineering. Dr. Cruz-Neira earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is being recognized for “contributions to immersive visualization.”

Jennifer H. Elisseeff is a professor of biomedical engineering and a professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the faculty at the university in 2001. Dr. Elisseeff is being honored for work on the “development and commercial translation of injectable biomaterials for regenerative therapies.” A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Professor Elisseeff holds a Ph.D. in medical engineering through a joint program of Harvard University and MIT.

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, Ann R. Karagozian, Judith S. Olson, and Yang Shao-Horn

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou is a distinguished professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine. She taught at the University of Minnesota from 1989 to 2016. Dr. Foufoula-Georgiou was selected for membership in the academy for “contributions to hydrology and hydroclimatology.” She is a graduate of the National Technical University in Athens, Greece, and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Florida.

Ann R. Karagozian is a distinguished professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Los Angles. She is being cited for “contributions to combustion and propulsion.” Dr. Karagozian has been on the faculty at UCLA since 1982. She is a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Judith S. Olson is the Donald Bren Professor Emerita of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She is being honored for “leadership, technical innovations, and development of systems that support collaborative work at a distance.” Dr. Olson s a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she majored in mathematics and psychology. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematical psychology from the University of Michigan.

Yang Shao-Horn is the W.M. Keck Professor of Energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of Beijing University of Technology in China and holds a Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University. Professor Shao-Horn was recognized for “contributions to design principles for catalytic activity for oxygen electrocatalysis for electrochemical energy storage for clean energy.”