Horacio Espinosa Sc.M.'89, Sc.M'90, Ph.D.'92, P'02 has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer. He was cited "for contributions bridging nanoscale experimentation and atomistic simulations."
Espinosa is the James N. and Nancy J. Farley Professor in Manufacturing & Entrepreneurship and professor of mechanical engineering and (by courtesy) biomedical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University. His research focuses on understanding the mechanical behavior of natural and synthetic nanomaterials across scales, from nano to macro, as well as developing micro/nano devices for materials research and personalized medicine. He also serves as the director of Northwestern Engineering's Theoretical and Applied Mechanics graduate program and Institute for Cellular Engineering Technologies.
Espinosa is a fellow at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. His many honors include the Society of Engineering Science's Prager Medal and the Society for Experimental Mechanics' Murray Medal.
Espinosa received two master's degrees from Brown (in engineering and applied mathematics) and earned his Ph.D. in engineering at Brown in 1992. He becomes the 20th Brown engineering graduate in the NAE, joining an exclusive list that includes: Lallit Anand Sc.M. '72 Ph.D. '75 (elected 2018), Wei Yang Ph.D. '85 (elected 2018), Sangeeta Bhatia '90 (elected 2015), Guruswami Ravichandran Sc.M. '83 Ph.D. '87 (elected 2015), H. David Hibbitt Ph.D. '72 (elected 2013), Enrique Lavernia '82 (elected 2013), Ares J. Rosakis Sc.M.'80 Ph.D.'83 (elected 2011), Jean-Yves Parlange Ph.D.'62 (elected 2006), Alan I. Taub '76 (elected 2006), Robert M. McMeeking Ph.D.'75 (elected 2005), Chain T. Liu Sc.M.'64 Ph.D.'67 (elected 2004), Hratch Gregory Semerjian Sc.M.'68 Ph.D.'72 (elected 2000), Marc S. Newkirk '69 (elected 1997), Wai-Fah Chen Ph.D.'66 (elected 1995), George J. Dvorak Ph.D.'69 (elected 1995), T. Dixon Dudderar Ph.D.'66 (elected 1992), William F. Allen '41 (elected 1986), Walter J. Weber '56 (elected 1985), and Thomas O. Paine '42 (elected 1973).
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." With the election of the new members, the total U.S. membership is now at 2,309 and the number of international members is at 281.