Suresh among those named to inaugural class of Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering Fellows

The Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE) announced the election of 23 scientists and engineers to its inaugural class of Fellows. This distinguished group is recognized for exceptional contributions to their respective fields and their commitment to advancing the presence and influence of Asian Americans in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Among the individuals included is Subra Suresh, current Professor at Large of Brown University Engineering, President Emeritus of Nanyang Technological University, and former Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Suresh is a leading scientist, engineer and researcher, with decades of distinguished positions in academia and is an elected member of numerous science and engineering academies. He was elected for significant contributions to materials science and engineering and his transformative leadership in both academia and industry. He was successively Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of the NSF, President of Carnegie Mellon University, and President of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Suresh has been awarded the National Medal of Science, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from France, and the Padma Shri medal from the President of India. He is an elected fellow of all three branches of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors.

Suresh also serves and has served as an independent director of publicly listed companies and as a member of science and technology councils advising the CEOs of multinational corporations. Along with his professor at large position at Brown, he is a Vannevar Bush Professor Emeritus at MIT, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology.

Shih Choon Fong
Choon Fong Shi. Photo credit Breeze00, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Along with Suresh, Choon Fong Shi, President Emeritus of the National University of Singapore and former Brown professor was included. A world-famous academic leader, educator and a renowned fracture mechanics expert, Shi has made pioneering achievements in non-linear fracture mechanics, fracture analysis and contributed greatly to the development of physics, materials and other disciplines. He is the Founding President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the first Singaporean to be elected as a Foreign Associate to the United States National Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He has been awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from France and received the Centennial Medal from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Shi began his career as head of the Fracture Research Group at the General Electric Research Lab before joining Brown Engineering where he taught for 15 years. He began as Associate Professor in 1981, becoming full professor in 1986, and then being recruited to serve as founding director of Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, and as a professor at the National University of Singapore in 1996.

The awards ceremony will be held November 15-17 at the National Academy of Sciences Beckman Center, Irvine, California.