Five MIT researchers are among the 64 new members of the National Academy of Engineering.
Election to the NAE 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."
MIT's new members are:
George E. Apostolakis, professor of nuclear science and engineering and engineering systems, for "innovations in the theory and practice of probabilistic risk assessment and risk management."
James L. Kirtley Jr., professor of electrical engineering and computer science, for "contributions to the theoretical analysis, design and construction of high-performance rotating electric machinery."
Silvio Micali, professor of computer science and engineering, for "contributions to modern cryptography, through the development of zero-knowledge protocols and the theory of pseudo-randomness."
John N. Tsitsiklis, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, for "contributions to the theory and application of optimization in dynamic and distributed systems."
Timothy Berners-Lee, a senior research scientist at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, was named an NAE foreign associate for "development of the World Wide Web."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 14, 2007 (download PDF).
