Three professors inducted into NAE

Three Michigan Engineering professors have been inducted into the National Academy of Engineering – one of the highest honors bestowed in the profession – bringing the total NAE membership at U-M to 36.

The new members of the 2019 class are:

• Alec Gallimore, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and a professor both of aerospace engineering and of applied physics
• Sharon Glotzer, the Anthony C. Lembke Department Chair of Chemical Engineering and professor of both chemical engineering and materials science and engineering
• Nadine Sarter, professor of industrial and operations engineering

“Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education,” according to an NAE statement.

This could include “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.”

Sarter is director of the Center for Ergonomics. Her main research interests include human-automation/robot interaction, the design of tactile and multimodal interfaces, human error/error management, attention/interruption management, and the design of decision support systems. Her research has applications in aviation, military operations and the modern car cockpit. She has been a member of the faculty since 2004, and is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Glotzer is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to her role as chair of chemical engineering, she is U-M’s John Werner Cahn Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and the Stuart W. Churchill Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering. Her research interests include: the ability to manipulate matter at the molecular, nanoparticle and colloidal level to create “designer” structures; the fundamental principles of how nanoscale systems of building blocks self-assemble; and controlling the assembly process to engineer new materials. She has been a member of the U-M faculty since 2001.

In addition to being dean of the College, Gallimore is the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research is in the field of advanced electric propulsion. He is founder and director of the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory, which is developing the plasma drive system that ultimately may propel humans to Mars. He has been a member of the U-M faculty since 1992.

These faculty members are among the 86 U.S. and 14 foreign members announced by NAE President C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr. on Feb. 7, 2019.