Ohio State University professors elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Two Ohio State University professors and a recently retired faculty member have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Class of 2023 in recognition of sustained excellence in innovation and education.
Alan Luo, Judit E. Puskas and Longya Xu are among 124 new NAE members, bringing the total U.S. membership to 2,420 and the number of international members to 319.
“One newly elected NAE member is a big deal for any institution, but three in one year is exceptional,” said College of Engineering Dean Ayanna Howard. “I am delighted for Judit, Alan and Longya, but I’m even happier for our students, faculty and staff that have had the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with these exemplary engineers. They certainly won’t be the last.”
Since the establishment of NAE in 1964, 16 Ohio State engineering professors have been elected, 11 of whom are active faculty. Election to the academy is one of the highest professional distinctions an engineer can receive, and honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice or education,” 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.”
A professor of materials science and engineering and integrated systems engineering, Alan Luo was elected “for implementation of lightweight aluminum, magnesium, and titanium materials and advanced manufacturing processes for automotive applications.”
He leads the Lightweight Materials and Manufacturing Research Laboratory and is director of the Advanced Casting Research Center at Ohio State. An internationally recognized leader in lightweight materials and manufacturing, he has made significant contributions throughout his career in the automotive industry and as a professor. An elected Fellow of the American Society of Metals and the Society for Automotive Engineers, he has 21 patents and more than 300 technical publications. Prior to joining Ohio State in 2013, Luo was a GM Technical Fellow at General Motors Global Research and Development Center with 20 years of industrial experience.
A distinguished professor of food, agricultural and biological engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering, Judit E. Puskas was elected “for coinventing an FDA-approved, life-saving coronary stent coating, and fundamental research and scale-up of polymerization processes.”
Puskas joined Ohio State in 2019, continuing a prolific industry and academic career in rubber technology, developing polymers with multiple applications. She is perhaps known best as co-inventor of the polymer used to coat the Taxus coronary stent licensed by Boston Scientific, which has been implanted in more than 10 million patients. She was the first woman to win the Charles Goodyear Medal, the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society’s Rubber Division, and was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2020. A Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, she has over 400 technical publications and 35 issued patents.
A recently retired professor of electrical and computer engineering, Longya Xu was elected “for contributions to high-performance electric machines and variable-speed drives for aerospace and wind turbines.”
An IEEE Fellow and recipient of IEEE’s Nikola Tesla Award in 2018, Xu was the founding director of Ohio State’s Center for High Performance Power Electronics. His research and teaching interests include the dynamics and optimized design of special electrical machines and power converters for variable-speed systems, the application of advanced control theory and digital signal processors for motion control, and distributed power systems in super-high-speed operations. He has served as a consultant to industry leaders including Raytheon, Boeing, Honeywell, GE Aviation, U.S. Wind Power, General Motors and Ford, among others.
The U.S. National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. Its mission is to advance the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent advice on matters involving engineering and technology, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering.
Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting on Oct. 1, 2023.