The National Academy of Engineering today announced that AE professor and David S. Lewis Jr. Chair Timothy Charles Lieuwen has been elected to the Academy.
Lieuwen and 82 other 2018 inductees will be formally honored at NAE's annual meeting, to be held in Washington, D.C., on September 30.
“We are thrilled but not surprised that Dr. Lieuwen’s energetic and expansive grasp of this discipline and its impact has been recognized by the NAE,” said AE chair Dr. Vigor Yang, also an NAE member.
“Tim has long been a source of inspiration to our School and to our collaborators in industry and academia. The Academy chose a very deserving individual.”
Also on the NAE’s 2018 induction roster are Professor Jianjun Shi from Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Dr. Gary May, the beloved former dean of Tech’s College of Engineering. Election to the NAE is widely recognized as one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer. Comprised of the most accomplished academics, researchers, industry leaders, and technical professionals, the NAE is at once considered a career-capping goal and an ambitious launching pad for innovation.
“We are delighted that the National Academy of Engineering has recognized our Georgia Tech faculty members for their outstanding contributions to engineering and as leaders in their fields,” said Steve McLaughlin, dean of the College of Engineering.
Lieuwen’s election to the NAE marks the third such induction of a Daniel Guggenheim School faculty member in the last four years. He joins Yang and Dr. Robert Braun, who were inducted into the NAE in 2015 and 2014, respectively. Other NAE members from the Daniel Guggenheim School include Dr. Ben T. Zinn, Dr. Edward Price, and former chairs Dr. Robert Loewy and Dr. Don Giddens.
In its announcement, the Academy singled out Lieuwen for ‘for contributions to research and development in low-emissions gas turbine combustion systems and U.S. energy policy." The executive director of Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute, Lieuwen said that he is drawn to the powerful impact that solid research can have on emerging energy policy. Ever the scientist at heart, he quickly drew an important distinction.
“Especially with energy and the related subject of climate change, it’s important that we be brokers of information, not advocates. If we tilt in one direction or the other we could bring down the whole enterprise.”
As news of his NAE election became public on Wednesday, Lieuwen said he was deeply touched by the honor but unwilling to grasp it too tightly.
“It’s not a recognition of Tim Lieuwen. It’s a recognition of all the people and resources that we’ve been able to bring together at Georgia Tech and at the School of Aerospace Engineering. I, myself, have been mentored incredibly by some very smart colleagues,” he said.
“Any time I’ve walked into Vigor Yang’s office or sought perspective from Ben Zinn or Jeff Jagoda or Suresh Menon or Jerry Seitzman or Lakshmi Sankar or even Bob Loewy [all current or former AE faculty], I’ve been greeted with enthusiasm and I have learned so much."
Lieuwen earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Michigan's Calvin College and completed his master’s and doctoral work in aerospace engineering under the mentorship of Dr. Ben T. Zinn before joining the AE faculty in 1999. In addition to authoring more than 200 papers, four books, and 110 journal articles, Lieuwen has received three patents. His research spans the areas of acoustics, fluid mechanics, and combustion. Lieuwen works closely with industry and government, particularly focusing on fundamental problems that arise out of development of clean combustion systems or utilization of alternative fuels.
