Professor Thomas W. Eagar of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Emeritus Henry M. Paynter of the Department of Mechanical Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Professor Eagar, the POSCO Professor of Materials Engineering, was cited for his contributions to the theory and practice of welding. His work includes studies of slag-metal reactions in welding and welding heat flow, automation and control, as well as ceramic/metal brazing, arc physics, selection of materials and failure analysis.
He came to MIT as an assistant professor of materials engineering in 1976, became an associate professor in 1980 and a full professor in 1987. Professor Eagar was co-director of the Leaders for Manufacturing Program from 1993-95 and director of the Materials Processing Center from 1991-93. He received the SB and ScD from MIT in 1972 and 1975, respectively.
Professor Emeritus Paynter was cited for his contributions to the analysis, design and control of complex multimedia systems, and for developing the Bond Graph modeling language. He received the SB in civil engineering (1944), the SM in mathematics and engineering science (1949) and the ScD in hydroelectric engineering (1951), all from MIT. Professor Paynter joined the Institute faculty in 1946 as an assistant in civil engineering, becoming an assistant professor in 1951, associate professor in 1960 and full professor in 1964. He retired from his full-time post in 1984 and is currently a senior lecturer in mechanical engineering.
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made "important contributions to the literature of engineering theory and practice" and who have demonstrated "unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology."
The NAE this year elected 85 American engineers and eight foreign associates, bringing its total US membership to 1,893 and the number of foreign associates to 153. Among the US members are 90 active and emeriti/ae MIT faculty and staff.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 5, 1997.
