CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members from The Grainger College of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
The new members are Kiruba Haran, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics, and Taher Saif, the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor in mechanical science and engineering.
They are among 114 new members and 21 international members elected to the academy this year. This brings the total U.S. membership to 2,310 and the number of international members to 332. Academy membership honors those who have made “outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education,” according to the NAE.
At Illinois, Haran studies high specific power cryogenic and non-cryogenic machines for electrified transportation and renewable energy applications. In 2022, he was named director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems – a key enabler in providing an increase in power density through advanced technology and workforce development. He also is affiliated with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at Illinois.
Saif studies the effects of forces at small scales, focusing on nanoscale materials and living cells. His work on deformation in nanomaterials could lead to self-healing metal components, and his work on the effects of cellular forces has opened new research avenues in neuron function, cancer progression and biological robotics. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He also is affiliated with bioengineering , the Beckman Institute , the Cancer Center at Illinois , the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
The new members will be formally inducted Sept. 29 during the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
