AsianScientist (Aug. 4, 2020) – Professor Subra Suresh, President of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore), has been unanimously selected by the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to receive its highest honor, the 2020 ASME Medal.
A professional society founded in 1880 and currently comprising more than 100,000 members from over 140 countries, ASME awards this accolade annually to no more than one individual to celebrate eminently distinguished engineering achievements.
Suresh, who is also NTU’s inaugural Distinguished University Professor, was recognized for his “pioneering contributions to the science and technology of mechanical engineering through multidisciplinary research, impactful work in education and mentoring, leadership in academia and government, and innovation in connecting research to industry and policy,” said ASME in a press release.
He joins a distinguished list of 87 previous recipients of the ASME Medal since the award was first created in 1920. The list includes Theodore von Kármán, aviation pioneer and co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Willis Carrier, the father of modern air conditioning; Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway; and Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Co.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be selected for the ASME Medal. Over the last hundred years, this award has recognized many notable achievements, and the people behind them. My own humble contributions would not have been possible without the collective efforts of my talented students, collaborators and colleagues, both past and present, and I share this recognition with them,” Suresh said.
Suresh is among a small number of Americans elected to all three branches of the US National Academies: Engineering, Sciences, and Medicine. His other major honors include the Padma Shri, one of India’s top civilian awards, and the 2007 European Materials Medal, from the Federation of European Materials Research Societies, which selected him as the first non-European for this top award.
While serving as Director of the US National Science Foundation, Suresh initiated, designed and launched the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Program in 2011, which is now recognized as one of the most impactful programs for transforming scientific discoveries to benefit industry and society.
As NTU’s resident, Suresh has been a driving force behind the plans for the NTU Smart Campus as a place of discovery, development and deployment, and as a living testbed for sustainable technologies and practices. He and his NTU team have established some of the largest industry collaborations in academia, including partnerships with multinational companies such as Volvo Buses, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Alibaba.
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Source: Nanyang Technological University.
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