The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced today that Gregory L. Fenves, executive vice president and provost of The University of Texas at Austin, is one of four professors from the Cockrell School of Engineering to be elected to the prestigious academy this year. He is a structural engineering professor from the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering.
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions bestowed upon an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education.
Fenves is executive vice president and provost of The University of Texas at Austin, and is recognized for contributions to computational modeling, creation of open-source software for earthquake engineering analysis and academic leadership. Prior to becoming provost, Fenves served as the eighth dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering.
Fenves came to UT Austin from the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, assistant director at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center and professor of structural engineering.
He is one of 67 new members and 11 foreign associates to join the academy in 2014.
UT Austin reported the highest number of new members elected to the academy this year among universities across the United States. The academy also elected Thomas F. Edgar, director of the Energy Institute and professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering; Yale N. Patt, professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science in the College of Natural Sciences; and Bob E. Schutz, professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.
“Provost Fenves and Professors Edgar, Patt and Schutz are exactly the type of UT Austin faculty who change the world every day,” said Bill Powers, the university’s president. “Their research and their distinguished careers as teachers have shaped generations of engineering students and enhanced our understanding of the world.”
