Five researchers affiliated with the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have been elected into the National
Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honors accorded
to an engineer. Joining this year's class of 68 new members and nine foreign
associates were Lisa Alvarez-Cohen, Eugene Haller, Jay Keasling, Art Rosenfeld
and Xiang Zhang.
Lisa Alvarez-Cohen is a faculty scientist with the Ecology Department of Berkeley
Lab's Earth Sciences Division and the Fred and Claire Sauer Professor
at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also chairs the Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her NAE citation reads: "For discovery
and application of novel microorganisms and biochemical pathways for microbial
degradation of environmental contaminants."
Eugene Haller heads the Electronic Materials Program for Berkeley Lab's
Materials Sciences Division and is a professor with UC Berkeley's Department
of Materials Science and Engineering where he also hold the Liao-Cho Innovation
Endowed Chair. His NAE citation reads: "For improvements in semiconductor
performance through contributions to the synthesis of ultrapure and doped crystals."
Jay Keasling is the acting deputy director of Berkeley Lab and the Chief Executive
Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute.
In addition, he is UC Berkeley's Hubbard Howe Jr. Distinguished Professor
of Biochemical Engineering, and director of the Synthetic Biology Engineering
Research Center. His NAE citation reads: "For developing synthetic biology
tools to engineer the anti-malarial drug artemisinin."
Art Rosenfeld has been a member of the California Energy Commission for 10
years and presides over both the Research, Development and Demonstration Committee,
and the Dynamic Pricing Committee. During his time as a scientist at Berkeley
Lab, among many other achievements, he founded the Center for Building Science.
His NAE citation reads: "For leadership in energy efficiency research,
development, and technology deployment through the development of appliance
and building standards and public policy."
Xiang Zhang is a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences
Division and both the Chancellor's Professor and the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed
Chair Professor at UC Berkeley. He also directs UC Berkeley's Nano-scale
Science and Engineering Center. His NAE citation reads: " For the pioneering
contributions in metamaterials and creation of the first optical superlens with
resolutions beyond the fundamental diffraction limit."
The election of the class of 2010 brings NAE's total U.S. membership
to 2,267 plus 196 foreign associates.