Brinker named to National Academy of Engineering
Only third UNM faculty selected

By Michael Padilla

C. Jeff Brinker, professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering and Chemistry at UNM and a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, has been elected into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Election to NAE is one of the highest professional distinctions that can be accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made important contributions to engineering theory and practice and those who have demonstrated unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology.

Brinker is among 74 new members and seven new foreign associates elected to its membership which brings the total U.S. membership to 1,857 active members and 250 members emeriti, and the number of foreign associates to 158.

Brinker is only the third individual from UNM to be elected into the National Academy of Engineering. The other two are William A. Gross, professor emeritus, and Paul Fleury, former School of Engineering dean and former professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (now dean of Engineering at Yale).

Brinker is recognized for his outstanding contributions to the science of sol-gel processing, and for the invention of porous materials with controlled structure.

“I feel the most immediate importance of my election into the NAE is the recognition it brings to our materials programs at the University of New Mexico and Sandia,” Brinker said.

School of Engineering Dean Joe Cecchi said he was honored to see Brinker elected to NAE.

“Professor Brinker’s election to the National Academy of Engineering is a striking indication of the quality of faculty we have been able to attract to the School of Engineering,” Cecchi said. “Given the significance of this distinction, it will further enhance the national reputation of the school and the University. It is particularly fitting that UNM and Sandia are able to share in Professor Brinker’s honor.”

Cecchi also said, “On a personal level, I am thrilled that Jeff has received this well-deserved tribute, and I am proud to be one of his colleagues.”

The mission of NAE is to promote the technological welfare of the nation by marshaling the knowledge and insights of eminent members of the engineering profession. The NAE is the portal for all engineering activities at the National Academies, which along with the NAE include the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

Brinker is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, an associate editoral board of four journals: Materials Technology, Journal of Sol-Gel Science & Technology, Journal of Porous Materials, and Current Opinion in Solid-State and Material Science.