McNutt and Melroy elected to National Academy of Engineering

Congratulations to MIT EAPS Visiting Committee member and former professor Marcia McNutt and alum Pamela Melroy SM ’84 on their election to the National Academy of Engineering!

Read the full announcement at National Academy of Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 106 new members and 23 international members, announced NAE President John L. Anderson today. This brings the total U.S. membership to 2,355 and the number of international members to 298.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”  Election of new NAE members is the culmination of a yearlong process. The ballot is set in December and the final vote for membership occurs during January.

Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting on Oct. 3, 2021. A list of the new members and international members follows, with their primary affiliations at the time of election and a brief statement of their principal engineering accomplishments.


McNutt joined the EAPS faculty in 1982 and taught for 15 years, during which she held the position of the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and directed the Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science & Engineering, jointly offered by MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. McNutt is currently a member of the EAPS Visiting Committee.

Pamela Melroy SM ’84, a retired United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut, was the first MIT alumna to command a space mission when the space shuttle Discovery. She piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112, and commanded mission STS-120. Melroy will be inducted into US Astronaut Hall of Fame.