Dr. John W. Sutherland, professor and Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his award-winning teaching and research and his ground-breaking work to establish the field of sustainable manufacturing.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Sutherland pioneered the establishment of the field of sustainable manufacturing, which seeks to maximize the effective use of resources while minimizing environmental impacts. Since then, he has helped to make the environment a well-recognized consideration in the design of products and manufacturing processes and systems. This has enabled leading manufacturers to produce less waste and consume less energy and resources, all while being more economically competitive.

Sutherland has collaborated with scores of company partners and been supported by many government agencies on numerous research projects. He has conducted studies to reduce the environmental footprint of manufacturing processes that identified key factors and mechanisms associated with energy consumption, cutting fluids, and aerosol formation. He has been a leader in rethinking product life cycles and how end-of-life products are managed. More recently, he has investigated green manufacturing planning, which combines environmentally oriented considerations with traditional measures of productivity. Sutherland has also championed social sustainability and was one of the first to develop rigorous indicators to quantify the social impacts of a business.

In addition to making environmental sustainability a critical manufacturing consideration, Sutherland has made substantial contributions to engineering education. He has instructed thousands of students in engineering courses and mentored over 100 graduate students. He has published more than 400 papers in various journals and conference proceedings and co-authored a textbook titled, Statistical Quality Design and Control: Contemporary Concepts and Methods.

In 2009, he was named the first permanent head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue. The EEE program is unique in that its curricula and research embraces both classic environmental engineering and industrial sustainability. Classic environmental engineering focuses on controlling, treating, and mitigating waste streams, while industrial sustainability focuses on developing products, processes, and systems that avoid waste and use fewer resources. Through his visionary leadership, EEE has grown to comprise 18 faculty, 175 undergraduates, and more than 60 graduate students pursuing MS or PhD degrees.

Sutherland's past recognitions include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1996), SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (1999), SME Education Award (2009), SAE International John Connor Environmental Award (2010), ASME William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award (2013), and SME Gold Medal (2018). Sutherland is also a Fellow of SME, ASME, and CIRP. He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“I am truly honored and grateful to be recognized by AAAS and to join such an august group of other Fellows,” said Sutherland.

AAAS Fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching, and technology, to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public.