EEE Head Sutherland elected to National Academy of Engineering
John W. Sutherland, professor and the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his research contributions to environmental sustainability in manufacturing and their implementation in industry.
Election to NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. The NAE elected 106 new members and 18 international members in the latest class, bringing the total U.S. membership to 2,420 and the number of international members to 319.
“I am honored and humbled to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering,” Sutherland said. “This recognition would not have been possible without my supportive family, fantastic mentors, and amazing students and colleagues. I have also significantly benefited from being in one of the most distinctive academic departments in the country: Environmental and Ecological Engineering (EEE). The unique character of EEE has helped many of us make innovative impacts.”
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.
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.