Bajaj received the award at the 2019 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in Salt Lake City, Utah in November 2019.  The award recognizes scholarship and educational innovations in the field of nonlinear dynamics through practice, research, teaching, and outstanding leadership.

Bajaj is the Alpha P. Jamison Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and served as the Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering from 2011 to 2019.  His research focuses on fundamental issues in nonlinear dynamics and structural vibrations, and on stability in systems involving friction-induced or fluid-induced vibrations.  He has published more than 220 archival journal and conference proceedings papers, and advised nearly fifty graduate theses.  He is an ASME Fellow, and served as Contributing Editor of the journal Nonlinear Dynamics.