Fluid mechanics pioneer and Illinois alumnus David V. Boger has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “discoveries and fundamental research on elastic and particulate fluids and their application to waste minimization in the minerals industry.”
Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Dr. Boger is a world-renowned expert in complex fluids and he has made seminal contributions to the field of rheology, the study of how materials flow. His work has changed our understanding of complex fluids through the development of “Boger Fluids” which behave as both liquids and solids. He has worked for decades with mining companies around the world to develop processes that mitigate environmental risks associated with mining waste.
He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1965, studying under Dr. James Westwater. After graduation, he joined the chemical engineering faculty at Monash University in Australia. In 2015 he returned to Illinois to deliver the Distinguished Alumni Lecture.
Read more about David Boger in this alumni profile.
Others elected to the NAE this year with ties to the Illinois Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering include Jennifer Lewis and Michael Strano. Lewis, currently the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, was an affiliate faculty member from 2003 to 2012. Michael Strano, Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a member of the ChBE faculty from 2003 to 2007.
Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., later this year.
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.”