ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories President and Director C. Paul Robinson has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest distinctions accorded an engineer.
Academy membership honors those who have made “important contributions to engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the literature of engineering theory and practice,” and those who have demonstrated “unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology.”
Robinson’s specific citation reads, “For pre- and post-Cold War leadership in the nation’s nuclear weapons program through technical and managerial excellence.”
He was among 84 engineers and seven foreign associates whose election the NAE announced last month. The election brings NAE’s total U.S. membership to 1,941 and number of foreign associates to 155.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It shares with the NAS the responsibility for advising the federal government. It also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers.
Present, retired, and former Sandians who are members of the NAE include Tom Cook, George Dacey, Paul Fleury, John Galt, Walter Herrmann, Jack Howard, Al Narath, Venky Narayanamurti, Eugene Reed, George Samara, Morgan Sparks, Irwin Welber, and Bert Westwood.