Two CEE professors — Cynthia Barnhart and Andrew Whittle — were among the 68 new members and nine foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), MIT President Emeritus Charles M. Vest, NAE president since 2007, announced this week.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature.”

Cynthia Barnhart is the associate dean for academic affairs for the MIT School of Engineering, professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering systems, and director of Transportation@MIT. She was honored for her professional leadership, and for contributions to optimization and transportation models, algorithms, and applications.

Andrew Whittle is head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a SMART Research Professor. He was acknowledged for his development of soil models and numerical analyses that advance the design of braced excavations and offshore structures.

Barnhart and Whittle join several other CEE faculty members who have been elected to the National Academies. Three other MIT professors and a member of the Corporation were also elected: Gang Chen, Robert E. Cohen, Art Gelb and Alan Willsky.

“I am delighted to welcome Cindy, Gang, Bob, Andrew, Alan and Art to the distinguished cohort of engineers in the National Academy,” says Subra Suresh, dean of the School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering. “They join 153 members of the MIT community who have been elected to the NAE thus far — of whom about 115 are still active in the intellectual life of MIT. I look forward to formally recognizing and celebrating their induction with MIT colleagues and friends at a School of Engineering reception to be held in Washington in October.”

For more information, read a longer news story on the MIT News site.