Mechanical engineer David McDowell is among the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the organization announced Feb. 10.

McDowell is one of 130 new members and 28 international members in the 2026 class. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional recognitions for engineers and an honor bestowed on just 2,900 professionals worldwide. New members are nominated and voted on by the Academy’s existing membership.

McDowell is Georgia Tech’s 50th NAE member. He is Regents’ Professor Emeritus in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

“I am truly honored to be counted among such a distinguished group of newly elected members in the NAE,” McDowell said. “Having spent my entire career at Georgia Tech since 1983, I have very much benefited from the strength and support of its students, faculty, staff, facilities, and traditions.”

“I’m particularly indebted to the many colleagues and collaborators over the years who have helped to realize success in my research program as well as the enduring support over the years of my wife Kathy and family.”

The Academy cited McDowell “for microstructure-sensitive computational modeling of engineering alloys, and methodologies for computational materials design.” His research focuses on how materials behave, building computer algorithms and models that can predict how they deform and fail. He has developed methods for designing materials based on their structure at various scales, from the atomic level up to that of engineering components and devices, including rare event failure mechanisms.

His work has applications for lightweight structural materials, high-temperature aircraft gas turbines, high-performance alloys such as titanium and steel, and other areas.

McDowell has published more than 500 research papers and several textbooks. He was founding executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Materials, which has since evolved into the Institute for Matter and Systems.

A member of the Georgia Tech faculty for more than 40 years, McDowell advised scores of graduate students, including at least two Woodruff School leaders — former chair Samuel Graham and current Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair Carolyn Seepersad.

“I am still attempting to emulate Dr. McDowell’s approach with my own Ph.D. students, challenging them to educate me on their research while I probe and challenge them to take the next steps,” Seepersad said. “His combination of endearing kindness with vast talent inspired me to work harder than I could have imagined on problems that were much more difficult than I might have dared to tackle alone.

“I owe him a debt of gratitude for the powerful impact he has made on my professional life. I cannot imagine a more worthy person for the NAE.”

McDowell received the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award in 2020, the highest distinction for Georgia Tech faculty members. He is a fellow and past president of the Society for Engineering Science and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society; and ASM International.

In 2023, McDowell received two significant professional awards: the Paul C. Paris Gold Medal from the International Congress on Fracture and the ASME Worcester Reed Warner Medal for outstanding contributions to the permanent literature of engineering.

He will be formally inducted into the Academy in October.

Other Georgia Tech Inductees

McDowell will be joined by four other members with ties to Georgia Tech.

Younan Xia was a longtime member of the faculty in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering until last summer. He was elected “for research and leadership in the invention and rational development of advanced materials for nanomedicine and regenerative medicine.”

Mohamed Slim Alouini earned a master’s degree in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1985. Now a faculty member and associate vice president of research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, he was honored “for contributions to modeling and evaluation of wireless communication systems.”

Bruce Gnade was cited “for contributions to advancement of electronic materials and semiconductor device technologies.” A 1983 graduate, he earned a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry. He is professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Jeff Morris is both a Georgia Tech alumnus and a former faculty member. He finished his chemical engineering degree in 1989 and returned to teach and conduct research from 1996 to 2002. He’s currently a chemical engineering professor at the City College of New York and director of the Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics. Morris was honored “for research on the fundamentals of concentrated suspension and hydrate slurry flows and for implementing applications in many industries.”

The NAE offers independent advice on engineering matters to support the nation’s prosperity and welfare and supports a vibrant engineering profession.

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.”