PULLMAN, Wash. — Anjan Bose, dean of Washington State University’s College of Engineering and Architecture and distinguished professor in power engineering, and James R. Asay, research professor and associate director of the Institute for Shock Physics, have been named members of the National Academy of Engineering, the most prestigious honor in the engineering field.
Election to the NAE comes from peers within the group, based on the nominees’ outstanding contributions to their field. Founded in 1964, the organization serves with the National Academy of Sciences as an advisory board for the federal government through the National Research Council. Out of approximately 10 million engineers in the United States, only about 2,000 are members of the NAE. The group is composed of engineers from both academia and industry.
Bose was named to the group for his development of training simulators and computational tools for reliable power-system operation, and for contributions to education and research on power systems. Asay was named for his leadership in engineering research and management of shock waves, and for the development of tools that have contributed to national security.
“This prestigious award honors the career-long excellence and cutting-edge engineering work of both Dr. Bose and Dr. Asay, and exemplifies the world class faculty at Washington State University,” WSU President V. Lane Rawlins said.
Bose’s research in the operation and control of the electric power grid has led to major breakthroughs in power system control technology that are in industrial practice today, including better computer controls of electric generation and transmission systems to avoid blackouts. Bose developed the real time computer simulator that is used to train power grid operators all over the world. He is an expert in how to maintain the reliability of the power grid given the changes taking place in deregulating the power industry and has served on a blue-ribbon power outage study team appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy to study several power outages in the East and Midwest.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and has chaired many technical committees. Bose was also awarded the Power Engineering Educator Award and the Millenium Medal by the IEEE. He has continued to be a technical leader in the industry and is a prominent consultant.
Asay was a leading scientist at Sandia National Laboratories before joining the WSU Institute for Shock Physics in 2002. At Sandia, he led several research programs on high-pressure material response as the deputy director of Shock Physics Applications. He is internationally known for his work in shock-wave research and high-pressure science, and for his research in using pulse power for shock-wave applications. He is noted for leading the development of new, pulsed power techniques for magnetically compressing materials to very high pressures that has led to experimental capabilities for accurate equation-of-state measurements at pressures unachievable with conventional methods.
He has served on several national committees, including a National Academy of Sciences panel that evaluated space debris hazards and on a National Security Advisory Committee to assess nuclear defense technologies. Asay is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was named a Distinguished Scientist by the Hypervelocity Impact Society. He is also a Senior Institute Fellow of the U.S. Army Institute of Advanced Technology, a Fellow of the International Aeroballistic Range Association, a member of the founding Board of Directors for the International Hypervelocity Impact Society and has chaired several professional societies. He received a doctorate in physics from WSU in 1971.
Both Asay and Bose will be formally inducted into the NAE at the group’s annual meeting Oct. 12, 2003, at the National Academies Building in Washington, D.C.
