Bernard Amadei, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, joining 15 other faculty from the campus who have been elected since the academy's formation in 1962.
Amadei was among 65 new members of the academy announced Feb. 8.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice or education" 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."
Amadei was recognized for his creation of the nonprofit organization Engineers Without Borders-USA, his leadership in sustainable development education and his research on geomechanics.
Amadei has pioneered a new approach to engineering education by involving students in service-learning projects in the developing world, an initiative that is helping to create globally responsible engineers and to provide sustainable and appropriate technology solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities worldwide.
Engineers Without Borders-USA, which Amadei founded in 2000, has grown to include 14,000 student and professional members working on 250 sustainable engineering projects in 48 countries around the world.
Amadei also is a recognized expert in geomechanics, the study of soil and rock behavior. He has co-authored a book on the subject and more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Born in France, Amadei began his study of engineering there and in Toronto before earning his doctorate in civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 1982. He then joined the faculty at CU-Boulder, where he has taught for 26 years.
Amadei has won several other prestigious awards, including the Heinz Award for the Environment, the Hoover Medal, the Ralph Coats Roe Medal, and the Norm Augustine Award.
Other CU-Boulder faculty who have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and their years of election, are: George Born and Kaspar Willam, 2004; Ross Corotis and Fred Glover, 2002; Frank Barnes, 2001; Delores Etter, 2000; Martin Mikulas, 1999; Valerian Tatarskii, elected a foreign associate in 1994; Earl Gossard, 1990; Don Hearth and Richard Strauch, 1989; Jacques Pankove, 1986; Richard Seebass (deceased), 1985; Klaus Timmerhaus, 1975; and Max Peters, 1969.