Three Georgia Tech faculty also among the 87 to be inducted in 2020
Eric Gebhardt
Eric Gebhardt, AE '90
2020 NAE Inductee

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recently announced the election of 87 new members to the world-renowned organization, including four Georgia Tech faculty and one alumnus of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

Eric Gebhardt, a 1990 AE grad and retired chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at GE Power, General Electric Co., was elected for his work developing and utilizing  advanced electric generation technologies including gas and wind turbines. Since his retirement from GE Energy, Gebhardt has worked as the managing director of KCK-US, a firm that invests in public companies and in venture/ private equity endeavors at all stages, from start-up to growth.

Gebhardt has remained as active in his alma mater as he has been in business. In 2012, he began sponsoring the AE School's Fran and Eric Gebhardt Distinguished Lecture Series -- a forum that has gone on to host dozens talks on aeronautics, astronautics, and entrepreneurial research by the brightest academic, industry, and research leaders of our time. In 2018, he joined the Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council, a volunteer group of academic and industry leaders that has provided invaluable feedback and guidance on the Daniel Guggenheim School's mission and performance.

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 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. The February 6 announcement of the 2020 honorees brings NAE's U.S. membership to 2,309 and the number of international members to 281.

Also inducted into the NAE Class of 2020 were Georgia Tech faculty Regents' Professor Marilyn A. Brown, from the School of Public Policy;  Prof. Thomas Kurfess, a HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering;  Prof.Susan Margulies, the chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Prof. Alexander Shapiro, the Russell Chandler III Chair in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. All of the honorees will be formally inducted during ceremonies to be held in Washington, DC on October 4.

Over the past six years, the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering has had several faculty elected to the NAE, including: Prof. Krishan Ahuja, Prof. Timothy Lieuwen, Prof. (and former School Chair) Prof. Vigor Yang, and Prof. Bobby Braun. Professor Emeritus Ben T. Zinn is also a NAE membef of longstanding.