The Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD) is pleased to share the exciting news that former JMD Editor-in-Chief, Professor Panos Y. Papalambros has been elected as a member of the National Academy Engineering (NAE). As announced by NAE on February 7, 2023, this prestigious recognition was based on Professor Papalambros’s “contributions to complex systems optimization and leadership in advancing transformative engineering design research and education.” Formal induction will be held at the NAE’s annual meeting in October 2023.
As a pioneer in design optimization, Professor Papalambros has advanced the field through his research and leadership. As a faculty member at the University of Michigan, Professor Papalambros helped establish the Optimal DEsign Laboratory (ODE) and launched the nation’s first interdisciplinary Design Science Ph.D. program.
Within the engineering design community, Professor Papalambros served in many important leadership roles, including as the Chair of the ASME Design Automation Committee, Editor-in-Chief of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD), Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Design Science Journal, and President of The Design Society. In addition to serving on numerous founding editorial boards, Professor Papalambros also organized the 1985 Aspen workshop, which established the National Science Foundation Design Theory and Methodology Program, and co-authored the seminal textbook Principles of Optimal Design: Modeling and Computation (1988, 2000, 2017).
JMD is especially indebted to Professor Papalambros for his service to the journal as Editor-in-Chief from 2008-2012. As noted by Professor Wei Chen (JMD EIC from 2018-2022 and NAE member since 2019):
When I started my faculty career more than 25 years ago, Panos was one of a handful of faculty with full-professor rank in the field of engineering design. The field has grown significantly during the past two decades and we should be grateful for the pioneering work done by senior leaders like Panos. Besides the many technical contributions he made to advancing optimization methods for the design of complex engineering systems, Panos is a true “renaissance” scholar in advancing research, education, and practice of engineering design.
In his first JMD Editorial after succeeding Professor Papalambros as Editor-in-Chief, Professor Shapour Azarm (2013-2017) also praised the contributions of his predecessor for his leadership of the journal:
As Editor-in-Chief of JMD, Professor Papalambros put in place an impressive array of best practices such as streamlining and promoting timely publication of contributions in emerging design areas, producing insightful and enjoyable monthly editorials, guest editorials, and yearly special issues, and creating a new companion website (https://asmejmd.org/) for the journal. These and other related efforts have resulted in the publication of many high quality papers and helped place JMD among a few top journals worldwide in the area of design engineering in general and mechanical design in particular.
ASME J. Mech. Des. January 2013, 135(1): 010201. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4023128. [An archive of the Editorials by Professor Papalambros can be found on ASME’s Digital Collection and JMD’s Companion Website, www.asmejmd.org.]
On the occasion of the NAE election of Professor Papalambros, Professor Azarm stated:
The NAE recognition of Panos has been long overdue and is certainly well-deserved. Among his numerous contributions and talents, I must say that Panos has an exceptional ability to bring people together. His many national and international connections and his enthusiasm for setting and maintaining high standards have brought extraordinary growth in the quality of research and education in design engineering worldwide. In my view, Panos is truly a scholar who has inspired and contributed directly or indirectly to the success of many of us in the engineering design community at the national and international levels. His style in mentoring, teaching and research has certainly influenced me and in turn those of my students.
For his tremendous contributions to JMD and the field of engineering design, please join the members of JMD’s Editorial Board in thanking Professor Papalambros and congratulating him for this well-deserved recognition. For more details please see the NAE news release and U-M Engineering Research News.
Contact/Author: Amy Suski
