Two University of Minnesota professors elected to the National Academy of Engineering for 2024

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/14/2024) — Catherine French and Timothy Lodge, professors in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). This is among the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer. The NAE elected 114 new members and 21 foreign members this year.

Catherine French is a renowned structural engineer. She was recognized by NAE for “design, safety, and construction of structural concrete buildings and bridges.” Her research interests include the behavior of reinforced and prestressed concrete structural systems, field monitoring of structures, numerical and experimental investigations of structural systems including time-dependent and environmental effects, evaluation and repair of damaged structures, and development and application of new materials. She has served on the national concrete building code committee for nearly 30 years.

A professor at the University of Minnesota since 1984, French has received numerous awards for her research and teaching from the University and professional organizations. Among those is being named an American Society of Civil Engineers Distinguished Member and an American Concrete Institute Honorary Member. Since 2019, she has been a member of the University of Minnesota Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

French earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and master’s and doctorate degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Timothy Lodge is a renowned polymer scientist. Potential applications of his work include improved delivery of medicines within the body, viscosity modification of lubricating oils, and nanostructure templating. Lodge is honored by NAE for “contributions to the understanding of the dynamic properties of multicomponent polymers and self-assembled structures.”

A professor at the University of Minnesota since 1982, Lodge currently holds the Prager Chair in Macromolecular Science in Chemistry. From 2005 to 2022 he served as Director of the University of Minnesota Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, funded by the National Science Foundation. Lodge is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Paul Flory Education Award from the American Chemical Society. He was Editor-in-Chief of the ACS journal Macromolecules from 2001–2017 and was the founding editor of ACS Macro Letters.

Lodge earned his bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from Harvard, and his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Six University of Minnesota alumni were also elected to the NAE in 2024. Read more from the College of Science and Engineering. Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during the NAE's annual meeting on Sept. 29, 2024. More information on the elections, including a list of the newly elected members and foreign associates, is available on the National Academy of Engineering website.