Professor James Liao was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for his advances in metabolic engineering of microorganisms to produce fuels and chemicals.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering is one of the highest honors bestowed upon engineers. Those elected as members represent exceptional 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 National Academy of Engineering was founded in 1964 and is one of four of The National Academies, which also include the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the National Research Council (NRC). More information about the NAE can be found here (http://www.nationalacademies.org/about/).
The UCLA Newsroom article of this story can be found here.