Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh Elected to Institute of Medicine

Election a Historical Milestone for CMU and President Suresh

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Oct 21, 2013, 10:00 ET

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University President Subra Suresh has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), making him the only current university president to be elected to all three national academies. Election to a National Academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to engineers, scientists and medical and health professionals. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to their fields.

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As one of only 16 living Americans to be elected to all three national academies (IOM, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering), Suresh's work reflects CMU's interdisciplinary nature and collaborative spirit. The university is known for bringing together faculty, students and staff from its various colleges and schools to solve real-world problems, in areas ranging from energy and the environment to cybersecurity and education. The IOM recognized Suresh for advancing health and medicine through his research into cell mechanics related to malaria, blood diseases and certain types of cancer.

"CMU's new president is truly a scientist and educational leader for our time," wrote Ray Lane, partner emeritus at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and chairman of Carnegie Mellon's Board of Trustees, in an email to the CMU global community. "He embodies, through his individual scholarship as well as institutional, national and global leadership, Carnegie Mellon's commitment to cross boundaries to transform lives."

Suresh is the first CMU faculty member to hold membership in all three academies. Before becoming president of CMU in July, he served as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $7-billion independent government science agency charged with advancing all fields of fundamental science, engineering research and education.

In addition to the three U.S. National Academies, Suresh has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, German National Academy of Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Academy of Sciences of the Developing World, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Indian National Science Academy, and Indian Academy of Sciences. He has been elected a fellow or honorary member of all the major materials research societies in the United States and India.

The national academies are honorific, private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world, helping to shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering and medicine.

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Pittsburgh, Pa., California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico.