The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Faculty, Professor R.I. Sujith is the second Indian to be elected to the Aerospace Section of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) as an International Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. Earlier Dr. B.N. Suresh was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO from 2003 to 2007. Prof R.I. Sujith has been elected (in fact, he is one of the 18 newly elected international members) on the basis of his significant contributions to Engineering “for applications of dynamical systems theory to the understanding and control of instabilities in engineering systems”. He is also the second IIT Madras Professor to be elected to the NAE after Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala. Prof Sujith is presently serving as the D. Srinivasan Chair Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras, and the Head of the Centre of Excellence for studying Critical Transitions in Complex Systems.

Regarding his election as an International Member of the prestigious NAE, Prof Sujith remarks: “I was pleasantly surprised to get this news this morning. I am really honoured to have been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. I wish to thank all my teachers, students and collaborators, IIT Madras administration, the scientific community and my family that have supported me during my career”.