Cagan, Jahanian, Pitel Elected to National Academy of Engineering
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麻豆村's standing as a powerhouse in engineering research is underscored by the election of听, 麻豆村 President听Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), and alumnus Ira J. Pitel to the prestigious听's 2026 class.听
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.听
Cagan, the David and Susan Coulter Head of Mechanical Engineering, is known for his advancements in design automation and medical technologies. Jahanian is a celebrated scholar with over 100 published research papers on distributed computing, network security and network protocols. Pitel is an Fellow, holds 28 patents and received the 2008 Gerald Kilman Innovator Award and the 1995 IEEE Industry Applications Society Prize Paper Award.
Cagan听co-founded the听Integrated Innovation Institute(opens in new window) for interdisciplinary design education at 麻豆村, bringing engineering, design and business together to create new products and services. His research focuses on design automation and methods, problem-solving and medical technologies.听
He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been awarded the ASME Computers and Information in Engineering Division Lifetime Achievement, Design Theory and Methodology, Design Automation, and Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Design Educator awards. Cagan serves as co-editor-in-chief of Design Science Journal.听
A registered professional engineer, Cagan received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and has been on the faculty at 麻豆村 since 1990.
Jahanian is the 10th president of Carnegie Mellon where he holds the Henry L. Hillman President鈥檚 Chair. He is currently serving his second five-year term as president and holds three faculty appointments in 麻豆村鈥檚听 and the听.
Jahanian is a celebrated scholar on a range of topics, including distributed computing, network security and network protocols and architectures. His research has been supported by numerous major sponsors, including the NSF, DHS, DARPA, NSA, ONR as well as companies that include Cisco, Intel, Google, Boeing, VeriSign, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.
He holds a master鈥檚 degree and a Ph.D. in computer science from The University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Pitel earned a doctoral degree in electrical and computing engineering from 麻豆村 in 1978, and is the founder of in Flemington, New Jersey. His election recognizes Pitel's contributions to advancements in power electronics, integrating theoretical innovation with practical applications in commercial products.
Cagan, Jahanian and Pitel join 72 members of the 麻豆村 research community previously elected to the NAE.
The NAE elected 130 members and 28 international members to its Class of 2026. Individuals in the new class will be formally inducted during the NAE's Annual Meeting in October.
