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NAE Awards
The National Academy of Engineering salutes leaders in engineering for their lifetime dedication to their field and their commitment to advancing the human condition through great engineering achievement and/or through innovation in engineering and technology education. The NAE dedicates more than $1 million annually to recognize these leaders and to bring better understanding of the importance of engineering and engineering education to society.

  • Currently, the NAE presents seven awards for engineering achievement and innovation - the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering, the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, the Simon Ramo Founders Award, the Arthur M. Bueche Award, the Gibbs Brothers Medal, and the J. C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering.

  • The NAE call for nominations for the 2026-2027 awards and prizes will begin on January 1, 2026.

    To sign up for the NAE awards mailing list, please go to  www.naeawardsonline.com. 

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Awards at a Glance
Awards Recipients
  • Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering
    2024 Recipient
    Prof. Dr. Stuart S.P. Parkin
    Managing Director
    Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany
    Prof. Dr. Stuart S.P. Parkin
    Managing Director
    Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany
    For engineering spintronic technologies, enabling digital information storage that serves as a foundation for our data-driven world.
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  • Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize
    2025 Recipient
    Professor Ian Alexander Shanks
    Vice President of Physical and Engineering Sciences (retired)
    Unilever
    Professor Ian Alexander Shanks
    Vice President of Physical and Engineering Sciences (retired)
    Unilever
    For the invention of the electrochemical capillary fill device (eCFD), which gives diabetes patients and caregivers accurate and timely blood glucose measurements for diabetes management.
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  • Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education
    2025 Recipient
    Dr. Georges Belfort
    Institute Professor
    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
    Dr. Georges Belfort
    Institute Professor
    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
    For advancing the state of the art in downstream bioprocessing and educating generations of industry and academic leaders who transformed and grew the biotechnology industry.
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  • Simon Ramo Founders Award
    2025 Recipient
    Dr. Kristi S. Anseth
    Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Associate Faculty Director of the BioFrontiers Institute
    University of Colorado at Boulder
    Dr. Kristi S. Anseth
    Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Associate Faculty Director of the BioFrontiers Institute
    University of Colorado at Boulder
    For outstanding contributions to new bioresponsive polymeric materials and their applications in tissue engineering and for leadership in biomaterial science education and research.
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  • Arthur M. Bueche Award
    2024 Recipient
    Dr. Franklin M. Orr Jr.
    Professor Emeritus
    Stanford University
    Dr. Franklin M. Orr Jr.
    Professor Emeritus
    Stanford University
    For government, academic and industrial service in promoting clean energy policy, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and developments in carbon sequestration.
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  • NAE Distinguished Honoree Program
    2016 Recipient
    Ralph J. Cicerone
    President
    National Academy of Sciences
    Ralph J. Cicerone
    President
    National Academy of Sciences
    Outstanding achievements, his meritorious service to the National Academy of Engineering and his advancement of the sciences, education, and the national welfare
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  • Gibbs Brothers Medal
    2022 Recipient
    Admiral Frank L. Bowman
    (U.S. Navy, Retired), President
    Strategic Decisions, LLC
    Admiral Frank L. Bowman
    (U.S. Navy, Retired), President
    Strategic Decisions, LLC
    For lifelong marine engineering innovation of nuclear-powered warships and leadership in Navy and commercial maritime safety culture.
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  • J. C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering
    2020 Recipient
    Alan C. Brown
    Director of Engineering (Retired)
    Lockheed Corporation
    Alan C. Brown
    Director of Engineering (Retired)
    Lockheed Corporation
    For innovative contributions to the design of commercial and military aircraft, and particularly leadership of the team that developed the F-117 Stealth Fighter.
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NAE Call for Nominations

For more than three decades the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has been recognizing outstanding engineers for their dedication to their discipline, as well as for their development (or shared involvement) of an engineering invention or process that has greatly improved humanity.

The NAE salutes leaders in engineering for their lifetime dedication to their field and their commitment to advancing the human condition through great engineering achievement. The NAE awards more than $1 million to recognize these leaders and to bring better understanding of the importance of engineering to society.

The NAE currently presents seven awards for engineering achievement - the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering, the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, the Simon Ramo Founders Award, the Arthur M. Bueche Award, the Gibbs Brothers Medal, and the J. C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering.

Note to all NAE Awards Nominators: Nominators of the chosen recipients for the Ramo Founders award, the Bueche award, the Gibbs Brothers Medal, the J. C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering, and the Draper, Russ, and Gordon Prizes personally receive notice from the NAE Awards office that their nominee(s) have been chosen to receive one of our NAE Awards. All recipients and their nominators for the Ramo Founders award, Bueche award, the Gibbs Brothers Medal, and the J. C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering are notified by the end of June each year, and all recipients and their nominators for the Draper, Russ, and Gordon Prizes are notified by the end of October each year. Nominators will be contacted in January regarding the status of their nomination.

The NAE call for nominations for the 2026-2027 awards and prizes will begin on January 1, 2026.​ To sign up for the NAE awards mailing list, please go to www.naeawardsonline.com.

If you have any questions and/or concerns, please contact Deborah Young, Awards Program Officer at dyoung@nae.edu. Thank you.

Giving to the NAE Arthur M. Bueche Award

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