NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2009 – Charles M. Vest, Ph.D., a resident of Arlington, Va., and president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C., and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, will be honored by ASME.  He is being recognized for distinguished technology management achievements, and for service to society and the community.  He will receive Honorary Membership in ASME.

First awarded in 1880, the founding year of the Society, Honorary Membership recognizes a lifetime of service to engineering or related fields.  The award will be conferred on Dr. Vest during ASME’s 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, which is being held in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Nov. 13 through 19.

Vest is an influential figure in engineering, science, education and public policy.  In July 2007, he was elected to serve a six-year term as president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

As president of MIT (1990-2004), Vest was active in science, technology and innovative policy; building partnerships among academia, government and industry; and championing the importance of open, global scientific communication, travel and sharing of intellectual resources.  During his tenure, MIT launched its OpenCourseWare initiative, which makes basic course materials used in the teaching of most MIT undergraduate and graduate subjects available on the Web, free of charge; and co-founded the Alliance for Global Sustainability, an international partnership between the University of Tokyo, the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Zurich, Switzerland), Chalmers University of Technology (Göteborg, Sweden) and MIT to address complex issues and collaborate on major research projects that affect economic development and societal well-being worldwide.  During this time, MIT also enhanced the racial, gender and cultural diversity of its students and faculty; established major new institutes in neuroscience and genomic medicine; and redeveloped much of its campus.

Previously Vest was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1968-90).  Initially an assistant professor, he became an associate professor in 1972 and a full professor in 1977.  He taught in the areas of heat transfer, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, and conducted research in heat transfer and engineering applications of laser optics and holography.  He and his graduate students developed techniques for making quantitative measurements of various properties and motions from holographic
 
interferograms, especially the measurement of three-dimensional temperature and density fields using computer topography.  In 1981, Vest turned much of his attention to
academic administration at the University of Michigan, serving as associate dean of engineering (1981-86), dean of engineering (1986-89) and provost and vice president for academic affairs (1989-90).

Vest was a director of DuPont for 14 years and of IBM for 13 years; was vice chair of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness for eight years; and served on various federal committees and commissions, including the President’s Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology during the Clinton and Bush administrations, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy and the Rice-Chertoff Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee.  He serves on the
boards of several nonprofit organizations and foundations devoted to education, science and technology.

He authored a book titled Holographic Interferometry (John Wiley & Sons, 1979; MIR, Moscow, 1982) as well as two books on higher education: Essays on MIT and the Role of Research Universities (MIT Press, 2005) and the American Research University from World War II to World Wide Web (University of California Press, 2007).  His publications include numerous opinion pieces and technical papers, and he has lectured extensively.

An ASME Fellow, Vest was keynote speaker at the 2008 Global Summit on the Future of Mechanical Engineering.

Vest is an Honorary Academician of Academia Sinica (Republic of China) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Philosophical Society, the Association for Women in Science and the Optical Society of America.

Among his extensive list of honors, Vest’s most recent honors include the 2006 National Medal of Technology presented by President Bush, AAAS’ 2006 Philip Hauge Abelson Prize and the University of California, Los Angeles’ UCLA Medal (2008).

Vest received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at West Virginia University, Morgantown, in 1963.  He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in 1964 and 1967, respectively.  He has received honorary doctoral degrees from 12 universities.

About ASME:
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. For more information visit www.asme.org.