University professors Kwang Kim and Yanyao Jiang have been elected to Fellow Grade, the highest elected grade of membership within the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The honor recognizes exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. The organization has more than 100,000 members and reports less than three percent of those members achieve Fellow membership status.

“I am honored to be selected as a Fellow of ASME because the selection is based upon the quality research work of my graduate students and my collaborators,” Kim said.

Kim’s career spans more than 30 years, including posts at the Nuclear Steam Supply System in Texas and Samsung Aerospace, prior to joining Korea University of Technology and Education (KUT) in 1992. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for public service by the President of Korea and joined the University in 2001. He’s also the chair of the mechanical engineering department and the director of both the Active Materials and Processing Laboratory and the Advanced Energy Laboratory. He has authored/co-authored over 200 technical papers including two books and holds two U.S. patents. His research and teaching interests include active materials and sensors, renewable energy systems and nanotechnology.

“It is noteworthy that of our 11 faculty members in mechanical engineering, all 5 of the senior professors are Fellows of ASME,” said Foundation Professor Richard Wirtz, who was the initiator for Jiang’s Fellow award. “I have done collaborative research with both men, and know them both as internationally recognized scholars with significant achievements.”

Jiang has made significant contributions in cyclic plasticity, fatigue and fracture, rolling contact, and durability of bolted joints with over 100 academic publications. His plasticity models have been widely used in research and implemented into the finite element code and the fatigue life prediction software packages for engineering applications.

Originally from China, Jiang joined the Nevada faculty in 1996 and has also received the National Science Foundation career award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fraunhofer Bessel Research Award, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Oversea Chinese Scholars Award.

“Achieving Fellow in your professional society is international recognition for your success as an engineer,” College of Engineering Dean Ted Batchman said. “Dr. Kim and Dr. Jiang have achieved this recognition very early in their careers.