Bakar Bio Labs Director David Schaffer Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Originally from UC Berkeley Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced today that three UC Berkeley engineering faculty members — Kristin Persson, Stuart Russell and David Schaffer — have been elected to its ranks. The number of engineering faculty members in the NAE is now 73.

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering practice, research or education. This includes the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, development/implementation of innovative approaches to engineering education, or engineering leadership.

Persson, professor of materials science and engineering, is recognized for pioneering data-driven materials design through the creation and stewardship of open materials databases and associated data-mining algorithms. She serves as director of the Materials Project — a multi-institution, multinational effort to compute the properties of all inorganic materials and provide the data and associated analysis algorithms to researchers free of charge — and is a faculty senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Russell, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), is cited for contributions to developments in artificial intelligence, including reasoning, probabilistic modeling, planning, safety and education. He is director of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence. The EECS department is shared with the College of Computing, Data Science and Society.

Schaffer, professor of bioengineering, of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and of neuroscience, is recognized for the application of fundamental molecular and cellular engineering principles to enable the clinical success of gene and cell therapies. He holds a joint appointment with the College of Chemistry, and he serves as director of QB3 and Bakar Labs.

The NAE also elected Victoria Coleman, visiting professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, for innovations in software operations related to national and cyber security and consumer electronics. She is chief executive officer and head of North America Research and Technology at Acubed.

In addition to the new members from Berkeley Engineering, Margaret Torn, adjunct professor in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley’s Rausser College of Natural Resources and head of the Biosphere-Atmosphere Program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was elected to the NAE.

This year’s roster of newly elected members also includes several Berkeley Engineering alumni:

• Suresh V. Garimella (Ph.D.’89 ME), president and distinguished professor, University of Arizona, Tucson.
• Elizabeth Hausler (M.S.’98, Ph.D.’02 CEE), founder and chief executive officer, Build Change, Denver.
• Ellen M. Rathje (M.S.’94, Ph.D.’97 CE), Janet S. Cockrell Centennial Chair, Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin.

This announcement brings the total number of NAE members to 2,487 nationwide and 336 internationally. Inductees will be formally inducted during the NAE’s Annual Meeting on Oct. 5, 2025.