University of California San Diego. La Jolla, California. USA February 9 th , 2012 Professor Juan C. Lasheras elected member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering of the United States of America. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) of the USA has announced today the election of Professor Juan Carlos Lasheras as one of its new members http://www.nae.edu/. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research and practice including significant contributions to the engineering literature and to the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. Professor Juan C. Lasheras is an aeronautical engineer by training who works at the intersection between medicine and engineering. Professor Lasheras’ original contributions to the field of mechanics have led to major advances in both engineering research and practice. He elucidated the mechanisms of explosive (disruptive) burning of multicomponent and emulsified fuel droplets and clarified the structure and stability of turbulent mixing layers and jets, contributing to improvements in the efficiency in jet propulsion. He also identified and explained the regimes of liquid atomization relevant to the design of rocket engines and chemical reactors. For the last 10 years, Lasheras has been working at the interface between mechanics, biology and medicine. His recent studies have led to advances in biomechanics at both the macroscopic and cellular levels. He evaluated the effects of unsteady blood flows in the risk of rupture of aortic and intracranial arterial aneurysms and clarified some of the biochemical pathways for the generation of the traction forces exerted by cells during migration. He currently works on several aspects of mechanobiology, including cell mechano-transduction, cell migration, and cancer cell invasion. Capsule Bio: Juan C. Lasheras is the Stanford and Beverly Penner