Goyal elected to National Academy of Engineering

Amit Goyal, an internationally recognized materials scientist and director of UB’s RENEW Institute, has been named a member of the National Academy of Engineering. 

Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Goyal is one of 83 new members and 16 foreign members announced on Wednesday, bringing the academy’s total U.S. membership to 2,293 and the number of foreign members to 262.

NAE members include Nobel laureates, presidents and senior leaders of research universities, and recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and the U.S. National Medal of Science.

Goyal, who was elected based on “materials science advances and contributions enabling commercialization of high-temperature superconducting materials,” arrived at UB in January 2015 as the founding director of RENEW, an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to research and education on globally pressing problems in energy, environment and water. He also holds the title of SUNY Empire Innovation Professor.

“On behalf of the University at Buffalo, I would like to extend my congratulations to Professor Goyal on his election into the National Academy of Engineering. This well-deserved honor is in recognition of Professor Goyal’s seminal contributions to the field of material science. This honor is an inspiration to all who seek to push the boundaries of their respective fields to improve the well-being of humanity,” said President Satish K. Tripathi.

Goyal’s research has had a profound impact on the field of high-temperature superconductivity, both in fundamental materials science and in the transition of scientific discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace. In 2014, he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors.

“Dr. Goyal is an internationally recognized materials scientist and energy researcher whose leadership has placed the University at Buffalo at the forefront of the world’s efforts to find innovative solutions to some of the world’s most serious problems associated with sustainability, climate change and natural resources. This is certainly a well-deserved honor,” said Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Goyal has authored or co-authored more than 350 technical publications, including 45 invited book chapters and papers, and has co-edited six books. He has given more than 25 plenary and keynote talks, and more than 180 invited presentations at national and international conferences. He has 87 issued patents comprising 70 U.S. and 17 international patents, and more than 20 patents pending. He was the most cited author worldwide in the field of high-temperature superconductivity from 1999-2009. 

He has received numerous national and international accolades, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in the inaugural category of “energy science and innovation.” The energy secretary bestows the award on behalf of the president of the United States. Goyal was named R&D Magazine’s Innovator of the Year in 2010 and received the 2012 World Technology Award in the category of “materials.”

Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development at UB, praised Goyal’s election to the academy, noting it is among the most prestigious honors awarded to an engineer.

“This is a tremendous honor both to Dr. Goyal and the University at Buffalo. The research programs that he is leading in the RENEW Institute — including efforts to reduce water and air pollution, as well as find innovative and clean ways to produce and store energy — will have a profound impact, both locally and globally,” Govindaraju said.

Goyal’s other key honors include: Ten R&D 100 Awards (in 2017, 2016, 2013, 2012, 2011, two in 2010, 2009, 2007, 1999), which are widely regarded as the “Oscars of innovation”; three national Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) awards for technology transfer; 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology; the 2008 Nano50^TM Innovator Award; the 2007 Pride of India Gold Award; University of Rochester’s Distinguished Scholar Medal in 2007; the U.S. Department of Energy Exceptional Accomplishment Award in 2005; the UT-Battelle Inventor-of-the-Year Awards in 2005 and 1999; the 2005 Global Indus Technovator Award; in 2001 the Energy-100 Award for the finest 100 scientific accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Energy since it was formed in 1977; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technical Review TR100 Award; and the Lockheed-Martin NOVA Award for technical achievement in 1999.

He is an elected fellow of eight, diverse professional societies: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Materials Research Society, the American Physical Society, the World Innovation Foundation, the American Society of Metals, the Institute of Physics, the American Ceramic Society and the World Technology Network.

The RENEW (Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water) Institute harnesses the expertise of more than 100 faculty in seven UB schools and colleges in this interdisciplinary effort, involving the faculties of the School of Architecture and Planning, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Law, School of Management, School of Public Health and Health Professions, and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The institute’s research thrusts address a variety of issues, such as energy diversification; freshwater protection and restoration; ecosystem science, engineering and policy; societal adaptation to changing environments and the green economy; public health; and environmental management and governance.

“Dr. Goyal’s outstanding record of interdisciplinary research and collaboration exemplifies how UB is tackling society’s toughest challenges and carrying out transformative educational, research and community engagement activities,” said Liesl Folks, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Goyal came to UB from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was a corporate fellow and distinguished scientist cited for pioneering research in the field of high-temperature superconductors, including fundamental materials science advances and technical innovations that enable commercialization.

He was a Battelle Distinguished Inventor at UT-Battelle, the organization that administers the laboratory, and he was chair of the laboratory’s corporate fellows council, which advises laboratory management on scientific and technological issues and opportunities. He is presently an emeritus corporate fellow and Battelle Distinguished Inventor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory/UT-Battelle.

Additionally, Goyal is founder and president of TapeSolar Inc., a private-equity funded solar photovoltaics company, and TexMat, an intellectual property holding and consulting company.

He received a PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of Rochester in 1991, a master’s of science in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Rochester in 1988 and a bachelor of technology in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, in 1986.

He also received an executive MBA from Purdue University and an international executive MBA from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, as well as executive business training from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.