41 Facts About Subra Suresh

Subra Suresh is an Indian-born American engineer, materials scientist, and academic leader.

Subra Suresh is currently Professor at Large at Brown University and Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and board member at the Villars Institute.

Subra Suresh was Dean of the School of Engineering at MIT from 2007 to 2010 before being appointed as Director of the National Science Foundation by Barack Obama, where he served from 2010 to 2013.

Subra Suresh was the president of Carnegie Mellon University from 2013 to 2017.

Societe Generale, one of Europe's leading financial services groups, announced in February 2024 that Subra Suresh has been appointed Chairman of the Group's Scientific Advisory Council.

Subra Suresh is one of a very small number of Americans to be elected to three branches of the US National Academies, and the first and only university president to hold this distinction.

Subra Suresh was the first Asian-born professor to lead any of the five schools at MIT and the first Asian-born scientist to lead the NSF.

Subra Suresh was awarded the National Medal of Science, the highest honor accorded to a US scientist, by President Biden in a ceremony at the White House on 24 October 2023.

Subra Suresh was born in Mumbai, India, and graduated from high school in Tamil Nadu at the age of 15.

Subra Suresh received a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1979, which awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree in 2022, and a ScD in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Subra Suresh joined Brown University in December 1983 as Assistant Professor of Engineering and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in July 1986 and to Professor in July 1989.

Subra Suresh received the 1982 Hardy Medal "for exceptional promise for a successful career in the broad field of metallurgy by a metallurgist under the age of 30", and the 1992 Ross Coffin Purdy Award from the American Ceramic Society for the best paper published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society in 1990.

Subra Suresh returned to Brown University in September 2023 as Professor at Large to deliver periodic public lectures and to continue his research collaborations.

Subra Suresh led MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 2000 to 2006.

Subra Suresh served as Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Dean of Engineering from 2007 to 2010, the first Asian-born to be appointed dean of any of MIT's schools, and held MIT faculty appointments in Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biological Engineering, and Health Sciences and Technology.

In June 2010, Subra Suresh was nominated by US President Barack Obama to be the Director of the National Science Foundation and was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in September 2010.

Subra Suresh established a number of new initiatives including Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education ; Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development ; Science Across Virtual Institutes ; the NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative; Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide ; and the NSF Innovation Corps.

Subra Suresh co-chaired the NSTC Committee on Science and the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education, and served as a member of the cabinet-level National Ocean Council.

Subra Suresh chaired the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee, which helped set priorities for coordinating future arctic research across the federal government.

The Innovation Corps program which Subra Suresh designed and created in 2012 while serving as NSF Director is regarded as one of the most impactful initiatives for translating scientific discoveries into commercial practice.

Subra Suresh has done his part to make sure the American people benefit from advances in technology, and opened up more opportunities for women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups.

Subra Suresh was appointed as the 9th president of Carnegie Mellon University in 2013 and served as president until 2017.

Subra Suresh announced that the majority of the funds received by the university, expected to be about $250 million, would be dedicated to programs that "enhance the student experience".

Subra Suresh negotiated several major donations from philanthropists and corporations, including $67M from CMU alum David Tepper to enhance collaboration among CMU's schools and colleges, $35M from Tata Consultancy Services and $5.5M from Uber.

In early 2017 Subra Suresh pledged support to CMU's students following President Trump's immigration ban.

Subra Suresh was inaugurated as President of NTU Singapore in January 2018.

Subra Suresh quickly launched an initiative to turn the NTU campus into a "smart" campus, with eco-friendly buildings, greater use of robotics, and driverless electric buses.

Subra Suresh established the NTU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows program, which has now become the most competitive talent recruitment effort.

On 6 June 2022, Subra Suresh announced he would step down as NTU President by end-December to return to the US.

In 2013, Subra Suresh was elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Subra Suresh is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

In 2011, Subra Suresh received the Padma Shri award, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, bestowed by the President of India.

Subra Suresh received ASME's 2012 Timoshenko Medal, the highest recognition in the field of theoretical and applied mechanics, and the 2013 Alan Cottrell Gold Medal for his pioneering work on fracture and fatigue of materials.

In 2015, Subra Suresh was awarded the IRI Medal by the Industrial Research Institute.

Subra Suresh is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain; the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences; the German Academy of Sciences; the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences; the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World; the Indian National Academy of Engineering; the Indian Academy of Sciences; the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and the French Academy of Sciences.

Subra Suresh is a recipient of 20 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in the United States, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, India, China, and the United Kingdom.

Subra Suresh has been honored with named initiatives in several academic institutions.

In 2022, the California Institute of Technology as well as the Indian Institute of Technology Madras established the Subra Suresh Distinguished Lecture Series.

Subra Suresh served as an independent director of Battelle Memorial Institute from 2014 to 2017, and of the Lord Corporation in 2010.

Subra Suresh has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Hewlett-Packard and as an independent Director of the Board of Singapore Exchange.

In both 2018 and 2021, Subra Suresh was named a laureate of the Asian Scientist 100 by the Asian Scientist.