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Balakumar Balachandran, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland (UMD), has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). He formally received the fellowship during the society’s annual awards ceremony, held on Dec. 5.
The organization honored him for pioneering a combination of methodologies, experimental studies, and nonlinear analysis that have advanced understanding of the mechanics and dynamics of flexible structures used in the aviation and space sectors.
RAeS Honorary Fellowships are the organization’s highest recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of aerospace. Balachandran’s selection follows that of fellow mechanical engineering professor Ashwani Gupta, who became an RAeS honorary fellow in 2023.
An expert on applied mathematics, nonlinear phenomena, and dynamics and control, Balachandran has published numerous journal articles and multiple textbooks, while also earning some of the most prestigious accolades in engineering. In 2021, he became one of only two UMD faculty members to receive the coveted Den Hartog Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the same year, the organization also conferred upon him the Lyapunov Award. A year later, the Engineering Mechanics Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers awarded him the Robert H. Scanlan Medal. In 2023, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awarded him the Pendray Literature Award.
While making critical research contributions to his field, Balachandran has also left a lasting legacy as former chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, serving as acting chair in 2011, and then as chair from 2011 through 2023. During that time, the department experienced a dramatic surge in undergraduate enrollment, a growing reputation among peers, and a significant addition of faculty across ranks.
“This is a terrific honor,” Balachandran said of his RAeS selection. “I am humbled and deeply grateful to RAeS for recognizing my work in this way.”
Founded in 1866, RAeS is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Among other objectives, it helps support professional standards, serves as a source of expert information and as a forum for the exchange of ideas, and exerts influence in industry and academia, as well as among the general public.
December 31, 2024
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