Prof. Robert McMeeking Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Date: 

Friday, March 7, 2014

"A distinguished engineer and engineering educator, Robert McMeeking has made highly significant contributions in research regarding computational mechanics, the characterization of advanced structural and functional materials, including fracture and deformation of ceramics, composite materials, ferroelectrics, the mechanics of adhesion and the biomechanics of cells.  His excellent work on these topics has advanced fundamental scientific understanding and enabled important engineering advances.  His scientific contributions have greatly improved knowledge regarding why complex materials deform and break, and his efforts have led to many important advances in engineering, including more efficient and versatile fuel injectors and safer, more reliable prosthetic heart valves.  For the excellence of his work he has been recognized by election to Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and to Membership of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States of America."

Each year The Royal Society of Edinburgh make an annual selection of outstanding people come from a wide variety of disciplines, spanning the arts, business, science and technology sectors. New inductees will join those Fellows, past and present, who have strived to attain the RSE’s founding mission: ‘the advancement of learning and useful knowledge'. 

New Fellows are elected via a rigorous five-stage nomination process. The breadth of the Fellowship, which includes more than 1500 people from Scotland, the rest of the UK and beyond, ensures that the RSE can provide leadership and excellence across all areas of public life.

Commenting, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Sir John Arbuthnott, said, “The Fellowship is at the very heart and soul of the work of the RSE. One of my most rewarding duties is to oversee the highly-selective process that identifies which of the outstanding candidates nominated each year should be recommended for election to the Fellowship of the RSE. With such a great number of highly distinguished individuals joining this year, I have every confidence that they will bring the exceptional skills and experience needed by the RSE to continue its 230-year history of supporting excellence across all areas of academic and public life in Scotland.”