A West Virginia University professor has reached the highest level of membership in a worldwide professional engineering society.

James E. Smith, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been elected fellow of SAE International. He will be recognized for this achievement during SAE s World Congress awards ceremony April 14-17 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.

Fellowship is the highest grade of membership issued by the society. It recognizes outstanding engineering and scientific accomplishments resulting in meaningful advances in automotive, aerospace and commercial vehicle technology. This honor is given to an average of 20 people each year from around the world.

SAE is recognizing Smith for his leadership in the development of innovative technology, integration of these technologies into the marketplace and for providing training to numerous engineering graduate students.

Smith is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in WVU s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. He is also the director of WVU s Center for Industrial Research Applications and associate director of the Universitys Vision Enhancement Technology Center, a collaborative project between the College and the WVU Eye Institute.

Smithwho earned his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in engineering from WVU has been the principal or co-principal investigator for 89 research contracts, exceeding $16.9 million in funding for various projects funded by federal agencies, international corporations and West Virginia companies.

The WVU professor has published on various topics, including engine mechanism design, dynamics and analysis; engine emissions and alternate fuels; flight vehicle development; RF power processing; antenna development; and machine vision for several medical-related applications. He has been granted 24 patents in the United States and numerous foreign patents, with 30 applications pending.

An active member of SAE International, Smith serves on SAE s board of directors and as editor of SAE Transactions. In addition to chairing and organizing technical conferences, he is a past chair of the Powerplant Activity and Engineering Meetings board and a founder of the Technical Quality Response team. He has been recognized by SAE with the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award and the Forest R. McFarland Award for Service.

SAE International is a nonprofit organization that supports and serves the automotive, aerospace, commercial vehicle and motor sports industries. It advances mobility engineering worldwide, providing technical conferences, continuing education, technical books, standards, electronic products, publications and networking opportunities to more than 90,000 members.