A distinguished ISU professor has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

R. Bruce Thompson, director of the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation and distinguished professor of materials science and aerospace engineering, found out about the election on Thursday.

“It’s obviously very flattering and I’m pleased to be recognized in that way,” he said.

Thompson has been working for Iowa State since 1980, and has spent most of his career working on nondestructive evaluation (NDE).

“[NDE is like] going to the doctor and getting an X-ray,” he said. “NDE is applying the same kind of techniques to try and find cracks in airplanes, corrosion in pipelines, making measurements to try to prevent things like airplane crashes and pipeline explosions, and doing it in a way that doesn’t harm the part.”

Donald Thompson, distinguished professor emeritus of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, said he has known R. Bruce Thompson — who is of no relation to Donald — since before he was at Iowa State.

“I have had a long, pleasant history with Bruce,” Donald Thompson said. “He’s a leader in NDE particularly in the usage of NDE to characterize materials and material properties, and measurement models for the NDE.”

A measurement model is a mathematical description on the interaction between the probing wave with a flaw in the material.

It is a fundamental approach to the characterization of interaction that takes place, he said.

Donald Thompson said a nomination and seconding process by established members of the academy and a strong peer review of a person’s credentials is necessary for membership in the National Academy of Engineering.

This process can often take longer than a year, he said.

The National Academy of Engineering gives advice to Congress or the executive branch when called upon, R. Bruce Thompson said.

A person must be well established in his or her field to be elected into the academy, Donald Thompson said.

R. Bruce Thompson said the honor recognizes many more people than himself.

“NDE is a very interdisciplinary field, and it involves contributions from a number of people and disciplines,” he said. “This award recognizes the contributions of a lot of people, not just myself.”

R. Bruce Thompson said teaching and research are important to his field.

“I want to balance research, which is developing new techniques and education, which is training more people to use those techniques,” he said.