Little Rock Regional Chamber -

Cruz-Neira Named New Member of the National Academy of Engineering

Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, director of the Emerging Analytics Center and interim chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has been elected as a new member of the National Academy of Engineering for her contributions to immersive visualization.

“Dr. Cruz-Neira contributes in many ways, and this recognition is well deserved. She is the only UA Little Rock person to ever receive this honor and one of only a few in the state,” said Dr. Lawrence Whitman, dean of the UA Little Rock Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. “This award recognizes her contributions to the field of engineering and computer science, and we are fortunate to have her as a leader in our college.”

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Cruz-Neira is among 83 new members and 16 foreign members from the Class of 2018 who were announced on Feb. 7. The newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the academy’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30.

Among the fellow inductees include Mary Barra, CEO and chairman of General Motors Co., Jeff Bezos, CEO and president of Amazon.com Inc., Diane Greene, CEO of Google Cloud, Google Inc., and Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing Co.