A Blue Hen will be the next president of America’s most esteemed engineering organization. On July 1, 2019, John L. Anderson, who graduated from the University of Delaware’s College of Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1967, will become the president of the National Academy of Engineering, a nonprofit institution whose membership includes about 2,000 of the most accomplished and influential engineers in America.

The National Academy of Engineering announced his election on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Members of the National Academy of Engineering share expertise and provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. Eight current UD faculty members have been elected members of the National Academy of Engineering.

Anderson, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and graduate of Mount Pleasant High School, is a distinguished professor of chemical engineering at Illinois Tech’s Armour College of Engineering and was president of Illinois Tech from 2007 to 2015. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1992 for contributions to the understanding of colloidal hydrodynamics and membrane transport phenomena.

Along the way, Anderson and his wife, Patricia, also a UD graduate, have remained dedicated to UD. They recently established the John L. and Patricia Siemen Anderson Engineering Scholarship to support engineering students with financial need. At the same time, they made a commitment to UD Athletics to name a space in the stadium’s press box in honor of Pat’s father, Bob Siemen, who was a former UD athlete, coach and administrator, and who dedicated his entire adult life to Blue Hen Athletics.