Subra Suresh

Subra Suresh is President of Global Learning Council of the Villars Institute, Switzerland, where he also serves as a member of the Board of Villars Institute Foundation. He is Professor at Large at Brown University and Vannevar Bush Professor Emeritus at MIT. He has previously served as President of Carnegie Mellon University, President of Nanyang Technological University Singapore, and Dean of Engineering at MIT. He also served as Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), a position to which he was nominated by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate.

Elected as a member of all three US national academies of engineering, sciences, and medicine, Professor Suresh has been recognized by three United States Presidents. He is a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the highest honor accorded to an American scientist by the White House, for “pioneering research across engineering, physical sciences, and life sciences”. He has been awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the highest recognition from the President of the Republic of France, and the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honors from the President of India.

Suresh has been awarded 20 honorary doctorates from prestigious institutions around the world, His other awards include: honorary fellowship of St. Hugh’s College at Oxford University; the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia; the FEMS Medal from the Federation of European Materials Societies (the first non-European selected to receive this highest scientific honor from the Federation); the IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Interchange that “recognizes and honors leaders of technology for their outstanding accomplishments in technological innovation which contribute broadly to the development of industry and to the benefit of society”; and the ASME Medal, the Timoshenko Medal and the Nadai Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for leading research at the intersections of engineering, sciences and medicine. He has authored three books, more than 300 research articles, and 30 patent applications.

The NSF I-Corps Program designed and created by Suresh while serving as NSF Director is now widely regarded as one of the most impactful programs in helping to translate scientific discoveries into technological innovation and for societal benefit. He created the Global Research Council and served as its Inaugural Chair while serving as Director of NSF.
Suresh has served as a member of the Board of Directors and/or as a member of science and/or technology advisory boards of public and private companies, including HP Inc. (Palo Alto, California), SGX (Singapore), Siemens AG (Germany), and Applied Materials (Santa Clara, California) and government agencies in the USA, Europe, and Asia.