Engineering Professor Howard A. Stone is one of 65 newly-elected members of the National Academy of Engineering, according to a NAE statement released Friday. Stone was inducted for his research in viscous flow fluid dynamics, and joins 17 other Harvard professors who are currently members of the society.

According to fellow NAE member and engineering professor John W. Hutchinson, Stone’s election reflects the quality of the Harvard engineering faculty, and in particular, the significance of his research.

“His election is an honor especially for someone as young as him,” he said. Stone is 49.

Stone will be departing to teach at Princeton—ranked number 12 among undergraduate engineering programs in 2008 by U.S. News and World Report—next semester, but his colleagues assert his election still holds significance for Harvard, ranked 33.

Engineering professor James R. Rice said the honor “raises the visibility level” of the relatively young School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Membership in the NAE is considered to be one of the highest awards for engineers, and the institution currently has 2,246 members in the U.S.

Inductees are selected from all practices of engineering, including education, practice, and research.

Stone said that he was honored and humbled to be elected, crediting his students and collaborators for their contributions to his success.

For Stone, the election also had significance beyond the professional recognition—his father, Henry E. Stone was elected in 1981 and is currently an emeritus NAE member. Stone said that his election was a “pleasant surprise” for his father.

“There is an extra special meaning for me,” Stone said, “to join my father as part of this great organization.”

In addition to his research, Stone’s colleagues said that they admired his philanthropic spirit. According to Rice, a fellow NAE member, Stone “volunteers for everything he sees.”

Hutchinson said that in additional to being a talented researcher, Stone is also a “marvelous” teacher to both the students at the School of Engineering and younger pupils. Stone was in Rhode Island teaching students about fluid mechanics the day he was elected to the NAE, according to Hutchinson.

Stone received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from University of California-Davis, his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, and completed his Post Doctoral Work at Cambridge University. He joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1989.