Pitt Alumnus, Trustee, and Noted Engineer John A. Swanson Elected to The National Academy of Engineering
Acclaimed inventor,
business founder, and University of Pittsburgh engineering alumnus and trustee
John A. Swanson has been named to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE),
among the highest professional distinctions an engineer can receive. He was one
of 65 new members and nine foreign associates elected to the academy Feb. 6 for
contributions to and innovations in engineering.
“The election of distinguished Pitt alumnus and University trustee John Swanson
to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering is a telling tribute to one
of history’s great engineers,” said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “Dr.
Swanson founded ANSYS, Inc., nearly four decades ago, and just four years after
earning his PhD from Pitt’s engineering school that now proudly bears his name.
It might fairly be said that Dr. Swanson, who also is the single-most generous
individual supporter of Pitt in its 222-year history, helped bring the ‘high
tech’ economy to Southwestern Pennsylvania long before the term had been
coined. We have enormous respect for and are deeply grateful to Dr. Swanson,
and today we join him in celebrating yet another premier professional
distinction.”
The academy recognized Swanson for his development of the ANSYS program, a
general-purpose finite-element software code used in engineering design
worldwide to predict how product designs will behave in manufacturing and
real-work environments. The program is used in various fields employing
computer-aided engineering, including the aerospace, automotive, biomedical,
manufacturing, and electronics industries. To market the program, Swanson
founded ANSYS, Inc., in 1970, with headquarters in Canonsburg, Pa. The
company—which designs, develops, markets, and globally supports engineering
simulation technology—now has 1,400 employees and distributes products through
a network of business partners in more than 40 countries. Swanson served as the
company’s president, chief executive officer, and director until his retirement
in March 1999. He still teaches ANSYS training classes and serves the company
as an advisor.
“John Swanson is truly one of the great engineers of all time,” said Gerald D.
Holder, the U.S. Steel Dean of Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, which was
named after Swanson in 2007. “His leadership and expertise in writing some of
the most complex and sophisticated code ever developed resulted in creating one
of the leading engineering software firms in the world. We at the Swanson
School are truly honored to have our school named after this extraordinary
professional.”
Among other prestigious awards, Swanson received the 2004 John Fritz Medal from
the American Association of Engineering Societies, which is considered the
highest and most prestigious award in the engineering profession. Presented since
1902, prior awardees of the Fritz Medal include Orville Wright, Alexander
Graham Bell, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, and George Westinghouse. He also was
awarded the 2006 President’s Award from the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.
Swanson has had a long relationship with Pitt. He was elected to the
University’s Board of Trustees in 2006 and, in 2002, inducted into the
Cathedral of Learning Society, which recognizes individuals who have donated $1
million or more to the University. In 1998, he received the School of
Engineering’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
In December 2007, Pitt renamed its engineering school the John A. Swanson
School of Engineering in recognition of the greatest generosity by an
individual donor in Pitt’s history—$41.3 million donated by Swanson to the
University’s School of Engineering as part of the $2 billion Building Our
Future Together Campaign. Swanson’s gifts to Pitt have helped create the John
A. Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, which houses the John A. Swanson
Center for Micro and Nano Systems; the John A. Swanson Center for Product
Innovation; and the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Center of Excellence.
He also has established the John A. Swanson Embedded Computing Laboratory in
Computer Engineering.
Swanson received his PhD in applied mechanics from Pitt in 1966. He received
his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Cornell
University in 1963 and 1962, respectively.
With his election, Swanson joins three Pitt professors who also are members of
the National Academy of Engineering: Bernard Cohen, emeritus professor of
physics and astronomy, elected in 2003; Thomas Saaty, University Professor of
Business Administration, elected in 2005; and Savio Woo, University Professor of
Bioengineering, elected in 1994.
There is always newsworthy research and events happening in the Swanson School of Engineering.
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