G. Ravichandran, John E. Goode, Jr. Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT) has been selected to receive the Chevalier de l'ordre des Palmes Académiques, which is the Knight grade of the French Republic's Order of Academic Palms. Founded by Napoleon in 1808 to honor educators and scholars,  this distinction recognizes eminent personalities who have made significant contributions to the development of French culture, science, and education.

National Research Council ranks the doctoral programs of universities in the States every ten years.  The new ranking just came out.  Here are the results for mechanicsl engineering and civil engineering.

Mechanical Engineering:

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Multifunctional Infrastructure Materials -- ADVERTISEMENT

NSF Summer Institute Short Course on

Mechanics of Soft Materials

Co-sponsored by
The Intrenational Union of Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) and
The US National Committee of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (US/NCTAM)

Organizers: Yonggang Huang and Wing Kim Liu, Northwestern University

Hilton Garden Inn, 1818 Maple Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, 60201
Dates: May 10 (Monday) morning to May 12 (Wednesday) morning 2010

Course Website
http://www.tam.northwestern.edu/summerinstitute/_links2/courses4.htm

Professor Huajian Gao, Brown University, will give the Robert Henry Thurston Lecture at the 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress, Orlando, Florida.  His lecture “Nanomechanics of biological systems - What can we learn from nature about hierarchical materials?” will be in room Euro 10, on the 3rd floor at the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel (conference hotel), at 10am, November 16, Monday.

Northwestern University, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)and Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) jointly seek an outstanding individual in the area of mechanics for a tenure-track position at the level of assistant professor.  The successful candidate will be expected to develop an independent, internationally-recognized research program, teach graduate- and undergraduate-level courses, and supervise graduate research.  Both CEE and ME

The Chronicle of Higher Education just published its ranking of all programs (fields) of universities in the States.

http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity

This ranking is based on the productivity (publications, citations, grants and awards, nothing else), rather than people perceptions (department head's evaluations) as US News and World Report. 

Of course one should never take any ranking very seriously, but it is interesting to take a look at this website.