William J. “Bill” Cook, Chandler Family Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is one of 68 new members and nine foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Cook is known widely for his work with the traveling salesman problem and his research in combinatorial optimization and integer programming. In November, Cook was also elected fellow by the Institute for Operational Research and Management Sciences.

Cook joins two Georgia Tech alumni who were also selected for the NAE honor. Parker H. "Pete" Petit, who earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in engineering mechanics, as well as Linda Griffith, a professor of teaching innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1982, were also elected.

Election to NAE is considered among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. According to NAE, membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."