Arif Masud, Ph.D., F.EMI, Dist.M.ASCE, the William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been honored with inclusion by ASCE in its 2026 class of distinguished members. He was chosen for his seminal contributions to stabilized finite element methods for structural mechanics and layered additive manufacturing, the development of coupled thermo-chemo-mechanical models for the curing of cementitious and polymeric composites, and distinguished leadership in technical and professional societies.
ASCE will honor Masud and the 2026 distinguished members at the 2026 OPAL Gala, Thursday, Oct. 15 in Reston, Virginia.
Masud’s appointments at UIUC span multiple departments, and he is the inaugural director of the Center for Manufacturing Smart Infrastructure, where he has helped advance interdisciplinary research linking infrastructure, computation, and advanced manufacturing. His extraordinary breadth, which spans engineering mechanics, computational physics, materials science, biomedical applications, and more, is matched by the depth and originality of his scientific contributions.
His work has fundamentally advanced the field of stabilized and variational multiscale computational methods, which now underpin modern simulations of complex multiphysics phenomena essential to infrastructure, medicine, and materials. Masud’s scholarship is also credited with the development of Variational Multiscale discontinuous-Galerkin, or VMDG, class of methods. These contributions have advanced the modeling of complex multiphysics systems, including material behavior, additive manufacturing processes, flow systems, and biofluid mechanics.
Masud’s methods facilitate the integration of data-driven techniques while preserving the consistency of underlying physics-based models. His influence extends beyond scholarship and leadership; he has built a legacy of mentorship, collaboration, and international engagement that has shaped the careers of students, postdoctoral scholars, and colleagues worldwide. He embodies the ideals of intellectual rigor, integrity, collegiality, and service.
He was elected to the board of governors of ASCE’s Engineering Mechanics Institute in 2020, and served as its president from 2023 to 2025. During his tenure as EMI president, Masud led the creation of a tax-exempt endowment fund to put the institute on firm financial footing. From 2006 to 2009, he was chair of the ASCE Computational Mechanics Committee, and he has served as Associate Editor of the Society’s Journal of Engineering Mechanics and Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics. He also served as President of the Society of Engineering Science in 2023 and as a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics from 2012 to 2016.
Along with EMI and SES, Masud is a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, ASME, USACM, and the International Association of Computational Mechanics. His awards include the 2019 G.I. Taylor Medal, the 2022 Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award and Medal, and the 2023 J.N. Reddy Medal for Advanced Materials and Structures.
Masud’s master’s and doctoral degrees are from Stanford University.
Nominations for the 2027 class are due Dec. 15. Email [email protected] for more information.
