Two members of the Cornell College of Engineering faculty have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's 12th annual Symposium on the Frontiers of Engineering, Sept. 21-23, at Ford Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Mich.

Cornell will be represented by Rajit Manohar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Matthew DeLisa, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Frontiers of Engineering brings together 80 outstanding engineers, ages 30-45, from industry, academia and government, and consists of a series of presentations by leaders in their fields and group discussions. Topics this year include the nanotechnology-biology interface, intelligent software systems and machines, supply chain management and personal mobility. Participants were selected from about 200 nominations by organizations and fellow engineers.

The program provides engineers, early in their careers, an opportunity to learn about developments in fields other than their own, facilitating collaborative work and the transfer of new approaches and techniques across fields. Manohar is a co-founder of the Computer Systems Laboratory, which brings faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science together to research problems of mutual interest. His research focuses on the design of integrated circuit chips. He created an innovative circuit design that allows separate components on a chip to operate at their own speeds instead of following a single clock signal, greatly increasing overall processing speed and reducing power requirements.

DeLisa studies the molecular machinery inside cells and has modified cellular protein-making machinery to make it more efficient by inserting genes from higher organisms. He plans to design new molecular machinery, producing custom-made enzymes and membrane transport mechanisms.

In 2005, DeLisa and Manohar were selected by Technology Review magazine as "technology innovators."