William S. Hammack

Develops pioneering new media to explain engineering to the public—his “EngineerGuy” videos on YouTube have been viewed over 100 million times. Bill Hammack is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. At Illinois he has pioneered novel approaches to engineering outreach. He is the creator and host of the popular YouTube channel engineerguyvideo . He is perhaps best known for his video on the aluminum can . From 1999 to 2006 he created a groundbreaking series of over 200 pieces for public radio that described what engineers do, why they do it and how. His outreach work has been recognized by the Hoover Medal (awarded by a consortium of five engineering societies), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Ralph Coats Roe Medal , the Carl Sagan Award from the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, the Public Service Medal from the National Science Board, the American Chemical Society's Grady-Stack Medal , and the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award . His books include Michael Faraday's The Chemical History of a Candle with Lectures, Teaching Guides and Student Activities (2016), Why Engineers Need to Grow a Long Tail (2011), How Engineers Create the World (2012), Eight Amazing Engineering Stories (2012), and Albert Michelson's Harmonic Analyzer (2014). Ph.D, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1988 M.S., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1986 B.S., Michigan Technological University, 1984 How Engineers Create the World: The Public Radio Commentaries of Bill Hammack (2011) Michael Faraday’s The Chemical History of a Candle with Lectures, Teaching Guides and Student Activities. The companion book to the YouTube video series by Bill Hammack and Don DeCoste. Hoover Medal, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2020 Ralph Coats Roe Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2020 Carl Sagan Award for the Public Appreciation of Science, Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP), 2019 First Prize Video Science Online 2011 Fellow, American Physical Society , 2009 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science , 2008 Jefferson Fellow, United States Department of State, 2005-2006 Science Writing Award in Broadcast Media, American Institute of Physics , 2004 Award for Distinguished Literary Contributions Furthering the Public Understanding of the Profession, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , 2004 James T. Grady - James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, American Chemical Society , 2004 Silver Reel for National News & Commentary, The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, 2003 The President's Award, American Society for Engineering Education , 2003 Science in Society Award, National Association of Science Writers, 2002 Service to Society Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers , 2002 Edwin F. Church Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers , 2002 Excellence in Teaching Award, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois, UC, 2001 The Advisor's List - top 10% of advisors in the College of Engineering, University of Illinois, UC, 1999 Teacher/Scholar Award, The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation , 1993 ACS/Exxon Fellowship in Solid State Chemistry, American Chemical Society , 1992