The Melvin R. Lohmann Medal was established in 1991 to honor alumni of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology for contributions to the profession or education of engineers, architects or technologist that merit the highest recognition.

Professor J.N. Reddy received the Melvin R. Medal in 1997 “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to education and research in energy and variational methods of mechanics, the mathematical theory of the finite element method, and applications of theoretical methods to a variety of problems in solid and structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, geology and geophysics.”