The Founders Award was established in 1965 by the Academy to honor an outstanding NAE member or foreign associate who has upheld the ideals and principles of the NAE through professional, educational, and personal achievement and accomplishment.

Awarded during NAE's annual meeting in October, the recipient receives a cash award of $2,500. The gold medal is imprinted with a replica of the NAE seal, a stylized Roman aqueduct representing the bridge between science and society. Though only NAE members or foreign associates are eligible to receive the Founders Award, founding members of the National Academy of Engineering are not eligible.