Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, and professional engineering societies.
Robert M. Nerem, often referred to as Bob Nerem, a member of the U. S. National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, held the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he was an Emeritus Professor until his death.
Lori Ann Setton is an American biomechanical engineer noted for her research on mechanics and mechanobiology of the intervertebral disc, articular cartilage mechanics, drug delivery, and pathomechanisms of osteoarthritis. She is currently the Department Chair as well as the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
Ravi V. Bellamkonda is an Indian-American biomedical engineer and academic administrator. Since 2021, he has served as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Bellamkonda was previously Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.
Mark F. Horstemeyer is the Dean of the School of Engineering at Liberty University. He was the Giles Distinguished Professor at Mississippi State University (MSU) and professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Mississippi State University (2002–2018), holding a Chair position for the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) in Computational Solid Mechanics; he was also the Chief Technical Officer for CAVS. Before coming to MSU, he worked for Sandia National Laboratories for fifteen years (1987-2002) in the area of multiscale modeling for design.
Francisco Javier Valero-Cuevas is an engineer of Mexican origin, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is known for his work on how the human hand works, and its clinical applications. He is notable for several inventions, including devices for measuring hand function and leg function, and the construction of archways in civil engineering. Among his scholarly contributions is a textbook on the mathematical foundations underlying the study of motor control and biomechanics. He is an Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2014), an Elected Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellow.
Omolola (Lola) Eniola-Adefeso is a Nigerian-American chemical engineer and the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Eniola-Adefeso is also a co-founder and chief scientific officer of Asalyxa Bio. Her research looks to design biocompatible functional particles for targeted drug delivery.
Susan Margulies is an American engineer and assistant director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, heading the Directorate for Engineering. She is also the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Injury Biomechanics and Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, where she served as chair from 2017 to 2021. She is a world leader in the biomechanics of head injury in infants.
Elizabeth M. C. Hillman is a British-born academic who is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at Columbia University. She was awarded the 2011 Adolph Lomb Medal from The Optical Society and the 2018 SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award.
Joyce Y. Wong is an American engineer who is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University. Her research develops novel biomaterials for the early detection treatment of disease. Wong is the Inaugural Director of the Provost's Initiative to promote gender equality and inclusion in STEM at all levels: Advance, Recruit, Retain and Organize Women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Society.
Erin Baker Lavik is a professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Lavik develops polymers and nanoparticles that can protect the nervous system. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Leslie Ying is an American biomedical engineering scientist in the field of medical imaging. She is the Clifford C. Furnas Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Ying is the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging and is also an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow.
Gilda A. Barabino is the president of the Olin College of Engineering, where she is also a professor of biomedical and chemical engineering. Previously, she served as the dean of The Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York, and as a professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering and the CUNY School of Medicine. On March 4, 2021, she became the President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
David A. Vorp is an American bioengineer, researcher, entrepreneur, and academic administrator noted for his contributions to aortic aneurysm biomechanics and pathobiology, and tissue engineered vascular grafts. He currently holds the titles of Associate Dean for Research at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering and the John A. Swanson Professor of Bioengineering, with secondary appointments in the departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Surgery, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, and the Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves as the co-director of the Center for Medical Innovation., the acting director of the University’s GRID Institute, and the director of the Vascular Bioengineering Laboratory.
Sherry Lynn Voytik-Harbin is a professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Basic Medical Sciences at Purdue University.
Beth L. Pruitt is an American engineer. Upon completing her master's degree in manufacturing systems engineering from Stanford University, Pruitt served as an officer in the United States Navy. She is a full professor of mechanical engineering, biological engineering, and biomolecular science & engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a fellow of both ASME and AIMBE.
Farshid Guilak is an American engineer and orthopedic researcher. He is the Mildred B. Simon Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis and director of research at Shriners Hospitals for Children. He is also on the faculty of the departments of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, and Developmental Biology at Washington University.
Grace D. O'Connell is an American biomechanical engineer known for her research on the biomechanics of the human spine, on the degeneration and regeneration of spinal tissue, and on the comparison of its properties with the spines of animals used in the study of lumbar disc disease. She is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also held the Don M. Cunningham Chair in Mechanical Engineering.
Dawn M. Elliott is an American biomedical engineer whose research concerns the biomechanics of connective tissue including the tendons, menisci, and intervertebral discs. She is Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware, adjunct professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the former president of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
