UConn Health

September 28, 2021 | Combined Reports

Laurencin is Only US Professor Chosen as Royal Academy Fellow

The UConn researcher is one of only 69 people elected this year from across the globe

A portrait photograph of Cato Laurencin.

The election as an international fellow to the Royal Academy is the latest of many honors bestowed on Laurencin (contributed photo).

UConn researcher Dr. Cato T. Laurencin has been elected an International Fellow of the United Kingdom’s Royal Academy of Engineering, a prestigious distinction that this year was bestowed on just 69 people, with Laurencin the only U.S. professor to be elected.

Internationally renowned for his work in biomaterials, stem cell science, nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, and for pioneering a new field, regenerative engineering, Laurencin is Professor of Chemical Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering. He is the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering. He is the founder of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Regenerative Engineering Society.

Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the first individual to receive both the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award) and one of the oldest/highest awards of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal).

Internationally, he is an elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the India National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the World Academy of Sciences. Laurencin also is an Academician and the 45th Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Laurencin earned his B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University; his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School; and his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/ biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2016, Laurencin received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House. It is the highest honor bestowed in America for technological achievement. In 2021, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor awarded by the NAACP, for his work in Regenerative Engineering.