Professor Cato T. Laurencin of the University of Connecticut has been appointed a member of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI) Nomination Evaluation Committee by the Biden Administration and designated vice chair of the committee.

For Laurencin this is a reappointment to the committee. He was previously appointed by the Trump administration for a first term on the NMTI Committee.

The NMTI is the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement, bestowed by the President of the United States on America’s leading innovators. Laurencin is a recipient of the National Medal of Technology an Innovation and received the honor in ceremonies at the White House from President Barack Obama in 2016.

Laurencin’s work in service to our nation has been broad. He currently serves as an appointee to the National Research Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’, advising our nation on research directions to help American veterans. He is the founding chair of the National Academies Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Medicine, Engineering and Sciences focused on issues effecting Blacks in science.

He served as a permanent member of the FDA’s Orthopaedic Device Panel, evaluating engineering devices for musculoskeletal use. Later he was appointed to membership on the National Science Advisory Board to the FDA.  Laurencin served on the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Committee (ADCOM), where he helped in the design of new initiatives in engineering. He has been a member of the National Institutes of Health National Advisory Council on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), and a member of the National Institutes of Health National Advisory Council on Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). In addition he has served on the Scientific Management Review Board of the NIH and served as a direct advisor to Dr. Francis Collins as a member of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD).