Research & Discovery UConn Health

December 7, 2022 | Jini Davis, CT Convergence Institute

UConn’s Professor Cato T. Laurencin Co-Leads Historic Report on the Future of Engineering and Biology

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin co-lead a project investigating how the convergence of engineering and biology can help solve some of the biggest challenges facing humankind.

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Dr. Cato T. Laurencin is co-lead on a groundbreaking report on the possibilities created by the intersection of biology and engineering.

The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an initiative of the National Science Foundation, recently published a report identifying research priorities found at the intersection of biology and engineering. The report entitled “8 Impossible Things” boldly presents challenges to humankind that may be solved through engineering combined with biology.

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., University Professor, Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science, and Chemical Engineering at UConn, co-lead the project with Jake Beal, engineering fellow, Raytheon BBN Technologies.

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Dr. Cato T. Laurencin is the founder of the field of Regenerative Engineering and the 2022 recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Medal.

“While they are separate disciplines, the convergence of biology and engineering has enormous potential to solve some of our greatest problems,” said Dr. Laurencin at the report’s launch. “Collaboration in research will allow for the scientific community to come together and explore solutions to some of the biggest problems facing our world today.”

Dr. Laurencin’s background bridges engineering and biology. He received 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 M.I.T. He received the Pierre Galletti Award, the highest honor of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award, the premier recognition of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

He is the first surgeon to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. He has received the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from President Bill Clinton, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama for his work bridging engineering and biology in ceremonies at the White House.

The full report and executive summary can be found here: https://www.ervacommunity.org/visioning-report/leveraging-biology-visioning-report/