W. Mark Saltzman of Yale Announced as 2014 Mines Medalist
Rapid City, SD (PRWEB) June 25, 2014 -- W. Mark Saltzman, an expert in biomedical engineering, drug delivery, tissue engineering and gene therapy, has been named the 2014 Mines Medalist by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
Saltzman, Ph.D., is the Goizueta Foundation professor of chemical and biomedical engineering and the chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. He becomes the sixth Mines Medalist to be named by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, which founded the national award in 2009 to recognize scientists and engineers who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation.
The Des Moines, Iowa, native graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State University in 1981. He attended graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1984 and a Ph.D. in medical engineering in 1987.
He was appointed assistant professor of chemical engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 1987 and promoted through the ranks, becoming a tenured full professor eight years later. In 1996, he was named the first BP Amoco/H. Laurance Fuller Chair in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University. Saltzman moved to Yale University as the Goizueta Foundation professor of chemical and biomedical engineering in 2002 and became the founding chair of Yale’s Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2003.
“We are pleased to honor Dr. Saltzman as the next Mines Medalist. The impact of his research in biomedical engineering can change lives and is the epitome of what the Mines Medal was created to honor. Collaborative, multidisciplinary research such as that Dr. Saltzman often initiates is something we value very highly at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology,” said President Heather Wilson.
Recognized widely for his excellence in research and teaching, Saltzman is a recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award, the Allan C. Davis Medal as Maryland’s Outstanding Young Engineer, the Controlled Release Society Young Investigator Award and Iowa State University’s Professional Progress in Engineering Award.
“I am delighted to be receiving this award. I admire the mission of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology to provide affordable, rigorous education in areas of national need with a focus on the student experience. The school’s mission is right on track with the needs of students and the needs of our country,” Saltzman said.
He has been a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the National Academy of Inventors and served as a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering. He has delivered over 200 lectures throughout the world, including the Britton Chance Distinguished Lecture in Engineering and Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Distinguished Lecture of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Saltzman’s extensive work has been described in over 250 research papers and patents, and he has authored the textbooks Biomedical Engineering, Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery.
His nominator, T. Kyle Vanderlick, dean of Yale’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, said, “Professor Saltzman has been at the forefront of developing materials and methods for controlled drug delivery, tissue engineering and gene therapy. His work has addressed the treatment and prevention of disease and the treatment of illness and injury. In addition to his impact on improving the human condition as a result of his research, he is an inspiring educator, mentor and colleague.”
He will be presented with the award during the Oct. 2, 2014, Mines Medal Dinner and Award Ceremony to be held at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.
Previous medalists include Dr. Anna Balazs, 2011 recipient and Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Diana Wall, 2012 recipient and University Distinguished Professor and director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University; Dr. Lee Rybeck Lynd, 2011 recipient and professor of engineering and adjunct professor of biology and earth science at Dartmouth College; Steven Squyres, 2010 recipient and Cornell University astronomer and principal scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover missions; and Dr. Cindy Van Dover, 2009 recipient and chair and professor of Duke University’s Division of Marine Sciences and Conservation and director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory.
For additional information about the Mines Medal: http://www.sdsmt.edu/About/Mines-Medal/.
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About SDSM&T
Founded in 1885, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a science and engineering research university located in Rapid City, S.D., offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The university enrolls 2,640 students from 45 states and 37 countries, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 14:1. The average starting salary for graduates is $62,400 with a 98 percent placement rate. Find us online at http://www.sdsmt.edu, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sdsmt and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sdsmt.
Fran LeFort, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, http://www.sdsmt.edu, +1 (605) 394-6082, [email protected]
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