awards

Professor Aaron Streets has been named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10, a list honoring trailblazing early-career scientists and engineers who are tackling pressing challenges with innovative solutions. Streets is bioengineering’s Vice-Chair of Undergraduate Affairs, Faculty Director of the BioEngineering Scholars Program, and a talented researcher who combines mathematics, physics and engineering to develop novel tools for precision measurement of biological systems.

Congratulations to Professor Phillip Messersmith, one of seven new recipients of the 2022 Bakar Fellows Spark Award, designed to accelerate faculty-led research and produce tangible, positive societal impact through commercialization. Messersmith is developing a regenerative therapy for the intestinal ulcers that accompany inflammatory bowel disease.

Professor Lisa Pruitt is one of two 2022 recipients of the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal, recognizing exceptional records of accomplishment by Brown alumni in their engineering careers. Pruitt received her Ph.D. from Brown and joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1993, later becoming a joint professor in the Department of Bioengineering.

Professors Steven Conolly and Niren Murthy are two of the four 2022 winners of the 2022 Bakar Prize. The prize is given annually to former Bakar Fellows to provide additional resources to ensure a successful transition of their technology from academic research to industry applications.

Professor Jay Keasling is the recipient of the Science History Institute’s 2022 Othmer Gold Medal. The award recognizes his efforts in developing innovative synthetic biology tools that address major societal challenges such as biofuel manufacturing and medical applications.

Congratulations to Professor Michael Yartsev, winner of the C.J. Herrick Award in Neuroanatomy from the American Association for Anatomy. This award recognizes investigators in the early stages of their careers who have made important contributions to biomedical science through their research. Yartsev uses the bat as a model system to study the neural mechanisms of complex spatial, social and acoustic behaviors.

Dan Fletcher, Amy Herr, Liana Lareau and Aaron Streets have been named to the second cohort of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigators. The Investigator Program, open to faculty members at Stanford University, UC San Francisco, and UC Berkeley, awards $1 million in unrestricted funds over five years to each Investigator, with the goal of building engaged, collaborative communities of Bay Area scientists to solve the biggest challenges in biomedicine.