Alumna Rena Bizios elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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Alumna Rena Bizios, who earned her BS degree from the Chemical Engineering Department in 1968, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S). See Rena Bizios elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences | UTSA Today | UTSA | The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Bizios is the Lutcher Brown Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering and a professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (Klesse College).
Founded in 1780 by John Hancock, John Adams, and 60 other scholar-patriots, the AAA&S is one of the nation’s longest established academic societies. It serves as both an honorary society and an independent research center that convenes leaders from many disparate fields to “advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”
Bizios was previously elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, the National Academy of Inventors in 2019, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2015.
According to the UTSA press release, “Bizios is a globally recognized educator and researcher who has made pioneering contributions to biomedical engineering curricula as well as groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of cell-material interactions at the tissue/implant interface with applications in implant biomaterials, tissue engineering, and tissue regeneration.”
UTSA says that Bizio’s discoveries have contributed to the development of biomaterials for implants and have established principles that are applied today in multiple medical devices that are used to promote tissue regeneration.
Likewise, Bizio’s research into cell and protein interactions with nanostructured materials has led to the development of various applications for nanomaterials, ranging from drug delivery to the promotion of specific biological responses. In all, she holds four issued patents.
Bizios is co-author of the landmark textbook, “An Introduction to Tissue-Biomaterial Interactions,” which, according to UTSA, is a standard in the biomaterials field and has been adopted for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses by several biomedical engineering programs in the United States and abroad.
In addition to her national academy memberships, Bizios is a fellow of five professional societies: the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the International Union of the Societies for Biomaterials Sciences and Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Bizios has received numerous awards, including; the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Women’s Initiatives Mentorship Excellence Award (2010); the Society for Biomaterials Founders Award (2014); the Biomedical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education Theo C. Pilkington Outstanding Educator Award (2014); the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Excellence in STEM Education Award (2018); and the BioMedSA Award for Innovation in Healthcare and Bioscience (2020). (May 2022)
