UMass Amherst faculty members Ashish Kulkarni and Vincent Rotello have been inducted into the 2026 class of the College of Fellows for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Kulkarni for pioneering contributions to immunoengineering, drug delivery and cancer therapy, and for development of computationally designed nanomaterials, and Rotello for transformative contributions to nanomedicine and biomedical engineering, pioneering therapeutic nanoparticles, and developing innovative delivery systems for human health applications. “I am deeply honored by this recognition from AIMBE, which reflects the outstanding efforts of the students and trainees in my lab and our shared commitment to advancing engineering-driven therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for cancer,” Kulkarni says.
Rotello, Charles A. Goessmann Professor of chemistry and a University Distinguished Professor in the College of Natural Sciences, was extended membership to the College of Fellows “for transformative contributions to nanomedicine and biomedical engineering, pioneering therapeutic nanoparticles, and developing innovative delivery systems for human health applications,” according to the institute. He has been named one of the most highly cited researchers and a top researcher by ScholarGPS in 2026 and Research.com in 2024. He also has received the Cope Scholar Award in 2023 from the American Chemical Society for his work building Lego-like molecules at the nanoscale that have important applications in health care and environmental delivery, imaging, diagnostics and nanotoxicology. He was recently selected as the editor in chief for the journal Cambridge Materials: Health.