UTSA engineering dean C. Mauli Agrawal reappointed to Texas Emerging Technology Fund advisory board

C. Mauli Agrawal

By Christi Fish
Public Affairs Specialist

(March 9, 2011)--C. Mauli Agrawal, the UTSA David and Jennifer Spencer Distinguished Chair for the Dean of Engineering and Peter Flawn Professor in Biomedical Engineering, has been appointed to a second two-year term on the advisory board of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). Agrawal's new term will expire Aug. 31, 2012.

"At the recommendation of Governor Rick Perry, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund was established in 2005 by the Texas Legislature to strengthen the state's economy by providing $200 million in funding to support promising technology start-up companies in Texas and promote innovation by recruiting outstanding scientists to Texas' universities," said Agrawal. "This is a very exciting time for Texas, and I am honored to serve on the fund's advisory board for a second term."

A mechanical engineer and materials scientist by training, Agrawal is recognized internationally as a scholar in orthopedic and cardiovascular biomaterials. His career spans approximately two decades, during which his research has generated nearly 300 scientific publications and conference papers. Additionally, he has edited or co-edited four scientific books, served on the editorial boards of several leading scientific journals and delivered more than 75 scientific lectures on four continents.

In 2008, Agrawal was inducted a Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials. He also is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an honor reserved for those representing the top 2 percent of their field. In 2010, he was honored by BioMed SA with the Julio Palmaz Award for Innovation in Health Care and the Biosciences. The award is given to the one individual each year who makes the most significant contributions to advance biomedicine.

In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Agrawal is an entrepreneur who has been issued and has pending 18 U.S. patents for technology he created or to which he contributed during the course of his research. Some of those patents are licensed commercially, resulting in the formation of three biomedical start-ups in San Antonio including Xilas Medical Inc. (now Diabetica Solutions), which offers products to resolve diabetic foot problems and was the first company in Texas to be funded by the ETF. More recently, Agrawal and his colleagues co-founded GenOsteo, a company that soon will commercialize products to regenerate large defects in bone. The intellectual property supporting GenOsteo garnered UTSA its first commercial license.

Agrawal's professional affiliations include the Society for Biomaterials, Orthopaedic Research Society, Tissue Engineering Society, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

He earned his doctorate in materials science from Duke University and master's and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from Clemson University and the Indian Institute of Technology, respectively.