NOVEMBER 23, 2020 — The UTSA College of Engineering has named Eric Brey, department chair of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, as the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. Endowed Chair in Mechanics. In addition to the $1 million endowment, which was established in 2013, the endowed chair includes significant additional financial resources and access to state-of-the-art facilities.
According to Brey, he views the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. Endowed Chair in Mechanics as a recognition of the lab and for all of the hard work the students, post docs and staff put in every day.
“This endowment will help support students, trainees and the research in the lab,” Brey said. “It will help move our research to the next level and hopefully, impact medical knowledge.”
In addition to running both the biomedical engineering and chemical engineering programs, Brey is co-director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and directs research focused on the fields of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and biomaterials. Lab members are investigating new biomaterial approaches for engineering vascularized tissues, as well as investigating novel imaging methods for analysis and monitoring of engineered tissues. Recently, the lab team has applied this work to develop new approaches to treating obesity and metabolic disease.
“Dr. Brey is not only a dedicated researcher, he is an equally dedicated educator,” said JoAnn Browning, dean of the College of Engineering. “In addition to performing internationally recognized research in the areas of tissue engineering and biomaterials, Dr. Brey is committed to mentoring the next generation of engineers who will lead the field in the future. I cannot imagine a better candidate to be named as the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. Endowed Chair in Mechanics.”
Brey’s research has received support from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, and industry collaborators.
Brey joined the UTSA College of Engineering in 2017 as professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering after working for 13 years at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Brey received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Rice University and was a NIH post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center.
Brey’s research interests are in tissue engineering and biomaterials, and he has made significant contributions in these fields. Specifically, he has contributed to new methods for engineering vascularized tissues and is a leader in evaluating new imaging methods for the analysis of engineered tissues. Brey’s research has resulted in over 125 peer-reviewed publications, 12 book chapters, and 60 invited talks.
A fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers, Brey was awarded the 2015 Educational Award from TERMIS, a Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Applied Cardiovascular Biology, a Sigma Xi Award for Excellence in Research, and a visiting professorship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan. He was previously named Duchossois Leadership Professor and currently serves as associate editor of the journal Progress in Biomedical Engineering.
In addition to his research, Brey has a significant interest in engineering education, specifically in the areas of undergraduate research, ethical cultures, and mentoring.
Endowed academic positions like the Whitacre Endowed Chair are used to foster excellence in research and scholarly activities and are crucial to the university's efforts to recruit and retain highly qualified researchers. The endowment was created in 2012 by the Whitacre Family Foundation.
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