The Rensselaer Board of Trustees has approved Leo Wan's promotion to the rank of Professor. He joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an assistant professor in 2011 and became an associate professor in 2016. He received both B.S. and M. Eng. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, where he became a post-doc on stem cells and tissue engineering.
Leo's research is focused on developing novel strategies for tissue regeneration/repair and establishing innovative organ-on-a-chip devices for disease diagnosis and drug screening. His lab unitizes interdisciplinary approaches including micro-/nanofabrication, stem cells, tissue engineering, biomaterial, cell/tissue biomechanics, and bioimaging.
Leo is a Pew scholar (Class 2013), and recipient of NIH Director's New Innovator Award, National Science Foundation Early Career Award, American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, and the March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award.