Jennifer Lewis elected to National Academy of Engineering

Jennifer A. Lewis, the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Core Faculty Member of the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Lewis’ research focuses on the design and fabrication of functional, structural and biological materials. Her pioneering work in the field of microscale 3D printing is advancing the development of electronics, soft robotics, lightweight structures, and vascularized human tissues.

Lewis is an inventor on more than 40 pending or issued patents and founded the startup company Voxel8, Inc., to commercialize the first multi-material 3D printing for the fabrication of embedded electronics.

She is among 84 new members elected to the NAE, chosen for their outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education and their pioneering work into new and developing fields of technology.  Lewis is being honored for her “development of materials and processes for 3-dimensional direct fabrication of multifunctional structures.”

She joins 17 other SEAS faculty members who are members of the NAE. SEAS also is the home institution of 17 members of the National Academy of Science and four members of the National Academy of Medicine.

"Jennifer's work is a marvelous example of the power of convergence; bridging materials, medicine, robotics, and other fields," said Francis J. Doyle III, John A. Paulson Dean and John A. & Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering & Applied Sciences. "We are delighted to see her creative and impactful work recognized with this highly fitting Fellowship in the NAE."

Lewis, who also serves as the Area Dean for Bioengineering at SEAS, earned a Sc.D. in Ceramic Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her many honors include the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, the Brunauer and Sosman Awards from the American Ceramic Society, the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society Medal. She is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2017.