Marissa Nichole Rylander Honored by ASME for Her Contributions to Bioengineering

NEW YORK, June 26, 2012 – Marissa Nichole Rylander, Ph.D., a resident of Blacksburg, Va., and associate professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was honored by ASME for exemplary teaching and mentoring; and for establishing a nationally prominent program of research in bioengineering, including bioheat transfer.  She received the Society’s Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award.

The award, established in 1985, recognizes a young investigator who is committed to pursuing research in bioengineering and has demonstrated significant potential to make substantial contributions to the field of bioengineering.  It was presented to Dr. Rylander during the Summer Bioengineering Conference, held in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, June 20 through 23.

Rylander is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences at Virginia Tech.  She is also the director of the Tissue Engineering, Nanotechnology, and Cancer Research Laboratory.

Her research focuses on bioheat transfer, nanomedicine, biomedical optics, tissue regeneration, and cancer engineering.  Since joining the faculty at Virginia Tech in 2006, she was honored with the College of Engineering’s Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award (2008) and Dean’s Faculty Fellow Award (2010), both for excellence in research, teaching and service.  Rylander received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER Award in 2010 for the development of a novel sensing system for characterization of the spatiotemporal tumor response to nanoparticle-mediated photothermal and photochemical therapy.  She has received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and NSF, with total funding of more than $9 million.

In addition to establishing a nationally recognized research program, Rylander has developed graduate courses, supervised undergraduate and Ph.D. students, and provided effective mentoring to help her students earn numerous honors and awards.  

Rylander has published 40 peer-reviewed articles in high-ranking journals such as PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), Nano Letters, Cancer Research, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering.  She has also given invited talks at several venues.

An ASME member, Rylander is serving on the ASME NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology Steering Committee, which will identify opportunities to engage the ASME community in the application of nanoscience and nanoengineering to medicine and biology.  She served as a session chair for the Biotransport Technical Committee at Summer Bioengineering conferences (2009-11), and she is a frequent reviewer for the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

Rylander earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering, and her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 2000, 2002 and 2005, respectively.  She held a postdoctoral appointment (fall 2005-spring 2006) in the university’s department of biomedical engineering and Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences.

About ASME: ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world.