Lauren Severance was nominated by Professor Elliot McVeigh.

Lauren’s graduate research stems from her interest in applying medical imaging tools for cardiovascular disease prevention. Her thesis, titled “Novel methods for early coronary artery calcium detection using CT” is focused on understanding the association between an individual’s genetic predisposition for coronary artery disease and CT-measured coronary artery calcium, as well as understanding and improving scan sensitivity to onset of calcium at an earlier age.

Professor Yuan-Cheng “Bert” Fung, was known as “the father of biomechanics” and one of the founders of the discipline of bioengineering. Professor Fung was the first to realize that physics and mechanics apply to living tissues just as they do to manmade structures, giving rise to the field of biomechanics.

Later, Fung was the first to coin the term “tissue engineering.” Professor Fung received a National Medal of Science in 2000, the first bioengineer to earn the distinction. He also was the fourth individual in history elected into all three branches of the National Academies—Science, Engineering and Institute of Medicine.