Pinar Zorlutuna, Roth-Gibson Professor of Bioengineering, has been appointed Director of the Bioengineering Program, effective November 1, 2023.
“We are fortunate to have someone so talented take on the directorship of this program as it enters a new era,” said Patricia Culligan, Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering. “Pinar’s leadership in bioengineering research that improves human health makes her ideally qualified to lead and advance this important program.”
Zorlutuna’s research addresses challenges such as myocardial infarction, tissue aging, and breast cancer. With the aid of tissue engineering, genetic engineering, and micro- and nanotechnology, her lab designs biomimetic environments in order to understand and control cell behavior.
As Director of the Bioengineering Program, Zorlutuna will lead an interdisciplinary program with 33 doctoral students and 14 labs. The program, established in 2007, includes faculty from all five engineering departments and the Department of Biological Sciences.
She also will oversee the undergraduate minor in bioengineering that currently has 59 students from the colleges of science and engineering.
Zorlutuna joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2014. In 2019, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). In 2021, she was named a member of the Cellular and Molecular Technologies Study Section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review. The National Academy of Sciences named her a Kavli Fellow in recognition of her exceptional contributions to science in 2022. In 2023, she was awarded a university endowed professorship. She holds patents in biocomputing.
Zorlutuna replaces Glen Niebur, professor and chair of aerospace and mechanical engineering, who led the program for 12 years and was one of the program’s founding members.