Cato T. Laurencin has been selected by President Obama as one of seven winners of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He is the only African American among the seven winners of the award this year, which will be presented at the White House early in 2016.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was established by Congress in 1980 and is administered by the White House and the Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The award honors individuals who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life.
Cato T. Laurencin is the chief executive officer of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, University Professor, and director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He is the former dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Laurencin is a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in chemical engineering. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Medical School and holds a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering and biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bravo to Dr. Laurencin! And, how fortunate we all are to benefit from his longstanding penchant for knowledge generation and knowledge transfer. We stand to gain substantively from his capacity for creative design and innovation.