Two engineering faculty members named to endowed chairs were honored for their academic achievements during a celebration Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Student Life Center. They were among nine Vanderbilt faculty members who are recipients of chairs.
The engineering professors are:
Craig Duvall, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Engineering
Nilanjan Sarkar, David K. Wilson Chair in Engineering
“Craig Duvall and Nilanjan Sarkar have distinguished themselves among their engineering colleagues within and outside Vanderbilt as well as medical researchers and clinicians here and beyond,” said Philippe Fauchet, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering. “Their academic reputations are outstanding and their dedication to their innovative research and to their students is exemplary.”
“At Vanderbilt, endowed chairs are a symbol of commitment—to scholarship, philanthropy and lasting impact,” said Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente in her opening remarks. “Those being recognized today have taken diverse paths, but their goals are shared—to better the world through their scholarship, and to teach others how to do the same.”
Duvall is a professor of biomedical engineering and his research focus is on the design and application of smart polymer-based technologies. The applications of these technologies are broad and include increasing the longevity and function of transplanted vascular grafts and cell-based therapies, promoting healing of chronic skin wounds, and developing improved breast cancer drugs.
He is a Faculty Fellow in the Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Materials Science, an Advisory Board Member of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and a member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center.
Duvall is biomedical engineering department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies and a former member of the university’s Graduate Faculty Council. He is an accomplished teacher and mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students.
His major awards include a National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award in 2014; a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2017; a Chancellor Faculty Fellowship in 2018; and he was named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2018.
Duvall joined the Vanderbilt engineering faculty in 2010. He received his bachelor’s degree in biosystems engineering from the University of Kentucky and earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in 2006. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in 2010.
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