Linda G. Griffith, the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Innovation in the department of biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been selected to receive the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education from the National Academy of Engineering.
Professor Griffith was honored for “the establishment of a new biology-based engineering education, producing a new generation of leaders capable of addressing world problems with innovative biological technologies.” The new bioengineering discipline revolves around teaching students how to translate innovations in the molecular life sciences into therapeutics, and a range of non-medical products in agriculture, materials, energy, and nutrition.
“The award is really in recognition of the power of MIT students to create change,” says Dr. Griffith. “The creation of a new discipline of engineering was a lot of effort, but it was done in partnership with students who were brave enough to imagine what could be.”
In addition to teaching, Dr. Griffith directs the Center for Gynepathology Research and has championed novel approaches in tissue engineering. She is also responsible for establishing the field of physiomimetics and holds more than a dozen patents.
Professor Griffith is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Griffith will share the prize with Douglas A. Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biology at MIT.