Two
interdisciplinary researchers at the University of Virginia
— Richard Kent (bottom), assistant professor of
mechanical
and aerospace engineering, and Shayn Peirce (top), assistant
professor in
biomedical
engineering — were named to Technology Review’s
2004 list of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators, the
magazine announced this week.
The TR100 list comprises 100 individuals under the age
of 35 whose work may have a profound impact on technology.
Selected by the editors of Technology Review, a magazine
published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and an elite panel of judges, this year’s honorees
represent disciplines ranging from biotechnology and medicine
to computing and nanotechnology.
U.Va. was one of a handful of institutions with more than
one honoree on the list. Others with multiple winners included
MIT and Stanford University.
Both U.Va. researchers work at the intersection of engineering
and medical science.
Kent,
who holds a joint appointment in engineering and medicine,
conducts research with the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering and teaches in the Department of Emergency
Medicine. His research in the University’s Center for
Applied Biomechanics, which conducts a broad array of research
related to automobile safety, focuses on developing “smart”
seat belts and airbags.
Kent’s efforts, built largely on creating new mathematical
algorithms, will enable seat belts and airbags to process
data rapidly during an impending crash, such as how fast
the car is going and the shape of the object being hit,
and combine it with data about the driver, such as size,
weight, bone density, position, age and health, to determine
the best response of the safety equipment given the circumstances
of a particular driver in a particular crash.
Peirce has designed complex, quantitative, predictive computer
models that have the potential to speed up the development
of new medical treatments relating to tissue growth and
repair.
She has used these models to explore embryogenesis, or
the process of embryo formation, and learn about the mechanics
that contribute to birth defects.
She also has used them to predict blood vessel growth in
response to changes in blood pressure and the presence of
a growth protein. The research in blood vessel formation
— believed to be a first in the emerging field of systems
biology — holds promise for future developments in
the treatment of chronic heart disease and diabetes through
angiogenesis, or the growth of new blood vessels. The results
could be used to develop new treatments for cancer that
involve shutting off the blood supply to cancerous tissue.
The panel of TR100 judges featured representatives from
academe and industry, including: Boston University, California
Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, CombinatoRx
Inc., Concept2Company Inc., Cornell University, General
Electric Co., Geekcorps, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Harvard Medical School, Hewlett-Packard Development Co.
L.P., IBM Corp., Intellectual Ventures LLC, Microsoft Corp.,
MIT, Northwestern University, PureTech Ventures LLC, Singapore
Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, TIAX LLC,
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Xerox
Corp. and YankeeTek Ventures.
“In the five years since we began naming our annual
selection of the world's top innovators under age 35, inclusion
among the TR100 has become one of the most prestigious awards
for young innovators around the world," said David
Rotman, executive editor of Technology Review. “This
year’s winners are all pioneering fascinating innovations
in the fields of biomedicine, computing and nanotechnology,
and were chosen after a rigorous selection and judging process.
The result is an elite group whose visions and inventions
will shape the future of technology.”
Kent and Peirce will be honored in Boston on Sept. 29-30
at Technology Review’s Emerging Technologies Conference
at MIT.
Technology Review Inc. publishes information about emerging
technologies and their impact on business leaders. The magazine,
Technology Review, reports circulation of more than 300,000,
which, together with other related products and services,
reaches an estimated 2 million global business leaders each
month.
U.Va., one of the top public universities in the country,
was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson. Since 1866, when
a course in civil engineering was added to the University’s
curriculum, the School of Engineering and Applied Science
has grown to 175 full-time teaching and research faculty,
50 full-time researchers, and a student body of more than
1,900 undergraduates and 600 graduate students in eight
departments.
For more information about their research, contact Richard
Kent by phone at (434) 296-7288 or by email at rwk3c@virginia.edu;
or, Shayn Peirce by phone at (434) 243-9335 or by email
at smp6p@virginia.edu.
For more information about the TR100 awards and Technology
Review, contact Kristen Collins, KMC Partners, by phone
at (617) 833-5574, or by email at kristen@kmcpartners.com.
