Treena Livingston Arinzeh will be inducted as a fellow to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) on Feb. 17. Dr. Arinzeh, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology, is the 2013 Emerald Honoree in the category of Educational Leadership. The 2013 Emerald Honorees shared in the spotlight at the annual BEYA STEM Conference in Washington, D.C. held Feb. 7-9. Arinzeh will be inducted as a fellow to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) on Feb. 17.
In the photo, Arinzeh receives the Emerald award from Dr. Victor R. McCrary, vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University. McCrary was the 2011 Emerald Honors Scientist of the Year.
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Treena Livingston Arinzeh is quite comfortable being a frontier woman—leading the way in stem cell research and pioneering discoveries that have the potential to change lives. As a leader in the biomaterials and tissue engineering field, which uses cell therapy to treat damaged or diseased tissue, Arinzeh’s studies have served as the basis for submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pursue specific stem cell clinical trials. Arinzeh, professor of biomedical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has received numerous awards and recognition for her work including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest national honor awarded to young scientists and engineers.
Arinzeh developed the first Tissue Engineering and Applied Biomaterials Laboratory at NJIT, which has received more than $4 million federal state and private funding since its inception in 2001. She has been the principal investigator for work related to $3.3 million of that funding. She has applied for seven patents in such areas as cartilage, tissue and nerve growth repair.
However, Arinzeh’s focus is not entirely in the lab. She is also the director of the bioengineering graduate program at NJIT, which ranks eighth in the nation for diversity. She has advised more than 20 undergraduate, 17 masters and 11 doctorate students. Her interest in helping young people on their educational path extends to students in lower grades as well. Arinzeh has been an active mentor in four programs that expose minorities and female students to engineering topics and projects as early as elementary and junior high school.
One of her colleagues at NJIT said Arinzeh is approachable to students at the school and described her as “a young, brilliant, well-spoken, accomplished professional who they can associate with, yet has achieved national and international acclaim for her research.” The graduate of Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering and a master degree in biomedical engineering respectively, Arinzeh also received a doctorate in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she has co-authored 22 journal articles as well as 80 abstracts, proceedings and presentations. A colleague in her field at Rice University in Houston praised Arinzeh as her ability to expertly juggle a multitude of tasks. “She masterfully balances excellence in research with mentorship, teaching and professional services, thereby increasing the depth of the impact of her work. (As published in US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine's Conference Edition 2013)
