Butler named AIMBE fellow

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Peter Butler, professor of biomedical engineering, has been named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Fellows are nominated each year by their peers and represent the top two percent of the medical and biological engineering community.

Butler was cited for his leadership and accomplishment in cellular and molecular bioengineering multidisciplinary research and global engineering education.

A Penn State faculty member since 2001, Butler focuses his research on biophotonics and quantitative microscopy, cardiovascular engineering, cell membrane mechanics and protein dynamics, and mechanobiology.

Butler currently heads the Cellular Mechanobiology Laboratory, a research group which aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of forces and molecular dynamics in vascular physiology and pathophysiology.  This research has been funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

His awards and honors include the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award for outstanding research and the 2011 Lawrence J. Perez Memorial Student Advocate Award.

Butler earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and English from Fordham University, a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the City College of New York and his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from the City University of New York. He spent two years completing post-doctoral work in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego.

Butler will be formally recognized at the AIMBE annual meeting March 15-17 in Washington, D.C.

AIMBE, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., provides leadership and advocacy in medical and biological engineering for the benefit of society.

The biomedical engineering department at Penn State currently maintains three inducted AIMBE fellows in addition to Butler. Fellows include Cheng Dong, William Hancock, and Herbert Lipowsky.