The director of a Cornell University program that integrates life sciences into engineering education, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, has been awarded $999,000 by a New York state research-funding agency, partly to help develop the program. He is Michael Shuler, the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Chemical Engineering at Cornell and director of the cross-campus program in biomedical engineering (BME). The BME program provides students with classroom and laboratory experience in drug delivery, nanobiotechnology and bio-MEMS (bio-micro-electromechanical systems), as well as other BME topics.

The funding, from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Faculty Development Program, will be used to support development of BME and to establish a program in drug delivery. In particular, a NYSTAR laboratory for drug delivery to support Shuler's research will be opened and a course in drug delivery is planned. The funding also will be used to attract new faculty to the BME program.

Drug delivery includes the production of pharmaceuticals, evaluation of their efficacy and safety, tissue engineering, the production of edible vaccines, and viral and non-viral techniques for targeted delivery of pharmaceuticals or genes to specific tissues.

Shuler said that the funding also is being used to establish an "industrial partners" program at Cornell to develop specialized training programs to support biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry in New York state. As well as the training of students in biomedical engineering, it will involve education for employees of state companies in advanced technologies for drug delivery and early exposure of high school and college students to the field.

The NYSTAR funding originally was awarded in 2001 and was designated for the laboratory of Mark Saltzman, professor of chemical engineering. However, he left Cornell for Yale University before the funds were delivered. The award to Shuler reflects the agency's original intention to provide the grant for research into drug delivery and for biomedical engineering education. NYSTAR promotes research collaboration and innovation, and provides funding to spur technology-based research and economic development in New York state.