Melissa Grunlan facts for kids

Melissa A. Grunlan is an American scientist and professor. She teaches at Texas A&M University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her important research focuses on making new materials for medicine. These materials, called polymeric biomaterials, are used in medical devices and to help the body repair itself.

Professor Grunlan is a respected leader in her field. She is a Fellow of several important groups, like the American Chemical Society (ACS). She also helps edit ACS Macro Letters, a science magazine.

Early Life and Education

Melissa Grunlan was born in Bismarck, North Dakota. When she was in high school at St. Mary's Central High School, she was part of the National Honor Society. She graduated with honors in 1991.

She went to North Dakota State University to study chemistry. While there, she received a special research grant from NASA. This helped her study how to create new chemical compounds. After earning her bachelor's and master's degrees, she worked for a company for four years.

Later, she went to the University of Southern California to get her PhD in chemistry. She even won an award for her PhD research! After finishing her PhD, she continued her research at Texas A&M University as a post-doctoral fellow.

Her Work in Science

In 2005, Professor Grunlan joined Texas A&M University as a professor. She started working on making polymers better for medical uses. Polymers are like plastics, but she designs them at a tiny, molecular level.

One of her cool projects was creating "self-cleaning membranes." These are special materials that could help make glucose biosensors work better. Biosensors are devices that measure things in your body, like blood sugar. She also became the director for undergraduate programs in biomedical engineering.

In 2014, Professor Grunlan developed a special polymer foam. This foam could fill bone defects, like a broken jaw or skull. It would then harden into a porous material, helping the bone heal.

By 2017, her lab was focused on creating new polymeric biomaterials. These materials are used for medical devices and for regenerative therapies. Regenerative therapies help the body grow new tissues or organs. She worked on coatings that stop blood clots in medical devices. She also created scaffolds that help bones and cartilage repair themselves. Because of her important work, she was named a Presidential Impact Fellow at Texas A&M.

In 2018, she was recognized as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. This honor was for her amazing work on polymeric biomaterials for medical devices and for helping the body heal.

Professor Grunlan's work is recognized outside of Texas A&M too. In 2019, she became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). This was for her research in regenerative medicine, especially for creating materials that help orthopedic tissues heal. Orthopedic tissues are parts like bones and joints. She has also received other awards for her excellent research and service to the scientific community.

Awards and Honors

Professor Grunlan has received many important awards for her work. Some of these include:

• Holder of the Charles H. and Bettye Barclay Professorship in Engineering (since 2018)
• Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) (inducted 2019)
• Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (inducted 2018)
• Fellow of the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering (PMSE) (inducted 2022)
• Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) (inducted 2022)
• Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) (inducted 2022)
• Doctoral Research Award from the University of Southern California (2005)