Biography
Dr. Gabriel López
Professor
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Center for Biomedical Engineering
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Term: 06/01/2020 – 05/31/2023
Gabriel P. López is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico. His current research interests include biointerfacial phenomena, biomaterials, self-assembly and bioanalytical microsystems to address problems in medicine, biotechnology and environmental quality. His current technology transfer and translational activities include serving on the Board of Directors of STC.UNM Corp. and collaboration with several industrial partners. Prof. López’ professional service activities include outreach to, and advancement of, groups under-represented in research as well as participation in several scientific societies.
López has published ≈200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters and is inventor on 42 issued U.S. patents. He has served as research advisor to 55 graduate students, 39 postdoctoral fellows and 78 undergraduate students; 17 of his former research protégés have gone on to professional academic positions. He has served as PI or coPI on grants totaling ≈$50 million and his research has been supported by several sources including the NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, DOD, industry and nonprofit foundations. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Fellow the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, an STC.UNM Innovation Fellow and the recipient of the W. Moulton Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Washington, the Stansell Family Distinguished Research Award from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award, and an Outstanding University Inventor Award from the Semiconductor Research Corporation.
López earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado in 1985. In 1991, he completed Ph.D. studies in chemical engineering at the University of Washington where he worked under the mentorship of Prof. Buddy D. Ratner as a Kaiser Aluminum Co. Graduate Fellow. From 1991-1993, he was an NIH and Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Prof. George M. Whitesides in the Dept. of Chemistry at Harvard University. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at the University of New Mexico in 1993, promoted to Associate Professor in 1999, and promoted to the rank of Professor in 2004. He was the founding Director of the UNM Center for Biomedical Engineering (2005) and the UNM Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programs (2008). He moved to Duke University’s Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science in 2010. Lopez became the founding Director of the NSF’s Research Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (RT-MRSEC, 2011), which focused on the programmable self-assembly of soft matter. He returned to UNM as Vice President for Research in 2016.