Professor Robert M. Nerem will address the graduates at Georgia Tech's 234th commencement on Saturday, August 1, 2009. Approximately 800 undergraduate and graduate students will be recognized at a 9a.m. ceremony at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Robert M. Nerem joined Georgia Tech in 1987 as the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine. He currently serves as director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, and director of the Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for the Engineering of Living Tissues, an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center. Nerem earned a PhD in 1964 from Ohio State University, where he was promoted to professor in 1972 and served from 1975-1979 as associate dean for Research in the Graduate School. From 1979 to 1986, he was professor and chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. The author of more than 200 publications, Nerem is a fellow and was the founding president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (1992-1994), and he is past president of the Tissue Engineering Society International. In addition, he was part-time senior advisor for bioengineering in the new National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health (2003-2006).

Other awards and honors include: • Election to the National Academy of Engineering, 1988 • Member of the National Academy of Engineering Council, 1998-2004 • Election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992 • Election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1998 • Honorary doctorate, University of Paris, 1990 • Election as a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 1994 • Honorary fellow, Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the United Kingdom, 1998 • Election as an honorary foreign member, Japan Society for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2004 • Election as a foreign member, Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, 2006 • National Academy of Engineering Founders Award, 2008 • Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009 Nerem's research interests include biomechanics, cardiovascular devices, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and stem cell technology.