Bioengineering Breakthroughs for Underresourced Communities

Following up on Jonathan's post on this year's MacArthur Fellows, I wanted to single out bioengineer Rebecca Richards-Kortum of Rice University. I heard an interview with her last week and was blown away by the work she and her students are doing, inventing point-of-care medical technologies that vastly improve care in poor communities. She's also created an undergraduate curriculum focused on translating classroom learning into practical solutions. She is a truly transformational agent. Way back when I was an undergraduate, the motto of the college of engineering at my alma mater was "where science gets down to work." Dr. Richards-Kortum's work is a supreme example of science getting down to work.