Bob Nerem joined Georgia Tech in 1987 as the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine. He currently is the Associate Director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for the Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems, and previously was the Director of an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center called the Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for the Engineering of Living Tissues, and was the Founding Director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, an interdisciplinary organization for biochemistry, bioengineering, and biology. Dr. Nerem is doing research in the field of cellular and tissue engineering; in the past, he has done research on blood flow in large arteries, the role of hemodynamics in the initiation of atherosclerosis, and the influence of flow on vascular endothelial biology. He began his research career in aerospace engineering, conducting studies on heat transfer in high-temperature shock-heated gases. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, he was a Professor and Chairman in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. Dr. Nerem's research projects include the investigation of hemodynamics as a regulator of vascular biology and pathobiology, and stem cell technology and the development of manufacturing systems for cell-based therapies. Sponsors of Dr. Nerem's work have been the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Whitaker Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Nerem has many awards to his credit. These include being a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine (formerly called the Institute of Medicine.