Inaugural Honor

Being honored for your accomplishments as a young professor is a big achievement. But, being chosen as the first recipient of a prestigious award, at least according to Ryan K. Roeder, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, is an incredibly humbling experience.

Roeder has been named the first recipient of the Early Career Faculty Fellow Award by The Mineral, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) and received the award in February 2007 during the TMS annual conference. Specializing in biomaterials, materials science, and mechanical behavior, Roeder was cited by the TMS for his accomplishments, “specifically those that advance the academic institution with which he is affiliated, as well as those that broaden the technological profile of the society.”

Roeder is part of the Biomechanics and Biomaterials in Orthopaedics Group in the College of Engineering. One of his current projects, which is funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, focuses on the development of non-invasive techniques to better detect and image microdamage in bone. Another project, funded by the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, involves the study of processing-structure-property relationships in hydroxyapatite whisker reinforced polymers for use as synthetic bone substitutes.

A faculty member since 2001, Roeder has authored and co-authored numerous journal articles and conference proceedings and is listed on two patents for synthetic bone substitutes and scaffolds.