Future: Materials Science

Robert Langer is one of twelve Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was formerly the Kenneth L. Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at MIT. He is also a faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.  

Prof. Langer has pioneered the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. He has contributed to the development of biocompatible polymers for drug delivery and synthetic polymers to form specific tissue structures creating the field of tissue engineering. His work has allowed the controlled release of macromolecules using biocompatible polymers.

Prof. Langer is also responsible for the creation of numerous novel biomaterials, such as shape memory polymers and materials with switchable surfaces, aerosols and microchips. His work has led to the development of synthetic polymers designed to deliver cells to form specific tissue structures.

He has been a prolific contributor to the field of materials science. He has mentored numerous students and postdoctoral researchers who have themselves become leaders in the field.

In 2002 he was awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize of the NAE. He has won numerous other awards and is one of the few people who have been elected to all three US National Academies (Science, Engineering and Medicine).