Congratulations to University of Utah mechanical engineering chair and professor, Bruce Gale, who was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.
Gale will be recognized during the One Utah Summit May 10 in Salt Lake City by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. His medal is one of 10 One Utah Summit Awards for 2022 that will be given and one of three Medals for Science and Technology.
“I am very surprised and honored to receive this recognition,” Gale said. “The environment at the University of Utah has been very supportive of my research and commercialization efforts and allowed for significant success in both areas.”
He received a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in bioengineering (now biomedical engineering) from the U. He was first an assistant professor of biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University before he arrived at the U as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 2001. He was named professor in 2013 and became chair of the department in 2018. He also was director of the Utah State Center of Excellence for Biomedical Microfluidics.
He has also started several companies and served as their head of engineering, including for Microsurgical Innovations, Espira, Nanonc and Cartera. His research is centered around biomedical applications of microfluidics. He also has expertise in developing biosensors, microarrays, micropumps, and microneedles.
Gale has a long list of university-wide and department academic achievements. He was recognized as one of two honorees in the entrepreneur category for his 2017 work, “Optofluidic Device for Genetic Screening.” He also received the TVC “Star” Award in 2016. The U’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has recognized him with multiple awards for Researcher of the Year, and he was named the 2014 Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Distinguished Mentor by the University of Utah Graduate School. Most recently he was named an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for 2021, and he received the Fulbright Specialist Program award in which he is spending more than two weeks in India to help develop a microfluidics research program with the Rajalakshmi Engineering College.
In the Academic/Research category of the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology (medals are also given in the K-12 and Industry categories), the award is given to someone who has distinguished themselves in the field of science, engineering, or other technologies, and in factors including quality of research activities, the extent of recognition by peers, recognition as an educator, and personal research and science achievements.
Past recipients of the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the U’s College of Engineering include Dean Richard B. Brown, electrical and computer engineering professor Cynthia Furse, and materials sciences and engineering Distinguished Professor Anil Virkar.
Click here to see a full list of this year’s One Utah Summit Award award winners.