An award-winning professor at Michigan State University will receive a prestigious national medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for her ongoing and outstanding achievements in educating and mentoring current and next-generation leaders in engineering.
Michele J. Grimm, the Wielenga Creative Engineering Endowed Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, will be presented with the 2022 Robert M. Nerem Education and Mentorship Medal. The medal was established by the Bioengineering Division of ASME in 2017 under the guidance of Laurel Kuxhaus, an alumna of MSU's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
ASME Executive Director and CEO Thomas Costabile said it was his honor to make the announcement.
"The medal is for leadership in mentoring hundreds of faculty members through stewardship at the National Science Foundation," he said, "and for establishing a cutting-edge biomedical engineering department, including undergraduate and graduate programs, and for supporting high-quality biomedical engineering across the United States."
Grimm will accept the medal and be a featured plenary speaker at the Summer 2022 Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference in Cambridge, Maryland, in June.
Tammy Reid Bush, interim chair of the MSU Department of Mechanical Engineering, said an ASME medal is an ultimate honor because only a handful of medals are awarded by the division each year.
"The competition for these medals is fierce," she continued. "We are fortunate to have Dr. Grimm as part of our faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. This is another outstanding honor not only for her, but our department and the college."
Grimm joined MSU in January 2019. Prior to that, she completed a three-year rotation as a program director for three BME-related programs at the National Science Foundation. During this time, she served as co-chair of the White House's Office of Science & Technology Policy Task Force on Research and Development for Technology to Support Aging Adults. She is currently concluding her service on the Commission on a Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity for the National Academy of Medicine. She had a prior, 25-year career as a faculty member at Wayne State University. The biomedical engineering department and educational program were developed at that institution.
Grimm is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.
Her scientific research focuses on injury biomechanics - from characterizing important tissue properties to developing appropriate models for the assessment of injury mechanisms. Most recently, this has included working with obstetricians to identify the pathomechanics of neonatal brachial plexus injury. Based on this work, she served on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Task Force on Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy.
In September 2021, Grimm and Bush shared a national recognition for developing and implementing noteworthy diversity and inclusiveness practices in the ASME Bioengineering Division's Women's Networking Group.