For work that “significantly advanced the engineering profession,” Dr. Adam Heller has won the College-wide Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award.
The chemical engineer, a Research Professor and past holder of the Ernest Cockrell Jr. Chair in Engineering, has had an impressive list of innovations. His most recent research on glucose-monitoring devices for diabetics has impacted millions of people worldwide.
Dr. Heller co-developed FreeStyle®, a glucose-monitoring device about the size of a keychain that determines blood sugar levels using only 300 nanoliters of blood, making the blood sampling painless. The company he co-founded was purchased for $1.2 billion by Abbott Diabetes Care in May, 2004.
He is currently working on miniature batteries and glucose-oxygen fuel cells. The combination of Heller’s enzyme–wiring-based glucose monitor and these power sources could lead to miniature, less conspicuous, on-the-skin continuous glucose monitors and eventually to automatic dosing of insulin.
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About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.