UC Riverside Bioengineering Professor Victor G.J. Rodgers has accepted an invitation to the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences Study Section, which helps shape the direction of national research in health sciences.

The study section members review and make recommendations on grant applications submitted to NIH and survey the status of research in their fields of science. Members are selected on the basis of demonstrated competence and achievement in their discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors.

"I am honored to be a part of the NIH review panel," Rodgers said.

The NIH is the largest government agency to fund medical research in the U.S. and thus helps shape the research focus of the nation's universities and laboratories, Rodgers added. His term on the NIH study session begins on July 1 and concludes on June 30, 2010.

Rodgers came to UCR in January from the University of Iowa, where he was a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, director of the university's Ethnic Inclusion Effort, and a researcher at the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing. He is a core faculty member in the Bourns College of Engineering's new Bioengineering Program, led by Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Jerome Schultz.

Rodgers' research focuses on transport phenomena in biological systems. This is related to such things as the delivery of specific drugs to targeted sites in the body and getting nutrients to transplanted artificial organs. He also studies membrane separations processes which are used in the development of pharmaceutical and food products.

"Our inclusion in this study session is one more indicator that UCR is poised to be one of the best bioengineering programs in the nation." Rodgers said.

The University of California, Riverside is a major research institution. Key areas of research include nanotechnology, health science, genomics, environmental studies, digital arts and sustainable growth and development. With a current undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 16,600, the campus is projected to grow to 21,000 students by 2010. Located in the heart of Inland Southern California, the nearly 1,200-acre, park-like campus is at the center of the region's economic development.