DATE: March 24, 2009

CONTACT: Martine LaBerge, 864-656-5557
laberge@clemson.edu

WRITER: Jessica Lance, 864-656-2061
jrlance@clemson.edu

Clemson bioengineering professor receives 2009 Governor’s Award

CLEMSON — Clemson professor and chairwoman of bioengineering Martine LaBerge is the recipient of the 2009 Governor’s Award for Scientific Awareness.

The award was established in 1985 by the Drug Science Foundation to honor individuals or teams in South Carolina whose achievements and contributions to science merit special recognition and promote wider awareness of the quality and extent of scientific activity around the state.

LaBerge’s research interests include the evaluation and characterization of natural and artificial surfaces used in the design of implants for orthopedic and vascular applications. She has established a highly productive research program at Clemson University that focuses on the friction, lubrication and wear of artificial knee joints. She has more than 200 technical publications.

LaBerge has started the development of many programs in South Carolina that have served as platforms to increase awareness among the scientific community as well as the public. She served is a board member and former president for the Society for Biomaterials. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, a title bestowed by the world’s leading societies in the field of biomaterials. She has received the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award from Clemson’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the Murray Stokely Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Mentoring Award in the College of Engineering and Science. 

Since 2005, the Governor’s Awards for Scientific Awareness has been under the joint sponsorship of companies including the Dewees Development Corp., Harbor Watch of Charleston, Roche Carolina Inc., MeadWestvaco and Michelin North America.

An honorarium of $1,000 will be presented to the recipients at a special awards ceremony held in the spring in conjunction with the South Carolina Academy of Science’s annual meeting.