Lisa A. Pruitt

Lisa Pruitt is a distinguished professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley. She received her PhD in Engineering from Brown University. She has authored over 300 publications in her research field of failure analysis in the realm of biomaterials, medical polymers, and orthopedic devices.

Among her many awards and honors for research are a Congressional citation, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, as well as election to the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Pruitt has also been honored for her commitment to excellence in mentoring, teaching, and outreach, such as the American Association of Advancement of Sciences Mentoring Award; the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal.

Pruitt teaches technical courses in Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Failure Analysis, Polymer Engineering, Biomaterials and Medical Device Design. She also teaches courses in leadership development, including Engineering Your Life, Introspective and Authentic Leadership, as well as Personal Leadership.

Pruitt has authored four books, including Soul of a Professor: Memoir of an Un-Engineered Life (Merry Dissonance Press, 2022), Mechanics of Biomaterials: Fundamentals for Implant Design (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Horse of Fire: The Story of an Extraordinary and Knowing Horse as Told by JJ Luck (Authorhouse, 2008; Amazon, 2019), as well as a children’s book, Savanna and the Magic Boots (Authorhouse, 2011).

Lisa lives on the Pacific Coast with her husband, daughter, and their husky pup named Goose. She remains passionate about horses and enjoys spending time in nature with these sentient beings.