Professor Kinam Park of the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Industrial and Physical Pharmacy of Purdue University is the winner of the 2001 Clemson Award for Fundamental Research in the field of biomaterials. This award is the highest recognition of the Society for Biomaterials, an international organization of more than 3000 members that promotes research in the field of biomaterials. Professor Park is cited for his fundamental contributions to the preparation and characterization of biomaterials, especially biocompatible hydrogels, and their interactions with tissues.

Park has been associated with Purdue University since 1985 and has been a Professor of Biomedical Engineering since 2000. In the Department of Biomedical Engineering he has taught courses on biomaterials, and polymers in drug delivery. He supervises several Ph.D. students, is a member of the Graduate Committee of the Department and is a co-principal investigator of the National Science Foundation Program on Therapeutic and Diagnostic Devices.

The award will be given to Professor Park at the Annual Meeting of the Society which will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 25-28, 2001. This is the second time that a member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering has received this prestigious award, as Nicholas Peppas received it in 1992.