Rafael Davalos, professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been awarded the L. Preston Wade Professorship by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The L. Preston Wade Professorship in the College of Engineering was established by its namesake, a member of the Class of 1955, to recognize teaching and research excellence. Recipients hold professorship for a period of five years.

A member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 2006, Davalos has made significant contributions to the fields of cancer detection and treatment using advanced electroporation, biotransport, and dielectrophoresis.

He has published more than 85 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and review articles with more than 4,200 citations. He also has 14 issued patents that resulted in the development of new companies.

Davalos has received more than $10 million in external funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and industrial partners. He received the NSF CAREER award and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation national award for most promising Hispanic engineer.

In addition he was named a Wallace H. Coulter Fellow, an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow, and Dissertation Advisor of the Year at Virginia Tech.

He has graduated seven Ph.D. students and master’s degree students. His students have gone on to receive honors and fellowships including those awarded by Whittaker, Fulbright, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.

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