A professor at NC State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) recently received a prestigious award from the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB).
Katherine Saul was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Founder’s Award, first established in 2017 and open to investigators of all disciplines within ASB , and is given to recognize “scientific accomplishment in biomechanics and excellence in mentoring,” the ASB website states.
Saul is a Professor, University Faculty Scholar, and Associate Department Head of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University. She received her ScB in Engineering from Brown University, and her MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Saul was previously interim Department Head of Forest Biomaterials at NC State in 2023, and an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine from 2007-2013. Dr. Saul held the position of UNC System Academic Affairs Faculty Fellow from 2019-2021 exploring digital learning initiatives and supporting the UNC System universities to convert to effective online instruction during the pandemic. She has served on the Executive Board of the American Society of Biomechanics as Meeting Chair, Diversity Task Force Chair, and Secretary, and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and PLOS ONE.
The goal of Saul’s research in the Movement Biomechanics Laboratory is to improve treatment for upper limb neuromusculoskeletal conditions by providing biomechanical insight to clinicians regarding the effects of neuromuscular and orthopaedic injury and clinical interventions. She is a leader in developing computational models of the upper limb for rehabilitation engineering applications.
She has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Society of Biomechanics, an Engineering Unleashed Fellow of the Kern Family Foundation, and an OpenSim Fellow of the National Center for Simulation in Rehabilitation Research. Other honors include American Society of Biomechanics Predoctoral Young Scientist (2005), Medtronic Foundation Graduate Fellow, Whitaker Foundation Graduate Fellow, NCAA Woman of the Year (Rhode Island, 2000), and Brown University Athletics Hall of Fame recipient. She has received the Outstanding Teaching Award at NC State University at the department, college, university, and Alumni Association levels and the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award from the NC State University Graduate School.
Saul is the eighth recipient of the ASB Founder’s Award, joining Gregory S. Sawicki, Brian Umberger, Karen Troy, Tamara R. Bush, Silvia Salinas Blemker, Daniel Ferris, Rick Neptune in receiving the prestigious honor.