UTSA Biomedical Engineer Joseph C. Salamone Elected by Peers to Join National Academy of Engineering
Joseph C. Salamone, chief scientific officer at Rochal Industries LLP, UTSA adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering and professor emeritus of Chemistry and Polymer Science at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Mass., has been elected by his peers to become a Fellow in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE is a member of the National Academies, which includes the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.
“An invitation by one’s peers to join the National Academy of Engineering is one of the highest honors an engineer can receive,” said Mauli Agrawal, dean of the UTSA College of Engineering. “Dr. Salamone has made significant contributions in biomaterials, specifically in ophthalmology and wound healing. His election to the NAE reflects a dedicated life of academic and professional service.”
Throughout his career, Salamone has developed more than 40 products and product lines in eye and wound care. That intellectual property has led to more than 200 U.S. patents (pending and issued) for products that have generated more than one billion in commercial sales.
Salamone is the co-founder of Polymer Technology Corporation, which commercialized the world’s first high oxygen-permeable rigid contact lenses. In 1983, the company was sold to Bausch + Lomb, where he consulted for a number years and served as vice president of research.
In 1986, Salamone co-founded Rochal Industries, a San Antonio biomedical research company that has invented and licensed a number of revolutionary and useful wound and burn care products.
He holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Chemistry from New York University’s Polytechnic Institute.
The biomedical engineer is the fifth person from the greater San Antonio area elected to join the NAE. He follows H. Norman Abramson, retired executive vice president of Southwest Research Institute; Karl J. Springer, retired vice president of Southwest Research Institute; Melvin F. Kanninen, principal of MFK Consulting Services and Charles R. Cutler, president of Boerne-based Cutler Technology.
Founded in 1964, the NAE provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. It operates under the same congressional act of incorporation that established the National Academy of Sciences, signed in 1863 by President Lincoln. Under its charter, it is directed “whenever called upon by any department or agency of the government, to investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art.”
