Rate My Professor Eric Brey

Eric Brey is the Dean of the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he also holds the David and Jennifer Spencer Distinguished Chair and the Edward E. Whitacre, Jr. Endowed Chair. A professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, he joined UTSA in 2017 as department chair after 13 years on the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His academic journey began with a B.S. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. In May 2024, he was appointed permanent dean following an interim role starting in June 2023. Brey played a key role in the planning and launch of the Klesse College in 2021 and serves as co-director of the UTSA Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Brey's research specializes in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biomaterials, with particular emphasis on engineering vascularized tissues and developing novel imaging techniques for monitoring engineered tissues. His laboratory has secured funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and industry partners. He has authored or co-authored over 224 publications, accumulating more than 7,000 citations. Key publications include "Local Administration of Lipid‐Silica Nanohybrid‐Carried Forskolin Modulates Thermogenesis in Human Adipocytes and Impedes Weight Gain in Mice" published in Advanced Functional Materials (2024), "Biomaterials with persistent growth factor gradients in vivo accelerate vascularized tissue formation" in Biomaterials (2015), "Dual delivery of chlorhexidine and platelet-derived growth factor-BB for enhanced wound healing and infection control" in Acta Biomaterialia (2013), and "Fibrin-loaded porous poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels as scaffold materials for vascularized tissue formation" in Tissue Engineering Part A (2013). In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Brey also contributes to engineering education, particularly undergraduate research and its influence on education and career trajectories.