Sheldon Weinbaum
Distinguished Professor Biomedical/Mechanical
Building
Steinman Hall
Office
404B
Phone
212-650-5202
Fax
212-650-6727

Sheldon Weinbaum
Education
B.A.E., 1959, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
M.S. Applied Physics, 1960, Harvard University
Ph.D. Engineering, 1963, Harvard University
Research Interests
Fluid dynamic and transport aspects of arterial disease, bioheat transfer, cellular mechanisms for mechanotransduction, bone fluid flow, microcirculatory exchange, transport in kidney proximal tubule, basic fluid mechanics, porous media flow. Professor Weinbaum has published more than 200 full length journal papers plus numerous shorter communications and conference papers. His research has involved important collaborations with other investigators and institutions.
His joint studies with the UC San Diego have investigated the cellular origins of the permeability of arterial endothelium to low density lipoproteins, transport models for the arterial intima and the formation of subendothelial liposomes. His studies in bioheat transfer have examined the development of a fundamental bioheat equation to describe microvascular blood-tissue heat transfer (Weinbaum-Jiji equation) and the application of bioheat models to describe heat transfer in muscle tissue, limbs, rat tail and finger. His joint studies with the UC Davis have attempted to elucidate the structural pathways through the interendothelial cleft that determine capillary permeability and osmotic forces. His joint studies with S. C. Cowin have explored the cellular transduction mechanism by which bone cells detect mechanically induced strains and communicate these strains to the bone forming cells. His studies with Weill-Cornell Medical School have led to a new hypothesis for the mechanosensory mechanism that leads to the glomerulotubular balance in the kidney. Most recently, he has proposed a new hypothesis for vulnerable plaque rupture due to cellular micro-calcifications in thin fibrous caps which were detected for the first time and a jet train which flies on a soft porous track within centimeters of the ground at speeds approaching 700km/hr.
He has also examined a wide variety of basic fluid mechanics problems that have arisen in biologically motivated applications. 35 of these papers have been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
Publications
Google scholar link for Prof. Weinbaum's publications
Additional Information
Awards & Honors
Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.
Fellow: ASME, AIMBE, APS
Gordon McKay Prize Fellow, Harvard University (1959-1961)
NSF Fellow, Harvard University (1961-1963)
Senior Fellow Scientific Research Council of Great Britain (1974) NSF "Special Creativity" Award (1985)
Public Service Award City of New York (1988)
Research Award of the European Society of Biomechanics (1994)
H.R.Lissner Award and Melville Medal of the ASME (1994)
Best Paper Award Bioengineering Division ASME (1995)
Melville Medal of the ASME (1996)
Whitaker Distinguished Lecture BMES (1997)
Richard Skalak memorial lecture UCSD (1999)
Classic Paper Award Heat Transfer Division ASME (2000)
Suhren Lecture Tulane University (2002)
Guggenheim Fellow in Molecular and Cellular Biology (2002)
Huck Lecture Pennsylvania State University (2004)
Inaugural Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (2005)
Woodruff Lecture Georgia Institute of Technology (2007)
Sackler Lecturer Tel Aviv University (2007)
Ascher H. Shapiro Lecture M.I.T. (2007)
70th Anniversary Lecture, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2007)
Davies Medal RPI (highest honor for engineering achievement) (2008) BecKman
Distinguished Lecture, University of Illinois (2008)