Lisa Pruitt

Associate Dean Lisa Pruitt is an advocate for outreach, mentoring, leadership and life-long learning. Her passions include empowering others through life-coaching and equine-guided leadership. She has been honored for her commitment to excellence in mentoring, teaching and outreach. She is also the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring; the American Association of Advancement of Sciences Mentoring Award; the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award as well as the A. Richard Newton Educator Award. Her research has been recognized with a Congressional citation; a National Science Foundation CAREER award; an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award; and her election into the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Lisa has authored more than 300 publications in her research field of biomaterials, medical devices and failure analysis. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in behavior of engineering materials, failure analysis, polymer engineering, medical device design, personal leadership and equine-guided leadership. She has authored three books including Mechanics of Biomaterials: Fundamentals for Implant Design; Horse of Fire: The story of an extraordinary and Knowing Horse as told by JJ Luck; and Savanna and the Magic Boots. She received her Ph.D. from Brown University and joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1993.

What exciting projects are you working on?
I’m developing personal leadership courses for both undergraduates and graduate students.

 What’s something that students and colleagues should know about you?
Many of my life lessons have been learned through working with horses.

Besides your work, what’s something that you’re passionate about?
I’m passionate about empowering students to believe in themselves.

What’s your favorite spot on campus?
I love walking through the redwood trees – they inspire me!