Rebecca Willits

Professor and Chairperson,  Chemical Engineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Bioengineering

Contact

Social Media

Office

  • 201F Cullinane
  • 617.373.2989

Lab

  • 216 Egan

Research Focus

Mechanobiology of neural systems; Systems for nerve regeneration; Diversity and equity in engineering

Education

  • PhD, Cornell University, Chemical Engineering, 1999
  • MS, The Johns Hopkins University, Chemical Engineering, 1996

 

Honors & Awards

Professional Affiliations

  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers
  • Biomedical Engineering Society
  • Golden Key Honor Society
  • National Center for Regenerative Medicine
  • WEPAN
  • Society for Biomaterials

Research Overview

Mechanobiology of neural systems; Systems for nerve regeneration; Diversity and equity in engineering

The overarching goal of my research team is to understand how mechanical, chemical, and electrical factors of three dimensional environments alter cell behavior. To this end, a focus has been to enhance neural cell response in 2D and 3D after biochemical and mechanical manipulations.

cover of research journal in BME

Materials for Tissue Engineering Lab

Over the past 18 years, the Materials for Tissue Engineering Laboratory has manipulated the extracellular environment to increase neural differentiation, nerve regrowth, and Schwann cell proliferation in vitro and increase functional nerve recovery in vivo.

Materials for Tissue Engineering

Selected Research Projects

  • Toward a Mechanotransduction Mimic of the Neural Stem Cell Niche
    • – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
  • Collaborative Research: Professional Preparation of Underrepresented Minority PhD’s and Post-Docs for a Career in Engineering Academia
    • – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation

Selected Publications

Rebecca Willits

Faculty

Mar 26, 2024

Willits Elected to AIMBE Board of Directors

ChE Professor and Chair Rebecca Willits was elected to serve as the Secretary/Treasurer on the board of directors for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for 2024-2026. Willits is also a Fellow of AMBIE and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Spotlight Story

Oct 10, 2023

PhD Spotlight: Caterina Bartomeu Garcia, PhD’22, Chemical Engineering

Caterina Bartomeu Garcia, PhD’22, chemical engineering, focused her research on the development of novel drug delivery systems for the treatment of brain infections such as bacterial meningitis. She had a publication in the International Journal of Nanomedicine, and five peer-review publications. She is now a scientist at Repertoire Immune Medicines.

Faculty

Aug 07, 2023

Young Scholars Program for Local High School Students Finishes Strong

High school seniors engage in diverse engineering research during Northeastern’s Young Scholars Program, mentored by COE faculty and students.

Faculty

Jan 24, 2023

Faculty and Staff Awards 2023

Congratulations to all the winners of the faculty and staff awards, and to everyone for their hard work and dedication during the 2022-2023 academic school year. COE Distinguished Faculty Award Yun Raymond Fu, ECE Auroop Ganguly, CEE Luke Landherr, ChE Sinan Müftü, MIE Mark Niedre, BioE Alison Nogueira, Co-op Nian Sun, ECE Constantinos Mavroidis Translational […]

PhD

Oct 14, 2022

PhD Spotlight: Ada Vernet-Crua, PhD’22 – Chemical Engineering

Ada Vernet-Crua joined Northeastern in 2018 to complete her master’s thesis in nanoscience and nanotechnology in collaboration with Rovira and Virgili University in Spain, where she also completed her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2017. During those brief six months, she fell in love with the city and the research and decided to join the […]

Jul 06, 2022

Announcing the new MS in Pharmaceutical Engineering at Northeastern University

The College of Engineering and Bouve College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University are offering a new Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Engineering. Both colleges began to recognize the growing need in the pharmaceutical sector for people that have both an engineering background as well as understand the regulatory environment of the pharmaceutical industry. “The […]

Undergraduate

May 18, 2022

Announcing Summer 2022 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Summer 2022 PEAK Experiences Awards.

Undergraduate

Oct 12, 2021

Announcing Fall 2021 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Fall 2021 PEAK Experiences Awards. The PEAK Experiences Awards are a progressively structured sequence of opportunities designed to support learners as they continue climbing to new heights of achievement in undergraduate research and creative endeavor throughout their Northeastern journeys. ASCENT AWARDS […]

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Graduate

Apr 26, 2021

Congratulations RISE: 2021 Winners

Congratulations to our engineering students who won awards at the RISE:2021 Research, Innovation and Scholarship Expo!

Rebecca Willits

Faculty

Sep 02, 2020

New Faculty Spotlight: Rebecca Willits

Rebecca Willits joined the Chemical Engineering department in July 2020 as Professor and Chair.

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