James (Jay) Henderson, PhD, is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University, where he is also professor of biomedical and chemical engineering.
His training in mechanical engineering was performed at Rice University (BS, summa cum laude) and Stanford University (MS, PhD), where he was a dual Hertz Fellow/Burt and Deedee McMurtry Stanford Graduate Fellow. He performed postdoctoral training in the Skeletal Research Center at Case Western Reserve University, working in the departments of Biology and Orthopaedics as an Arthritis Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.
Having joined the faculty of Syracuse University in 2008, Dr. Henderson’s lab focuses on the study and application of mechanobiology, biomaterials, and 4D printing. His lab has pioneered development of shape-memory polymers that can change shape or stiffness with attached and viable cells, and of single-step methods for fabricating and programming shape-morphing biomaterials.
Dr. Henderson is a member of the BioInspired Institute at Syracuse University and holds a courtesy appointment in the Syracuse University Department of Biology. He received the New Investigator Recognition Award at the Combined Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Societies in 2007, the Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Excellence Award in 2010, the DARPA Young Faculty Award in the class of 2012, and Syracuse University’s Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Excellence Award in 2017 and Mentor of the Year Award in 2024.
