George Z. Tan, an associate professor with a joint appointment in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering and the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, has earned a major teaching award from an international organization.
Tan is the First Prize Winner of the 2025 Manufacturing & Design (M&D) Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA) from the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE). The award recognizes members for excellence in manufacturing or design education and training, which includes curriculum development and the dissemination of courses.
Tan received the award in June during the IISE Annual Conference & Expo in Atlanta. The IISE is the preeminent international organization for industrial and systems engineers, with more than 45,000 members worldwide. He is the fifth winner of the award since its inception in 2021, and the first from the University of Houston.
“I’m truly honored to receive this recognition from IISE,” Tan said. “I would especially like to thank Dr. Gino Lim for his kind nomination and steadfast support. This award reflects the collaborative spirit of my students and colleagues in the ISE department who have supported me along the way.”
This award highlights Tan’s impactful work in interdisciplinary project-based learning in biomedical design and manufacturing, which allows engineering students to collaborate with medical students in developing real-world solutions. The approach bridges the gap between classroom learning and the practical challenges of modern medicine.
Tan is the principal investigator for the Bioinspired Hybrid Manufacturing Laboratory. It focuses on novel manufacturing processes for human tissue scaffolds, organoids, and lab-on-a-chip for tissue engineering and drug development. Technologies tackled by the lab include tomographic bioprinting, electrospinning and multi-material 3D printing techniques.
Tan also emphasized the role of Houston as a hub for innovation.
“Being in Houston — one of the nation's most dynamic cities for engineering, healthcare, and technology — has allowed me to develop unique, real-world learning experiences for students that bridge industry and academia,” he said.
Tan joined the faculty of Cullen for the Fall 2024 semester. He is a 2022 NSF CAREER award recipient for his research proposal, “Capillary-Incorporated Bioprinting of Biomimetic Soft Tissue Constructs,” which has already led to five paper publications.