Lee Weiss was the first student in the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. In the early years of the Institute, which was founded in 1979, his research focused on robotic visual servo control, flexible manufacturing systems, and micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS). He then went on to pioneer numerous systems for solid freeform fabrication and rapid prototyping. However, he always went back to his roots in bioengineering, and over the last 37 years he has sought to apply his diverse background to create technology-based solutions to address challenging problems in clinical medicine, including development of devices for interventional radiology, fetal heart monitoring, cardiac pacing, angioplasty, MEMS-based drug delivery, and computer-aided surgery. His current research focuses on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. He holds 28 issued U.S. patents, has 160 peer-reviewed publications (see Google Scholar Profile), and has founded several biomedical start-up companies.