Rate My Professor Briana Fiser

Briana Fiser serves as Dean of the Wanek School of Natural Sciences at High Point University, with an affiliation in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She holds a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Mississippi, an M.S. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fiser joined High Point University in 2011 as a faculty member in the Department of Physics, helping to build an innovative physics major launched in 2010. She contributed to expanding the department from three to six faculty members and designed a curriculum integrating project-based learning, computation, communication, and collaboration skills. In 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Physics Department, advancing later to her current deanship role. Her leadership extends to the Honors Scholar Program, where she helped develop its curriculum in 2016 to foster student growth in collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.

Fiser's research focuses on biomimetics, microfluidics, and soft matter, with emphasis on biology-inspired micro- and nanotechnologies for human health applications, including strategies to prevent bacterial biofilm formation on surfaces. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Fiser is an inventor on four U.S. patents concerning an artificial cilia system to monitor biofluid properties like blood clotting and mucus, including U.S. Patent 8,586,368 titled "Methods and systems for using actuated surface-attached posts for assessing biofluid rheology" granted in 2013. Notable publications include "Biomimetic cilia arrays generate simultaneous pumping and mixing regimes" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2010), "A highly tunable silicone-based magnetic elastomer with nanoscale homogeneity" in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (2012), "Micro-elastometry on whole blood clots using actuated surface-attached posts (ASAPs)" in Lab on a Chip (2015), and "Functionalized Self-Assembled Monolayers: Versatile Strategies to Combat Bacterial Biofilm Formation" in Pharmaceutics (2022). She also conducts educational research on student identity in STEM fields.