Archived News

ABET Accreditation Attained

Following a review that occurred Fall 2003, our Bachelor's of Biomedical Engineering Program received accreditation from the organization ABET that accredits bachelor's programs nationally. The accreditation is retroactive to degrees granted since October, 2002.

New Faculty Member Hired: Prof. Wei Shen

Dr. Wei Shen is completing her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at CalTech under the advising of Profs. David Tirrell and Julia Kornfield. Her work has focused on characterizing self-assembled "leucine zipper" hydrogels, which can serve as cell scaffolds, including biological synthesis of the polymers.  Dr. Shen's future work will revolve around the synthesis of novel biomolecules that can be used to directly probe cell-material interactions. She will be pursuing postdoctoral studies for two years with Prof. Scott Fraser at Caltech and then join our department fall semester, 2006.

New Faculty Member Hired: Prof. Chun Wang

Dr. Chun Wang is currently an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Bob Langer at MIT. He completed his Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2001 at the University of Utah with Prof. Jindrich Kopecek. His work focuses in molecularly-engineered biomaterials, with applications to protein-based vectors for delivery of genetic therapeutics (i.e. DNA vaccines) and hydrogels for tissue scaffolds. Dr. Wang will join our department fall semester, 2004.

New Faculty Member Hired: Prof. Bin He

Prof. He is currently Full Professor of Bioengineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1988 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard-MIT HST program prior to joining UIC. His research is in the development of electrophysiological and multimodal neuroimaging methods with particular interests in noninvasive determination of eliptogenic foci. He has a parallel program in cardiac imaging aimed at localizing sources of cardiac arrhythmia. Prof. He will join the Department in January 2004.

First Graduating Class in the BME Bachelor's Degree Program

The first class of 27 students that took the complete curriculum graduated in May. Given the program was announced just 3 years previously, this underscores the popularity and rapid growth of this long-awaited degree at the University of Minnesota. Among our 35 graduates to date, about one-half are employed or are seeking employment (most with companies in Medical Alley), about one-fourth have begun graduate studies (including CalTech, MIT, U. California-SF, U. Michigan, and U. Washington), and the remaining one-fourth have either begun or are seeking enrollment in health professional or business school programs, or are working as research associates. Our program is scheduled to be reviewed by the accreditation board, ABET, in the fall.

Professor Bob Tranquillo Named Distinguished McKnight University Professor

Bob was selected as one of this year's four Distinguished Mcknight University Professors. The purpose of the Professorship is to recognize and reward the University's most outstanding mid-career faculty. The winners were chosen on the merit of their scholarly achievements and the potential for greater attainment in the field; the extent to which their achievements have brought distinction to the University of Minnesota; the quality of their teaching and advising; and their contributions to the wider community.

New Faculty Member Hired: Prof. Mark A. Nicosia

Mark is presently a Research Associate in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery where he is investigating heart valve mechanics, including a coupled solid-fluid model of leaflet motion during the cardiac cycle. He already completed another two-year postdoc at Madison in the Institute of Aging on research related to his doctoral dissertation on esaphogyal mechanics. Mark obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University in 1997 and begins his position as Assistant Professor in August 2002.

Professor David Odde Named McKnight Land-Grant

ProfessorDave was selected as one of this year's ten Mcknight Land-Grant Professors. The purpose of this University-wide competitive program is to strengthen the University's faculty for the future. It is designed to advance the careers of the most promising junior faculty at a crucial period in their professional lives, and to develop their potential to make significant contributions to their scholarly fields.$1 Million Whitaker Foundation Special Opportunity Award The Whitaker Foundation has awarded a $1 Million grant for our proposal, "Lab-Based Courses for BME Undergraduates and Practicing Engineers."This grant will be used to * establish and expand our new bachelor's degree program in biomedical engineering with a focus on instructional laboratories integrated with six core lecture courses* establish and expand intensive short courses targeted to local biomedical device companies* hire two additional tenure-track faculty to enable and sustain these activities (to 9 full-time faculty members beyond the current 4 filled plus 3 open positions)

New Faculty Member Hired: Dr. Peter N. Steinmetz

Peter Steinmetz is presently a post-doctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the Division of Biology and the Computation and Neural Systems Program. His research interests are understanding how information is represented and transformed in the brain, the biophysics of these transformations, and how we can engineer devices, such as neural stimulators, to affect these transformations. After completing his B.S. in Physics at the University of Minnesota, he founded a local computer design and consulting company, Steinmetz & Brown, Ltd. Several years later he returned to research, obtaining his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1997. Peter begins his position as Assistant Professor in June 2001.

New Bachelor's Degree Program Initiated

The Department is implementing a new undergraduate degree program in biomedical engineering, the only such program in the state of Minnesota. Four new courses are being introduced in the 2000-2001 academic year: BMEn 2501 "Biomedical Engineering Sophomore Seminar", BMEn 2601 "Cellular and Molecular Biology for Biomedical Engineers", BMEn 3001 "Biomechanics", and BMEn 3101 "Biomedical Transport Processes". All additional required courses will be introduced in the 2001-2002 academic year. The sophomore seminar and senior design courses will both involve significant participation from practicing biomedical engineers from local medical device companies around the Twin Cities.

Institute Director Named

On July 1, 2000, Dr. Jeffrey McCullough was named Director of the Biomedical Engineering Institute. Dr. McCullough is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He holds the Variety Club Chair as Director of Molecular and Cellular Therapy in the Academic Health Center, and he is recognized internationally for his contributions to transfusion medicine and blood banking.

New Department Head Named

On August 1, 2000, Prof. Robert T. Tranquillo was named the Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Prof. Tranquillo had been a member of both the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science and the Department of Biomedical Engineering prior to his appointment as Head, and had served as Interim Head since April, 2000. He is also the program leader for the Artificial Tissues program of the University's NSF-funded Materials Research Science & Engineering Center. His areas of expertise include cell migration and cell-matrix interactions with applications to wound healing, guided nerve regeneration, and cardiovascular tissue engineering (bioartificial artery and valve fabrication).