Department Highlights

Distinguished Bioengineering Seminar Series

During the 2021-22 academic year, the UT Dallas Bioengineering seminar series featured speakers from across the globe. Students, faculty and staff gained insight into the latest research innovations advancing biomedical engineering and healthcare.

Annual Spring Celebration

This spring semester, the department hosted its first ever Spring Celebration in the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center. The department celebrated and recognized the accomplishments of our outstanding alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of bioengineering.

Commencements

Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 graduates celebrated their commencement ceremonies in person! This academic year, we awarded 114 Bachelor of Science, 29 Master of Science and 11 Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Biomedical Engineering.

Quick Facts

Faculty Recognition

Dr. Danieli Rodrigues, Associate Professor, 2021 TI Distinguished Bioengineering Faculty Fellow	Dr. Baowei Fei, Professor, Jonsson School Research Award at the Rank of Full Professor
Dr. Kenneth Hoyt, Associate Professor,  2021 TI Distinguished Bioengineering Faculty Fellow	Dr. Girgis Obaid, Assistant Professor, 2021 Outstanding Bioengineering Assistant Professor
Dr. Shashank Sirsi, Assistant Professor, 2021 TI Distinguished Bioengineering Faculty Fellow	Dr. Shalini Prasad, Professor, Jonsson School Faculty Research Award at the Rank of Professor

Dr. Seth Hays, Associate Professor, 2021 Outstanding Bioengineering Associate Professor	Dr. Tariq Ali, Associate Professor of Instruction, 2021 Outstanding Bioengineering Lab Instructor
Dr. Stuart Cogan, Professor, 2021 Outstanding Bioengineering Professor	Dr. Ben Porter, Assistant Professor of Instruction, 2021 Outstanding Bioengineering Lecture Instructor
Dr. Fang Bian, Research Scientist, Bioengineering Instructional Fellow

Welcome New Faculty

The Department of Bioengineering welcomed two assistant professors of instruction who are teaching bioimaging and biomechanics courses. The department also welcomed two assistant professors whose research focuses on biomechanics and system biology. The interdisciplinary nature of their work provides opportunities for collaboration with researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Dr. Gu Eon Kang, Assistant Professor

Dr. Gu Eon Kang's research seeks to develop a comprehensive evaluation of balance and mobility in individuals with peripheral nervous system dysfunction due to diabetes and cancer and to develop home-based therapies to reduce fall risks in individuals with peripheral nervous system dysfunction.

Kang holds a PhD in movement science from the University of Michigan, a MS in mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BS in mechanical engineering from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea.

During his postdoctoral studies at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Kang’s research focused on understanding the biomechanics in individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and on developing and evaluating home-based, self-manageable interventions to improve balance and mobility.

Dr. Dave Dingal, Assistant Professor

Dr. Dave Dingal's research interests lie at the intersection of molecular biology, cell and developmental biology, and systems and synthetic biology.

Dingal holds a PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Before joining UT Dallas in January 2022, Dingal was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, where he developed molecular tools to control signaling during early embryo development.

Dr. Katherine Brown, Assistant Professor of Instruction

Dr. Katherine Brown joined the instructional faculty with a focus on teaching bioinstrumentation, MATLAB programming and digital image processing. She brings real world examples into the classroom from her ongoing research interests in super-resolution ultrasound imaging of cancer working towards wearable ultrasound devices for continuous monitoring and therapy.

Brown holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas, an MBA from Southern Methodist University, an MS in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Christian Rivera, Assistant Professor of Instruction

Dr. Christian Rivera is an assistant professor of instruction whose goal is to improve the design experience for undergraduate students.

Rivera holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in a joint program with Emory University and Peking University and a BS in biomedical engineering from Purdue University.

Rivera currently teaches statics, junior design, fluid mechanics, and introductory biomechanics.

FACULTY

The Department of Bioengineering attracts top researchers and instructors. Full time tenure system faculty lead robust, comprehensive research laboratories and collaborate with affiliated faculty within UT Dallas as well as adjunct faculty at other institutions and in industry. The department has 20 tenure system faculty, 9 instructional faculty, 19 affiliated faculty and 25 adjunct faculty.

Tenure System Faculty

INSTRUCTIONAL Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Dinesh Bhatia, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Carlos Busso, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Xianming (Simon) Dai, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Crystal Engineer, Assistant Professor, Neuroscience

Francesca Filbey, Associate Provost, Professor, Psychology

Jeremiah Gassensmith, Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

John Hart Jr., Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience, Professor, Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Fatemeh Hassanipour, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Mahadevan (Devan) Iyer, Research Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Michael Kilgard, Margaret Fonde Johnson Professor, Behavioral and Brain Sciences

David Lary, Professor, Physics

Yi Li, Research Scientist, Bioengineering

Faruck Morcos, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Issa Panahi, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, Professor, Computer Science

Zhenpeng Qin, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Mihaela Stefan, Eugene McDermott Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Yonas Tadesse, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Jie Zheng, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Adjunct Faculty

Spencer Bowen, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern

Isaac Chan, Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern

Aveneesh Chhabra, Professor, Radiology and Orthopedic Surgery, UT Southwestern

Yasin Dhaher, R. Wofford Cain Distinguished Chair in Bone and Joint Disease Research, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Surgery, UT Southwestern

Nick Fey, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, UT Austin

Ibrahim Hashim, A. J. Gill Professorship of Pathology, Professor, Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern

Anke Henning, Diane and Hal Breirley Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern

Nan Li, Thomas O. Hicks Scholar in Medical Research, Associate Professor, Advanced Imaging Research Center and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, UT Southwestern

Jiaen Liu, Associate Professor, Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern

Ananth Madhuranthakam, Director, Magnetic Resonance Research, Associate Professor, Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern

Vinay Nagaraj, Medical Science Liaison, Angio Dynamics

Hyun-Joo Nam, Ad-interim Assistant Professor, Texas A&M Commerce

Alexander Pertsemlidis, Associate Professor, Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute, Departments of Pediatrics and Cell Systems & Anatomy, Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Matthew Petroll, Dr. W. Maxwell Thomas Chair in Opthalmology, Professor, Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, UT Southwestern

Manasi Reardon, Head of Advanced Development, Abbott Neuromodulation

Erika Ross, Director, R&D Applied Research, Abbott Neuromodulation

Ganesh Sankaranarayanan, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, UT Southwestern

Jennifer Seifert, Senior Director, Research and Development, TissueGen, Inc.

Jay Shah, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UT Southwestern

Chad Swank, Research Scientist, Rehabilitation Research, Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation

Elena Vinogradov, Associate Professor, Departments of Radiology and Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern

Tre Welch, Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery, UT Southwestern

Joel Wells, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UT Southwestern

Metin Yavuz, Associate Professor, Applied Clinical Research in Orthopaedic Surgery, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, UT Southwestern

Biomedical engineering is a broad field and includes virtually any application of engineering to medicine, biology or health care. UT Dallas has chosen to focus its biomedical research in the following areas:

Research Financials

Bioengineering students have unique opportunities to excel in research, as well as to participate in the Jonsson School’s signature UTDesign® Capstone Program where they use their expertise to work toward solving real-world problems.

Enrollment And Degrees

Bioengineering Student Awards

Student Awards

Fall 2021 - 6th Annual BMEN Undergraduate Poster Competition 1st : Evelin Rios 2nd : Teresa Thai 3rd : Andres Miramontes	Erik Jonsson School David Daniel Thesis Award Badrinath Jagannath
Erik Jonsson School Undergraduate Research Awards Ted Shi Evelin Rios Haider Ali Manish Samson	UT System Jess Hay Fellowship Ambalika Tanak
2022 Convergence Grant Recipients Joe Epperson Bhuvana Lakkasetter Tarik Shihabeddin Alexandra Arteaga Arvin Honari Divya Subramanian	2021 - 2022 Undergraduate Research Scholars Ananya Kumaresh Andres Miramontes Crisvin Kadambathil Ian Okidhain Jeff Young Ritika Nayak Sohail Hassan Teresa Thai
2021 Baxter Young Investigator Award Badrinath Jagannath	Diversity Supplement from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Ana Hernandez Reynoso

Student Organizations

BMES Officers President: Nareen Anwar Vice President: David Girata Treasurer: Sohail Hassan Secretary: Zaina Rida

AEMB Officers President: Megan Zachariah Vice President: Megan Zachariah Treasurer: Han Lai Secretary: Karel Lirazan

BMES Graduate Student Association President: Krithika Iyer Vice President: Ryan Margolis Treasurer: Jude Franklin Sundar Alumni Outreach: Divya Subramanian Public Relations: Vedashree Bhide Historian: Suhashine Sukumar

In its third year of operation, the BMEN Graduate Student Association seamlessly adapted to an all-virtual format and continued to host workshops, seminars and other socials for Bioengineering MS and PhD students.

The BMEN GSA kicked off its fall semester by arranging multiple rounds of peer-led practice sessions for first year PhD students preparing for their qualifying exams. The students gained valuable public speaking experience in a low-pressure environment and obtained feedback from a friendly but tenacious audience. Next, the group commenced its seminar series with Jenny Boothby PhD’19, UT Dallas Bioengineering alum, who shared insight on what to look for in a post-doc position. OsteoMed then joined us on campus to share insight on industry opportunities. Finally, the fall semester ended with our graduate students showing off their painting skills with a pumpkin painting contest.

The spring semester started with a series of lab tours for students to learn about biomedical engineering research on campus. The GSA also hosted its first town hall meeting. Finally, the year ended with an "Open Mic" hour featuring graduate students from UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center, who gave talks on hobbies cultivated outside the scientific arena.

UTDesign^® Capstone

The UTDesign^® Capstone program is designed to provide a hands-on learning opportunity for students.

The UT Design Capstone experience is a two-semester course sequence in which biomedical engineering majors in teams with other engineering majors design solutions to real world problems for corporate and university sponsors. UT Design is housed in a 40,000 square foot facility for student teams to ideate, create, assemble, test devices, and meet. Dr. Todd Polk, associate professor of practice and UT-Design director, noted, “We strive to provide our students with a real-world engineering experience and have organized UT Design® Capstone like a company.” Polk added, “We treat them (the students) like working engineers from day one, and the overall experience has proved to be highly beneficial to them as they enter the professional world after graduation."

At a Glance

Fall 2021 Winners and Information

22 bioengineering students participated

12 teams with bioengineering students

Team Sponsors

Abbott Laboratories AMY Resuscitation Anikona HoboLoco Inc. Dallas Center for Sleep Disorders

Eisana Corp. Texas Instruments Inc. UT Dallas UT Southwestern Medical Center

Award Winners

1st Place: Ventilator Splitting by UT Southwestern Medical Center
Students developed a device capable of splitting breaths from a single ventilator and deliver air to two patients using solenoids, mass airflow sensors, and pressure sensors. The device allows different air rates and volumes to be delivered to each patient.

2nd Place: Magic Feet: Shoe Mounted Locomotion Controller for Virtual Reality and Telerobotics by HoboLoco Inc.
Students developed and refined a foot-based locomotion controller that can deliver an immersive VR experience while minimizing movement in real space.

Design Challenge: Healthcare Workplace Violence Prevention Simulator by UT Southwestern Medical Center
The team created a healthcare workplace violence mitigation simulator that combines virtual reality and haptic elements on the arms, the face, the chest, and the back to simulate physical sensations during the lesson.

Spring 2022 Winners and Information

80 bioengineering students participated

19 teams with bioengineering students

Team Sponsors

Daniel Maxwell Encore Wire Corp. Global Diagnostic Imaging Solutions JGI Holdings MAX-IR Labs

Micropac Othro8 Solenic UT Dallas UT Southwestern Medical Center

Award Winners

1st Place: Instrumented Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Surrogate Leg by Ortho8
Students created a surrogate leg that measures externally applied pressure from one of PMP's Circul8 product and provides live digital visualization of said pressure. The pressure will be displayed in a two-dimensional grid-like structure that updates live to accurately reflect pressures and pressure concentration applied externally to the mannequin leg.

2nd Place: Clinical Pain Assessment Using the Thermal Grilling Illusion by UT Southwestern Medical Center
The team developed a device that produces the Thermal Grill Illusion (TGI) for a temperature range of 5°C to 50°C using thermoelectric devices and temperature sensors within a feedback control system; the device also measures a patient’s contact time using force sensors. Clinicians will use the device to identify a patient’s unique pain mechanisms.

3rd Place: Non-Invasive Anchor for Air Occlusive Chest Tubes by UT Southwestern Medical Center
The team designed a non-invasive and fluid occlusive device to securely anchor a chest tube to a patient. It can be applied faster than the time it takes to suture the chest tube, and the tube will be more securely attached to allow for easier movement and transportation of the patient. The device’s non-invasive and fluid occlusive nature will also prevent any leaks or potential infections.

GEARED TOWARD STUDENT SUCCESS

The department hosted various events throughout the year to promote student success and engage with industry leaders including talks with companies such as Ronawk, Metabolon and Medtronic.

Along with industry talks, the department also hosted workshops focused on career development, including career fairs, internship prep workshops and a series of resume-building talks where students could turn what they have learned in the lab into workplace experience. Bioengineering students and alums even teamed up to host a Q&A panel about their experience and advice about success in the industry.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES BUILDING

In October 2021, University leaders broke ground for the construction of a new building that will catalyze a unique partnership between UT Southwestern Medical Center and The University of Texas at Dallas, bringing their biomedical engineering programs together to foster innovative solutions for unmet medical needs.

This 150,000-square-foot building, located on the east campus of UT Southwestern Medical Center, is made possible by a transformative gift from Texas Instruments and funds from the Permanent University Fund of the University of Texas System.

The new facility has been named the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building. Scheduled for completion in 2023, the new five-story building will support the work of dozens of faculty and their teams with both wet and dry laboratory space, as well as areas designated specifically to promote multidisciplinary interactions. A Biodesign Center will feature a large assembly and design studio, a metal fabrication shop, and rooms for 3D printing.

UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER CONNECTION

Faculty and students in the Department of Bioengineering at UT Dallas collaborate with UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and clinicians to bring groundbreaking discoveries into practice.

Currently, nine UT Dallas Bioengineering graduate students conduct research in UT Southwestern faculty members’ labs. Over 30% of UT Dallas Bioengineering faculty have research collaborations with UT Southwestern faculty and clinicians. UT Dallas Bioengineering faculty have fourteen grants totaling $6.9M to support collaborative research with UT Southwestern.