A Message from The Chair
Greetings from the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Binghamton University.
I am excited to share with you the contributions our faculty members and students
have made to the field of biomedical engineering. I trust that this newsletter will
provide valuable information about our progress in terms of scientific discoveries,
research and, of course, educating the next generation of biomedical engineers.
The BME 4+1 program that came started two years ago has proven to be very successful, giving students a chance to earn advanced degrees in less time and affect greater change in the world. This program has already shown 50 percent participation and success, allowing excelling students to achieve a master's degree in biomedical Engineering in only five years. In fall 2017, we graduated 45 graduate students including seven PhD students. Our undergraduate enrollment in fall 2017 increased 11 percent as compared to that in 2015.
Research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and industry partners has increased. By collaborating with faculty across the campus, faculty at the BME department launched the Center of Biomanufacturing for Regenerative Medicine, a center that will become a driving force to develop new technologies for scalable production of therapeutic cell and tissue products for regenerative medicine. A newly awarded NSF MRI award helped launch a deep tissue multiphoton confocal microscopy core lab for 3D tissue and small animal live microscopy imaging.
A new Health Science Core Lab will include both single and multiphoton confocal laser scanning microscopes, multicolor FACS sorter, RNA sequencers, etc. A $600,000 renovated Biomanufacturing Research Suite was opened in fall 2016. The suite is dedicated to biomanufacturing R&D. Dr. German received a NSF CAREER Award to continue his study on skin biomechanics. Dr. Lu received a NIH R00 award to develop label-free SRS imaging technology that enables on-site brain tumor imaging during surgery. Dr. Jin received the best paper award from the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Dr. Mahler received the Provost's Award for Outstanding Graduate Director. Dr. Mahler was promoted to Associate Professor.
Our 10-year alumni placement survey indicates that 59% of our graduates landed their jobs in industry, 17% in graduate schools, 9% in educational institutes, 7% in medical industry, 4% in government, and 4% became a CEO or entrepreneur.
Two BME senior design teams received the Avangrid Senior Design Sponsorship from the Avangrid Foundation. PhD student Xue Liu received the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research from Graduate School. Undergraduate student, Alana MacDonald received the Undergraduate Award to Support Research and Creative Work.
The department welcomed two new high-caliber faculty members: Fake "Frank" Lu from Harvard and Tracy Hookway from the Gladstone Institute at UC San Francisco.
As we get closer to a new year, with all of the promise and growth that it brings with it, I am truly looking forward to it. We have a strong department, brilliant faculty, dedicated students, and the support of Watson College and Binghamton University. On behalf of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, thank you for your continued interest and support. We are looking forward to the bright future for our department and Watson College.
Wishing much health and happiness,
Kaiming
Kaiming Ye, PhD
Professor and Department Chair
Director, Center of Biomanufacturing for Regenerative Medicine
Department of Biomedical Engineering