Message from the Chair

Our second annual newsletter marks another year of exciting developments in the department. This April, we welcomed a newly revamped BME department website. After several weeks of construction, we now have new conference facilities and student work spaces. We are also planning the construction of a new teaching laboratory space which will open in 2018. This new space will expand our laboratory offerings to include tissue and cellular engineering as well as bioMEMS, microfluidics, and nanomedicine.

This fall, we welcomed Cristina Zavaleta as an assistant professor who brings her expertise in molecular imaging to our imaging group. She will set up her lab in the new Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience scheduled to open this November.

I'm delighted to share that our faculty earned several distinctions which are described in the articles below. The articles also capture the remarkable achievements of an alumna, an award-winning postdoctoral fellow, our student organizations, and student innovators. In particular, I would also like to highlight the following faculty achievements:

• Megan McCain - Cellular & Molecular Bioengineering Rising Star Award; Appointment as Chonette Early Career Chair
• Stacey Finley - Appointment as the Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair
• Keyue Shen - STOP CANCER Research Career Development Award
• Jean-Michel Maarek - OCEC Outstanding Educator of the Year
• Mark Humayun - Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
• Ellis Meng - Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society

Ellis Meng, Ph.D.

Professor and Dwight C. and Hildagarde E. Baum Chair