2022 News

1. In fall 2022, Prof. Rachelle Palchesko started as a teaching faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. In this role, she teaches a variety of courses focused on biomaterials, tissue engineering, and bioprinting that prepare students to become leaders in research and industry.
2. Congratulations to Iris Pan (BME/MechE), Allison Hunter (BME/CnemE), Chalisa (Jean) Udompanyawit (BME/ECE), Nikki Hasson (BME/MechE) for being named 2022-2023 ACS Scholars. The award recognizes undergraduate seniors who embody Carnegie Mellon University’s high standards of academic excellence, volunteerism, leadership and involvement in student organizations, athletics or the arts.
3. Prof. Chris Bettinger joined DARPA in August 2022 as a program manager in the Biological Technologies Office. He is broadly interested in applying bioelectronics and cellular engineering to create new technologies that monitor and improve warfighter performance.
4. BME Prof. Charlie Ren won the Biomedical Engineering New Innovator Award for Junior Faculty at the 48th Northeast Bioengineering Conference organized by the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. Prof. Ren’s lab works at the interface of biomaterial and stem cell engineering, with the goal of providing regenerative therapeutic solutions to repair or replace damaged tissues and organs.
5. CMU Professors Keith Cook (BME), Jana Kainerstorfer (BME), and Howie Choset (Robotics Institute, BME) and colleagues at Vanderbilt and Cornell have been awarded an $8.7 million dollar grant from the US Army CDMRP program to create and integrate technologies that enable artificial lungs to transition from temporary support in the ICU to permanent support at home. This will allow chronic lung disease patients to lead longer, more normal lives in which they feel comfortable engaging in every-day activities such as walking or driving.
6. BME/ECE Prof. Pulkit Grover was named the 2022-2023 Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE’s Information Theory Society. The Distinguished Lecturers Program was established to promote interest in information theory by supporting chapters who wish to invite prominent information theory researchers to give talks at their events. Grover plans to give talks in Asia, Africa, and various places in North and South America, supported by this program.
7. Prof. Charlie Ren has won an NSF CAREER Award, a prestigious 5-year grant given to junior faculty for research & education. Prof. Ren aims to advance lung tissue engineering to help patients with lung diseases and inspire therapeutics that promote lung repair & regeneration.
8. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded Prof. Bin He a four-year, $2 million grant to develop and validate novel neuroengineering techniques to detect and image the epileptic brain. He’s research, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, aims to gain a better understanding of epileptic networks and establish non-invasive neuroimaging techniques to localize and map epileptogenic brain regions for aiding surgical or neuromodulation treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.
9. Congratulations to Shweta Gudapati, a junior in the Mellon College of Science who also is pursuing a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering, has received the prestigious 2022 Barry Goldwater Scholarship to encourage her pursuit of a research career. The award, given by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, recognizes second- and third-year college students intending to pursue research careers in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences, and provides up to $7,500 for tuition, mandatory fees, books, room and board. See further details. 
10. Prof. Adam Feinberg was quoted in the latest edition of POLITICO’s Future Pulse newsletter, on the benefits of 3D printing organs and future considerations for the industry. “If we get this to work, it fundamentally changes medicine as we know it … especially if we can do it in a way that is even remotely cost-effective,” said Adam Feinberg, who co-founded 3D bioprinting company FluidForm. “We’re talking about a technology that can rebuild different parts of the body as needed.”
11. Prof. Bin He was featured in a recent NIH research spotlight highlighting new treatment options on the horizon for pain associated with sickle cell disease. His lab is exploring focused ultrasound waves targeted at specific brain areas, to gauge if this non-invasive technology could change the activity of nerve cells that create and spread pain signals.
12. Prof. Sossena Wood was recently featured in Pittsburgh Business Times’ “20 People to Know in Engineering” series. Wood is focused on developing and designing medical devices that detect neurological damage and/or diseases.
13. MechE/BME professor by courtesy Eni Halilaj has earned an NSF CAREER Award to investigate musculoskeletal modeling with wearable sensors and smartphone cameras. The work will help to personalize rehabilitation for those with mobility challenges.
14. MechE/BME professor by courtesy Conrad Tucker has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence Competition, Inclusion, and Innovation to advance U.S. leadership in the use and regulation of AI technology. The Commission will research and recommend artificial intelligence policies as it relates to regulation, international research and development competitiveness, and future jobs.
15. Prof. Tzahi Cohen-Karni was recently awarded a $3.1 NIH/NHLBI grant to further cardiac electrophysiology research. Over the next five years, Cohen-Karni will partner with Pitt’s Aditi Gurkar (co-PI), BME/MSE’s Adam Feinberg, MechE’s Carmel Majidi, and ECE’s Pulkit Grover to study the role of DNA damage in the cardiac unit using induced pluripotent stem cells.
16. CMU spinout company FluidForm, co-founded by Prof. Adam Feinberg, recently announced an investment from Hackensack Meridian Health and its Bear’s Den innovation program, which seeks to drive medical science forward by supporting strategic candidates in biotech and pharma. The investment will enable FluidForm to advance key applications in tissue for drug discovery and surgical repair, including collaboration on preclinical work in 2022.