Fall 2007 NewsletterWelcome from the ChairHarvey S. Borovetz
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the fall, 2007 Bioengineering E-newsletter. With the arrival of September and the beginning of a new academic year, I find myself questioning the passage of time. "Where did the summer go?" or "Has another year come and gone?" are two questions I ask myself and for which I have no answers. 10th AnniversaryThe passage of time is particularly poignant to me because we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of our department this new academic year (2007-2008). Professor Mark Redfern is spearheading the planning for our 10th anniversary events which will include a 2-day program, October 19 and 20, on the University of Pittsburgh campus to coincide with the University of Pittsburgh Homecoming Celebration, and a reception at the BMES Annual Fall Meeting on Thursday, September 27 at 8:00 p.m. in the Los Feliz room of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. I hope that you will be able to attend the reception @BMES and celebrate the passage of time with us. Newsletter HighlightsIn this current e-newsletter we provide examples of the exciting occurrences in our classrooms and laboratories, and highlight several students who were part of our undergraduate program in the early years of our department. We highlight Professor Alan Russell's NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Grant, "Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering and Regeneration (CATER)." In previous e-newsletters we highlighted Professor Michael Sacks' NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Grant, "Biomechanics in Regenerative Medicine," and Professor Sanjeev Shroff's NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Grant, "Cardiovascular Bioengineering." Introducing Dr. Aaron BatistaOur department is pleased to introduce our most recent faculty hire, Dr. Aaron Batista, who joined us from Stanford University. Dr. Batista's educational background and current research interests are presented in this e-newsletter. Student AchievementsWe are proud to boast of the professional accomplishments of several former outstanding undergraduate students, Kristie Henchir-Burgess, Ph.D., and Megan Rothney, Ph.D. Dr. Henchir-Burgess was selected as the Outstanding Senior of our first baccalaureate graduating class in 2000, and Dr. Rothney is a 2002 baccalaureate. Both Dr. Henchir-Burgess and Dr. Rothney are "newly minted" Ph.D. graduates. Dr. Henchir-Burgess is employed as a clinical bioengineering specialist by EVAHEART MEDICAL USA, INC., a subsidiary of SUN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CORPORATION headquartered in Sua, Japan. Dr. Rothney has begun a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship at NIH. At the graduate level, we continue to highlight our students who have been awarded the highly prestigious NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. You will find in this e-newsletter a description of the research of F31 Fellow, Mr. Donald Freytes, who is undertaking his Ph.D. research under the mentorship of Professor Stephen Badylak. We are also pleased to list our M.S. and Ph.D. graduates for the just completed academic year (2006-2007). 10th Anniversary Bioengineering Legacy FundFinally Dr. Aaron Conley, Executive Director, Development & Alumni Relations University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, discusses in this e-newsletter the 10th Anniversary Bioengineering Legacy Fund, a way for our alumni and friends to make a lasting contribution to the future excellence of our Department. Newsletter FeedbackI welcome any comments that you might have about this e-newsletter or our Department of Bioengineering. Please feel free to e-mail me at . Our best wishes to you for a safe, healthy and productive academic year, which surely will come and go before we even know it! Sincerely, Professor and Chair of Bioengineering, |
Department of Bioengineering
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