2020 Elections

Candidates for BED offices

Program Chair Elect — link to ballot

Manage the Work In Progress portion of BED program at the Annual Conference. It is expected that this individual will subsequently serve as Program Chair, Division Chair, and Division Past Chair in the following 3 years.

1. Tanya Nocera, The Ohio State University

Tanya M. Nocera, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Ohio State University, where she is also the incoming director of undergraduate studies. She is currently completing her three-year term as a member-at-large for the Biomedical Engineering Division of ASEE and her two-year term as the BED delegate to the ASEE committee on diversity, equity and inclusion. It has been her honor to support the mission of the BED these past few years, while helping to maintain a pipeline of communication between the BED and the broader diversity and inclusion efforts of ASEE. Since 2017, Tanya has also served as an ASEE BED (and BMES) abstract/paper reviewer, and has contributed to the BED 4 full papers, including one finalist for the ASEE Best Diversity Paper (2019), and 4 works in progress. She would love the opportunity to continue service to the BED as Program Chair Elect, where she hopes to help further the division’s growth in scholarship, community, membership, and diversity and inclusion.

Tanya is a two-time recipient of the student-voted OSU BME Herman R. Weed Excellence in Teaching Award (2015, 2020) and the recipient of the 2019 ASEE BED Teaching Award. Her teaching and scholarship interests include BME laboratory skills, technical communication, documentation, and design. She coaches teams of students from engineering, design, business, and health and rehabilitation sciences, in the design of assistive technologies and medical devices. More recently (2018), she has developed and piloted a new master’s program in Medical Product Development, partnering engineering students with practicing clinicians and industry partners to advance medical technologies towards commercialization. Tanya performs this work in tandem with her NSF-sponsored research (RIEF) on the “Career Attainment of Undergraduate Engineers,” as she aims to better prepare BME students for careers in the biomedical industry.

2. TBD

Treasurer — link to ballot

Oversee and maintain the financial records of the Division.

1. Alexis Ortiz-Rosario, The Ohio State University (incumbent)

Alexis Ortiz-Rosario currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is the instructor for the BIOMEDE 3702 Measurements and Instrumentation course that introduces students to concepts of circuit instrumentation, experimental design, and applied statistics. He also serves in the capacity of engineering advisor for senior capstone students and instructs the domain laboratory experiences in bioimaging and micro/nanofabrication. He is currently supporting the NSF Grant: “Research Initiation: Analyzing inequities in undergraduate workforce opportunities between biomedical and other engineering majors.” This grant is looking looks to understand the challenges BME undergraduate students face in obtaining industry careers compared to their fellow engineering peers. Alexis is also the chair of the Biomedical Engineering Educator Community (BEEC), a virtual community of practice that looks to enhance collaboration and sharing of evidence-based teaching practices in the field of biomedical engineering.

2. Joseph Towles, Stanford University

Joseph Towles is a Lecturer jointly appointed in the Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering Departments at Stanford University. Joe completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford. Joe was a research post-doctoral fellow and subsequently a research scientist and then a research assistant professor in neuromuscular biomechanics in the Sensory Motor Performance Program at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab and in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department at Northwestern University. Joe’s teaching interests are in the areas of solid mechanics, neuromuscular biomechanics, dynamical systems and control, and engineering design. As a complement to teaching broadly within the undergraduate curricula of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at Stanford, Joe’s current scholarship interest has shifted to engineering education. Specifically, Joe’s engineering education activities have included student-centric course and curricular development; assessment of student learning & engagement; and innovation in approaches to enhance student learning. Joe has been an active member of the Biomedical Engineering Division since 2014, consistently presenting work during the annual meeting and, in recent years, participating in the review of abstracts and the judging of posters when offered the opportunity. Joe is happy to continue supporting the Biomedical Engineering Division and would look forward to the opportunity to do so as treasurer if given the opportunity.

Awards chair — link to ballot

Manage the process of awards nominations and lead the awards selections committee.

1. Jen Choi, UC Davis (incumbent)

Jennifer Choi is currently an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at UC Davis. In addition to teaching Introduction to BME and Senior Design, she has been highly engaged in integrating engineering design principles and hands-on experiences throughout the curriculum.  She has strong interests in engineering education, curricular innovation, as well as impacting the community through increased K-12 STEM awareness and education. She has had several administrative roles including Program Director for the UC Davis Institutional Beckman Scholars Program and PI of her department’s Team-Based Design in BME (NIBIB R25) award.  She served as the Awards Chair for the Biomedical Division of American Society for Engineering Education in 2019-2020, and is interested in continuing to contribute to the community of educators that she has already benefited greatly from.  Prior to joining UC Davis, Jennifer taught in the BME Department at Rutgers University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Advanced Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, LLC. She received her doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts University, M.S. degree from Syracuse University, and B.S. degree from Cornell University.

2. Ruth Ochia, PhD, PE, Temple University

I am a Professor of Instruction in the Department of Bioengineering at Temple University. I have had several roles during my career including, research in spine biomechanics, working in industry and running my own engineering consulting business. Recently, I have been working towards building some street cred within the engineering education sphere since I started as a non-tenure track faculty member at Temple University in 2013. This new area of research has led me to develop a passion for curricular development and assessment with a focus on design thinking and student motivation. Through my changes in research focus, I have always had an interest in promoting women and minorities in engineering. I was the member and then chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum (2010 – 2013) of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS). This group’s purpose is to “mentor, foster, encourage and inspire women at the start and throughout their careers in orthopaedic research, and will assist women in obtaining leadership roles in orthopaedic-related organizations.” (www.ors.org/womens-leadership-forum/) My efforts as chair of the WLF, was to keep this group going, as it was threatened to be eliminated, and give it actionable items consistent with their mission. This committee has grown since then and continues to serve the ORS. I have also been a session moderator, abstract reviewer, and member of the Nominating Committee (2015-16) and Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce (2019-20) for the ORS.  I volunteered to be an ABET program evaluator for bioengineering, where I have served since 2015, using insights gained during visits to improve student education and experience of my program. In addition, I am active in the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Recently I was co-chair of the annual meeting (2019 Philadelphia). I am also on the Education Committee (2019 – present), National Meetings Committee (2018 – present), as well as, session moderator and abstract reviewer for the BMES. As BMES Co-Chair, we wanted to make sure that we had a diversity of track chairs and to include newer faculty and industrial members to provide an inclusive environment for all members. I hope to bring my expertise and leadership serve the Biomedical Engineering Division of ASEE, where I have been reviewer for the past few years. I am organized, goal-oriented, and like to get things done, especially with an eye towards empowering of women and minorities.

3. Brian Plouffe, Regis College

Dr. Plouffe is an Assistant Professor of STEM and Founding Undergraduate Director of the Biomedical Engineering program at Regis College. He teaches Biomedical Engineering courses, as well as Chemistry courses, within the STEM department. Prior to joining Regis College in 2015, Dr. Plouffe was an adjunct professor at Northeastern University in the Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering departments; and a post-doctoral research associate in the lab of Dr. Shashi Murthy, where he investigated novel testing platforms for road-side THC detection. In addition, to his teaching and research at Northeastern, he co-founded the Chemical Engineering Writing Center to assist graduate students and post-doctoral researchers work on their writing of research articles, grants, posters, and presentation. Dr. Plouffe previously served on the Education Committee of the Biomedical Engineering Society and is a member of the Council of Chairs for BMES.  He an active member of the American Society for Engineering Education and International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering. Finally, Dr. Plouffe was the co-founder of Quad Technologies (Woburn, MA), a start-up focused on developing best-in-class cell separation reagents for immuno-oncology and translational medicine applications, which was acquired by Bio Techne in July 2018.

Events chair — link to ballot

This is a new position with the bylaws change this year and will be in charge of organizing and planning the BED social and awards dinner, and any other events that arise.

1. LeAnn Dourte Segan, University of Pennsylvania

2. Yanfen Li, University of Massachusetts Lowell

I am an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. I received my PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2018 and I have been a member of ASEE since 2015.  I have a long history of event planning including founding the first BME Graduate Student Research Symposium at UIUC, planning the inaugural senior student graduation ceremony at UML, and serving on the committee to plan the Biomedical Engineering Educator Community (BEEC) virtual conference. I also plan most of the social events in my department. I am interested in serving as Events Chair because I love all the details that go into event planning and hope to plan events which can cater to everyone’s needs. I am especially interested in planning the BED social and awards dinner. This event has been very special to me ever since I attended my first awards dinner in 2017 after receiving the BED Division Travel Award as a graduate student. I have extensive experience founding new events and believe I am up to the challenge of this new position within BED. I look forward to planning a fun event which gives everyone the opportunity to network with colleagues and recognize the amazing achievements of our members!

Secretary / Webmaster — link to ballot

This was renamed from “Secretary” with the bylaws change this year, and responsibilities include taking minutes at the BED business meeting and other meetings, producing division publications, and maintaining the BED WordPress-based website.

1. Dianne Hendricks, University of Washington (incumbent)

Dr. Dianne Hendricks is a Lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. Dianne was awarded the UW College of Engineering Faculty Teaching Award in 2020. She is the Director of the Engineering Communication Program, which offers required technical communication courses for engineering majors. She designs and teaches courses in technical communication, universal design, capstone, ethics, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). Dianne is a co-founder of HuskyADAPT (Accessible Design and Play Technology), an interdisciplinary UW initiative to promote diversity and inclusion by engaging students and the community in universal design. She co-teaches a HuskyADAPT project-based course where she mentors UW students in design projects for local needs experts with disabilities. She also leads educational outreach activities involving toy adaptation for children with disabilities. Dianne was formerly a Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at UW, where she led the Bioengineering K-12 Educational Outreach Program, the Bioengineering Honors Program, and the Bioengineering Summer Camp in Global Health. Dianne holds a PhD in Genetics from Duke University, and a BS in Molecular Biology and a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been an active member of ASEE since 2014 and has served as the Secretary/Webmaster of the ASEE Biomedical Engineering Division since 2018. Dianne has authored 17 ASEE publications and has presented her work at every annual conference since 2015 in addition to the Pacific Northwest regional conferences and CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity).

2. Christine King, UC Irvine

Dr. King has been an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California Irvine since 2018. As an active member of ASEE since then, she has published several journal conference articles. This includes research on incorporating active learning and hands-on principles in design-build-test courses, providing effective measures for team cohesion in project based courses, and developing K-12 biomedical engineering programs to improve interest and retention in STEM fields. She is interested in transforming higher education to incorporate more hands-on and active learning activities in the classroom, allowing our students to meet the learning outcomes and skills required of our rapidly evolving workforce. As the instructor of the senior design program, she has experience in website design and extensive project management skills.

Member at large (3 year term, 2020-2023) — link to ballot

Members at large serve as and recruit judges for the annual poster session, serve as judges for the BED Travel Award(s), and serve in other capacities on an ad-hoc basis.

1. Casey J. Ankeny, Northwestern University

Casey J. Ankeny, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University. Casey received her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2006 and her doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in 2012 where she studied the role of shear stress in aortic valve disease. Her engineering education research interests include: investigating cyber-based student engagement strategies in flipped and traditional biomedical engineering courses, understanding and improving student attitude, achievement, and persistence in student-centered courses, and tracking mastery of problem solving skills through standards-based grading in laboratory courses.  Casey is a previous recipient of the Biomedical Engineering Teaching Award and is eager to support the Biomedical Engineering Division through service.

2. Naji Husseini, UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University

Dr. Naji Husseini is a Teaching Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC and NC State. He received a B.S. and M.Eng. in engineering physics from Cornell University, and an M.S. in electrical engineering and Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research projects spanned sperm cryopreservation to synchrotron and laser-based x-ray imaging in various contexts, including protein crystallography, thin-film surface diffraction, and phase-contrast imaging of airplane turbine blades. Naji currently teaches at least mechanics, programming, statistics, and biomaterials classes, along with whatever other faculty don’t want to teach that semester, at both UNC and NC State. He is particularly interested in sophomore-level labs in all areas to make them approachable while still introducing advanced BME concepts. His computer-science labs have been presented and published at ASEE and received a technological innovation award at NC State. Naji received the top two teaching awards at NC State in 2020. Naji has learned a great deal from ASEE meetings; now, he’d like to give back to the community that helped him grow as a teacher. In his little remaining spare time, he runs every trail in North Carolina (watch out for turtles and snakes), forces his students to listen to opera in his office (where else can Mimi be dying of tuberculosis yet still have the lung capacity of an Olympian?), and caters to his son’s preternatural vacuum-cleaner obsession (Bissells and Dysons are the best).

 

3. Katie Reuther, Columbia University

Katie is an experienced leader and educator in the development and translation of early-stage medical technologies and discoveries. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University, with additional appointments as the Director of the Columbia Biomedical Engineering Technology Accelerator (BiomedX) Program and the Director of Master’s Studies. The BiomedX program provides funding, education, and support to students and faculty interested in commercializing their biomedical inventions. She has advised and educated numerous student and faculty teams and start-ups in developing and commercializing medical technologies. Her current educational work focuses on developing new instructional tools and programs to enhance graduate education in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She has spearheaded the development of a graduate-level Biomedical Innovation program that covers all aspects of the design process, including needs identification, concept generation, and commercialization. She also serves as a consultant for Biocomx, a national organization that trains and supports researchers, professionals, and early stage companies in commercializing medical technologies and in this role, has acted as a project manager for several NIH programs including the Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) program. Merging her technical and business training, Katie is also the co-founder of Syntegrity Biomedical, an orthopedic medical device company. Katie was a finalist for Columbia’s Presidential Teaching Award in 2019 and 2020.  She has been an active member of ASEE since 2015. She regularly presents her work at the annual conference and serves as an abstract reviewer for the Biomedical Engineering Division. She looks forward to the opportunity to be even more involved with ASEE BED.