News & Events

News | Faculty & Students in the News | Publications | Presenations | Awards

News

2008 Graduate Achievement Day
The third annual Graduate Research Achievement Day (GRAD 2008) was held on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 in the Campus Center Odeum. GRAD 2008 celebrated the research activities of graduate students with a poster-style symposium. The event provided graduate students the opportunity to present their research to peers, faculty, the WPI community and their guests. Read more...
In Memoriam: Jennifer McLaughlin '06, Our Young Alum
It is with sadness that we notify you of the passing of one of our alums, Jennifer McLaughlin (Spencer, MA), Class of 2006. Jen passed away in her sleep this weekend and funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Read more...
On Thursday, October 30, a retirement reception was held in Higgins House where colleagues, staff and students had the opportunity to thank Dr. Peura for his 40 years of dedicated service to WPI and the BME Department. View our photo gallery of Dr. Peura’s reception.

Students in the News

Syed Ali '09
Congratulations to Syed Ali '09 who was recently elected as President of the Student Government Association for the 2008 calendar year. Syed, has been involved with the SGA since A-term of his freshman year. At WPI, Syed is majoring in Biomedical Engineering concentrating in biomechanics/tissue engineering/regenerative engineering and hopes to attend medical school upon graduation.
Shawn Carey '09
Congratulations to Shawn Carey '09 who received the 2008 Goldwater Scholar Honorable Mention. This award is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.
Syed Ali '09 and Nicholas Pelletier '09
Congratulations to Syed Ali '09 and Nicholas Pelletire '09 who were selected as recipients of an Honorable Mention for the Two Towers Prize. This award is given to students who, through general academic competence, campus leadership, regular course work, and special work in research and projects, best exemplify a combined proficiency in the theoretical and practical union that is at the heart of the WPI educational tradition.
Justine Roberts '08 and Lynn Worobey '08
Congratulations to Justine Roberts '08 and Lynn Worobey '08 who have each recieved a Salisbury Award. This award is made to the most meritorious seniors at the university. It was established by Stephen Salisbury II, a WPI founder and the first president of the Board of Trustees.
Paola A. Pinzon-Arango BS '05 and MS '08
Congratulations to Paola Pinzon-Arango BS'05 and MS '08 who received the 2008 Sigma Xi Outstanding Master's Thesis Research Award for her project entitled "Investigating the Effects of Cranberry Juice on the Physiochemical Properties of Escherichia Coli for the Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections." This award is presented for outstanding research by students at the master's and doctoral levels and is sponsored jointly by the Society of the Sigma Xi and the Committee on Graduate Studies and Research.

Faculty in the News

Prof. Kristen Billiar
At the recent regional American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference hosted by WPI, Prof. Kristen Billiar was presented with the Outstanding Paper award for his paper "Streaming Video Tutorials for Complex Laboratory Techniques: Lessons Learned in Sophomore and Junior Biomechanics Courses". The theme of the conference was Engineering Education and Practice for the Global Community, and the paper was presented in the session on Innovations in Engineering Education.
Prof. Mendelson
CBS affiliate Boston TV Channel 4 recently aired a piece describing the Wireless Telehealth project that Prof. Mendelson (BME Department) and Profs. Pedersen and Michalson (both from the ECE Department) are working on. The project is part of the WPI Bioengineering Institute Center for Untethered Healthcare.

Publications

Mendelson, Y., V. Floroff, W. Johnston, and P. Branche, "A Mobile PDA-based Wireless Pulse Oximeter," in proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Telehealth, Banff, Canada, July, 2005.
Balestrini, J., J. Youssef, K.L. Billiar, "Magnitude of equibiaxial stretch modulates fibroblast remodeling of fibrin gels," ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Vail, Co., June 2005.
Billiar, K.L., "A Completely Challenge-Based Experimental Biomechanics Course," Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Fall Meeting, Baltimore, Md., October 2005.
Chowaniec, M., M. Collins, E. Wilson, L. Valle, G. Bartels, J. Lalikos, R. Dunn, K.L. Billiar, "Femur flap for tibial reconstruction: Biomechanical considerations," Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Fall Meeting, Baltimore, Md., October 2005.
Dresher, R., and Y. Mendelson, "Attachment of A Wearable Skin Reflectance Pulse Oximeter," 2005 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Fall Meeting, Baltimore, Md., September, 2005.
Throm, A.M., H.C. Hinds, J. Rulfs, K.L. Billiar, "Effects of substrate stiffness on valvular interstitial cell activation," Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Fall Meeting, Baltimore, Md., October 2005.
Mendelson, Y, Johnston WS, Dresher RP, Forehead measurements of heart rate and heart rate variability from a photoplethysmographic reflectance sensor: effect of motion artifacts, EMBEC'05, Prague, Czech Republic, November, 2005.
Mendelson, Y, Dresher RP, Nagre, A, The feasibility of measuring SpO2 from the head using a reflectance pulse oximeter: effect of motion artifacts, EMBEC'05, Prague, Czech Republic, November, 2005.
Pai, S., Gunja, N., Dupak, E., McMahon, N., Roth, T., Lalikos, J., Dunn, R., Francalancia, N., Pins, P., Billiar, K.L., "An in vitro comparison of wire and plate fixation for midline sternotomies," Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol. 80, pp. 962-968, 2005.
Jeremy Wellen, recently graduated BME Ph.D., Karl Helmer, Assistant Research Professor, Peter Grigg, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics at UMASS and Chris Sotak, BME Chair, recently published an article on the topic of using MRI to measure water movement in rabbit Achilles tendon ("Application of porous-media theory to the investigation of water ADC changes in rabbit Achilles tendon caused by tensile loading." in J. Magn. Reson. 170, 49-55 (2004)). Read the abstract...
Graduate students Brett Downing and Kevin Cornwell and Professor George Pins recently published two articles describing cellular interactions with collagen-based biomaterials. (Cornwell, KG, Downing, BR, and Pins, GD, "Characterizing fibroblast migration on discrete collagen threads for applications in tissue regeneration." Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 71A: 55-62 (2004).) Read abstract...
Measurement of the Spatial Redistribution of Water in Rabbit Achilles Tendon in Response to Static Tensile Loading, K. G. Helmer, J. Wellen, P. Grigg, and C. H. Sotak, J. Biomech. Eng. 126, 651-656 (2004).
Christopher H. Sotak was appointed Deputy Editor (as of January 1, 2005) of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, one of the leading scientific journals in the field.
Billiar, K.L., Throm, A.M., Frey, M.T., "Biaxial failure properties of planar living tissue equivalents," Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Vol.73A, pp. 182-191, 2005.

Presentations

Grouf, J., Throm, A., and Billiar, K.L., "Biochemical and Mechanical Effects of EGF and TGF-ß1 on Fibrin Gel Tissue Equivalents," Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting, Memphis, TN, April 2005. (Note: Jaime Grouf is a BBT undergraduate student working in a BME laboratory with Prof. Billiar and PhD candidate Throm.)

Awards

2007 Biomedical Engineering MQP Project Presentation Day
Biomedical Engineering Department Awards, April 2007
- "A Device for Monitoring the Severity of Peripheral Edema"
  Presenters: Charles Gammal (ME/ECE), Erika Hall, Rachelle Horwitz, Stephanie LeGare
  Advisors: Kristen Billiar, Yitzhak Mendelson, Raymond Dunn (UMMS), John McNeill (ECE)
- Honorable Mention (tie)
  "Design of a Reproducible Murine Femoral Fracture Device"
  Presenters: Melissa Byrne, Benjamin Cleveland, Joseph Marturano
  Advisors: Kristen Billiar, John Wixted (UMMS)
- Honorable Mention (tie)
  "Design of a High-Throughput Molecular Diffusion System to Characterize Membrane Transport"
  Presenters: Rachael Buteau, Thomas Jenket, Christina Mezzone
  Advisors: George Pins, Katie Bush (GS)
The 2007 Biomedical Engineering MQP Project Presentation Day was held on 04/17/07 at Kinnicutt Hall in Salisbury Labs. For more information please visit the PPD webpage.
Billiar, Kristen, Streaming Video Tutorials for Complex Laboratory Techniques: Lessons Learned in Sophomore and Junior Biomechanics Courses. Presentation was awarded Outstanding Paper at the ASEE conference, March, 2006.
Mendelson, Y, Floroff, V, and Comtois, G. Wireless Reflectance Pulse Oximetry for Remote Triage Applications, Poster was presented at the MEDi2005 Conference and Exposition, Hartford, CT, October 2005. The poster won a First Prize Award ($500).
The Student Chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) was awarded an Honorable Mention Award at the 2005 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Kevin Cornwell and Brett Downing, two WPI/UMMS Joint PhD Program Graduate Students, were awarded Biomedical Engineering Society Chapter Awards for travel to the 2005 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Helena Zec, BME '06 was awarded a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to study in either the Netherlands or Switzerland for the academic year 2006-2007.
Professor Mendelson, in collaboration with Professors Michalson and Pedersen were awarded a grant from the Department of Defense/Army for research on real-time troop physiological status monitoring systems.
Professors Billiar and Hoffman (WPI Mechanical Engineering faculty) received a WPI Teaching Technology Fellowship for 2004-2006 entitled "Self-Paced Biomechanics Lab Technique Modules." Read more about the fellowships...
Professor Billiar was recently awarded a Johnson & Johnson Wound Management/UMMS Department of Surgery Grant entitled "Mechanical analysis of forces exerted on the sternum in vivo for the design of an accurate sternal fixation testing device" administered through Dr. Billiar's UMMS appointment.
Second year graduate student Katie Bush received a travel award from the national chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society to present her poster presentation at the recent meeting in Philadelphia.

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Last modified: May 13, 2009 09:58:33