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Life Sciences Initiative home | Faculty Profiles

Faculty Profiles

Ki H. Chon, professor and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He joins WPI from SUNY Stony Brook, where he was a professor of biomedical engineering. With a research focus on biosignal processing and medical instrumentation, he has received more than $3 million in external awards, published more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, and earned seven patents for devices and methodologies for regenerating skin tissue, monitoring arrhythmia, and detecting autonomic system imbalance, among other discoveries. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut, an M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Iowa, and an M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California.

Robert E. Dempski, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Before coming to WPI, he spent six years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany. His research on characterizing enzymes to learn about their structural and dynamic characteristics has resulted in a number of journal publications and invited talks in Denmark, Germany, and Japan. He holds a B.S. in cell biology and biochemistry from Bucknell University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT.

Tanja Dominko, associate professor of biology and biotechnology. Dominko holds an MS in large animal reproduction and obstetrics and a DVM from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and a PhD in endocrinology and reproductive physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining WPI in 2006 as an assistant research professor, Dominko held research positions at the Oregon Health Sciences University and Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester. In 2002 she founded and served as president of CellThera Inc., a biotech startup. Earlier this year she was one of only 38 researchers nationwide to receive an inaugural EUREKA grant from the National Institutes of Health, which is funding a project aimed at transforming adult skin cells into stem-like cells.

Joseph B. Duffy, associate professor of biology and biotechnology. Duffy is a molecular cell biologist whose research seeks to clarify the mechanisms of signal transduction, processes by which external cues are transmitted into and within cells. He came to WPI from Indiana University, Bloomington, where he was an assistant professor, and previously held post-doctoral fellowships Harvard Medical School and the University of Colorado. He earned a BS in biological sciences at Cornell University and a PhD in biomedical sciences at the University of Texas Graduate School.

Glenn R. Gaudette, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. He works in cardiac tissue engineering and cardiovascular biomechanics. Before joining WPI, he was an assistant professor at SUNY Stony Brook, where he established new cardiac surgery research laboratories, and assistant professor of surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He earned a BS in mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, an MS in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a PhD in biomedical engineering at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

George Kaminski, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Kaminski holds BS and MS degrees in applied mathematics and physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and MS and PhD degrees in physical chemistry from Yale University. He was previously an assistant professor of chemistry at Central Michigan University, where he received a five-year NIH RO1 award that continues to fund research, which involves the use of fast polarizable force fields in conducting protein simulations. His research interests include computational physical, biophysical, physical organic chemistry, proteins and protein-ligand interactions, and developing and applying polarizable force fields.

Stephan A. Koehler, assistant professor of physics. He holds a BS in mathematics from the University of Michigan and a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago. After completing his doctorate, he held a postdoctoral position at Harvard University and visiting positions at Ohio State University and the University of Virginia. He then joined the faculty of Emory University, where he built an active research program in the dynamics of dense granular systems, self-propulsion, and the dynamics of cutting soft materials. Koehler brought to WPI external funding from the Petroleum Research Fund, the National Science Foundation, and Procter & Gamble.

Marsha Rolle, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. She earned a BS in biochemistry from Brown University and a PhD in bioengineering from the University of Washington. Prior to joining WPI, she spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle and a year as a senior fellow in the department of pathology at the University of Washington, where she received an American Heart Association Young Investigator Award. Rolle's research is in the area of cardiovascular tissue engineering, with the goal of synthesizing artificial blood vessels with mechanical and physiological properties that mimic normal arteries.

Izabela Stroe, assistant professor of physics. Stroe received a BSc in physics an MSc in biophysics from the University of Bucharest in Romania and a PhD in physics from Clark University. Before joining the WPI faculty, she completed a postdoctoral appointment at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, located at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she researched properties of various materials, including actinides, heavy fermions and nano-materials. Her research focuses on the dynamics and thermodynamics of proteins and DNA.

Erkan Tüzel, assistant professor of physics. Before joining WPI, he held faculty posts at North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota. In his research, he is working to develop an understanding of fundamental mechanisms in biology and emerging nanoscale physics, especially in areas where there is the potential for significant medical and industrial applications. He has published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He holds a B.S. in engineering physics and an M.S. in physics from Istanbul Technical University and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota.

Luis Vidali, assistant professor of biology and biotechnology. He came toWPI with considerable research experience, having served as a scientist at New World Laboratories (Total ReCord Inc.) in Worcester and a research associate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research, which recently garnered a major award from the National Science Foundation, focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant cell growth. He holds a B.S. in basic biomedical research from National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from UMass Amherst.

Zheyang Wu, assistant professor of mathematical sciences. He completed a Ph.D. in biostatistics at Yale University; his dissertation research involved approaches to high-dimensional model selection that facilitate genetic studies with high-throughput data. This work resulted in a number of published papers and presentations. Wu, who also holds a B.S. in international trade from Chong Qing University in China, an M.S. in mathematics from the University of New Orleans, and an M.Phil. in epidemiology and Public Health from Yale, has been a referee for three journals.