Learn about latest health research and technology at Biomedical Engineering Day
TEMPE, Ariz. It's impossible to ignore the biotechnology buzz at Arizona State University. Arizona's growing investment in the industry can be seen in the increasing number of biotech research facilities and projects at ASU's main campus. One of the most active areas in biotechnology is biomedical engineering, which is generating health and medical innovations such as new artificial hearts, limbs and eyes, and sophisticated health monitoring devices. To increase public awareness about the rapidly emerging field, the student chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) will host Biomedical Engineering Day from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 27. The annual event is a collaborative effort by BMES and the Harrington Department of Bioengineering in ASU's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. It brings together bioengineering faculty, students and industry leaders to inform the community about achievements and opportunities in the field. Because biomedical engineering involves experts in many disciplines, identifying who biomedical engineers are and describing what they do can get complicated. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) definition of biomedical engineering describes it as a field that integrates physical, mathematical and computational sciences and engineering principles to study biology, medicine, behavior and health. "We want this event to be a public information session," says Brian Onstot, co-president of ASU BMES. "The idea is to show a snapshot of biomedical engineering in a day to demonstrate who we are and what we do." BME Day will feature guest speakers from academia and industry, including Metin Akay, an international biomedical engineering leader and interim chair of the Harrington Department of Bioengineering, and Professor Andrew Laine, director of the Biomedical Imaging Center and vice-chair of Columbia University's biomedical engineering department. The event also will include a tour of some of the bioengineering research facilities on campus, including labs in the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building (ISTB 1) and the Schwada Classroom Office Building, including ASU's new Bioengineering Design Studio. BME Day participants will have opportunities for hands- on experiences with biomedical engineering projects in physiology labs. For more information about BME Day, and to register to attend, see the Harrington Department of Bioengineering web site at http://www.fulton.asu.edu/~bme/bmeday/ <http://www.fulton.asu.edu/~bme/bmeday/> or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Registration for industry professionals and the public ends April 20.
