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Dr. Abdel Bayoumi named Director of the Biomedical Engineering Interdisciplinary Program
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Dr. Abdel Bayoumi |
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Approved in the spring of 2006 as part of the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), BME admitted its first students in fall of that same year. BME's/CEC's biomedical program includes faculty from the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering; BME also receives teaching and research support from Carolina's School of Medicine, College of Arts and Sciences and the Arnold School of Public Health. As of the 2007 Fall Semester, the program has fourteen core and thirteen affiliated faculty members.
The addition of the Biomedical Engineering program to CEC's existing degree programs is in recognition that engineers can make substantive contributions in the field of medicine. Some of the projects involve veteran faculty members who have long been involved in engineering/medical research collaborations.
“The College of Engineering and Computing has a history of biomedical research and collaboration with the medical school. We are very fortunate and unique in our state as the only university with a medical school to support us.” said Bayoumi. The BME Program has attracted and hired six new faculty members. These faculty members are Dr. Melissa Moss, with interest in Alzheimer’s disease research, Dr. Esmaiel Jabbari, with interest in developing new biological materials, Dr. Jay Blanchette, with interest in cell encapsulations for treatment of diabetes, Dr. Arash Kheradvar with interest in cardiovascular research and artificial organ engineering, Dr. Xiaoming He with interest in thermal medicine and Dr. Guiren Wang with interest in nano/microfluidics based sensors.
Other engineering faculty involved in biomedical research include Dr. Michael Matthews, chemical engineering professor and department chair, who had one of his research areas focusing on using liquid carbon dioxide as a non-destructive sterilizing agent for biomaterials; Dr. James Ritter, another chemical engineering professor, studying a mechanism that uses magnetic particles to deliver micro amounts of medication to targeted body tissues or organs. Bayoumi has been working on building a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) research laboratory with collaboration between USC and MUSC researchers uses MEMS capabilities to develop “lab on a chip” technologies for drug delivery and DNA analysis. Two other mechanical engineering professors -- Dr. Michael Sutton and Dr. Steve McNeill -- have pioneered digital image correlation, a technique for measuring two- and three-dimensional surface strain fields. Dr. Sarah Baxter, mechanical engineering professor, has been collaborating with researchers in CDBA in an effort to better characterize the properties of artificial tissues that could be used as clinical tissue replacements. Three other professors from the Computer Science and Engineering: Dr. John Rose, Dr. Homayoun Valafar, and Dr. Jijun Tang are carrying out basic research in the informatics area.
Additionally, the USC School of Medicine is actively involved in the BME Program for both teaching and research. Dr. Edie Goldsmith with interest in Biomechanics, Dr. Gregory Brower with interest in pathogenesis of heart failure, Dr. Joseph Janicki with interest in the mechanisms of heart failure, Dr. Carver with interest in the development of tissue and organs, Dr. Sue Lessner with interest in the vascular biomechanics and Dr. Borg with interest in the role of extracellular matrix in the heart.
Adds Bayoumi, "Our BME program is one of less than 50 such programs in the United States, and only one of a handful in the Southeast. Since it began two years ago, our program has had almost 80 students partcipating in course work. BME is a fast growing field -- the students who graduate from our program will find that they are in high demand and have a wide range of employment opportunities offered to them."
According to a United States Department of Labor report, the number of biomedical engineering jobs will increase by 31.4% through 2010 -- double the rate for all other jobs combined. Overall job growth in this field will average 15.2% through the end of the decade. The report attributed the rapid rise in biomedical engineering jobs in part to an aging US population and the increasing demand for improved medical devices and systems. Specific growth areas cited in the report included computer-assisted surgery, cellular and tissue engineering, rehabilitation, and orthopedic engineering.
Biomedical engineers are employed in universities, in industry, in hospitals, in research facilities of educational and medical institutions, in teaching, and in government regulatory agencies. They often serve a coordinating or interfacing function, using their background in both the engineering and medical fields. In industry, they may create designs where an in-depth understanding of living systems and of technology is essential. They may be involved in performance testing of new or proposed products. Government positions often involve product testing and safety, as well as establishing safety standards for devices. In the hospital, the biomedical engineer may provide advice on the selection and use of medical equipment, as well as supervising its performance testing and maintenance. They may also build customized devices for special health care or research needs. In research institutions, biomedical engineers supervise laboratories and equipment, and participate in or direct research activities in collaboration with other researchers with such backgrounds as medicine, physiology, and nursing. Some biomedical engineers are technical advisors for marketing departments of companies and some are in management positions.
Some biomedical engineers also have advanced training in other fields. For example, many biomedical engineers also have an MD degree, thereby combining an understanding of advanced technology with direct patient care or clinical research.
Having received his BS and MS from universities in Egypt, Dr. Bayoumi received his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from North Carolina State University. Bayoumi is also the director of the Condition-Based Maintenance Research Center located at Carolina -- one of only two such Army-supported research centers located at universities in the United States.
