Part Two: Assessing Readiness of Current Faculty

Part Two: Assessing Readiness of Current Faculty

Please see attached (page 17)

Provide a summary of faculty readiness in the unit to include the cumulative totals of the following:

Faculty Readiness Summary (with emphasis on the last five years)

Number of core faculty at each rank who will be actively engaged in this program
Professor	2
Associate Professor	3
Assistant Professor	3
Visiting Assistant Professor (new hire, 8/2013)	1
Teaching Assistant Professor (new hire, 8/2013)	1
Number of core faculty with experience directing theses/dissertations	5
Number of scholarly and professional activities related to proposed degree (with emphasis on the past 5 years):
Number of publications related to proposed degree	140*
Number of grants & contracts submitted and awarded related to proposed degree	42*
Invited research presentations outside ECU	58*
Patents/disclosures/copyrights	3*
Participation in scholarly collaborations with other universities, laboratories, & centers: Number of faculty	8*
Service on related national/international boards or committees: Number of faculty	7*

*These numbers are based on the eight core engineering faculty. We anticipate that the newly hired Visiting and Teaching Assistant Professors will supplement biomedical engineering undergraduate and graduate instruction.

Part Three: Assessing Adequacy of Instructional/Research Facilities and Personnel to Support the Program

The program can be initiated using current available space. The faculty associated with the proposed program will mentor graduate research using the equipment and facilities described below. This equipment, and the associated laboratory space, are already in place, and are actively used in current research and teaching.

Within biomedical engineering, there are several laboratories housing a variety of equipment. Room 355 (650 sq. ft.) in the Science and Technology Building houses a complement of advanced electronics fabrication and test equipment. This equipment includes an MSO4054B 500 MHz mixed-signal oscilloscope; a Tektronix AFG3022B 25 MHz, dual-output arbitrary waveform generator; Tektronix P5205 high-voltage differential probe and ADA400 differential preamplifier; a TCP0030 current probe; and an Agilent 34410A digital multimeter. Room 243 in the Science and Technology Building is predominantly a teaching laboratory space. Within that space are several fully stocked electronics test benches, including Agilent E3631A triple-output power supplies; Agilent 34410A digital multimeters; Agilent 33220A, 20 MHz arbitrary waveform generators; and Agilent 5000 series oscilloscopes.

Additional high-end electronic measurement and test equipment is available in the Biosensors Research Lab. Specific equipment includes Agilent MSO6034A oscilloscope, 1682A logic analyzer, 6622A power supply, 34410A digital multimeter, 33220A function generator, Cadence P-SPICE, Electronics Workbench Multisim, soldering stations, wireless communication modules (Bluetooth, Zigbee) and development tools, medical sensors, personal computers, LPKF print circuit board rapid-prototype machine, Microchip Integrated Development Tools, software licenses for LabVIEW, MATLAB, Solidworks, and NI-ELVIS.

The Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory (1990 sq. ft.) is a teaching and predominantly research laboratory, located in the Science and Technology Building, room 131. Current courses in upstream bioprocessing (wet-lab techniques, bacterial cultures in both shaker flasks and benchtop bioreactors, and cell harvesting) and downstream processing (distillation, extraction, affinity chromatography) are taught in this laboratory each semester. The major equipment housed in the laboratory that is available for teaching and research includes two 5L and two 2L benchtop bioreactors (Sartorius BioStat Aplus), GE AKTA Purifier system, centrifuge (Beckman Coulter Avanti J-E), top loading autoclave for the bioreactors (Hirayama HICLAVE), front loading autoclave (Tuttnauer Brinkmann 2540E), table-top shaker/incubator, pH meter (Thermo Orions Star series), sonic dismembrator (Fisher Model 100), spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer Lambda 45 UV/VIS), bath sonicator, analytical balance (Mettler Toledo), stir/hot plates, lyophilizer (Labconco Freeze Zone 4.5), luminometer (Promega Glomax 20/20), fluorometer (Promega, Modulus), three-door chromatography cabinet, protein and DNA electrophoresis equipment, thermal cycler, and small equipment and tools to conduct molecular biology research (micropipettes, table-top centrifuge, etc.).

In addition, this facility houses a TA Instruments AR-2000 stress-controlled Rheometer, an Olympus BX-51 reflected light microscope with a 12MP digital camera and bright field/dark field/fluorescence, and a ramé-hart Model 250 Standard Contact Angle Goniometer/Tensiometer for contact angle and surface tension measurements.

The Engineering Department maintains a variety of industrial quality fabrication and mechanical engineering instrumentation equipment, including (but not limited to) lathes, milling machines, a variety of welders, a band saw, workbenches, vices, a wide assortment of hand tools, a phototachometer, an extensometer, a shear test fixture, durometers, and hardness testers.

Shared equipment available on ECU’s main campus includes an Accelerator Laboratory, Acoustic Laboratory, Biomedical Laser Laboratory, Biomedical Optics Laboratory, Genomics and Bioinformatics Laboratory, High Performance Computing Facility, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Laboratory and Mass Spectrometry Facility.

The computing needs of biomedical engineering graduate students will be supported by the College of Technology and Computer Science (TECS), the High Performance Computing laboratory and Information Technology and Computing Services (ITCS). The laboratories listed above, and any office space, are equipped with the computers needed to perform data analysis or other research related tasks.

TECS provides an array of support including software, hardware, and technical services support. This includes the infrastructure to provide cluster computing and remote display of graphically intensive applications with VMware View and Vcloud Director. Technical services also support desktops on demand, virtual servers on demand and network attached storage space.

ITCS supports additional student computing needs through two unique services: High Performance Computing and the Virtual Computing Lab. The high performance computing capabilities offered by ITCS are optimized for solving some of the advanced computational problems that arise in engineering research. The Virtual Computing Lab, located at NC State University, provides remote access to a variety of advanced software packages. ITCS provides this access through ECU’s network.

Research facilities supported by the Brody School of Medicine include:

Major laboratory equipment is available in the Brody Medical Sciences Building (3S-16, 400 sq. ft), including a laminar flow hood, chemical hood, three CO₂ water-jacketed incubators, centrifuge with rotors, laboratory refrigerator and freezer; an inverted microscope, upright microscope and dissecting microscope; distilled water source, balance, and pH meter.

The Tissue Culture Facility located in the Warren Life Science Building (LSB 279, 800 sq ft), room 279, offers additional lab space. Major equipment includes three bench top work areas with adjacent laminar flow hoods, one chemical hood, two CO₂ water-jacketed incubators, tabletop centrifuge with rotors, laboratory refrigerator, two laboratory freezers (-20° C, -80° C), a Dewar liquid nitrogen cell storage system, inverted and upright light microscopes, a digital camera with C-mount, and distilled water source. Additional equipment in this laboratory, i.e., syringe pump and high-voltage power supply (Gamma High Voltage Research), supports nano-electrospinning research.

The BSOM maintains Core Facilities to support campus-wide research efforts. These facilities include:

• 
  The Flow Cytometry-Confocal Microscopy Core Facility is a research support resource in the BSOM Biotechnology Program. This multi-user shared instrumentation resource is located on the 4th floor of the Brody Medical Science building. The facility has two bench top flow analyzers (Becton Dickinson FACScan), a four-color cell sorter, Becton Dickinson FACSVantage SE, with high-speed sorting capability, a polychromatic flow cytometry system, Becton Dickinson LSR II, and a Zeiss LSM 510 Laser-scanning Confocal Microscope coupled to an inverted (Axiovert) microscope.
  
• 
  Zeiss PALM Laser Capture Microdissection System. The PALM MicroBeam System is a non-contact sampling technique for medical and biological materials for recovery of DNA, RNA and protein. This system combines laser microdissection with a laser-assisted transfer. This multi-user shared instrumentation resource is located on the 3rd floor of the Brody Medical Science building.
  
• 
  Zeiss LSM 700 Laser-scanning Confocal Microscope coupled to an inverted (Axiovert) microscope and on stage incubation system for live cell and time-lapse imaging (new facility, 8/2013). This multi-user shared instrumentation resource is located on the 3rd floor of the Brody Medical Science building.
  
• 
  Phosphor-Imaging/Fluorescence Imaging (PhIFI) core facility houses a fully equipped Amersham/ GE Healthcare Typhoon 9410 Imager for 2D imaging of phosphorescent, chemiluminescent and fluorescent gel and array data. The Typhoon 9410 is capable of detecting, imaging and quantifying five different forms of emission: phosphor autoradiography, chemiluminescence, blue-excited fluorescence, green-excited fluorescence, and red-excited fluorescence.
  
• 
  Electron microscope laboratory with JEOL 1200EX TEM; CCD camera and Leica UC6 Ultramicrotome.
  
• 
  Histology laboratory with Microm HM505E Cryostat, Microm HM340E digital advance rotary microtome, Citadel 1000 Tissue Processor for paraffin embedding, and Sequenza Immunostaining System, to provide research support in histology and immunohistochemistry.
  
• 
  Metabolomics laboratory, with LINCOplex 200, for protein expression profiling, gene expression profiling and diagnostics.
  

In the first few years after program start up, we will work with the Health Science Campus, Research and Graduate Studies and joint faculty to identify a specific plan for space and equipment. We plan to grow in collaboration with our key partners so space and equipment will be highly utilized.

● How will assignment of this space to the proposed program impact existing programs?

The spaces proposed are currently available for use by all faculty and will not impact existing program utilization of the space.

● Describe additional facilities or specialized equipment that would be needed over the next five years.

With the growth of the program additional office and laboratory space will be needed for new faculty members. The College of Technology and Computer Science has space available to accommodate graduate students on assistantships in the Science and Technology building.

● Describe current holdings in library resources in the proposed program and projected library resources needed to support the proposed program.

The J.Y. Joyner Library on east campus and William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library on west campus provide library resources and services to support the research, teaching, and service goals of East Carolina University. Joyner Library is the largest library on the ECU campus. Access Engineering is a currently subscribed database at Joyner Library and provides a rich collection of eBooks, videos, and other literature in the Bioengineering field. In addition, ECU Library Resources provides online access to tens of thousands of journals, reference materials, e-books, and databases. A unique library guide link for engineering has been established “Engineering: a guide to library resources”. This link provides faculty, students and staff with access to engineering resources, i.e. handbooks, journal articles, reference books, technical reports & patents and other valuable resource material. Current journal subscriptions and books are sufficient to start the proposed program including the Journal of Biomechanics, the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, several IEEE Transactions series, and the Journal of Neural Engineering. A few additional subscriptions (for example, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering) may need to be added over the first five years.

Laupus Library collects current information in the biomedical engineering subject area, mostly in electronic format to increase ease of use and access. Laupus library works with Joyner Library to ensure that all electronic holdings appear across all our shared resource platforms, so that medical and engineering-specific materials can be found regardless of which library is the student’s starting point. Laupus library also promotes and teaches classes on how to most efficiently use databases such as PubMed and Web of Science so that students can learn how to retrieve quality information.

● Provide e-mail verification of consultation with Office of Space Management about the feasibility of new or additional space needs for the proposed program.

Please see attached email.

Personnel

● What additional personnel would be needed to make the proposed program successful for growth and development over a five-year period?

• 
  Faculty – 1 additional position in Year 3
  
• 
  Two post-doctoral research associates
  
• 
  One research technician
  
• 
  Graduate assistants – 5 by Year 5
  
• 
  Other staff – 0.5 additional position to oversee graduate program paperwork
  

● What will be needed to recruit such individuals and what is the recruitment market like?

• 
  To recruit the one additional faculty member a start-up package will be needed to attract highly qualified individuals. In a recent faculty search conducted by the department of Engineering the department reviewed over 52 competitive biomedical engineering applicants and about 10 electrical engineering applicants with biomedical engineering expertise.
  
• 
  Graduate assistantships will be needed to attract quality graduate students. As biomedical engineering is a specialized field most industry jobs require at least an MS degree illustrating a high demand for the program.
  

Part Four: Assessing Financial Resources to Support the Program

● Describe existing financial resources to be devoted to the proposed program.

The Department of Engineering currently has 24 FTE faculty positions, with ten of the current faculty supporting the undergraduate biomedical engineering concentration indirectly. Faculty resources are sufficient for initiation of the MS program.

● Describe what additional financial resources would be needed over the next five years and their proposed sources of funding.

• 
  Five graduate assistantships at $15,000 each
  
• 
  One additional faculty member in Year 3 of the MS program
  
• 
  One postdoctoral associate in Year 1 and one postdoctoral associate in Year 2 to support the research and educational objectives of the program
  
• 
  One research technician to oversee and support the research laboratories on the Health Science Campus
  

● What new financial resources will come to the university based on the projected increase in enrollment?

• 
  At our projected enrollment of 25 MS students by year 5, taking 14 credits of engineering courses during the course of their program, the additional student credit hours will justify one additional faculty position.
  
• 
  The engineering faculty supporting the proposed program have experience applying for, and receiving, external funding. The students will be involved in performance of externally-funded research programs (see Part Five: Assessing External Support and Collaboration), which will result in additional funding for faculty, funding for graduate student assistantships and generate indirect costs. Additional scholarship will also result from the program.
  
• 
  There is considerable potential for patents to result from the research and development conducted as part of this program. As an example, Dr. Jason Yao of Engineering and Dr. Greg Givens of Communication Sciences and Disorders have filed a patent for “Internet-based Multi-user Diagnostic Hearing Assessment Systems Having Client-server Architecture with User-based Access Levels for Secure Data Exchange,” provisional patent, 2009-2010; currently filing PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) to protect intellectual property rights worldwide. The university share of the royalties would generate financial resources.
  

● Will the program students contribute to the financing of the program through teaching, research, and clinical practice?

The students will contribute by serving as teaching assistants in the undergraduate program and performing externally funded research (see Part Five: Assessing External Support and Collaboration).

● What are your plans for the program if the financial resources anticipated for the program (enrollment, external support, etc.) are 25% lower and 50% lower than expected?

Considering the current strength of the program and the growth in the related biomedical engineering jobs forecasted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a decline in program enrollment is unlikely. Current employment and labor projections in biomedical engineering related areas are very strong. If the decision was made to cut resources at the University or College level, possibly by denying the graduate assistantships or the additional faculty line in Year 3, the program would still be viable. Reduction of the number of assistantships would effectively reduce the “quality” of the students in the program since the best students would find assistantships at other universities and our program would be forced to admit students who are not able to find assistantships elsewhere. If the additional faculty position were refused, the projected size of the program might be reduced. In addition, the potential for research efforts in bioengineering would be reduced overall if faculty numbers were lower.

Part Five: Assessing External Support and Collaboration

● List of active grants/contracts specifically related to the proposed program.

Award No.	Title	Faculty Member	Sponsor	Award
Core Biomedical Engineering Faculty
IIP-1256374	High speed low cost spectral domain optical coherence tomography system for intravascular imaging applications	Muller-Borer (Co-PI)	NSF-SBIR	$80,000
	EphrinA1-Fc Attenuates Myocardial Infarct Injury	Muller-Borer (Consultant)	North Carolina Biotechnology Center	$75,000
	Surgical Assessment of Bone Wax Material in a Porcine Model	Muller-Borer (Co-PI)	Pioneer Surgical Orthobiologics, Inc.	$8,332
R01-HL081720	NO-independent cGMP regulation of vascular remodeling	Muller-Borer (Co investigator)	National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute	$252,325
	Assessment of myocardial cellular transplantation via multiple delivery modes	Muller-Borer (Co-PI)	East Carolina Heart Institute	$125,000
	Heal the Hearing: from Combat to Reentry: as part of the ECU NC-Reentry Project.	Yao (PI)	Department of Defense	$89,989
	Development of a Suite of Project Modules Related to Real World in an Instrumentation and Controls Course.	Yao (PI)	East Carolina University Faculty Senator Teaching Grant	$10,000
A10-0043-0001	Portable Cyber laboratories: Virtual Instruments and Affordable Prototyping Kits to Enhance Learning and Improve Access to Electrical Engineering Education	Yao (PI)	National Science Foundation	$88,100
	Fleet Management Criteria: Depreciated Life, Disposal Point & Utilization	Yao (Co-PI)	North Carolina Department of Transportation	$95,334
	Development of a Location Identification Device for Orthopedic Infection (Phase II)	Yao (PI)	ECU Office of Technology Transfer	$1,500
	Development of a Location Identification Device for Orthopedic Infection (Phase I)	Yao (PI)	ECU Office of Technology Transfer	$6,000
	Development of a Web Services Based Distributed System for Tele-Hearing Diagnosis	Yao (PI)	ECU College of Allied Health	$25,000
A11-0048-001	Engineering photoreceptor-controlled aggregation and disaggregation of nanoparticles	Limberis (PI)	North Carolina Biotechnology Center	$82,500
	Non Invasive Transcranial Doppler Intracranial Hypertension Detection	Kim (Co-PI)	UCLA
	Upgrade and Save with Energy Star	Abdel-Salam (Co-PI)	North Carolina State Energy Office	$200,000
	Greening Coastal Vacation Rental Properties	Abdel-Salam (PI)	EPA	$30,000

● Describe existing collaborative efforts related to the proposed program with community or state agencies, other institutions of higher education, federal laboratories or agencies, national centers, or other external organizations.

The Department of Engineering maintains a collaborative relationship with the following industry partners, who are members of the Engineering Advisory Board (EAB):

• 
  East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
  
• 
  Vidant Health, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  MX Biodevices, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  RTI Biologics, Inc. (formerly Pioneer Surgical Orthobiologics, Inc.), Greenville, NC
  
• 
  Metrics, Inc., Greenville, NC
  
• 
  East Group, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  Pitt County Development Commission, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  DSM Pharmaceuticals, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  DSM-Dyneema, LLC, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  NAACO Materials Handling Group, Greenville, NC
  
• 
  North Carolina’s Eastern Region, Kinston, NC
  
• 
  BD Medical, Research Triangle Park, NC
  
• 
  GSK, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC
  
• 
  Pharmaceutical Calibrations and Instrumentation, Raleigh, NC
  
• 
  Triangle Biosystems, Durham, NC
  
• 
  North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Research Triangle Park, NC
  
• 
  Merck & Co., Inc., Wilson, NC
  
• 
  Pfizer, Sanford, NC
  
• 
  Covidien, Raleigh, NC
  
• 
  PCS Phosphate, Aurora, NC
  
• 
  Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Durham, NC
  
• 
  NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
  
• 
  Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA
  

Strong liaisons have been established with ECU’s Department of Engineering and the EAB comprised of approximately 40 members from industry, consulting firms, academia, and government laboratories. This board meets twice during the year to review current and planned programs, review student achievement, and provide guidance on future directions of the program. The board is extremely active, and the department chair maintains contact with the board throughout the year. A new partner for 2011 included the Centers for Disease Control who sponsored a Senior Capstone Project. Vidant Health, a new partner in 2012, includes a network of 10 hospitals and 15 associated clinics in rural eastern NC. The faculty is continuously pursuing industry and government partners. A number of these organizations participate in the department’s senior capstone design project and provide student internships. Biomedical engineering capstone projects and sponsors since 2008 include:

• 
  “Development of a Tactile Input Device for Use in Balance Studies”, Leslie Allison, PhD, ECU, College of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy.
  
• 
  “Design of an Injection Trainer”, Dr. Ed Bartlett, Orthopaedics East, Greenville, NC.
  
• 
  “Design of a Mechanical Labor and Delivery Bed for Low Resource Settings”, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA
  
• 
  “Modulated Lighting of Approach/Avoidance Inclinations”, Dr. Alan Pope, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA.
  
• 
  “Push-up Pal”, Matthew Mahar, PhD, ECU, College of Health and Human Performance, Department of Kinesiology.
  
• 
  “Plantar Flexion Device”, Timothy Gavin, PhD, ECU, College of Health and Human Performance, Department of Kinesiology.
  
• 
  “Development of the Structure and Steering of a Manual Mobility and Exercise Device: Citty Stepper”, Mark Dumas, MD, Kinston, NC.
  
• 
  “Limits of Stability Testing, Prototype Improvement/Redesign”, Leslie Allison, PhD, ECU, College of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy.
  
• 
  Electrical Stimulation Instrument for 2D and 3D Cell Culture”, Barbara J. Muller-Borer, PhD, ECU, Departments of Engineering and Cardiovascular Sciences.
  
• 
  “Development of an acoustic dust generator for rodent inhalation studies of nanomaterials”, Dianne Walters, PhD, ECU, Brody School of Medicine, Department of Physiology.
  

In addition, students are encouraged to complete an internship or participate in a research laboratory experience. Examples of locations where students have completed internships include Hospira, Inc., Rocky Mount, NC, Pharmaceutical Calibration Incorporated, RTP, DSM and Pioneer Surgical Orthobiologics, Inc, Greenville, NC. Currently, undergraduate biomedical engineering students are actively participating in research projects in ECU laboratories in the:

• 
  Department of Engineering
  
• 
  Department of Comparative Medicine
  
• 
  School of Dental Medicine
  
• 
  Department of Physiology
  
• 
  Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
  
• 
  Department of Kinesiology
  
• 
  College of Nursing
  

Drs. Griffin and Muller-Borer have met with Dean James Ryan, PhD, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), former Chair Leonard Uitenham, PhD, and current Chair Stephen Knisley, PhD, Department of Chemical, Biological and Biomedical Engineering, NC A&T State University and Chair Nancy Allbritton, MD, PhD, UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. An overview of the proposed Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering program was provided and opportunities for collaborations were discussed. Specific collaborative opportunities identified at these institutions include:

• 
  JSNN – Joint research, summer internships and access to unique equipment and laboratories in nanomaterials, nanobioelectronics and computational nanotechnology. Graduates of ECU’s MS program would be competitive for the PhD in Nanoengineering offered at the JSNN.
  
• 
  NC A&T State University - Graduate level courses in biomaterials available by synchronous broadcast via NC A&T State University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Cincinnati (NSF Engineering Research Center partners).
  
• 
  UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering – Synchronous broadcast of Biomedical Engineering seminar series to ECU. Facilitated admission to doctoral biomedical engineering program.
  

● How do you plan to use external funding to support the proposed program? To what agencies or programs would proposals be submitted and with what timeframe?

The following external agencies support academic biomedical engineering research, both nationally and regionally:

• 
  The National Institutes of Health. One of the stated goals of the NIH is to foster creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for protecting and improving health. The NIH realizes this goal by supporting a wide range of research activities, through the 27 institutes and centers that comprise this federal organization. Specific institutes that are pertinent to the proposed program include the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
  

The NIH also funds research projects at less-established research universities through several grant mechanisms. One such mechanism is the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grant, which is specifically designed to stimulate biomedical research at institutions that provide baccalaureate and advanced degrees.

• 
  The National Science Foundation. A well-established federal agency created “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; to secure the national defense…” This organization has a long-standing history as a major source of federal funding for a wide assortment of cutting-edge STEM research.
  
• 
  Department of Defense. The DOD provides a number of grant mechanisms through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (OSR), and the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI). A popular graduate fellowship program offered by the DOD, is the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. This program provides three years of support for studies in biosciences, electrical engineering, and cognitive, neural, and behavioral sciences.
  
• 
  The North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The NC Biotech center is a state-funded, privately held non-profit organization dedicated entirely to biotechnology development. The mission of this center is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, commercialization, collaboration, and education. The NCBC funds biotechnology research in areas such as nanobiotechnology and combination medical devices. The center also funds multidisciplinary research, for projects consisting of scientists from at least three distinct fields.
  

The engineering faculty supporting the proposed program has experience applying for, and receiving, external funding from the above organizations. The stated goals of each grant agency, and the funding programs offered, align with the research background of the faculty. Specifically, the proposed biomedical engineering graduate program will foster research in the following areas: neural and cardiac electrophysiology, cardiac stem cell therapies, computational hemodynamics, blood flow analysis using MRI, medical imaging, and medical device design, MRI compatibility and biomedical signal analysis.

Research efforts in these areas are either ongoing through existing grants (listed above), or are in development. Faculty members in the proposed program are currently preparing competitive grant applications for initial submission in the 2013-2014 academic years. It is anticipated that external grant funding will provide graduate assistant support. Projects include:

Jason Yao, PhD, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Department of Engineering

• 
  PI, “Collaborative Research: Cyber-Physical Tools for the MOOC Age: Personalized Hands-On Electrical Engineering Learning Experiences for Distributed Education”, $150,063. NSF-ECR program, 1/1/2014 – 12/31/2016.
  
• 
  PI, “Timely Assessment of Cochlear Integrity in Combat Theater,” Department of Defense, $259,158. pending.
  
• 
  Co-PI, “Cubesat ground station: NCER subcontract,” AgCarolina Financial $4,998.00. (PI: Eban Bean, PhD, ECU Department of Engineering) pending.
  

Barbara J. Muller-Borer, PhD, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering

• 
  Collaborating Investigator, “Peroxisomal-Mitochondrial Interactions in Human Skeletal Muscle and Obesity” National Institutes of Health RO1 (PI, Ron Cortright, PhD, ECU Department of Kinesiology) $1,465,450.000, in revision.
  
• 
  Co-PI, “Intramyocardial EphrinA1-Fc Reduces Acute Injury and Chronic Remodeling”. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute R21, (PI: Jitka I. Virag, PhD, ECU Department of Physiology) $300,000, in revision.
  
• 
  Collaborating Investigator, “Pilot Study on Disparities of Peri-Partum Cardiomyopathy”, ECU Center for Health Disparities (PI, Long Cao, MD, ECU Department of Cardiovascular Sciences), $75,000, pending.
  

Stephanie M. George, PhD., Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering

• 
  PI, “MR and Computational Analysis of the Pulmonary Artery and Right Ventricle in Pulmonary Hypertension”, American Heart Association Beginning Grant-in-Aid Mid-Atlantic Affiliate, $153,115, pending.
  
• 
  PI, “Hemodynamic Investigation of Pulmonary Hypertension using MRI and CFD”, NIH Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, $440,396, pending.
  
• 
  PI, “MR-Guided Differentiation of Pulmonary Hypertension in Sickle Cell Patients”, ECU Center for Health Disparities, $ 223,911, pending.
  
• 
  PI, “Biomedical Engineering in Simulations, Imaging, and Modeling (BME-SIM) “, NSF – REU, $360,000, pending
  

Ricky T. Castles, PhD, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Department of Engineering

• 
  Collaborating Investigator, “ECU Connects! Expanding the STEM Pipeline through long-term partnerships between schools and industry”. NSF Math Science Partnership Grant Program. $1,378,264, 36 months 2013-2016, pending.
  
• 
  PI, “Advancing Personalized Learning- Using Physiological Sensors to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Novel Instruction in Engineering Statics “, NSF – REU, $300,000, pending
  

It should be noted that, Dr. George and Dr. Castles are each preparing NSF-Research for Undergraduate proposals (August 2013 submission). It is anticipated that awarding of these programs will facilitate recruiting of competitive graduate students to this master of science program.

As mentioned in the personnel requirements, the Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering program can be started with current faculty personnel and resources, however to initiate research momentum, funding for graduate assistants may be needed during the start-up period. This will allow for preliminary research to be conducted preparing the core engineering and collaborating faculty to compete for external funding.

Faculty Information: Pgs

Odis Hayden Griffin, Jr., Ph.D., P.E 18 - 33

Barbara J. Muller-Borer, PhD 34 - 45

Jianchu (Jason) Yao, PhD 46 - 52

Loren Limberis, PhD 53 – 57

Stephanie M. George, PhD 58 – 61

Sunghan Kim, PhD 62 – 65

Tarek Abdel-Salam, PhD 66 – 75

Ricky T. Castles, PhD 76 – 80

Amanda K. Funai, PhD (new hire 8/2013, visiting assistant professor) 81 - 83

Zhen Zu, PhD (new hire 8/2013, teaching assistant professor) 84 - 87
Faculty Information Sheet

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