Graduate Studies Committee
All Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Ph.D. students must select a supervisor for their dissertation research. Students may work with any member of the BME Graduate Studies Committee (GSC), which comprises BME department faculty as well as faculty from related fields who are active participants in the biomedical engineering graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin.
The following tracks are available for Ph.D. dissertation research:
- Track 1: Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
- Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
- Track 3: Computational Biomedical Engineering
- Track 4: Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
The GSC makes curriculum recommendations and is responsible for graduate program policies through the program’s Graduate Advisor. Responsibilities of the GSC include graduate student instruction, advising and supervising theses, reports and dissertations.
Track 1: Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
The following may serve as supervisors for dissertation research in the fields of biomedical imaging and instrumentation:
Track 1 Supervisors (BME Department)
- Farshid Alambeigi
Research Interests: Computer-integrated surgery and medical robotics; Soft robotics; Autonomous surgical manipulation; Design and manufacturing; Applications of control theory - Adela Ben-Yakar
Research Interests: Femtosecond Laser Micro-Surgery (FLMS) and two-photon imaging using optical MEMS devices and photonic bandgap fibers for cancer detection and treatment; Femtosecond laser micromachining of integrated devices for microfluidics. - Adam Bush
Research Interests: Novel MRI methods to explore human pathophysiology and make imaging safer, particularly for children; Novel blood flow and oximetry methods in cardiovascular disease, anemic disorders and cancers - Edward Castillo
Research Interests: Theoretical development, implementation and clinical deployment of numerical methods for medical image analysis - Andrew Dunn
Research Interests: Optical microscopy; Functional brain imaging; Molecular imaging; Neuroscience - Theodore Ho
Research Interests: Aging and longevity; Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases; Neural circuit dysfunction; Optogenetics and neuromodulation; Single-neuron resolution activity imaging and whole-brain imaging; Advanced computational methods and modeling; Stem cell biology; Clinical translation - Nanshu Lu
Research Interests: Mechanics of thin films on compliant substrates; Mechanics of flexible electronics with extreme deformability and compliance; Mechanics at bio-electronics interface; Development of novel bio-integrated soft electronics for cardiac, neural and epidermal applications - José del R. Millán
Research Interests: Brain-machine interfaces; Neuroprosthetics and neurorehabilitation; Neuroengineering and neuroscience - Sapun Parekh
Research Interests: Chemical and nonlinear microscopy; Molecular basis of pathology; Microscopy instrumentation; Molecular physics of biomaterials; Mechano-chemical coupling in cancer - Tyrone Porter
Research Interests: Image-guided ultrasound-mediated tumor ablation; Image-guided drug delivery and controlled drug release; Neurostimulation with focused ultrasound; Photoacoustic imaging; Strategies to activate or enhance anticancer immunity; In vitro models of the blood-brain barrier - H. Grady Rylander
Research Interests: Vision research; Biomedical sensors; Laser applications; Neuroprosthesis design - Chris Rylander
Research Interests: Manufacturing and design; Biomechanical engineering; Thermal/fluid systems - Samantha Santacruz
Research Interests: Neural engineering; Brain-machine interfaces; Neurotherapeutic devices and neuromodulation - James Tunnell
Research Interests: Biomedical optical spectroscopy and imaging; Laser-tissue interactions - Umberto Villa
Research Interests: Computational methods for biomedical imaging; Task-based clinical relevant assessment of image quality; Numerical optimization and AI; Photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography - Thomas Yankeelov
Research Interests: Cancer imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Tumor modeling; Predictive and computational oncology; Patient-specific modeling - Evan Wang
Research Interests: Neuroengineering; Bioelectronics and biomaterials; Wearable electronics; Nanotechnology - Tim Yeh
Research Interests: Nanobiosensor development; Cancer biomarker detection; 3D molecular tracking and super-resolution imaging
Track 1 Supervisors (UT Austin)
- Ray Chen, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Nano-photonic passive and active devices for bio- and EM-wave sensing and interconnect applications, thin film guided-wave optical interconnection and packaging for 2D and 3D laser beam routing and steering, true time delay (TTD) wide band phased array antenna (PAA), and 3D printed micro-electronics and photonics. - Ku-Lung “Ken” Hsu, Chemistry
Research Interests: Investigation of proteins, cell metabolism and RNA using covalent chemistry, chemical biology and mass spectrometry. - Yi Lu, Chemistry
Research Interests: DNAzymes and DNA aptamers as highly sensitive and selective sensors for point-of-care diagnostics, biomedical imaging and gene editing; Functional DNA nanomaterials as theranostic agents for early detection of diseases such as cancers and targeted drug delivery; Engineering novel biocatalysts for synthetic biology and their biomedical applications. - Jonathan W. Valvano, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Bioinstrumentation, measurement of perfusion, tissue thermal properties, real-time temperature measurements, thermal modeling in tissue, embedded applications of microcomputers - Jin Yang, Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Research Interests: Viscoelastic materials behavior, machine learning and data-driven methods to improve 2D and 3D full-field deformation measurement. - Yuebing Zheng, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Digital nanomanufacturing, space-life detection, and global health and medicine.
Track 1 Supervisors (Non-UT Austin)
- Chad Quarles, Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, Director, Translational Neuroimaging Innovation Program, MD Anderson
Research interests: neuroimaging, brain cancer imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, cancer neuroscience, neurohealth, image-guided surgery and radiotherapy, image-based biomarker discovery, medical image analysis, preclinical imaging.
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
The following may serve as supervisors for dissertation research in the fields of cellular and biomolecular engineering:
Track 2 Supervisors (BME Department)
- Deji Akinwande
Research Interests: Atomic nanomaterials that can afford uniquely high-performance biosensors, bioelectronics and wearable biomedical technology - Aaron Baker
Research Interests: Cardiovascular biology; Vascular mechanotransduction and vascular drug delivery - Amy Brock
Research Interests: Cancer systems biology; Heterogeneity and cell state plasticity; Gene regulatory networks; Chemotherapy drug resistance; Normal differentiation and differentiation therapy - Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez
Research Interests: Tissue repair and regeneration; Polymer science; Biomaterials; Injectable bone grafts; Chronic wound dressings; Tissue-engineered ligaments; Biovascular grafts - Lief Fenno
Research Interests: Engineering and optimization of viral payload delivery systems; Design of novel molecular control approaches for neuroscience; Neuropeptide discovery and characterization - George Georgiou
Research Interests: Antibody and enzyme engineering; Protein folding in vivo - Alexander Marras
Research Interests: Biomolecular self-assembly; Structural DNA nanotechnology; Design rules for polymeric nanoparticles; Nucleic acid delivery; Multi-scale smart materials; Soft matter characterization; Small-angle scattering - Jennifer Maynard
Research Interests: Biotechnology; Protein therapeutics; Vaccine development; Applied immunology and microbiology - Nicholas Peppas
Research Interests: Biomaterials; Controlled drug delivery; Molecular modeling of protein structures in contact with biomaterials and tissues; Modeling of biomedical devices; Bionanotechnology and molecular recognition processes - Tyrone Porter
Research Interests: Image-guided ultrasound-mediated tumor ablation; Image-guided drug delivery and controlled drug release; Neurostimulation with focused ultrasound; Photoacoustic imaging; Strategies to activate or enhance anticancer immunity; In vitro models of the blood-brain barrier - Michael Sacks
Research Interests: Cardiovascular biomechanics; Computational simulation of the behavior of the cardiovascular system; Advanced constitutive models; Biomechanical interactions of cells, tissues and organs in native and engineered heart valves and myocardium - Stephanie Seidlits
Research Interests: Clinical therapies for central nervous system injury and disorder, including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and glioma formation - Jeanne Stachowiak
Research Interests: Biological membranes; Biophysics; Construction of minimal cell-like systems; Biomaterials; Drug delivery - Laura J. Suggs
Research Interests: Cardiovascular tissue engineering; Adult progenitor cells and vasculogenesis; Biologically active materials - Evan Wang
Research Interests: Neuroengineering; Bioelectronics and biomaterials; Wearable electronics; Nanotechnology - Qian Yin
Research Interests: Immunoengineering; Biomaterials; Nanomedicine; Drug discovery and delivery; Cell and tissue engineering - Janet Zoldan
Research Interests: Tissue engineering; Stem cell bioengineering; Human-induced pluripotent stem cells
Track 2 Supervisors (UT Austin)
- Zhengrong Cui, Pharmacy
Research Interests: Improving the efficacy of anticancer drugs and overcoming tumor chemoresistance; Vaccine delivery and adjuvant discovery; Targeting of drugs to chronic inflammation sites - Kevin Dalby, Pharmacy
Research Interests: Signal transduction; Protein-protein interactions; Drug design; Cancer; Protein kinase biochemistry; Cell biology - Andrew Ellington, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Interests: Evolutionary engineering of molecules, metabolisms and organisms - Ilya Finkelstein, Molecular Biosciences
Research Interests: Tools that merge micro- and nano-engineering; Single-molecule biophysics; Genomics to understand the mechanisms of genome maintenance and CRISPR gene editing - Debadyuti Ghosh, Pharmacy
Research Interests: Biologically inspired, rational design of biomolecules (i.e., antibodies and peptides); Nanoscale materials for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics - Vernita Gordon, Physics
Research Interests: How physical factors, such as spatial structure and mechanics, impact pathogenicity and disease course of bacterial biofilm infections - Ku-Lung “Ken” Hsu, Chemistry
Research Interests: Investigation of proteins, cell metabolism and RNA using covalent chemistry, chemical biology and mass spectrometry. - Yi Lu, Chemistry
Research Interests: DNAzymes and DNA aptamers as highly sensitive and selective sensors for point-of-care diagnostics, biomedical imaging and gene editing; Functional DNA nanomaterials as theranostic agents for early detection of diseases such as cancers and targeted drug delivery; Engineering novel biocatalysts for synthetic biology and their biomedical applications. - Marissa Nichole Rylander, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Multidisciplinary elements of bioheat transfer; Nanomedicine; Biomedical optics; Tissue regeneration; Cancer engineering - Li Shi, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Transport and nano sciences to advance energy, information, biomedical and security technologies - Hugh Smyth, Pharmacy
Research Interests: Controlled release pulmonary drug delivery; Dry powder device design; Nano-bio interactions - Maryam Tilton, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Tissue engineering; 3D biomanufacturing; Cellular aging; Mechanobiology,; Musculoskeletal regeneration; Biomaterials; Senescence-driven skeletal dysfunction
Track 2 Supervisors (Non-UT Austin)
- Gregory Reece, Plastic Surgery, MD Anderson
Research Interests: Angiogenesis in wound healing; Tissue engineering; Vascular biology
Track 3: Computational Biomedical Engineering
The following may serve as supervisors for dissertation research in the field of computational biomedical engineering:
Track 3 Supervisors (BME Department)
- Kenneth Diller
Research Interests: Low-temperature biology; Thermal modeling; Tissue banking; Burn injury; Computer vision - Theodore Ho
Research Interests: Aging and longevity; Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases; Neural circuit dysfunction; Optogenetics and neuromodulation; Single-neuron resolution activity imaging and whole-brain imaging; Advanced computational methods and modeling; Stem cell biology; Clinical translation - Mia K. Markey
Research Interests: Machine learning and statistical techniques for detection, classification and prediction in biology and medicine; Biomedical image analysis - Pengyu Ren
Research Interests: Molecular modeling of biological systems; Computational biology - Michael Sacks
Research Interests: Cardiovascular biomechanics; Computational simulation of the behavior of the cardiovascular system; Advanced constitutive models; Biomechanical interactions of cells, tissues and organs in native and engineered heart valves and myocardium - Umberto Villa
Research Interests: Computational methods for biomedical imaging; Task-based clinical relevant assessment of image quality; Numerical optimization and AI; Photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography - Thomas Yankeelov
Research Interests: Cancer imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Tumor modeling; Predictive and computational oncology; Patient-specific modeling
Track 3 Supervisors (UT Austin)
- Chandrajit L. Bajaj, Computer Science
Research Interests: Computer models of physical domains with associated physics - Alan Bovik, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Biomedical image processing; Computer vision - Joshua Chang, Neurology
Research Interests: Neuroengineering; Computational medicine; Physiological signal analytics; Time-series forecasting; Anomaly detection - Joydeep Ghosh, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Large-scale data mining and intelligent data analysis for high-throughput systems; Bioinformatics; Health care system modeling - Edward Marcotte, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Interests: Bioinformatics; Functional genomics and proteomics; Mass-spectrometric detection of protein expression; Protein microarrays; Protein-network-guided drug discovery; High-throughput protein interaction screening; High-throughput discovery of gene function - Sriram Vishwanath, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Data mining and machine learning for health care; Health care predictive modeling; Casual inference; Graphical modeling - Jin Yang, Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Research Interests: Viscoelastic materials behavior, machine learning and data-driven methods to improve 2D and 3D full-field deformation measurement.
Track 4: Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
The following may serve as supervisors for dissertation research in the fields of molecular, cellular and tissue biomechanics:
Track 4 Supervisors (BME Department)
- Aaron Baker
Research Interests: Cardiovascular biology; Vascular mechanotransduction and vascular drug delivery - Kenneth Diller
Research Interests: Low-temperature biology; Thermal modeling; Tissue banking; Burn injury; Computer vision - Alexander Marras
Research Interests: Biomolecular self-assembly; Structural DNA nanotechnology; Design rules for polymeric nanoparticles; Nucleic acid delivery; Multi-scale smart materials; Soft matter characterization; Small-angle scattering - Sapun Parekh
Research Interests: Chemical and nonlinear microscopy; Molecular basis of pathology; Microscopy instrumentation; Molecular physics of biomaterials; Mechano-chemical coupling in cancer - Manuel Rausch
Research Interests: Deep vein thrombosis; Mechanics of thin biological membranes (ex. skin, heart valves, fetal membranes); Damage and failure in soft tissues - Michael Sacks
Research Interests: Cardiovascular biomechanics; Computational simulation of the behavior of the cardiovascular system; Advanced constitutive models; Biomechanical interactions of cells, tissues and organs in native and engineered heart valves and myocardium - Jeanne Stachowiak
Research Interests: Biological membranes; Biophysics; Construction of minimal cell-like systems; Biomaterials; Drug delivery
Track 4 Supervisors (UT Austin)
- Nicholas Fey, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Neuromuscular biomechanics; Rehabilitation robotics, prostheses and orthoses; Ambulation - Maryam Tilton, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Tissue engineering; 3D biomanufacturing; Cellular aging; Mechanobiology,; Musculoskeletal regeneration; Biomaterials; Senescence-driven skeletal dysfunction - Jin Yang, Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Research Interests: Viscoelastic materials behavior, machine learning and data-driven methods to improve 2D and 3D full-field deformation measurement.