A Message from the Chair

Hello Texas biomedical engineering community,  

Welcome to the first-ever all-digital edition of Pulse Magazine. We are celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the Department of Biomedical Engineering this year and 60 years of graduate education, so it felt like a great time to do something a little different.  

At this pivotal moment in our history, I would like to reflect on a few major milestones.  Biomedical Engineering was the first new department founded in the Cockrell School of Engineering in more than 50 years.  

We moved into our home, the Biomedical Engineering building, in 2008. The new building has been transformative for the department, enabling growth to almost 30 core faculty and expanding from four to eight research areas. Additionally, the building was uniquely designed to support hands-on instruction, which has empowered our faculty to translate new discoveries made in the laboratory to the classroom.   

Our curriculum and approach to teaching are designed to prepare our students for diverse careers, ranging from medical device design to health care.   

The opening of Dell Medical School roughly 10 years ago has accelerated translational research within the department and provided our students opportunities for experiential learning in a clinical environment. As we embark on our next 25 years, I look forward to partnering with the new AI-powered UT Dell Medical Center on impactful research and education initiatives. 

In this year’s edition of the Pulse, we’ll look back at the key people and moments that got us to this point. We’ll reintroduce you to the man who led the charge to get this department off the ground, Dr. Ken Diller. I got a chance to sit down with Ken, as well as Nicholas Peppas, who served as the second department chair, for a conversation about the department’s past, present and future. 

And we caught up with members of the first class of biomedical engineering students. We’ll see what these 2006 graduates are up to now and learn more about the legendary dance party that brought them all together.  

But of course, this isn’t just about the past. We’re looking to the future as well with a spotlight on new discoveries and translational research that will undoubtedly save lives and improve the patient experience across the health care spectrum.  

From the very beginning, community was at the core of this department’s mission. That continues today, and I’m proud of the faculty, staff and students who continue to bring biomedical engineering to the community in a variety of ways.