RANU JUNG, Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering and executive director of the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Jung was selected as a fellow by her peers “for distinguished contributions in inspired technologies for humans for recovery and restoration of lost function, and development of the first wireless, implantable, intraneural-interface system for haptic restoration on upper-limb amputation.” Jung is one of the world’s foremost researchers in biomedical and neural engineering, with more than $27 million in research grants awarded as a principal or co-principal investigator, more than 100 refereed publications and 13 U.S. patents.
In a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering NARASIMHAN RAJARAM demonstrated the first use of a noninvasive optical technique to determine complex biochemical changes in cancers treated with immunotherapy. The study describes the use of Raman spectroscopy to determine the molecular composition of colon cancer tumors in mice treated with two types of immunotherapy drugs currently used in the clinical treatment of patients.
Electrical engineering Professor MAGDA EL-SHENAWEE’S effort to develop a more accurate and less-invasive method for detecting breast cancer benefited from a $424,545 grant from the National Institutes of Health. El-Shenawee works with pulsed, terahertz imaging, a type of electromagnetic radiation technology that produces high-quality images of biological tissue. Terahertz imaging shows great promise as an alternative method for helping clinicians determine whether all cancerous tissue was removed during and immediately following a lumpectomy.
JIN-WOO KIM, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering, was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his contributions to nanotechnology, including a method to treat cancer in collaboration with the U of A for Medical Sciences. He has been director of the Bio/Nano Technology Group at the U of A since 2001 and served in many key leadership roles with the institute over the years, including vice president for publications and vice president for conferences of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, as well as the co-editor-in-chief of the IEEE Open Journal of Nanotechnology
ED POHL, professor and department head of industrial engineering, received the 2021 J. Steinhardt Prize from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Sponsored by the CNA Corporation, the prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to military operations research and honors a person’s life work rather than any particular contribution. The selection committee is composed of previous award winners. Pohl’s primary research interests are in risk, reliability, engineering optimization, health care and supply chain risk analysis, decision making and quality.
Civil Engineering Associate Professor CLINT WOOD is using a $502,000 award from the National Science Foundation to further his research into imaging techniques to improve safety of buildings, bridges and roads, especially those in earthquake zones. Wood’s research uses seismometers to noninvasively measure low-intensity stress waves as they propagate through and interact with soil and rock beneath the surface. The NSF award will help Wood develop more realistic subsurface models critical to understanding earthquake-related phenomena such as liquefaction – soil becoming liquid due to ground shaking – and bedrock rippability – whether bedrock can be removed efficiently by large bulldozers.
KEISHA BISHOP WALTERS, professor and department head of the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, was named a fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers. Fellow is an honor awarded to a very limited number of SPE members who demonstrate outstanding achievements in the field of plastics engineering, including being an inventor, developing or implementing new concept or process innovations, and/or being a recognized leader in these efforts. Only 357 members have been awarded the prestigious title of Fellow of the Society since it was introduced in 1984.
ALAN MANTOOTH, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering, was chosen by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to serve on the Arkansas Future Mobility Advisory Council. The council’s goal is to ensure that the state is prepared for electrification, autonomous vehicles and advanced air mobility to integrate into existing infrastructure and create an environment in which they can thrive. Advanced Air Mobility, a market that doesn’t exist today, is expected to be a $1.4 trillion industry by 2040. The council’s duties will include identifying laws and regulations that create a barrier to advanced mobility and recommending policies to support it, among others.