Welcome to the Department of Bioengineering
Dear Clemson Bioengineering Friends,
I am honored to share with you recent accomplishments our faculty, staff and students have made in the past twelve months to grow our department and further the field of bioengineering and biomaterials education and research. During the past four years, our number of primary faculty members in bioengineering has more than doubled with now 19 full-time primary faculty members. Plans at the Provost’s level are to increase our faculty to 30 primary faculty members by 2010. Our latest additions include Dr. Richard Swaja, former Senior Science Advisor at NIBIB, as Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the Bioengineering Alliance of South Carolina, and Dr. Delphine Dean, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering who conducted her graduate work in the laboratory of Professor Alan Grodzinsky at MIT. Consequently, our graduate programs have grown, and are now complemented by a new Bachelor of Science in bioengineering degree as of August 15, 2006. Our undergraduate program consists of two concentrations, biomaterials engineering and bioelectrical engineering, meeting our research strengths and personnel resources. Clemson’s strong commitment for bioengineering has resulted in a $10M allocation for an addition to Rhodes building. We are currently working with Michael Kesheen and Associates and Lord, Aeck, and Sargent of Atlanta for the architectural and engineering planning of this state-of-the-art teaching and research facility for which ground breaking is planned for the fall of 2007. Additionally, through the support of the Infrastructure Act of the state of South Carolina, $7M will be used to up-fit 57,000 square feet of newly built space on the campus of the Greenville Hospital System for translational research in bioengineering with a focus of cardiovascular and orthopaedic research. Our relationship with the Medical University of South Carolina has led to a $1.6M research endowment for the CU-MUSC Orthopaedic Research and Training Program. We have also strengthened this training program by securing a $4M endowed chair in orthopaedics, the Hangsjörg Wyss Regenerative Medicine Endowed Chair in Orthopaedics, funded equally by the State of South Carolina and the Wyss Medical Foundation.
Our extramural funding has also increased significantly with major NIH R01 grants, NSF programs, and others. Our short term plans include philanthropic development including naming our new bioengineering building on campus and our department.
I believe that bioengineering at Clemson University has a bright and clear future as an academic and research leader as the strong history it carries in the field of biomaterials.
Best regards,
Martine LaBerge, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Bioengineering
