In May 1974, Geddes and his team moved to Purdue to form the Biomedical Engineering Center in the College of Engineering.

The Biomedical Engineering Center underwent several name changes and locations throughout the years. The center is now the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and it is located in the Martin C. Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering.

And 50 years later, Charles Babbs is still teaching the next generation as a continuing lecturer and associate research scholar in basic medical sciences.

Babbs received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1968. He completed his doctor of medicine degree and his master’s degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1974 and 1975, respectively. He completed his doctoral degree at Purdue in 1977.

Babbs’ current research is focused on diagnosing meningitis noninvasively, causes of Alzheimer’s disease, new treatment options for Alzheimer’s, fractal art approach to the three-body problem in astrophysics, nuclear polarity in early breast cancer and more.

During his career, he has received over $12 million in grants and awards, which includes his Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Babbs enjoys his career in biomedical engineering.

“I am retired from the boring stuff. I only do the fun stuff,” Babbs said.

Babbs enjoys science outside of work.

“My favorite weekend activity is thinking about amazing and wonderful new ideas in system-level biophysics,” Babbs explained.

Babbs recently gave a presentation on the first 25 years of Biomedical Engineering Research to students and faculty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOR7H8TpPg.

You may also enjoy viewing an Oral History Interview with Charles Babbs.

Learn more about the 50 year history of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/AboutUs/News/2024/50year-history-of-biomedical-engineering-at-purdue