Engineering Healthier Brains Initiative

The Engineering Healthier Brains Initiative is a priority area for hiring within the Purdue University College of Engineering. We are seeking highly-qualified, creative individuals with substantial experience in technologies related to neurological health and behavior.  Areas of emphasis include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain (including functional MRI, diffusion weighted imaging, perfusion imaging, and spectroscopy), computational systems modeling, and development and targeting of biomolecules/biomarkers for use as neuroprotective agents.  Applicants with expertise in related areas enabling improved approaches to neural health are encouraged to apply.

New faculty are sought to build strong research and educational programs that deliver this paradigm shift by working in collaboration with the Purdue Neurotrauma Group in the College of Engineering and College of Health and Human Sciences, and the Center for Research on Young People's Health in the College of Liberal Arts.  The goal is academic preeminence in the engineering of neural health, combined with extraordinary clinical and industrial impact.

Qualifications: We are seeking highly qualified and creative individuals who share our vision of enhancing neural health. New faculty members will be expected to develop strong, externally-funded research programs, develop and teach innovative curricula, and help advance the frontiers of knowledge within and outside of collaborations with other current and future members of this preeminent team.

Interested applications should contact Thomas Talavage at tmt@purdue.edu for further information.

Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce.

We are seeking three highly qualified, creative individuals with substantial experience in technologies to enable implantable networks of wireless nanoelectronics devices.

Areas of emphasis include biosensing, packaging, or energy harvesting, but applicants in other areas enabling implantable medical devices are encouraged to apply. New faculty are sought to build strong research programs that deliver this paradigm shift by working in collaboration with Purdue's Center for Implantable Devices (CID), the National Science Foundation / Semiconductor Research Corporation NEEDS (Nano-Engineered Electronic Device Simulation) initiative led by Purdue, and the largest neurosurgical group in the United States: Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine in Indianapolis.  The goal is preeminence in medical device research combined with extraordinary clinical impact.

Candidates must hold a PhD in Engineering Science or a related field. The focus is at the associate professor level or above, with demonstrated research and teaching experience, but outstanding individuals at all levels with academic or industrial experience will be considered. New faculty members will be expected to develop strong, externally-funded research programs, develop and teach innovative curricula, and help advance the frontiers of knowledge within and outside of collaborations with other current and future members of this preeminent team.

If interested, apply at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/InfoFor/Employment.

Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce.

Biomaterials are materials that are compatible with biological systems. Research focuses on a wide range of natural and synthetic components that might be used to design novel devices to replace diseased or damaged tissues or create artificial joints. A good example are nano-structured artificial materials that can be used to replace portions of the human bladder.

Tissue Engineering uses fundamental studies of the properties of tissues to investigate techniques to provide replacement tissues and/or the construction of scaffolds that can allow the body to heal itself. A prime example of this would be the use of naturally-derived extracellular matrix to provide a rejection-resistant scaffold that the body can use to form its own replacement tissue.

Today, advanced systems are being developed to locate, track and explore, not merely human tissues, but individual cells and molecules as well. From atomic and nano-scale imaging technologies to sophisticated algorithms for numerical image analysis to non-invasive optical systems that provide real-time imaging of drug dispersal and interaction with target cells, the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering is revealing new vistas in this important field.

Transforming healthcare requires much more than simply developing new drugs, medical devices or even treatments. It means studying the way things are used, how things are done, where events occur, and when they should be done so that the total system can be improved.

Systems science and engineering provides these solutions by studying operations and using complex mathematical modeling, operations research and systems analysis techniques. From the layout of an operating room and even the placement of instruments on a tray to examining how patients flow through the system, improvements can be identified that reduce costs, improve treatments and outcomes, and eliminate other problems so that the process of healthcare can be revolutionized in much the same way as the means of diagnosis and treatment.

People have long recognized that the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nerve systems are incredibly complex systems. Researchers have sought to understand them from a chemical standpoint, an electrical standpoint, or on the basis of the cells that make up the systems.

Today, the new field of neuroengineering uses an interdisciplinary engineering approach to examine the function, and manipulate the behavior of, nervous systems using elements of computational biology, neuroscience, electrical engineering, signal processing, chemistry and chemical engineering, and other formerly separate disciplines.

A point often missed is that bodies are not just biological systems, but are also mechanical systems. The skeleton is a framework upon which collections of simple motors, muscle cells, expand and relax in a highly organized fashion to create movement.

Biomechanics is the study of the mechanical aspects of living organisms. From studying the strengths and weaknesses of individual components, such as bones, to examining how groups of tissues and implants work together, biomechanical researchers are improving not only our understanding of the body, but also the design of devices needed to repair the body. Nor will these discoveries be the inert implants of the past. Researchers at the Weldon School are developing innovative implants that can monitor not only themselves, but the surrounding body tissues so that changes can be identified and any corrective actions required initiated.