Biography

George R. Wodicka

George R. Wodicka is the Vincent P. Reilly Professor and was the Dane A. Miller Founding Head of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. Professor Wodicka attended The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, where he received the B.E.S. degree in biomedical engineering with both departmental and university honors. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received the S.M. degree in electrical engineering and computer science and the Ph.D. degree in medical engineering. Upon completion of his doctoral studies, Professor Wodicka received the Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology graduate award in medical engineering for service to the academic community.

Through his founding and leadership, the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering achieved tremendous programmatic growth and translational research impact. Professor Wodicka spearheaded the resourcing and building of this dynamic enterprise that fosters a unique academic environment for experiential learning and technology development through tight connections to industrial and clinical partners. In this regard, he serves as Co-Director of Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) that connects the state’s academic, corporate, and healthcare institutions to improve medicine. Burgeoning accomplishments include unprecedented faculty and student contributions in the medical device, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical fields with more than six million patients worldwide directly helped through the licensing and utilization of the School’s innovative healthcare technologies.

Professor Wodicka conducts an active translational research program in the area of biomedical acoustics - the application of sonic technologies toward the solution of problems in pediatrics. His current efforts include the design of acoustic guidance systems for clinical catheters and tubes, the development of acoustic biosensors to quantify airway obstruction, and computational modeling and analysis of speech production in both health and disease. He co-founded with his graduate students SonarMed, Inc. which developed the only FDA-approved breathing tube monitoring system for advanced neonatal intensive care. SonarMed was acquired by Medtronic which markets the system world-wide. He has been recognized for his instructional innovations at Purdue through the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher Award, the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award twice, the Honeywell Excellence in Teaching Award, the A.A. Potter Outstanding Teaching Award, and the D.D. Ewing Outstanding Teacher Award. He also has received the Faculty Award of Excellence in Leadership from the Purdue College of Engineering and the Outstanding Commercialization Award for Purdue University Faculty. Professor Wodicka was the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation and was a Guggenheim Fellow. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).