USC Viterbi’s Vice Dean for Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor of biomedical engineering, Ellis Meng has been elected to the role of Vice President Technical Activities-Elect for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
The position, which will eventually become a full VP role, has oversight of the technical activities portfolio of the society. Several other BME department faculty members have held leadership roles in the society, including professor in the department, Michael Khoo, who has served as VP for Conferences.
Meng, who is also the Shelly and Ofer Nemirovsky Chair in Convergent Bioscience, established the USC Biomedical Microsystems Laboratory, which focuses on the development of micro- and nanotechnologies for biomedical purposes. In collaboration with research associate professor of biomedical Engineering Dong Song, Meng also established the Polymer Implantable Electrode (PIE) Foundry, which is an NIH-funded technology resource.
Her research interests include biomedical microelectromechanical systems (bioMEMS), implantable biomedical microdevices, microfluidics, microsensors and actuators, biocompatible polymer microfabrication and packaging and the development of thin, flexible polymer-based implantable materials that allow for better and safer mapping of the brain. She is also the co-founder of USC startup, Senseer, which is developing self-aware sensing devices that can vastly improve the treatment of hydrocephalus, a pediatric condition that causes excessive fluid in the brain.
In addition to this latest recognition, Meng was previously honored by the IEEE Sensors Council with their 2019 Technical Achievement Award for her contributions in the sensors field and her work’s applications for drug delivery and microfluidics, neural interfaces and medical implants.
Meng received her B.S. degree in engineering and applied science and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, in 1997, 1998, and 2003.
She was previously Dwight C. and Hildagarde E. Baum Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering from 2015-2018 and was an inaugural holder of a Gabilan Distinguished Professorship in Science and Engineering from 2016-2019.
Meng is a fellow of the IEEE, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Published on September 18th, 2020
Last updated on September 18th, 2020