Penn Bioengineering

Bioengineering was pleased to welcome Michael I. Miller, Ph.D., Bessie Darling Massey Professor and Director of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, to campus last week as our Schwan Distinguished Lecturer.

In his talk, “On Petascale Varifold Models for Neuroimaging: From Tissue to Transcript to Tangle,” Miller explored new multiscale approaches that connect MRI, digital pathology and spatial transcriptomics. His work brings together measurements across dramatically different scales to better understand the structure of the human brain and the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Ravi Radhakrishnan, Herman P. Schwan Department Chair of Bioengineering, presented Miller with a certificate of recognition following the lecture.

Thank you to Dr. Miller for sharing his research and insights with the Bioengineering community!

Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering | Penn Engineering

Help shape what comes next in bioengineering.

The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania is recruiting tenure-track and tenured faculty at the Assistant, Associate and Full Professor levels as part of a multi-year hiring initiative.

Our areas for growth include Precision Engineering for Health, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems for Engineered Life, and Engineering and AI Models Driving Digital Health. We also welcome exceptional candidates whose work explores emerging directions in bioengineering.

Join a collaborative community where engineering, science and health come together to advance research from fundamental discovery to clinical translation.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and are due November 23, 2026.

Learn more and apply: https://be.engineering.upenn.edu/about/open-faculty-positions/

Penn Engineering

New research from Su Chin Heo, Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery with a secondary appointment in Bioengineering, could help improve rotator cuff repair.

Heo and his team developed a scaffold that mimics the body’s natural transition from tendon to fibrocartilage to bone, with the goal of supporting stronger, more organized healing.

Read more from Penn Medicine: https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/mimicking-natural-tissue-may-improve-rotator-cuff-repair

Penn Engineering

From Penn to Texas A&M, Raghav Garg is taking the next step in his academic career.

Garg recently joined Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he is building a research program focused on implantable and wearable neural interfaces for monitoring and treating neurological diseases.

His 4.5 years in the Vitale Lab and Penn’s Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics helped shape both his patient-centered approach to research and his vision for the collaborative culture he hopes to create in his own lab.

“My time at Penn transformed my career,” says Garg. “The mentorship and support I received from Dr. Vitale have been instrumental in preparing me for a faculty role.”

Read Part 3 of Launching the Next Generation of Faculty to follow Garg’s path from Penn researcher to independent faculty member: https://beblog.seas.upenn.edu/launching-next-gen-faculty-garg/

Penn Engineering

From training alongside clinicians at Penn to building a research group of her own, Hannah Zlotnick (Ph.D. BE 2022) is carrying a commitment to clinically relevant bioengineering into the next stage of her career.

This August, Zlotnick joined Wake Forest University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Her new lab will develop materials to model, monitor and mitigate orthopaedic diseases such as osteoarthritis and joint infection.

During her Ph.D. training in the Mauck Lab at Penn, Zlotnick worked alongside orthopaedic residents and clinical faculty, experiences that helped her understand the practical considerations that can determine how engineering advances move toward the clinic.

Now, as she builds her own team, that perspective is helping shape both the research she plans to pursue and the laboratory culture she hopes to create.

Read Part 3 of our Launching the Next Generation of Bioengineering Faculty series: https://beblog.seas.upenn.edu/next-gen-be-faculty-zlotnick/

Penn Engineering

The next chapter begins.

Our Launching the Next Generation of Bioengineering Faculty series continues with Margaret Billingsley who will join the University of Virginia on August 31 as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and a faculty member in the NanoSTAR Institute.

Billingsley reflects on how her experience as part of the first graduate student cohort in the Mitchell Lab shaped her approach to building a research community, mentoring future scientists, and launching an independent laboratory.

Read her story and learn how Penn helped prepare her for this next step: https://beblog.seas.upenn.edu/next-gen-be-faculty-billingsley/

Penn Engineering

The deadline to apply for the 2026 Rising Stars in Engineering in Health workshop is tomorrow, July 31.

Postdocs, research scientists and Ph.D. students preparing to pursue faculty positions are encouraged to apply for this two-day workshop, co-hosted by Penn, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University and Boston University.

The workshop will highlight emerging scholars working at the intersection of engineering, medicine and health.

Learn more and apply: https://be.engineering.upenn.edu/home/rising-stars/

Please share with interested applicants and relevant networks.