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CIMIT Awards Seven Graduate Fellowships to Students at MIT, BU

Program encourages engineering students to explore technologies that improve patient care

CIMIT is pleased to announce winners of its medical engineering fellowship awards to students at MIT and Boston University. Each fellowship covers tuition and stipend, plus a small amount for ancillary expenses.

CIMIT Engineering Fellowships offer multi-year support for graduate engineering students to work in highly innovative yet traditionally under-funded areas of healthcare research. Medical device development, new algorithms, software for use in clinical practices, and the engineering of medical environments are all essential to accelerate the adoption of technologies into patient care.

Signal processing, imaging and novel device technologies among the areas to be explored by MIT Students

Four CIMIT Medical Engineering fellowship has been awarded at MIT: Berkin Bilgic whose advisor is Elfar Adalsteinsson, PhD; Christin Y. Sander who is also advised by Dr. Adalsteinsson and by A. Gregory Sorensen, MD; Alexander Slocum, Jr. who will be mentored by Martin Culpepper, PhD; and Ashley Wessendorf whose research will be guided by Dava J. Newman, PhD.

Bilgic’s focus of research is algorithmic design at the intersection of signal processing and medical imaging reconstruction with the ultimate goal of dramatic imaging speedup in practical clinical settings.

Sander’s research focuses on cutting-edge technology that combines MRI and PET for the evaluation of the nervous system.

Slocum’s research seeks to create a fundamentally new type of artificial knee joint that will not wear out because it will use rolling instead of sliding contact as is currently used.

Wessendorf will work towards developing a medical device that will assist brain-injured children with impaired motor function by expanding their kicking repertoire.

Diagnostic technologies and optical microstimulator will be the focus of three Boston University students

Three new fellowships have been named at BU: Elif Cevik whose advisor will be M. Selim Ünlü, PhD; Margo Monroe who will also be advised by Dr. Ünlü; and Grace Wu who will be mentored by Muhammad H. Zaman, PhD.

Cevik’s research focuses on the design and fabrication of an optically activated microstimulator to be used in chronic implants for people with central nervous system (CNS) diseases.

Monroe research interests are focused on developing and optimizing innovative, compact diagnostic technology for the doctor’s office to facilitate patient care.

Wu will work towards designing a comprehensive platform for CD4 counter for HIV detection.

“Through these fellowships CIMIT seeks to support the innovative research of graduate engineering students,” said CIMIT CEO John Parrish, MD.  “Their work offers new approaches to solving unmet clinical needs.”

About CIMIT
CIMIT is a clinically-based consortium of Boston-area hospitals and engineering schools, including Mass General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, MIT, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston University, Boston University Medical Campus, Childrens Hospital Boston, Newton Wellesley Hospital, Northeastern University, Partners HealthCare, and VA Boston Healthcare System,  CIMIT supports translational research by multidisciplinary teams for medical device and clinical technology system applications, and through seed funding and facilitation attracts world-class clinicians, scientists and engineers working together with industry and government to accelerate the clinical impact of innovative technologies.