ISSUE ONE VOLUME THREE
SEPTEMBER , 2008
A GT-BMES STUDENT PUBLICATION FOR THE COMMUNITY OF GT-BME
took the initiative to start the unique department. Invited by Georgia Tech and Emory in July of 1997, Giddens and others pushed proposals for A Candid Discussion with the department, developed a Dean Don P. Giddens new curriculum, and of the College of formed a diverse Engineering faculty and adminiWilla Ni ‘12 stration. This ultimately resulted in Biomedical engithe biomedical engineering, the new kid neering department on the block at we see today. Georgia Tech and Though Giddens Emory, took off in holds a PhD. in aero1997 as a pioneering thermodynamics and joint department. a M.S. in aerospace More than a decade engineering, his unlater, I sat down with derstanding of fluid Dr. Don P. Giddens, dynamics also apthe Dean of the ColDean Don P. Giddens talks with Wi!a Ni about the foundations of bioplied to blood flow lege of Engineering medical engineering. Photo by Chun Yong. in arteries. In turn, and one of the founthis application led ders of the Wallace H. dens notes, “While the BME deeper into cardiovascular Coulter Department of Bioresearch field is old, the acaresearch resulting in a nonmedical Engineering, for a demic field is relatively traditional, yet highly benepeek into the beginnings of new.” ficial branch of studies. Like our major. Georgia Tech and Emory Giddens, the majority of the During the 1980s, the University already had a bafaculty he hired came from modern academic biomedical sis of collaborative research diverse backgrounds rooted structure began, according to in the biomedical engineerin other academic fields that Giddens, as a “growing ining field before they undereventually led to applica-
The Beginning: Biomedical Engineering
terest in applying engineering to medicine in research.” Originally research-oriented, biomedical engineering began as an academic discipline in the 1990s. As Gid-
1