›› Engineering Researchers Part of Study on New Artificial Heart Technology
Mechanical Engineering Professors Matthew Franchek and Ralph Metcalfe are working with area experts to create a continuous flow ventricular assist device that’s smaller and less costly than the pulsatile pumps used to date. Named on a $2.8 million National Institutes of Health grant, Franchek and Metcalfe will work alongside the lead investigator, Dr. O.H. “Bud” Frazier, chief of the Center for Cardiac Support and director of Surgical Research at the Texas Heart Institute, professors from Rice University, Texas Heart Institute physicians and MicroMed Technology, Inc. Read more…

›› Engineering Professor to Head NIH Study Section
Ralph W. Metcalfe, professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering and mathematics, was appointed chair of the National Institutes of Health Cardiovascular Devices Study Section. At the study section’s upcoming meeting in Bethesda, Md. June 23, Metcalfe will head a group comprising 18 other experts—12 of whom are physicians and the remaining six consisting of engineers and scientists—from across the United States. The group will review more than 150 grant proposals related to cardiovascular devices submitted by small companies and universities. Read more…

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Undergraduate Students: Important Curriculum Info

Course Announcment: MECE 3345 will now be offered in both long semesters. This class has grown to nearly 50 students and climbing, so if your schedule allows, please consider taking the same lecture in the Spring 08. Students taking MECE 3345 in the spring may take MECE 3245 (lab) next Fall 08 or later. As before, MECE 3245 will continue to be offered both long semesters.