Chiu Named Hulbert Endowed Faculty Chair in Biomedical Engineering
Associate professor Alan Chiu has supported a variety of student research activities on campus. Those efforts will continue through funding provided by the Samuel F. Hulbert Endowed Faculty Chair in Biomedical Engineering.
Alan W. Chiu has been named to serve as the esteemed Samuel F. Hulbert Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering, in recognition of the professor’s outstanding work as an educator and academic scholar on campus. The three-year position will begin Sept. 1, 2019.
Endowed faculty chairs honor members of the Rose-Hulman faculty for their exemplary accomplishments outside of Rose-Hulman and further supports their professional activity in both national and international circles of scholarship, according to Anne Houtman, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Professors receive annual stipends to continue to excel in their specialized areas, lead conversations with other educators in their fields and support research opportunities with undergraduate students.
“We rely on our endowed chair holders to perform at the very highest levels of scholarship and teaching, and be models of engaged disciplinary and educational expertise,” says Houtman. “Our endowed chairs showcase to the world that Rose-Hulman provides the world’s best educational environment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
The Samuel F. Hulbert Endowed Chair promotes professional activity for biomedical engineering faculty members. It honors the legacy of Hulbert, who served as Rose-Hulman’s 11th and longest-serving president. He also was a recognized authority and pioneer in the use of ceramics in the design of orthopedic and dental implants and prostheses.
Chiu has been an associate professor on the Rose-Hulman faculty since 2012 and has supported student research activities on campus, serving as a faculty mentor for several individual student projects and as an advisor for the institute’s Independent Project/Research Opportunities Program.
As an endowed faculty chair, Chiu will continue research that focuses on neural modeling and brain-computer interfaces, which can provide treatment options and assistance for individuals with neurological diseases or disabilities by giving them a way to interact with the outside world. He will also teach courses on brain-machine interfaces, neuroprosthetics, biomedical instrumentation and measurements, biomedical signal processing, and problem-solving in biological sciences and engineering.
Chiu succeeds biomedical engineering professor Renee Rogge, who has worked with students on research projects in Rose-Hulman’s Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory and co-chaired a biennial national capstone engineering design conference. She has received the Dean’s Outstanding Teacher Award (2018) and Trustees Outstanding Scholar Award (2014).