Biomedical Engineering Research - UNLV Registrar · Biomedical Engineering Research. Dr. Shahram Latifi, P.E. Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Co-Director,

Biomedical Engineering Research

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Dr. Rama VenkatDean, College of EngineeringPhone: (702) 895-1094Email: [email protected]

Dr. Mohamed TrabiaAssociate Dean, College of EngineeringPhone: (702) 895-0957Email: [email protected]

Biomedical engineering is a research area in the College of Engineering at UNLV experiencing sustained growth. Our faculty has been involved in many related activities over the last decade. The combination of experimental and computational facilities within the college is a basis for future collaboration with other entities in Southern Nevada. We would like to introduce you to some of our researchers. Please feel to contact us if we can help with your projects and initiatives.

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Biomedical EngineeringResearch Areas of Expertise

• Biosensors and actuators design • Computational fluid dynamics of air flow

and cardiovascular blood flow• Computer-aided diagnostics systems • Electronic Health Record (EHR) data

analysis• Indoor air quality dispersion modeling• Lab-on-a-chip technologies toward

biomedical diagnostics and analysis • Medical imaging• Micro- and nano-fluidics • Nanoparticle and bio-molecule assembly • Telemedicine • Hyperspectral imaging

• Bone fixation systems design and analysis • Computational modeling of complex

biological systems• Strength and stiffness of bones• Music and audio technologies • Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data

analysis• Respiratory biomechanics • Technologies for people with visual

impairments• Capacitance to digital conversation for

biological imaging• Testing portable body temperature

conditioner

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Why UNLV?• Las Vegas is a dynamic city with a population that

includes multiple ethnicities and age groups.• Las Vegas has attracted several organizations that are

active in medical research including:

• University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine• Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health

• In addition to the College if Engineering, multiple entities within UNLV have been active in advancing biomedical research:

• School of Allied Health Sciences• School of Community Health Sciences• School of Dental Medicine• School of Medicine• College of Sciences

• We continue to focus on establishing synergy between these entities to advance scientific knowledge and strengthen the economy of Southern Nevada.


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Faculty Involved in Biomedical Engineering Research

Dr. R. Jacob BakerProfessor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Yi-Tung ChenProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringCo-Director, Center for Energy Research

Dr. Sarah HarrisAssociate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Mingon KangAssistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

Dr. Shahram Latifi, P.E.Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringCo-Director, Center for Information Technology and Algorithms (CITA)

Dr. Samir MoujaesProfessor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Brendan O’TooleChair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Director, Center for Materials and Structures

Dr. Darrell PepperProfessor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Emma RegentovaProfessor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Andreas StefikAssociate Professor, Department of Computer Science

Dr. Mohamed TrabiaProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringAssociate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies & Computing

Dr. Evangelos YfantisProfessor, Department of Computer Science

Dr. Woosoon YimProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringDirector of Intelligent Structures and Control Laboratory

Dr. Hui Zhao Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Additional Resources

UNLV School of Allied Health Sciences

UNLV School of Community Health Sciences

UNLV School of Dental Medicine

UNLV School of Medicine

UNLV College of Sciences

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health

http://unlv.edu/ahs

http://unlv.edu/publichealth

http://unlv.edu/dental

https://www.unlv.edu/medicine

http://unlv.edu/sciences

http://www.keepmemoryalive.org/

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Biomedical EngineeringResearch Highlights

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Phone: (702) 895-4125

Email: [email protected]

• Expertise• Digital microfluidics• Electrowetting• Capacitive sensing• Droplet position detection of

immunohistochemistry experiments

• Capacitance to digital conversation for biological imaging

• CMOS integrated circuit microfluidics

R. Jacob BakerProfessor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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R. Jacob BakerProfessor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Recent Publications• Y. Li and R. Jacob Baker. “Improving the performance of electrowetting on dielectric microfluidics

using piezoelectric top plate control.” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 229 (2016), 63-74.• Li, Y. and Baker, R. J., "A Highly Efficient and Reliable Electrowetting on Dielectric Device for Point-

of-Care Diagnostics," Proceedings of 11th IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems Conference, October 12-13, 2015.

• Li, Y. and Baker, R. J., "Precise EWOD Top Plate Positioning Using Inverse Preisach Model Based Hysteresis Compensation," Proceedings of 11th IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems Conference, October 12-13, 2015.

• Li, Y. and Baker, R. J., "Computer vision assisted measurement of the displacement of a bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam," Proceedings of IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, October 22-24, 2015.

• Li, Y., Li, H., and Baker, R. J., "A Low-Cost and High-Resolution Droplet Position Detector for an Intelligent Electrowetting on Dielectric Device," Journal of Laboratory Automation, pp. 1-7, 2015.

• Li, Y., Li, H., and Baker, R. J., "Volume and Concentration Identification by Using an Electrowettingon Dielectric Device," Proceedings of 10th IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems Conference, October 12-13, 2014.

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Phone: (702) 895-1202


• Expertise• Pulmonary air flow and cardiovascular

blood flow modeling• Biosensor design• Pharmacokinetics• Biomolecular simulation• Computational fluid dynamics• Computational heat transfer and mass

transfer • Medical image processing• Fluid and structural interaction

Dr. Yi-Tung ChenProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringCo-Director, Center for Energy Research

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Biomedical Engineering ResearchDr. Yi-Tung ChenProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringCo-Director, Center for Energy Research

Recent Projects• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies of airflow in a digital reference model of the

17-generation airway (bronchial tree) were accomplished using numerical modeling, based on the anatomical model.

• The lung model consists of 6.744e6 unstructured tetrahedral computational cells. A steady-state airflow rate was used to simulate the transient turbulent flow regime using a large eddy simulation turbulence model.

• The nature of the secondary vortical flows, which develop in such asymmetric airways, was demonstrated to vary with the specific anatomical characteristics of the branching conduits.

Recent Publications• Yang Liu, Yitung Chen, Woosoon Yim, and Robert Wang, “Study of the suture-patch device

through the tongue for sleep apnea using fluid-structure interaction modeling,” Journal of Otolaryngology and Rhinology, Vol. 4, Issue 2 (2018), 4:048; pp. 1-9.

• Yang Liu, Jennifer Mitchell, Yitung Chen, Woosoon Yim, Wenxiao Chu, and Robert Wang, “Study of the upper airway of obstructive sleep apnea patient using fluid structure interaction,” Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 249 (2018), pp. 54-61

• Tevfik Gemci, Valery Ponyavin, Yitung Chen, Huajun Chen, Richard Collins, “Computational Model of Airflow in Upper 17 Generations of Human Respiratory Tract,” Journal of Biomechanics, 41 (2008), pp.2047-2054.

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Phone: (702) 895-4518


• Expertise• Digital design, reconfigurable computing• System on a chip design • Embedded systems• Robotics, interfacing sensors, actuation


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Recent Publications• Kakakhel, Z., Owen, R., Harris, S. and Harris, D., “MIPSfpga: An unobfuscated

commercial MIPS core and SoC that runs Linux,” Embedded World Conference, February 2016, Nuremburg, Germany.

• Harris, Sarah L., and Harris, David Money, “Digital Design and Computer Architecture: ARM® Edition,” Elsevier Publishers, May 6, 2015.

• Lee, D.V., Bertram, J.E.A., Anttonen, J.T., Ros, I.G., Harris, S.L., and Biewener, A.A., “A Collisional Approach to Quadrupedal Gait Dynamics.” Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2011.

• Hsiong, W., Huntzicker, S., King, K., Lee, A., Lim, C., Wang, J., Harris, S., Jahn, J., “Performance and Area Tradeoffs in Space-Qualified FPGA-Based Time-of-Flight Systems,” International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments, August 16-19, 2009, Beijing, China.


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Phone: (702) 895-4884


• Expertise

Dr. Mingon KangAssistant Professor, Department of Computer ScienceDirector, DataX Lab (http://www.dataxlab.org)

• Data science, machine learning, big data analytics

• Deep learning in bioinformatics• Interpretable deep learning• Integrative deep learning

• Integrative analysis of multiple types of data such as medical image and multi-omics data

• Medical image analysis• Electronic health record (EHR)/ next

generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis

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Recent publications

Dr. Mingon KangAssistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

• J. Hao, S. Kosaraju, N. Tsaku, D. H. Song, and M. Kang, "PAGE-Net: Interpretable and Integrative Deep Learning for Survival Analysis Using Histopathological Images and Genomic Data", Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB), 2019

• T. Mallavarapu, J. Hao, Y. Kim, J.H. Oh, M. Kang, "Pathway-based Deep Clustering for Molecular Subtyping of Cancer," Methods, 2019

• Y. Kim, J. Hao, T. Mallavarapu, J. Park, and M. Kang, "Hi-LASSO: High-Dimensional LASSO," IEEE Access, 2019, pp 44562-44573, 2019

• J. Hao, M. Masum, J. H. Oh, and M. Kang, "Gene- and Pathway-based Deep Neural Network for Multi-omics Data Integration to Predict Cancer Survival Outcomes," 2019 International Symposium on Bioinformatics Research and Applications (ISBRA), 2019

• J. Hao, Y. Kim, T. Mallavarapu, J.H. Oh, and M. Kang, "Cox-PASNet: Pathway-based Sparse Deep Neural Network for Survival Analysis", Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics & Biomedicine (IEEE BIBM), 2018

• J. Hao, Y. Kim, J.H. Oh, T. Kim, and M. Kang, "PASNet: Pathway-Associated Sparse Deep Neural Network for Prognosis Prediction from High-throughput Data", BMC Bioinformatics, 19:510, 2018

• M. Kang, J. Park, D. Kim, A. Biswas, C. Liu, and J. Gao, "An Integrative Genomic Study for Multimodal Genomic Data Using Multi-Block Bipartite Graph," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (IEEE TCBB), vol. PP, no.99, pp.1-1, 2016

• M. Kang, L. Tang, and J. Gao, "Computational modeling of animal foreign body responses to implanted biomaterials", BMC Bioinformatics, 17:111, 2016

• M. Kang, H. Chun, C. Ding, C. Zhang, C. Liu, and J. Gao, "eQTL epistasis: detecting epistatic effects and inferring hierarchical relationships of genes in biological pathways", Bioinformatics, 31(5):656-664, 2015

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Phone: (702) 895-4016


• Expertise• Medical imaging• Computer-aided diagnostic systems• Data compression


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Recent Projects

• “A Hybrid and Collaborative Wireless Sensor Network for Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring” with Dr. Patricia Gatlin, School of Nursing, 2016.

• “Cognitive Body Area Networks to Treat Obesity”, with Dr. Alona Angosta, School of Nursing, 2016.• “Medical Image Compression”, A Graduate Class Project, 2014.

Recent Publications• “Wavelet Transform to Improve Accuracy of a Prediction Model for Overall Survival Time of Brain Tumor

Patients Based On MRI Images.” L Chato, E Chow, S Latifi, (2018) IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI), 441-442.

• “Toward predicting medical conditions using k-nearest neighbors.” S Tayeb, M Pirouz, J Sun, K Hall, A Chang, J Li, C Song, A Chauhan, S. Latifi, ..., (2017) IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), 3897-3903.

• “Machine learning and deep learning techniques to predict overall survival of brain tumor patients using MRI images.” L Chato, S Latifi, (2017) IEEE 17th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering.

• “Total variation denoising method to improve the detection process in IR images.” L Chato, S Latifi, P Kachroo, (2017) IEEE 8th Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference.

• E. Sharifahmadian and S. Latifi, “Smart Compression for Telemedicine”, International Journal of Computer Applications, pp. 1-6, Vol. 98, No. 6, 2014.

• D. Walker, S. Latifi, "Partial Iris Recognition as a Viable Biometric Scheme", Int. J. Security and Networks, Vol. 6, Nos. 2/3, 2011.

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Dr. Samir MoujaesProfessor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Phone: (702) 895-3265


• Expertise• Testing Portable Body Temperature

Conditioner (PBTC) with computer-aided diagnostics systems

• Testing thermal manikin for performance of PBTC under various controlled conditions

Above: Portable body temperature conditioner (PBTC) developed by Rocky Research and tested by Nevada School of Medicine and UNLV

Right: Thermal manikin tested by UNLV for the performance of the PBTC under various controlled thermal conditions

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Biomedical Engineering ResearchDr. Samir MoujaesProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringCompleted Research Projects:• “Performance Experimentally of a PCM Material in an Arid Environment”, Infiniti R,$11,360; June –

November 2016, S. Moujaes PI.• “Characterization of a Conditioning Hypothermic/ Hyperthermic Portable Device for use in Field

Installations”, US Army Office, University of Reno School of Medicine, November 13-Jan. 2015, $52,000.Book Chapters:• "Hypothermia and Injury: Thermodynamic Principles of Prevention and Treatment”, L. Gentilello, G.

Jurkovich and S. Moujaes. Book title is Perspectives in General Surgery, Quality Medical Publishing, Inc. St. Louis Missouri 1991. Volume 2, No.1 p. 25-53.

Journal Papers:• “Testing of a Novel Portable Body Conditioner Using a Thermal Mannikin”; D. Heller, A. Heller, S.

Moujaes, S. Williams, R. Hoffmann, P. Sarkisian, K. Khalili, U. Rockenfeller, T. Browder, D. Kuhls, J. Fildes; Journal of Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, September/October 2016; pp. 338.

• "CFD Performance Prediction of a Parallel Counter-parallel Flow Heat Exchanger Used for the Treatment of Hypothermia.” S. Moujaes and A. Heller J. Energy Eng., 10.1061 EY.1943-7897.0000289 , 04015034, 2015.

• "Treatment of Hypothermia in Trauma Victims: Thermodynamic Considerations”, L. Gentillelo, S. Moujaes, Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, vol. 10, no.1, p. 5-16, 1995.

Conference Papers:• "Thermal Performance of a Two-Pass Infusate Heat Exchanger”, S. Moujaes, D. Oliver, published in the

IEMEC ASME conference in Anaheim, CA Nov. 1998 Vol. 3, pp. 303-314. 1998.

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Phone: (702) 895-3885


Website: www.egr.unlv.edu/~bj/

• Expertise• Development of low-cost prosthetic hands• Strength and stiffness of bones• Design and analysis of composite orthotics• Experimental evaluation of orthodontic devices• Mitigation of impact-induced injuries

Dr. Brendan O’TooleChair and Professor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringDirector, Center for Materials and Structures

In collaboration with the Dental School, investigation of the effects of location, shape, and orientation of attachments for the retention of thermoformed orthodontic aligners.

3D printed prosthetic hand for a 5-year old girl who has Poland Syndrome

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Recent Projects• Development of fatigue machine for testing of knee and shoulder joints• Development of low-cost prosthetic hands• Characterization of orthodontic devices and materials• Evaluating effect of hibernation on bone strength in ground squirrels• Shock absorbing properties of elastomeric mouth pieces• Experimental evaluation of the failure of solder joints in dental wire connections• Shear testing of orthodontic brackets• Retention of thermoformed aligners with varying mounting brackets• Design and fabrication of polymer composite Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO)• Experimental evaluation of the performance of AFOs in situ and in a laboratory environmentRecent Publications • M. Ramos Gonzalez, B. O’Toole and Z. Wang, “Experimental Study of Bio-Polymer Knee Implant”, ASME IMECE-88479, Pittsburg PA, Nov.

9-15, 2018.• Z. Wang, B. O’Toole, V. Carbajal Nunez, D. Ta, “Design and Manufacturing of Implantable Expanding Cage”, ASME IMECE, Tampa FL,

Nov. 3-9, 2017.• J.S. Dufek, E.S. Neumann, M.C. Hawkins, B. O’Toole, “Charcot-Marie-Tooth: AFO Mechanics and Gait Patterns”, Invited article, Lower

Extremity Review, 6(2): 23-30, 2014. Web. http://lermagazine.com/article/charcot-marie-tooth-afo-mechanics-and-gait-patterns.• J.S. Dufek, E.S. Neumann, M.C. Hawkins, B. O’Toole, “Functional and Dynamic Response Characteristics of a Custom Composite Ankle

Foot Orthosis for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Patients”, Gait & Posture, v39, n1, pp 308 – 313, 2014.• D. Cowley, J. Ma, B. O’Toole, “The Effect of Gingival-Margin Design on the Retention of Thermoformed Aligners”, Journal of Clinic

Orthodontics Vol. 46, No. 11, pp 697-702, 2012.• E. Neumann, M. Hawkins, J. Dufek, B. O’Toole, “Outcomes for Eight Charcot-Marie Tooth Patients using Custom Carbon-Fiber Composite

AFO’s”, Accepted to the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association Conference, September 19 - 22, Las Vegas, NV, 2011. Received the Howard R. Thranhardt Award.

• J.C. Utz, S. Nelson, B. O’Toole, and F. van Breukelen, “Bone strength is maintained after 8 months of inactivity in hibernating golden-mantled ground squirrels, Spermophilus lateralis”, Journal of Experimental Biology, May 2009.

• M.L. Jones, J. Mah, and B. O’Toole, “Retention of Thermoformed Aligners with Various Shapes and Orientations of Attachments”, Journal of Clinic Orthodontics, v XLIII n 2, pp 113-117, February 2009.

Dr. Brendan O’TooleChair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

In collaboration with the Kinesiology and Civil Engineering departments, the

deformation of a composite Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) was measured while

walking on a force plate to analyze the effectiveness of a custom AFO.

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Phone: (702) 895-1056


• Expertise

• Computational fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and species transport

• Advanced computational techniques

• Multi-physics modeling

• Indoor air dispersion modeling

• Biomedical / environmental fluid dynamics


Progression of atherosclerosis in an

artery

Top: Contaminant transport within porous media.Center: Species transport within a room with an open door.Bottom: Velocity contours within a femoral artery experiencing pulsatile flow.

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Recent Publications

• Sogol Pirbastami and Darrell Pepper (2017), “An Examination of Wall Shear Stresses in Curved Arterial Vessels using Bioresorbable Stents,” COMSOL Conf., Newton, MA, Oct. 4-6.

• Pepper, D. W. and J. C. Heinrich (2017), “ The Finite Element Method: Basic Concepts and Applications with MATLAB, MAPLE, and COMSOL,” 3rd Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 609 p.

• Pepper, D. W., A. Kassab, and E. Divo (2014), “Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Meshless Methods”, ASME Press, NY, NY.

• Pepper, D. W. (2011), “Environmental Fluid Mechanics”, McGraw-Hill Yearbook.• Pepper, D. W. (2010), “Meshless Methods”, Scholarpedia.• Pepper, D. W. and D. B. Carrington (2009), “Modeling Indoor Air Pollution”, Imperial College Press, London, UK, 346

p.• Pepper, D. W. and J. C. Heinrich (2006), “The Finite Element Method: Basic Concepts and Applications”, Taylor and

Francis, New York, NY, 2nd Ed., 312 p.• Pepper, D. W. (2006), “Chapter 7: Meshless Methods,” Handbook of Numerical Heat Transfer, 2nd Ed., W. J.

Minkowycz et al (Eds.), John Wiley and Sons.• Pepper, D. W. and J. M. Lombardo (2006), “Chapter 27: High Performance Computing for Heat Transfer,” Handbook

of Numerical Heat Transfer, 2nd Ed., W. J. Minkowycz et al (Eds.), John Wiley and Sons. • Wang, X. and D. W. Pepper (2009), “An Adaptive Numerical Model for Contaminant Dispersion in Air,” Int. J. Num.

Meth. in Fluids.


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Phone: (702) 895-3187Email: [email protected]: http://www.ee.unlv.edu/~regent/

• Expertise• Biomedical imaging• Hyperspectral imaging• Deep learning approach


In collaboration with Dr. M. Yang (COE) and Dr. B. St. Pierre-Schneider (Nursing): Quantification of protein cells distribution in microscope images in injured muscles

Cancer research: Detecting microcalsifications in digital mammograms

High-performance methods for sparse-view MRI and CT reconstruction

Quantification of white blood cells distribution in light microscopy images of injured muscles

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Recent Publications • Y. Jiao, H. Derakhshan, B. St. Pierre- Schneider, E. Regentova, M. Yang, “Automated Quantification of White Blood Cells in

Light Microscopic Images of Injured Skeletal Muscle,” in Proc. 8th IEEE Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), Jan. 2018, Las Vegas, NV.

• Ali P. Yazdanpanah, E.E. Regentova, “Compressed Sensing MRI Based on Shearlet Sparsity and Nonlocal Total Variation: SS-NLTV,” Journal of Medical Imaging, 201, 4(2), 026003 (Apr - Jun 2017) 2017.

• Ali Pour Yazdanpanah, Farideh Shahraki, Emma Regentova, “Sparse View CT Reconstruction Based on Nonconvex L1-L2 Regularization,” accepted by ICIPACV 2017: International Conference on Image Processing, Analysis and Computer Vision, Apr 24-25, 2017, London, United Kingdom.

• Ali P. Yazdanpanah, E. E. Regentova, G. Bebis, “Algebraic Iterative Reconstruction-Reprojection (AIRR) Method for High Performance Sparse-View CT Reconstruction,” Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, 10, No. 6, 1-8 (2016).

• Ali Pour Yazdanpanah, Emma E. Regentova, ”Sparse-View CT Reconstruction Using Curvelet and TV-Based Regularization,” Image Analysis and Recognition, Vol. 9730 of the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science pp 672-677, 01 July 2016.

• G. Veni, E. E. Regentova, A. K. Mandava, “A New Method of Detecting Microcalcification Clusters for Computer Aided Digital Mammography,” Nineteenth International Conference On Systems Engineering (ICSENG 2008), Las Vegas, August 19-21,2008, pp. 532 – 537.

• G. Veni, E. E. Regentova, L. Zhang, “Detection of Clustered Microcalcifications using SUSAN Edge Detector, Adaptive Contrast Thresholding and Spatial filters,” International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition June 23-28, Porto, Portugal, 2008, pp. 837-843.

• J. Zheng, E. Regentova, “Independent Component Analysis for Microcalcifications Detection in Digital Mammograms,” AJICT, Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2008, pp.59-64.

• E. Regentova, L. Zhang , J. Zheng, G. Veni, “Microcalcification detection based on wavelet domain hidden Markov tree model: Study for inclusion to computer aided diagnostic prompting system,” Medical Physics, June 2007, Volume 34, Issue 6, pp. 2206-2219.


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Phone: (702) 895-3187


• Expertise• Software engineering• Programming languages• Empirical study design• Statistics• Accessibility• Music and audio technologies• Computer science education


Blind students at the Washington State School for the Blind learning to develop software by using the Quorum programming language.

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Recent Publications• (Best Paper Award) “Computer Science Principles for Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students,” Andreas Stefik,

Richard Ladner, William Allee, Sean Mealin. SIGCSE 2019 (accepted).• Uesbeck, M., Stefik A.M. “A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Impact of Polyglot Programming in a Database Context”.

9th Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools (PLATEAU 2018). Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, Volume 67, 2019.

• Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, “Methodological Irregularities in Programming Language Research.” IEEE Computer, 2017.

• Richard E. Ladner, Andreas Stefik, “AccessCSforall: making computer science accessible to K-12 students in the United States.” ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing, 2017.

• Phillip Merlin Uesbeck, Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Jan Pedersen, and Patrick Daleiden. 2016. “An empirical study on the impact of C++ lambdas and programmer experience.” In Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 760-771.

• Brad A. Myers, Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Margaret Burnett, Franklyn Turbak, and Philip Wadler. 2016. “Usability of Programming Languages: Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting at CHI 2016.” In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1104-1107.

• Igor Crk, Timothy Kluthe, and Andreas Stefik. 2015. “Understanding Programming Expertise: An Empirical Study of Phasic Brain Wave Changes.” ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 23, 1, Article 2 (December 2015), 29 pages.

• Andreas Stefik and Stefan Hanenberg. 2014. “The Programming Language Wars: Questions and Responsibilities for the Programming Language Community.” In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming & Software (Onward! 2014). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 283-299.


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Phone: (702) 895-0957Email: [email protected]: www.me.unlv.edu/~mbt

• Expertise• Optimization of human-powered vehicle

design• Bone fixation systems design and analysis• Fingertip force measurement and

characterization• Electronic Braille reading system• Characterization of diabetic ulceration• Characterization of material models of tissues


Above: Contact area images for three separate subjects from video taken underneath the transparent walkway and processed binary images generated by coloration tracking algorithm.

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Recent Publications• Jessica DeBerardinis, Janet S. Dufek, Mohamed B. Trabia, “A Viscoelastic Ellipsoidal Model of the Mechanics of Plantar Tissues,”

Journal of Biomechanics, 2019.• Daniel Lidstone, Janet Dufek, Jessica DeBerardinis, Mohamed Trabia, “Electronic Measurement of Plantar Contact Area During

Walking Using an Adaptive Thresholding Method for Medilogic® Pressure-Measuring Insoles,” accepted for publication, The Foot, 2019.

• Daniel E Lidstone, Louise M Porcher, Jessica DeBerardinis, Janet S Dufek, Mohamed B Trabia, “Concurrent Validity of an Automated Footprint Detection Algorithm to Measure Plantar Contact Area during Walking,” Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, 2018.

• DeBerardinis, J., Dufek, Janet S., Trabia, Mohamed B., Lidstone, Daniel, “Assessing the validity of pressure-measuring insoles in quantifying gait variables,” Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering, January, 2018.

• Lidstone, D.E., DeBerardinis, J., Varre, M.S., Trabia, M.B. Izuora, K., and Dufek, J.S., “Comparison of Peak Plantar Pressure and Peak Pressure Gradient among Patients with Prediabetes and Diabetes,” American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions, June,2018, Orlando, Florida.

• J. Inouye, J. Mercer. C. Mobley, M. Trabia, D. Feng, K. Daub, K. Connelly, “Activity and Diet Assessments with Wearable Technology in a Rural Setting,” Hawai‘i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, Vol. 74, No. 7, 2015.

• Z. Cook, S. Pirbastami, B. O'Toole, M. Trabia, and V. Dandolu, “Practical and Inexpensive Procedure to Measure Mechanical Properties of Vaginal Tissue,” SUFU 2015 Winter Meeting, February 2015.

• M. Saadeh and M. Trabia, “Identification of a Force Sensing Resistor for Tactile Applications,” Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Vol. 27, No. 7, 2013, pp.813-827.

• M. Saadeh and M. Trabia, “Development of a Measuring System of Contact Force for Braille Reading Using a Six-Axis Force Sensor” 2010 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vancouver, Canada, November 2010.Approved Patents

• 8,617,221, “Apparatus and methods for bone fracture fixation.”• 7,578,835, “Apparatus and methods for bone fracture reduction and fixation.”• 7,235,077, “Bone fixation device and method.”



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Phone: (702) 895-3536


Website: www.ICIS.cs.unlv.edu

• Expertise• Medical images and video• Telemedicine• Computer simulation of human anatomy• Minimally invasive methods using

computer vision• Computerized Medical Forms Detection,

Medical Records Project (DOE)• HCI Computer Vision Project (NASA)


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Recent Publications

• A. Ritchie, J. Conradi, A. Prevot, E. A. Yfantis (2010), “Robot Vision and Video Transmission,” WSEAS Transactions on Communications, ISSN 1109-2742, Vol. 9, No. 8, pp. 515-523.

• J. Adams, E. A. Yfantis, D. Curtis, and T. Pack (2006), “Feature Extraction Methods for Form Recognition Applications,” Transactions on Information Science and Applications, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 666-671.

• G. Bebis, E. A. Yfantis, et al. (2002), “Generic Object Recognition Using Combinations of Views,” IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 132-146.

• A. Angelopoulos, E. A. Yfantis, et al, “On Motion and Noise Detection In Digital Video,” Proc. Of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Las Vegas, NV. March 11-14, 2001, pp. 312-315.

• E. A. Yfantis, “ An Algorithm for Key-Frame Detection in Digital Video,” Proc. of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Las Vegas, NV. March 11-14, 2001, pp. 309-311

• E. A. Yfantis, et al. (2000), “An Algorithm for Cancer Recognition of Ultrasound Images,” International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, Vol.9, No.2, pp. 265-276.

• T. Loch, E. A. Yfantis, et al. (1999), “Artificial Neural Network of Prostatic Transrectal Ultrasound,” The Prostate Journal, Vol. 39, pp. 198-204.

• E. A. Yfantis, et al, “A Computer Algorithm for Cancer Recognition on Ultrasound Images of Prostate Tissue,” Proceedings of the IEEE International (1999). Conference on Information Intelligence and systems, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, Bethesda, Maryland, pp. 34-39.


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Phone: (702) 895-0956


• Expertise• Biosensor and devices• Mechanical implant design for OSA (Obstructive

Sleep Apnea) patients

Dr. Woosoon YimProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringDirector, Intelligent Structures and Control Laboratory

An experimental setup used to measure viscoelastic properties of a

pig’s lower jaw and tongue mounted on a BOSE Dynamic Material Tester

Fit-Click assembly prototype with constant force spring

3D geometric model developed from patient’s CT scan

March 2020 33


Recent Publications

• Yang Liu, Jennifer Mitchell,Yitung Chen, Woosoon Yim, Wenxiao Chu, and Robert Wang, “Study of the upper airway of obstructive sleep apnea patient using fluid structure interaction,” Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 249, (2018), pp. 54-61

• Y. Liu, J. Mitchell, W. Yim, Y. Chena, R. Wang, M. Trabia, “Frequency dependent viscoelastic properties of porcine upper airway,” 7th World Congress of Biomechanics, Boston, Massachusetts, July, 2014.

• S. J. Kim, D. Pugal, J. Wong, K. J. Kim, W. Yim, "A bio-inspired multi degree of freedom actuator based on a novel cylindrical ionic polymer-metal composite material," Robotics and Automation Systems (in print, 2013).

• J.S. Lee, W. Yim, C. Bae, and K.J. Kim, "Wireless actuation and control of ionic polymer-metal composite actuator using a microwave link," International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, DOI:10.1080/19475411.2012.670141 (in print, 2012).

Dr. Woosoon YimProfessor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringDirector, Intelligent Structures and Control Laboratory

Experimental validation setup for the Fit-Click device

March 2020 34


Phone: (702) 895-1463Email: [email protected]

• Expertise• Fundamentals of micro- and nano-fluidics• Electrokinetic transport• Properties of nanoparticles and biomolecules• Development of techniques using electric fields

to sort, separate, and immobilize cells and biomolecules

• Lab-on-a-chip devices for automatic, fast detection and diagnostics

• Biosensing

Dr. Hui ZhaoAssociate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Top : In nanopore-based DNA sequencing, the side where DNA is placed is termed cis and the other side is referred to as trans. Bottom: The fluorescence image on a) a smooth silicon substrate and b) the substrate with nano-antenna.

March 2020 35


Recent Publications• “Influence of Concentration Polarization on DNA Translocation through a Nanopore.” S. Zhai, H. Zhao. Physical Review E 93 (5), 052409

(2016).• Zhao, H., 2012, “The influence of nonelectrostatic ion-ion interactions on double layer capacitance,” Physical Review E, 86, 051502. • Uppapalli, S. and Zhao, H., 2012, “The polarization of a diffuse soft particle subjected to an alternating current field,” Langmuir,28,

11164-11172. • Zhao, H., 2011, “Diffuse-charge dynamics of ionic liquids in electrochemical systems,” Physical Review E, 84, 051504. • Zhao, H., 2011, “The role of hydrodynamic behavior of DNA molecules in dielectrophoretic polarization under the action of an electric

field,” Physical Review E, 84, 021910. • Zhao, H., 2011, “Double layer polarization of a non-conducting particle in an alternating current field with applications to

dielectrophoresis,” Electrophoresis 32, 2232-2244. • Zhao, H., 2011, “Streaming potential generated by a pressure-driven flow over super-hydrophobic stripes,” Physics of Fluids, 23, 022003.

(selected for the Feb. 14, 2011 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology) (Top 20 most downloaded articles in Feb. 2011).

• Zhao, H., 2010, “Electro-osmotic flow over a charged superhydrophobic surface,” Physical Review E, 81, 066314. • Zhao, H., 2010, “On the Influence of Ion Excluded Volume (Steric) Effects on the Double Layer Polarization of a Non-Conducting Nano

Particle in an AC Field,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 18, 8389-8397.• Zhao, H., 2010, “On the Effect of Hydrodynamic Slip on the Polarization of a Non-conducting Spherical Particle in an AC Field,” Physics

of Fluids,22, 072004. • Zhao, H. and Bau, H. H., 2010, “The Polarization of Nanorods Submerged in an Electrolyte Solution and Subjected to an AC Electric

field,” Langmuir, 26, 5412-5420. • Zhao, H. and Bau, H. H., 2009, “The Polarization of a Non-conducting Nano Spherical Particle in the presence of a thick Electric double

layer,” Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 333, 663-671.• Zhao, H. and Bau, H. H., 2008, “The Effect of Double Layer Polarization on the Forces that Act on a Nanosize Cylindrical Particle in an AC

Electric Field,” Langmuir, 24, 6050-6059.

Dr. Hui ZhaoAssociate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Documents

Biomedical Engineering Research - UNLV Registrar · Biomedical Engineering Research. Dr. Shahram Latifi, P.E. Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Co-Director,