IIB Precision Sensing Lecture Series

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Dr. Angelica Walton serves asDirector of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice and as the Research & Scholarship Director for the Planetary Health North America Hub, where she advances holistic, justice-driven scholarship to empower communities and foster cross-sector collaboration. A Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, her work bridges planetary, healing justice, and regenerative systems design. Rooted in ecofeminist values, she integrates arts, storytelling, and place-based relationships into education and advocacy to cultivate interconnection, equity, and resilience. Dr. Walton partners with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and leads local sustainability initiatives that center cultural healing and environmental stewardship. Across her roles, she uplifts nature based community wisdom, champions value-based leadership, and supports the restoration of health in relationship to land, body, and collective well-being.

Seminar title: Embodied Ecologies and Planetary Health 

Speaker: Dr. Angelica Walton

Location: Walter Library 101

Lecture and Networking: 12:00 - 13:00 

 Register Here

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Pat Dillon, CDR, USN (Ret.). Pat is the Founder and CEO of MNSBIR, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that serves as Minnesota’s primary statewide hub for SBIR/STTR outreach, education, and coaching. A nationally respected expert with more than three decades of experience, Pat has guided hundreds of technology firms through the federal R&D process, helping Minnesota companies secure more than $250 million in innovation funding and accelerating commercialization across sectors.

Seminar title: How Government Investments Empower the Next Generation of Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Speaker: Pat Dillon

Location: Hybrid

Lecture: 12:00 - 13:00 

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In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Ville Pimenoff. Prof. Vimenoff is an adj. Professor in Oulu University, Finland and a visiting researcher in Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He also has a research affiliate at Aqsens Health Ltd. He is working in close collaboration with Research Unit of Population Health and Biobank Borealis, Faculty of Medicine, Oulu University, Finland as well as Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology - CLINTECH, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and Snyder Lab - Stanford University, US.

His main focus is Metagenomic and phylodynamic analytics, Exposomics, Abiotic and biotic exposures in human health, and Early detection of infectious diseases and cancer

Seminar title: Estimating integrated biotic and abiotic environmental exposures at individual and community level

Speaker: Ville Pimenoff

Location: Online

Lecture: 12:00 - 13:00 

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In the context of IEEE Twin Cities EMBS Chapter Kick Off, IEEE Twin Cities EMBS Chapter in collaboration with IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council and International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is pleased to invite you to a special seminar featuring internationally renowned expert Prof. Mark Wehde, Chair of Mayo Clinic Engineering, assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and fellow in the Mayo Clinic Academy of Educational Excellence. 

Seminar title: How Technology is Helping Us Reimagine Healthcare

Speaker: Prof. Mark Wehde

  Presentation

In the context of IEEE Twin Cities EMBS Chapter Kick Off, IEEE Twin Cities EMBS Chapter in collaboration with IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council and International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is pleased to invite you to a special seminar featuring internationally renowned expert Prof. Marco Rolandi. Marco is Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also co-founder and Chief Science Officer of CruzFoam that makes sustainable packaging solutions. Marco received his PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University and a LEAD Certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of business. His research focuses on bioelectronic systems and devices, biological control in regenerative medicine and synthetic biology, and their translational applications. His work on bioelectronic transistors and shark electrosensors has been highlighted in The New York Times, the Washington Post, New Scientist, MRS 360, IEEE Spectrum, Materials Views, Engadget, Popular Science, and several others. He currently leads one of the teams working on the DARPA BTO BETR program to accelerate wound regeneration using bioelectronics.

Seminar title: Merging Bioelectronics and ML for Optimized Wound Healing

Speaker: Prof. Marco Rolandi

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Catherine McCarty, Associate Dean for Research at the Medical School, Duluth campus, University of Minnesota. Professor McCarty started her research career as the Head of the Epidemiology Research Unit at the University of Melbourne. During her eight years in this position, she led population-based studies of vision impairment in Australia, India, and Hong Kong. Upon returning to the US, Professor McCarty was the Principal Investigator for the Marshfield Clinic Personalized Medicine Research Project and conducted research in the areas of genetic epidemiology, pharmacogenetics, and community engagement related to biobanking. Professor McCarty currently conducts mixed-methods research in bioethics and rural health.

Her awards include the Gwen Sebold research award at Marshfield Clinic, the Distinguished Alumni Award from her undergraduate college at the University of Minnesota, the Center for Women In Medicine and Science Leadership Award for Advancing Gender Equity and Inclusion in Medicine and Science Fields, and Silver and Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. She has published more than 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts, earned more than $16 million in research grants, been invited to give many scientific talks, and mentored many students.

Seminar title: Ethics of Robotics in Healthcare with Special Consideration for Women

Speaker: Prof. Catherine McCarty

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Vipin Kumar. Vipin Kumar is a Regents Professor and holds William Norris Chair in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research spans data mining, high- performance computing, and their applications in Climate/Ecosystems and health care. His research has resulted in the development of the concept of isoefficiency metric for evaluating the scalability of parallel algorithms, as well as highly efficient parallel algorithms and software for sparse matrix factorization (PSPASES) and graph partitioning (METIS, ParMetis, hMetis).

He has authored over 400 research articles, and co-edited or coauthored 11 books including two widely used text books ``Introduction to Parallel Computing "Introduction to Data Mining", and a recent edited collection, “Knowledge Guided Machine Learning”. Kumar's current major research focus is on knowledge-guided machine learning and its applications to understanding the impact of human induced changes on the Earth and its environment.. Kumar’s research on this topic has been funded by NSF’s AI Institute, BIGDATA, INFEWS, STC, GCR, and HDR programs, as well as ARPA-E, DARPA, and USGS. He also served as the Lead PI of a 5-year, $10 Million project, "Understanding Climate Change - A Data Driven Approach", funded by the NSF's Expeditions in Computing program (2010-2015).

Seminar title: AI at an Inflection Point: Catalyzing a New Era of Discovery

Speaker: Prof. Vipin Kumar

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Tay Netoff, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota. The NeuralNetoff lab is developing novel approaches for optimizing electrical stimulation to maximize outcomes for each patient.

Seminar title: Using Neural Signals to Optimize Neuromodulation Therapies to Treat Neurological Disease

Speaker: Prof. Tay Netoff

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. T. G. Satheesh Babu. He currently serves as Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore Campus. Prof. Babu leads the Biosensor Research group and Amrita Biomedical Engineering centre at the Coimbatore Campus and Heads the Amrita Biomedical Engineering (AMBE) centre. He also serves as the Research Head for the School of Physical Sciences at the Coimbatore campus.

Seminar title: Biosensors for point of care applications

Speaker: Prof. T. G. Satheesh Babu

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. John Bischof. He is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and a faculty member in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. He serves as Director of both the University of Minnesota Institute for Engineering in Medicine and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems. In addition, Dr. Bischof currently holds the Medtronic-Bakken Endowed Chair for Engineering in Medicine.

Prof. Bischof is the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs (OACA) Sr. Research Advisor for Office of Discovery and Translation (ODAT) Grant Programs, a role that includes serving as faculty lead for the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, Regenerative Medicine Minnesota, and the OACA Faculty Research Development funding programs

Seminar title: A Breakthrough in Colorimetric Lateral Flow Diagnostics: An LED-Based Handheld Thermal Contrast Reader

Speaker: Prof. John Bischof

 Presentation

In its lunch Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Thomas Fisher, director of the Minnesota Design Center, and Dayton Hudson Chair in Urban Design in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. Recognized in 2005 as the fifth most published writer about architecture in the United States, Fisher has written 9 books, over 50 book chapters or introductions, and over 400 articles in professional journals and major publications. Named a top-25 design educator four times by Design Intelligence, he has lectured at 36 universities and over 150 professional and public meetings. He has written extensively about architectural design, practice, and ethics. His latest book, Designing our Way to a Better World (Minnesota) came out in 2016. 

Seminar title: Global Climate Geodesign Challenge

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Fisher

   Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Tinen Iles, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Her research is mainly funded by AFSOR.

Seminar title: Technology Platform with Photoelectrical and Electromagnetic (EM)
Stimulator Arrays and Contactless Quantum Spintronic Sensor Array for Understanding Vision

Speaker: Prof. Tinen Iles

 Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) in collaboration with IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council Chapter is proud to host Prof. Sanket Goel, Dean and Head of Research and Innovation (Institute-wide) at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, India. 

Seminar title: Portable Optofluidic devices for Autonomous and Diversified Sensing Applications: Cyber Physical System Approach

Speaker: Prof. Sanket Goel

  Presentation

The International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) in collaboration with the IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council Chapter and IEEE Twin Cities Instrumentation & Measurement Society will be hosting two distinguished speakers on April 22nd, 2025. They are proud to host Prof. Rajesh Rajamani, Benjamin Y.H. Liu / TSI Applied Technology Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota.

Seminar title: Home-Based Activity Monitoring in Parkinson’s Disease using Wearable Sensors

Speaker: Prof. Rajesh Rajamani

The International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) in collaboration with the IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council Chapter and IEEE Twin Cities Instrumentation & Measurement Society will be hosting two distinguished speakers on April 22nd, 2025. They are proud to host Prof. Chetan S. Kulkarni, KBR Inc, Diagnostics and Prognostics Group, Intelligent Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field and IEEE I&M Distinguished Lecturer

Seminar title: Model Based Approaches for Fault Detection, Prognostics, Decision Making in Complex Systems

Speaker: Prof. Chetan S. Kulkarni

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Kathryn Draeger, Statewide Director, U of M Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, and Adjunct Professor, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota. 

Seminar title: Agriculture and Food Systems in the Face of Disruptions: The Case for Considering Solar Storms

Speaker: Prof. Kathryn Draeger

Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Prof. Mehmet Toner, co-founder of the Center for Engineering in Medicine, and founder of the NIH BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center at the Mass General Research Institute, Harvard University. He is also the Director of the Biomedical Engineering Research and Education Program for physicians at Mass General. 

Seminar title: Rare circulating tumor cells as a biosensor for cancer diagnostics.

Speaker: Prof. Mehmet Toner

 Presentation

The International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) in collaboration with the IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council Chapter, IEEE Twin Cities Section, and IEEE Twin Cities Women in Engineering (WIE) will be hosting two distinguished speakers in the field of Biosensors on Feb 21st, 2025. This event will be hybrid, with the in person session held in Walter Library.  They are proud to host Prof. Hyejin Moon, Associate Professor Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington.

Seminar title: Digital Microfluidics as Chemical and Biological Sensing Platform

Speaker: Prof. Hyejin Moon

 Presentation

The International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) in collaboration with the IEEE Twin Cities Sensor Council Chapter, IEEE Twin Cities Section, and IEEE Twin Cities Women in Engineering (WIE) will be hosting two distinguished speakers in the field of Biosensors on Feb 21st, 2025. This event will be hybrid, with the in person session held in Walter Library.  They are proud to host Prof. Thomas Thundat, Distinguished Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY

Seminar title: Molecular antenna for real-time chemical sensing with selectivity 

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Thundat

 Presentation

The CVM RIDE Seminar Series and the International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) are pleased to invite you to a seminar on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, from 3–4 p.m. featuring Professor Joon-Seok Chae, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl KCVIM, an internationally recognized expert in emerging tick-borne pathogens from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University, Korea.

Seminar title: Tick-borne Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus: Insights from Korea

Speaker: Professor Joon-Seok Chae

 Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Professor Valentina Benfenati, Neuroscientist from the Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (ISOF-CNR), National Research Council of Italy.

Seminar title: Glial engineering materials devices and approaches to dialogue with astrocytes

Speaker: Valentina Benfenati

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Professor Annalisa Convertino from National Research Council of Italy (CNR).

Seminar title: Disordered silicon nanowires to investigate neuronal and non-neuronal cells

Speaker: Annalisa Convertino

Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host  Professor Maria Grazia Raucci Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials - National Research Council (IPCB-CNR).

Seminar title: Functional Biomaterials as theragenerative platform for bone tissue

Speaker: Maria Grazia Raucci

 Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Professor Luigi Ambrosio, Director of Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB-CNR), National Research Council of Italy.

Seminar title: Italy-US Joint Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation, The working group on Advanced Materials, Nanomaterials and Biophysics: Integration of knowledge for successful international collaborative initiatives

Speaker: Luigi Ambrosio

  Presentation

In its Precision Sensing Lecture Series, International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is proud to host Professor Thomas Brown, Professor of Organic and Biological Electronics at the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tor Vergata University of Rome.

Seminar title: Biomodulation and artificial retina models via organic semiconductors and light

Speaker: Thomas Brown

Presentation