{"id":30,"date":"2025-03-18T14:09:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:29:08","slug":"message-from-the-department-head","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/about\/message-from-the-department-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Department Head"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d53d6d0c wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--x-small);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--x-small)\"><h1 style=\"font-style:italic;font-weight:400;text-transform:uppercase;\" class=\"wp-block-post-title has-condensed-font-family\">Message from the Department Head<\/h1>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized has-custom-border is-style-utkwds-right-frame\" style=\"margin-right:0;margin-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--x-small)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RenDacheng-800x1200-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dacheng Ren\" class=\"has-border-color has-white-border-color wp-image-821\" style=\"border-width:2px;width:492px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RenDacheng-800x1200-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RenDacheng-800x1200-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RenDacheng-800x1200-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RenDacheng-800x1200-1-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for visiting the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). As one of the most rapidly growing disciplines, biomedical engineering provides new knowledge and innovative solutions to better diagnose, treat, and cure diseases, ultimately improving human health and longevity. It is an important and exciting field with unlimited potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BME at UT enjoys rapid growth with strong institutional support, including new faculty hires and updates to the curriculum and facilities. This strengthens our commitment to educating engineers who will lead in medical devices, biomechanics, imaging, biomaterials, and precision health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the department continues to grow, our research momentum has accelerated. Faculty and students are advancing projects supported by new and ongoing funding, such as NSF-supported work on a \u201csmart\u201d surgical camera, NIH-sponsored biomaterials research, and industry-sponsored studies using in vivo fluoroscopy and advanced computational modeling to improve our understanding of joint mechanics and orthopedic implant performance. These efforts build on long-standing partnerships that help move innovation closer to clinical impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equally important, we are deeply committed to mentorship and student success. Our goal is to prepare biomedical engineers who thrive in academia, healthcare, and the medical technology sector, and who reflect the Volunteer spirit through innovation, service, collaboration, and real-world impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you are a prospective student, an alum, or a potential collaborator, I encourage you to explore our programs, stay connected, and help shape what UT biomedical engineering becomes through scholarship, partnership, and engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Warm regards,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"305\" height=\"111\" src=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/image.png 305w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/image-300x109.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 305px) 100vw, 305px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dacheng Ren, PhD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zeanah Professor and Department Head<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you for visiting the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). As one of the most rapidly growing disciplines, biomedical engineering provides new knowledge and innovative solutions to better diagnose, treat, and cure diseases, ultimately improving human health and longevity. It is an important and exciting field with unlimited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":822,"parent":14,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-title","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Message from the Department Head - Department of Biomedical Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/bme\/about\/message-from-the-department-head\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Message from the Department Head - Department of Biomedical Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thank you for visiting the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). 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