Jindong Tan, associate department head and professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE), has been named interim BME program director and will oversee the transition of the biomedical engineering program into an independent department. Tan will begin his new role on August 1, 2024, and is expected to serve until the new department launches in August 2025 and the inaugural department head is in place.

Over the next year, Tan will lead efforts in strategic planning, set departmental bylaws and graduate and undergraduate policies, form standing and ad-hoc committees, and manage the move of the new BME department to Perkins Hall.

Tan has been a BME faculty member in MABE since 2012 and has served as the department’s associate department head of integrated programs and activities since 2013. In addition to teaching, Tan’s responsibilities have included chairing the promotion and tenure committee and faculty search committees and coordinating teaching assignments and course offerings for the department.

“Dr. Tan has been a true citizen of our department,” said MABE Department Head Kivanc Ekici. “His dedication to service, experience as associate department head, and his significant institutional knowledge made him a clear choice as the interim BME program director. I am certain that he will continue to do an outstanding job in this new role and ensure a smooth transition of the program during the upcoming academic year.”

Tan is excited to help establish the BME department and be part of something that will have a profound impact on the program’s national identity and advance medical science and technology for the betterment of humanity.

“As a faculty member, it is a rare opportunity to be part of the process of establishing a new academic department,” said Tan. “Along with my colleagues in the BME program, I am thrilled about the future of the new biomedical engineering department, steering the curriculum to better serve our students and grow the program, and developing research programs in integrated medical and technology innovation that improve human health.”

In March, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved the proposal to make biomedical engineering an independent department. The separation will allow BME to grow, define its new identity in terms of research thrusts, strengthen specialization in its curriculum, improve external recognition, and increase its national identity.

Approximately ten core tenure/tenure-track BME faculty will transition over to the new department. Some additional adjunct and affiliate appointments will be determined during the next year.

A national search for the inaugural BME department head will begin this fall.