Lehigh establishes new Department of Bioengineering

Lehigh has established a new Department of Bioengineering that will build upon the university’s existing bioengineering undergraduate and graduate programs, according to an announcement from Provost Patrick V. Farrell.

The department, which was formally announced on July 1, will be chaired by Professor Anand Jagota, a member of the chemical and biomolecular engineering faculty who has chaired the bioengineering program since 2004.

“As Lehigh moves toward the creation of a new College of Health, the new Department of Bioengineering will form an essential connection point for ongoing interdisciplinary research and serve as a natural channel of partnership between the colleges,” Farrell wrote.

The initial department faculty includes 17 members with academic appointments, as well as 17 affiliated members, according to the announcement. Their research is supported by, among others, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy.

“The field of bioengineering was born out of a combination of elements from other well-established disciplines,” Jagota told University Communications. “In recent years, it has developed its own language, its own tools, its own ‘gravitational pull,’ so to speak. Thus, the timing is right for Lehigh to recognize this evolution by organizing the faculty and students working in this space into a self-standing department.”