Professor gets IGERT Grant to Create Ph.D. Program in Biophotonics

Vasan Venugopalan receives grant to create program

Professor Vasan Venugopalan, Ph.D., Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science with a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering will lead a new interdisciplinary graduate program in biophotonics, the development and application of optical technologies to advance biomedical science and healthcare.

Venugopalan received a five-year, $3 million Integrative Graduate Education & Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant from the National Science Foundation to create a doctoral-level program that integrates physics, chemistry, engineering and the life sciences. As many as six new students will be enrolled annually into the Biophotonics Across Energy, Space & Time program.

"UCI is a long-standing international leader in biophotonics," said Venugopalan, who also is affiliated with UC Irvine's Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic. "IGERT support will enable us to build a new model for graduate biophotonics education in the U.S. It will establish strong interdisciplinary interactions at the earliest stages of the graduate student experience and provide opportunities for closer integration and collaboration across research disciplines."