Prof. Janie M. Fouke, USA

Provost and Senior Vice President
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
USA E-mail: fouke@egr.msu.edu

Janie M. Fouke, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Florida, completed her liberal arts degree in biology at St. Andrews Presbyterian College and earned graduate degrees in biomedical mathematics and engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served as dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University from 1999 to 2005. Prior to that, she was the inaugural division director of the newly created division of bioengineering and environmental systems with the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.

From 1981 to 1999, Fouke rose through the faculty ranks in the department of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland with teaching and research interests in medical instrument design and development. Instrumentation that she has built has been critical to the understanding of the etiology of airway diseases such as asthma and the pulmonary effects of insults such as environmental pollutants.

Dr. Fouke has published roughly 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference papers and a dozen book chapters, editorials, and proprietary reports. Her 2000 book, Engineering Tomorrow, received numerous awards including The Dexter Prize, given annually by the Society for the History of Technology for the single best book published during the preceding three years.

She currently serves on advisory boards for several universities, the Engineering Directorate at NSF, and the National Institute of Bioimaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. She also served two terms as president of the IEEE/Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the largest professional society of bioengineers in the world.

Dr. Fouke is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

An increasing number of entities across the world have come to recognize the value that bioengineering research and education programs can bring to their enterprise.  The role that these programs play in bringing a diverse group of individuals into academia has been well cited.  The increased number of small start-up companies that spring from these programs has also been described.  As a consequence, many nations recognize the role that our industry plays in economic development.  Which sub-specialties within our discipline offer the greatest potential for payback?  What should be the basis for decisions about where new investments should be made?  How do you put a value on basic research where the timeline for payback is less clear?  These and similar issues will be addressed.