Professor gets IGERT grant to create Ph.D. program in biophotonics

A UCI professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering & materials science will lead a new interdisciplinary graduate program in biophotonics, the development and application of optical technologies to advance biomedical science and healthcare. Vasan 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 UCI’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.”