New innovations in medical technology are always crucial to the success of our economy’s biomedical sector. Until recently, work in biomedical engineering has been primarily auxiliary in nature – from high-tech wheelchairs and breathing aids for paraplegics to chirping traffic signals to help the blind cross the street safely. Thanks to the newly established Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems (BMES) Engineering Research Center at USC, biomedical engineers, electrical engineers, and research physicians will undertake research that might eventually lead to a better understanding of how the brain and physical tissue work together, and perhaps lead to cures for currently incurable maladies. “Our very ambitious goal is to help the blind see, the paralyzed walk, and to restore the function of memory,” says C. L. Nikias, dean of the University of Southern California (USC) College of engineering. Learn more about this in PRISM, ASEE’s award-winning magazine.

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