Most of us use our cell phones, smart watches and other electronic devices without giving much thought to the components and how they fit and work together. But it\u2019s a complex problem that Markondeyaraj \u201cRaj\u201d Pulugurtha, associate professor at FIU\u2019s College of Engineering and Computing and head of the Bioelectronic and Electronic Packaging Lab, has devoted his career to solving.<\/p>\n
In the process, he has been recognized as a leading expert in the rapidly evolving fields of electronic and bioelectronic nanopackaging, wearable and implantable medical devices, antenna sensor integration and power-supply and wireless component integration.<\/p>\n \u201cI was always interested in science and technology and their influence on society,\u201d Pulugurtha said. \u201cWhen you look at the PC revolution and the creation of the iPhone, you can see the impact of technology. It can be a challenge to look at the big picture, but it\u2019s something I constantly talk to my students about. We are here to solve big problems.\u201d<\/p>\n The difficulties faced by the packaging industry include fitting layers upon layers of electronic cables, chips, sensors and delicate equipment into tiny spaces and enabling them to communicate and function together. And, in the case of healthcare implantables, or devices worn on the skin, materials must be able to survive an unforgiving environment while gathering and sending data and functioning therapeutically \u2014 all without harming the body.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with medical devices and health monitoring systems is exciting and there is so much potential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Following in Pulugurtha\u2019s footsteps are his students. Peeyush Awasthi and Anthony Giordano received first place at the 2024 Florida chapter workshop of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) for their work, \u201cIn-line monitoring and process control with mm-wave antenna sensors.\u201d Veeru Jaiswal received third place at the meeting for his work, \u201cLow-power magnetoelectric wireless telemetry system for multimodal sensing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI come from this very interdisciplinary background,\u201d said Jaiswel, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cI moved from biology to engineering to nanotech. When we are working on biomedical devices, we must be able to work across disciplines. That interdisciplinary work is what Dr. Raj is known for. He also likes to put a lot of ideas out there and then give you the freedom to choose and to implement. That is important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n It was also an approach that appealed to Awasthi, who served in the Indian Armed Forces as an engineer before coming to FIU for his doctoral studies.<\/p>\n \u201cStudying science is okay,\u201d he said. \u201cBut doing science is different from studying. With Dr. Raj, we have a bucket of solutions, not just one solution. Give me a problem and we can create a personalized solution.\u201d Awasthi hopes to develop an electronic device that turns a person\u2019s thoughts into action with no need for a keyboard or screen.<\/p>\n Pulugurtha has mentored and co-advised more than 40 graduate and undergraduate students, many of whom are now industry leaders or technology pioneers in the electronic packaging industry. One of those is Jose Solis Camara, a research and development electrical test engineer for Saras Micro Devices in Atlanta. The company\u2019s embedded, integrated passive devices serve as a new power delivery solution for high-performance computers and AI\/machine learning processor applications.<\/p>\n Camara, who graduated in 2019 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biomedical engineering, said Pulugurtha introduced him to packaging in the elective class, Bioelectronic Packaging.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know about packaging before,\u201d he said. \u201cDr. Raj was a new professor at FIU and I really enjoyed his class. I became one of the first students in his lab and he guided me through many projects. One of the things I noticed quickly about him was that he had a lot of industry connections. Through his connections, I got this job. He remains my mentor today.\u201d<\/p>\n Continuing to prepare students for industry and research positions is a priority for Pulugurtha, as is the work he is most excited about today \u2014 making better wearable and implantable devices to collect real-time data, improving access to healthcare and helping to cure medical conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cTeaching isn\u2019t about reciting information,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s seamless collaboration. It\u2019s the integration of disciplines. As we transform education and challenge our students to solve a problem, we impact society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most of us use our cell phones, smart watches and other electronic devices without giving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55145,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55142\/revisions\/55145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}