Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Karen May-Newman

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 The two primary goals of my current career path are to stimulate students to learn about biomedical engineering and to pursue interesting research questions in this field. These two goals enjoy a symbiotic relationship, as educating students requires currency in one’s own research area as well as providing new perspectives on classical problems. As a new faculty member of a Mechanical Engineering department, my expertise in bioengineering will be used to develop courses as technical electives for undergraduates as well as graduate courses in specialized topics. It is hoped that interest in biomedical engineering at San Diego State University will increase, from both undergraduate and graduate students and be further strengthened by our established Joint Doctoral Program with UCSD.

 The broad, long-term direction of my research is to understand the role of mechanical stress in cardiac tissues in the maintenance of normal structure and function. Tissue remodeling in disease states is often related to alterations in the stress distribution. Study of the relationships between material properties, microstructure and mechanical loading yields information on the physiological feedback between function and structure in all levels of cardiac tissue organization, from whole organ to cells. I am currently initiating research in three areas, all of which have grown individually from my past graduate, postdoctoral and industrial experience. These research areas are linked by the innately mechanical natures of the cardiovascular system and the biomechanics approach: the integrated combination of experimental work and engineering analysis to understand the role of stress and deformation in health and disease.