2/21/2024 Eleanor Wyllie
Michael L Oelze, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering, has been elected a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America for contributions to quantitative ultrasound tissue characterization.
Written by Eleanor Wyllie
Michael L Oelze, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America for contributions to quantitative ultrasound tissue characterization. The award will be formally presented at the next ASA meeting in May 2024.
Oelze’s research focuses on bioacoustics, dealing with different aspects of ultrasound-tissue interaction, including cancer detection and cancer therapy monitoring using quantitative ultrasound, improved clinical imaging, super-resolution ultrasound, therapeutic ultrasound, and ultrasound-based in-body devices.
“The goal of our lab and my research is to improve diagnostic ultrasound through novel imaging approaches and device and hardware development,” Oelze summarizes.
His bioacoustics research encompasses multiple projects. Currently, Oelze and his team are developing quantitative ultrasound techniques for early detection of breast cancer responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. These techniques enable them to detect whether someone responds to treatment early on during chemotherapy. Oelze is pairing the quantitative ultrasound technology he advanced at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a scanner created by industry partner QT Imaging.
Oelze’s other projects include developing small ultrasound devices that can be implanted inside the body, working on different imaging algorithms to improve general ultrasound imaging, and developing therapeutic ultrasound techniques.
The Acoustical Society of America has been important for Oelze throughout his academic career. “ASA is the society where I got my start in research, and I’ve continued my research in the field of acoustics ever since,” Oelze comments. “This is my area, and it’s nice to be recognized by this particular society, which has meant a lot to me. I’m grateful for that.”
The Acoustical Society of America aims to “generate, disseminate, and promote the knowledge and practical applications of acoustics.” It covers many branches of the interdisciplinary subject of sound, from speech communication and underwater acoustics to biomedical and computational acoustics.
Oelze is a member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology in the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, Interim Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and affiliate faculty at the Department of Bioengineering, Coordinated Science Laboratory and Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab.