4/13/2026 Ben Libman
The Department of Bioengineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is proud to announce that five faculty members have been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. Professors Yang Liu, Viktor Gruev, Mark Cohen, Michael L. Oelze and Cunjiang Yu earned this prestigious recognition and were formally inducted during AIMBE’s annual meeting. “Let’s congratulate our new AIMBE Fellows for their scholarship and impact,” said professor Shuming Nie, Interim Department Head of Bioengineering.
Written by Ben Libman
The Department of Bioengineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is proud to announce that five faculty members have been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. Professors Yang Liu, Viktor Gruev, Mark Cohen, Michael L. Oelze and Cunjiang Yu earned this prestigious recognition and were formally inducted during AIMBE’s annual meeting. Gruev, Oelze, and Yu also hold appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Mark Cohen serves as the Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, where Oelze also holds an appointment.
Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to leaders in medical and biological engineering, representing the top 2% of experts in the field. Fellows are nominated by their peers and recognized for outstanding contributions to research, innovation, education, and the advancement of medical and biological engineering.
Professor Shuming Nie, Interim Department Head of Bioengineering at Illinois, remarked, “This is a most impressive group of faculty working at the cutting edges of engineering and medicine.”
Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering and bioengineering professor Rashid Bashir concurred, saying, “these elections are proof of what we’ve known for years— that our faculty are leaders, not only in their own field, but in interdisciplinary collaboration as well.”
Yang Liu
Liu’s research focuses on optical imaging platforms, particularly on cancer detection and treatment. One platform is the Omni-Mesoscope, a technology that allows the user to see granular detail over a much larger area than has been previously possible. Liu emphasized the importance of integrating AI into her work, saying, “AI has become an essential tool and is now deeply embedded across nearly every area of biomedical research. AI does not replace this domain knowledge; instead, it amplifies its power.”
Liu thanked professor Nie for the nomination and emphasized that AIMBE will enable her research to reach new heights. “This recognition further motivates me to continue developing innovative imaging technologies, pursuing high-impact research and mentoring the next generation of biomedical engineers,” Liu said, adding that these elections will strengthen the department’s ability to recruit graduate students, ensuring the brightest minds come to Illinois.
Viktor Gruev
Gruev’s lab specializes in the development of imaging sensors inspired by real-life biological processes. He explains, “a foundational contribution in this area was my group’s development of the first visible spectrum, single-chip color-polarization imaging sensor. This made it possible to capture co-registered color and polarization information in the same exposure on a Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) device.”
Being elected is “a deeply meaningful honor,” Gruev said. “It represents recognition from peers across medical and biological engineering for work that has moved from fundamental ideas to real-world impact. For both the Department of Bioengineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, I hope this recognition helps amplify Illinois’ leadership.” Gruev is eager to utilize the AIMBE community to strengthen Illinois’ bioengineering research ecosystem and to better reach patients.
Mark Cohen
Cohen’s research spans novel chemotherapy techniques, bone regeneration strategies, and tissue-engineering autologous endocrine organs from a patient’s own fat cells. As Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, he leads the world’s first engineering-based medical school as it integrates AI, data science, engineering, patient-centered design thinking, and applications of novel Extended Reality (XR) technologies in medicine (through an NSF-funded Industry-University-Collaborative-Research Center he co-leads) to train the next generation of physician innovators who are already developing solutions for the future of health care. Cohen has also created the Global Consortium of Innovation and Engineering in Medicine, an international public-private-government collaborative focused on developing new models of integrating engineering and medical education and building the world’s largest de-identified health-data warehouse. The initiative now includes over 70 leading medical and engineering schools, government agencies, and global health partners across 22 countries on six continents.
“It is a true honor to be a fellow of the AIMBE,” said Cohen. “It validates my research and educational efforts to connect medicine and engineering to train the next generation of bioengineers and physicians who can create impactful solutions for the future of healthcare.” Cohen emphasized the team behind his research achievements. He regularly collaborates with other staff and faculty across bioengineering and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, forming partnerships that have led to new discoveries. Cohen is eager to continue this work, saying, “connecting these efforts and partnerships to AIMBE will accelerate their scalability and create broader impact benefiting patients and society in Illinois and around the world.”
Michael Oelze
Oelze’s focus is developing novel ultrasonic imaging technologies. Oelze was recently awarded a $2.6 million grant to pursue next-gen ultrasound, including ultrafast 3D volumetric ultrasound imaging, which captures both depth and motion in real time for richer diagnostic information. His lab is also building ultrasound that can detect the quantity and direction of blood flow—a longstanding problem in the field.
Oelze said the elections reflect the impact of research at Illinois: “AIMBE fellows are demonstrable evidence that people are having impact in their research and contributions to the field of biomedical engineering.”
Cunjiang Yu
Yu’s work focuses on bio-integrated technological devices. Yu explained that building electronics directly into tissue “enables seamless integration between electronic devices and biological tissues, allowing precise sensing, diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.” In the past, Yu has developed self-adhesive rubbery bio-optoelectronic stimulators that attach to the heart to help with cardiovascular diseases and rubbery CMOS circuits that allowed for crucial advancements in wearables.
Yu called his election a tremendous honor, noting,“it reflects the collective efforts of my students, postdocs and collaborators who have helped advance our shared vision of advancing and integrating soft and bioelectronics with biological systems. This recognition strengthens the visibility of our work and the Bioengineering department at the national and international levels and facilitates new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.”
“Let’s congratulate our new AIMBE Fellows for their scholarship and impact,” said professor Nie. “It is remarkable that a vibrant bioengineering community has thrived across the Grainger College of Engineering and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and that this group continues to lead technological innovations in medical imaging, wearable devices, robotic surgery, and physical AI.”