Dr. Ashley J. Welch, the Marion E. Forsman Centennial Professor in Engineering and biomedical engineering and electrical engineering faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin, received this year’s Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Engineering Research Award. The college-wide award recognizes engineering faculty whose documented research, while associated with UT Austin, has significantly advanced the engineering profession.
Forty years ago Welch was hired by the electrical engineering department to establish biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering. When the potential of lasers for medical applications was first being realized, his early research developed a scientific basis for understanding how light penetrated and distributed through laser-irradiated tissues and how this process heated the affected area. He transformed these findings into many medical applications, most notably those involved in surgery.
Among his pioneering achievements was the creation of a laser laboratory and training of graduate students to study laser-tissue interaction. His group developed a new method to measure retinal temperature in vivo. This allowed the first measurement of temperature change in a living eye system exposed to laser light. He incorporated infrared thermographic techniques to measure spatial and temporal temperature fields in laser-irradiated tissue, in vitro and in vivo, that led to the first temperature control of laser assisted tissue welding. This research established the first patent for a flexible patch for vessel welding. His research team is currently developing a device to solder blood vessel connections back together during coronary bypass surgery.
As an international authority on the interactions of laser light with human tissue, Welch has seen many of his discoveries incorporated into the common medical practices of diagnosing and treating disease, as well as widely-adopted safety regulations.
The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research selected Welch to head its Multiple University Research Initiative program charged to study biological infrared sensors in pit vipers and jewel beetles. The consortium is examining the possibility of developing infrared sensors comparable to those found in nature.
Welch continues an active and diverse research program. With graduate students he recently devised and patented a method to make small patches of skin temporarily transparent—a finding with huge implications for advancing medical diagnostics and treatment. Joint projects are in progress for the treatment of vascular lesions.
Most important to Welch is the creation of the Biomedical Engineering Laser Laboratory to promote graduate research. He has supervised more than 45 Ph.D. students who practice biomedical engineering at universities and laboratories throughout the world. Three of these graduates were recognized by the university for Best Dissertation or runner-up for this award.
Welch is a senior fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and a fellow of the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery where he served on the board of directors. He has consulted with many major research companies and holds numerous awards for research. He also founded the journal, Lasers in the Life Sciences.
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