I wanted to report to you on our inaugural mini-conference, "At the Leading Edge: Improving Lives through Biomedical Engineering". The conference was held in Philadelphia in mid-November. From my discussions with attendees between and after the sessions, this inaugural conference was a great success.

Our goals were to reach out to alumni with a program featuring outstanding faculty and professionals, and to enable networking of individuals with common interests. We decided on Philadelphia as our "trial city" because of the large number of our alumni in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey with interest in the biomedical field.We wanted to take Cornell Engineering "on the road" to provide a sample of outstanding interdisciplinary research.

Dean Chris Ober provided perspective on the College of Engineering and the importance of biomedical engineering as a strategic initiative. Claudia Fischbach-Teschl, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, discussed her research on limiting the spread of cancer. C.C. Chu, a professor in the College of Human Ecology, talked about his outstanding advances in biodegradable biomaterials that are being used for repair of the human body.Cornell Trustee David R. Fischell '75, MS '78, PhD '80, the CEO of Angel Medical Systems, ended the program with a discussion of various medical devices that his companies have invented to reduce pain and suffering from epilepsy and migraine headaches, and to improve survivability from heart attacks. 

The program allowed plenty of time for questions and for networking over hors d'oeuvres and refreshments. The hospitality arranged by the Cornell staff provided for a perfect setting for the conference.We thank the College of Engineering and each of our speakers for a wonderful program.

We look forward to future mini-conferences in cities around the country to continue our outreach to alumni and to reconnect them with today's Cornell.

Sincerely,

Bill Bruno
President, CEAA