Banu Onaral

Dr. Onaral is H. H. Sun Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Drexel University. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and BSEE and MSEE in Electrical Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Onaral joined the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Biomedical Engineering and Science Institute in 1981. She has served as the founding Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems since 1997. Dr. Onaral’s academic focus in both research and teaching is centered on signals and systems engineering with special emphasis on biomedical signal processing.

She has led major research and development projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Naval Research (ONR), DARPA, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). She supervised many graduate students and has an extensive publication record in biomedical signals and systems. She is the recipient of a number of faculty excellence awards including the 1990 Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award of Drexel University, the EDUCOM Best Educational Software award and the NSF Faculty Achievement Award. Dr. Onaral’s professional services include chair and membership on advisory boards and strategic planning bodies of several universities and funding agencies, including service on the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Board, and on the proposal review panels and study sections.

Her editorial responsibilities have included service on the editorial board of journals and the CRC Biomedical Engineering Handbook as Section Editor for Biomedical Signal Analysis. She served as the President of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the largest member-based biomedical engineering society in the world. Earlier, she had organized and chaired the 1990 Annual International Conference of the EMBS and served as the Co-Chair of the 2004 Annual Conference of the Biomedical Engineering Society. She has been a member of the inaugural Board of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of the IEEE and the AAAS.