COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Dr. Gerard L. Cote, an expert in biomedical optical sensing, has been named head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Cote begins his new position with the department Feb. 1, succeeding Dr. William Hyman, who has served as interim department head since June 2002. "In the next 10 years, biotechnology will lead the advances in engineering, science and medicine. At Texas A&M, Dr. Cote will play an important role in helping propel biomedical engineering into a position of prominence in this field," said Dr. G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. Cote said, "As department head, I recognize that I am in a position not only of leadership, but most importantly, of service. As such, I plan to work in collaboration with the faculty, staff, students and administrators of the department, college and university to establish the department as a nationally recognized program while continuing its core mission: to serve students, faculty and staff, the State of Texas and the biomedical engineering profession." Cote has been at Texas A&M since 1991, starting as an assistant professor in the Biomedical Engineering Program when it was housed in the Department of Industrial Engineering. He was named professor and associate head when the program became a separate department in 2002. He also holds the Charles H. and Bettye Barclay Professorship in Engineering His research interests include optical sensing and spectroscopy, optical diagnostics, biomedical imaging and development of noninvasive sensors. He is director of the Optical Biosensing Laboratory in the department, where research focuses on developing biosensing and diagnostic systems using lasers, fiberoptics and electronics for new, noninvasive ways to test blood sugar levels in diabetes; to detect other body chemicals such as beta amyloid for Alzheimer’s disease; and to diagnose cancer. Cote is a co-holder of three U.S. patents and one provisional U.S. patent, and is author or co-author of more than 100 papers published or in press. He is a Fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He received the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International’s Mary Jane Kugel Award in 2002 for his service on the foundation’s Medical Science Review Committee. The Association of Former Students honored him with a 2002 Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching, and he was named the AFS Faculty Fellow in the Dwight Look College of Engineering in 2004. A TEES Senior Fellow, Cote also was elected a Fellow of the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Comparative Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices at Texas A&M. Cote received his master’s and Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
