Institute of Biological Engineering inducts Verma as Fellow
April 9, 2009Contact Information:
Dr. Lalit Verma, Interim Dean, Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food & Life
Sciences, 479-575-2034 / lverma@uark.edu
Howell Medders, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas System
479-5647 / hmedders@uark.edu
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Lalit Verma, interim dean of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, was inducted as a Fellow of the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) at the institute’s annual meeting March 19-21 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Verma is head of the university’s department of biological and agricultural engineering. He led a reorganization of the department to create the biological engineering major in the year 2000. He had led a similar departmental restructuring to provide the biological engineering major at Louisiana State University before coming to the University of Arkansas.
As a pioneer in the discipline, Verma is a charter member and former president of the Institute of Biological Engineering, which was founded in 1995.
“Biological engineers create solutions to problems by coupling living systems with the tools of engineering and biotechnology,” Verma said.
Enrollment in the biological engineering major at the University of Arkansas has increased from the 20’s when Verma became department head in 2000 to about 100 in the fall of 2008. Jointly offered by Bumpers College and the College of Engineering, the major includes concentrations in biomedical, biotechnology and ecological engineering.
Verma was inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering at that institute’s annual meeting Feb. 12 in Washington, D.C.
Verma also led the creation of the new College of Engineering interdisciplinary Master of Science program in biomedical engineering, which is the only one of its kind in Arkansas, in fall 2004. Earlier in his career, he was internationally recognized for his research in rice and forage post-harvest engineering and technology.