Biomed engineering program at CSUS threatened
Sacramento Business Journal - by Kathy Robertson Staff Writer
California State University Sacramento's 28-year-old master's degree program in biomedical engineering is on the skids at a time when the industry it serves is ready for take-off.
The program hatched the Smeloff heart valve made by Nimbus Inc., and the bacteriological diagnostic technology sold by Dade MicroScan Inc.
The area's largest medical science company, Dade employs about 450 people in West Sacramento. Its forerunner, MicroScan, was started in the late 1970s by Dr. Richard Wertz, a former professor, using technology generated in a student project. The company was later sold in 1982 for about $4 million. The Sac State program, Wertz said, fills a void.
"It's one of those niche things that fulfills a need that neither the people in biology nor engineering can bring to force on their own," Wertz said. "By cross-training people and coming up with a unique field, some vital biotech applications are addressed."
Not for long, though. The plug may be pulled on the program by autumn.
It's a chicken-and-egg story of faculty departures and decline in enrollment that eroded support from the school's administrators. Two remaining professors are now struggling to keep it going. They've been told to raise money for a third faculty member -- a $1.5 million proposition -- or face closure by September.
The state education budget is tight for the university system. Money is generally tied to head count. And the biomedical engineering program -- which concentrates more on applied than theoretical science -- has a small number of students and high laboratory expenses.
"It's a valuable program or we wouldn't have started it in the first place," university spokeswoman Ann Reed said. "But it attracted only a few students, even when there was a full complement of faculty."
The program has been recommended for closure since 1996, but a compromise was struck allowing it to continue if supporters could raise money for an endowed faculty position, she said. Other campus research will continue regardless, she stressed.
"It's a long, complicated situation that basically boils down to one thing -- money," said Gary Cortopassi, acting CEO of Preventive Dental Systems Inc. in Sacramento and chair of a business task force established to save the program.
"Our company owes a lot to the Sac State bio-engineering program," said Kenneth Butler, president of Nimbus, which develops artificial heart circulatory support pumps. "It's one of the reasons there are a lot of bio-engineering companies in the region."
The business task force knows what the bottom line will be. "At this point," Cortopassi said, "the question is: Can we raise sufficient funds to create a foundation through which faculty can be hired?"
There's talk of applying for a $1 million, three-year grant from the Whitaker Foundation in Washington, D.C., but that requires substantial matching funds -- and at least three faculty members on board. "Whitaker sees us as below critical mass in faculty," said John Oldenburg, one of the two current professors.
One idea is to start a specialty center at Sac State for graduate education and applied research in biomedical engineering. The program would expand to six faculty, working with local industry and specializing in four areas: medical instrument design; medical imaging systems; physical rehabilitation and the human factors in engineering; and biotechnology.
"It's one of two local programs," said Dr. Deane Hillsman, a Sutter Health physician who is on a task force to consider options for the program. "With what's happening now -- the development of a biotech industry in Sacramento -- it's absolutely critical."
There's some talk of linking the program with one at the doctorate level at UC Davis, although the focus at Sac State is on technical work rather than academic research. "The kids we're training are going into human, biomedical engineering. It's a small niche, but crucial one," Hillsman said.
While the business community has been supportive, the size of donations so far doesn't approach the need, Oldenburg said. About $25,000 has been raised.
"Just as the industry is ready to take off in the area, we are threatened with extinction," added Warren Smith, the other professor still with the program. "If we could generate enough support, the payback would be tremendous."
Correspondent Barbara Marquand contributed to this story.
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