TCU faculty named Healthcare Heroes by Fort Worth Business Press

Fort Worth, TX

3/15/2007

Dr. Ed Kolesar and Dr. William Ryan were named 2007 Healthcare Heroes by the Fort Worth Business Press for their commitment to research and education. Dr. Kolesar was recognized for his work with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and the human eye and Dr. Ryan was recognized for his work with the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic.

Dr. Kolesar has been a member of the faculty in the department of engineering since 1993. In 1998, he teamed with the Presby Corporation of Dallas and they are presently developing an artificial polymeric lens for the human eye that will be focused with a MEMS-based artificial muscle network.

Since 1995, Kolesar has teamed with Technispan, Inc., Pikesville, MD and SRI International, Menlo Park, CA on a DARPA/SBIR research program to produce a MEMS-based gas chromatography + ion mobility spectroscopy system capable of detecting toxic compounds of national interest. During the summer of 1996, with the help of an undergraduate research assistant, Kolesar initiated a co-operative Internal Research and Development (IR&D) program with the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Corporation, Tactical Aircraft Systems Division, Fort Worth, to apply microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology in the aerospace environment. In 1998, Kolesar teamed with the Presby Corporation of Dallas and they are presently developing an artificial polymeric lens for the human eye that will be focused with a MEMS-based artificial muscle network.

Dr. Ryan has been at TCU since 1996 and is associate professor and chair of Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (COSD). In addition to overseeing the academic arm of the COSD, he also runs the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic. Through Dr. Ryan's leadership, the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic, the training arm of TCU's communication sciences and disorder department (COSD), has been offering bilingual therapy services to hundreds of children. The unique therapy sessions are possible because of the department's bilingual-emphasis master's program in speech-language pathology, one of only 13 at universities nationwide, and a partnership with five local Head Start day care programs. Throughout the year, the clinic provides hearing screenings and follows up for children in local Head Start day cares. The Clinic services approximately 100 clients per semester (at a modest charge) and there is currently a wait list of over 100 clients.

Approximately 50 percent of TCU graduate students who work in the clinic are bilingual. Because of Dr. Ryan's expertise, the COSD program, in conjunction with the Clinic, helps to train a majority of the bilingual speech and hearing therapists in Tarrant County.