Inan Named as Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Chair

Omer Inan has been appointed to the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective July 1.

Inan started working at Georgia Tech in 2013, where he is now an associate professor in ECE and a program faculty member for the Georgia Tech Bioengineering Graduate Program. Inan is the director of the Inan Research Lab, where he and his research team work on non-invasive physiological sensing and modulation for four different application areas: unobtrusive cardiovascular monitoring, wearable biomechanics, non-invasive neuromodulation of stress, and pediatric bioengineering.

Inan advises or co-advises two postdoctoral fellows, 21 Ph.D. students, and three M.S. students. He has graduated 17 Ph.D. students and nine M.S. students. Four of his Ph.D. graduates are in faculty positions at leading universities, and others hold research positions in both industry and academia. Their work has attracted media attention and has been featured in outlets such as CNN Health, BBC News, National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and Scientific American.

Inan and his team have published 258 refereed journal papers, conference papers, and abstracts, and they have been issued nine patents. He and one of his Ph.D. graduates cofounded Cardiosense, a startup company that aims to develop the first non-invasive monitoring platform that can detect early signs of congestion in patients with heart failure and allow care teams to design appropriate interventions and to monitor recovery.

Inan is an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and was recently invited to participate in the National Academy of Medicine’s 2021 International Workshop on Science & Technology for Healthy Longevity. In 2018, he received an NSF CAREER Award, an ONR Young Investigator Award, and the IEEE Sensors Council Early Career Award. In 2017, Inan received the Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award. Earlier this year, he was the co-recipient of an Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Inan was chosen for this award for the engineering of subminiature high-performance lavalier microphones developed at Countryman Associates, where he worked prior to his arrival at Georgia Tech. These microphones are used in different entertainment settings, such as live theater, concerts, television, and motion pictures.

Equally dedicated to excellence in teaching and mentoring, Inan is highly regarded by undergraduate and graduate students in ECE. He teaches courses in biosystems analysis, biomedical instrumentation, and biomedical sensing systems. He received the 2021 Georgia Tech Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor Award and the 2019 Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award, an honor determined by a vote of the ECE senior class. Inan has also been honored with the 2019 Georgia Power Professor of Excellence Award, the 2018 ECE Outstanding Junior Faculty Member Award, and the 2016 Lockheed Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

Inan is an enthusiastic and active member of the ECE and Georgia Tech communities. He is a member of the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, the Institute for People and Technology, and the GVU Center. In ECE, Inan is currently a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, and he served as the bioengineering technical interest group chair from 2018-2020. Inan was on the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair Search Committee in 2017-18 and the ECE Strategic Planning and Strategic Doing Committee in 2016-2017. He has also served in and helped with leading strategic planning activities on both the College of Engineering and Institute levels.