People

Erin M. Buckley, PhD, Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Department of Pediatrics at Emory University
Email  CV  Google Scholar     

Dr. Buckley received her PhD in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 under the supervision of Dr. Arjun Yodh.  She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with Dr. Daniel Licht, followed by a second post-doc at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Department of Radiology with Maria Angela Franceschini, funded by the MGH Fund for Medical Discovery. Her research has focused on the use of two complementary, non-invasive optical techniques, namely diffuse correlation spectroscopy and near-infrared spectroscopy, for quantification of cerebral blood flow, oxygenation, blood volume, and oxygen metabolism. In addition to developing and validating these techniques, her main goal has been to investigate unique clinical applications in pediatric cohorts using both clinical subjects as well as animal models.

Kyle Cowdrick, MSE, Graduate Research Assistant
Google Scholar 

Kyle received his Master’s in Bioengineering Innovation and Design at The Johns Hopkins University in May 2017 and is a founding member of SpineAlign Surgical LLC. Kyle also serves as the New Partnerships Liaison for Georgia Tech’s BME Capstone program. His current research focuses on early-stage clinical feasibility studies to assess the translational potential of diffuse optics in pediatric cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injury.

Rowan Brothers, BS, Graduate Research Assistant 

Rowan received his Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry at Georgia State University in May 2017.

Hongting Zhao, BS, Graduate Research Assistant

Hongting received her Bachelor’s of Science in Photoelectric Information Science and Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China in May 2017.

Tara Urner , BA, NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Tara received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Earlham College in 2016 with major concentrations in Physics and Philosophy and a minor concentration in Computer Science. She is a founding member and president of the Biomedical Photonics Society (BiPS https://bipsgatech.github.io/), an OSA chapter within the BME department at Georgia Tech and Emory.

Vidisha Goyal, MS, Graduate Research Assistant

Vidisha, received her Bachelor’s of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering at the Delhi Technology University in May 2019. She recently graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Master’s of Science in Bioengineering.

Mariam Muneera Akbar, BS, Clinical Research Specialist

Mariam received her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology in May 2022.

Sydney Triplett, BS, Clinical Research Specialist

Sydney received her Bachelors of Science degree in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in May 2022.

Paul (Seung Yup) Lee, PhD, Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Kennesaw University. He obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2015. Then, he completed his postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Buckley’s supervision in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech, funded by American Heart Association. His current research interest is to develop a low-cost, miniaturized optical sensing technology probing living biological tissues.

Tisha (Tish) Boodooram, BS, Graduate Research Assistant

Tish graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering in December 2020. She is currently a first-year PhD student, conducting research on utilizing DCS and FD-NIRS to monitor the cerebral blood flow response in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients with subsequent vasospasm after intrathecal administration of nicardipine.

LaBeausha (Beau) Holt Harris, MS, Clinical Research Specialist

Beau received her Master’s in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on neural engineering at Drexel University in December 2022. In the Buckley Lab, she works as a clinical research specialist assisting with studies related to sickle cell disease, subacute hemorrhage, and cerebral blood flow monitoring. Her goal is to obtain PhD-MD in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on neural engineering to become a Physician Scientist that assists in spearheading non-invasive methods to treat stoke and other traumatic brain injuries.

She loves to spend time with her family, dress her dog up for photoshoots, rest in peaceful solitude, learn about anything and everything, and to break out in random song while she completes her daily tasks. 

Michael Derah Arrington, BS, Clinical Research Specialist

Michael graduated from Georgia Tech with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He will be attending University of Iowa MSTP starting Summer 2024!

Kristin Wubbena, BS, Clinical Research Specialist

Kristin received her Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience from Agnes Scott College in May 2023.