EBS is a cooperative program for the nine U-M Medical School basic science departments, which funds research initiatives, supports faculty recruitment, and issues annual awards such as the EBS Teaching and Research Staff Awards.
Congratulations to James Weiland, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, for receiving the (EBS) Endowment for Basic Sciences 2026 Teaching Award, representing BME, and to Yike Liu, who received the EBS Research Staff Award for BME, during an awards ceremony on May 27. Liu was nominated by Tim Bruns, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, and Associate Department Chair of Graduate Programs.
EBS refers to the Endowment for Basic Sciences. It is a cooperative program for the nine U-M Medical School basic science departments, which funds research initiatives, supports faculty recruitment, and issues annual awards such as the EBS Teaching and Research Staff Awards.
“Dr. Weiland was recognized for his excellent contributions to BME 211, a large-enrollment undergraduate class, where he developed on-line modules that allowed for flipping the classroom for part of the class and received excellent teaching evaluations (average Q2 = 4.7),” said Doug Noll, Interim Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering and Ann and Robert H. Lurie Professor, Biomedical Engineering. “Jim is also lead PI and director of the NIH-funded Neural Engineering Training Program (NETP). Lastly, he has a reputation as a thoughtful mentor. In addition to his own research group, he currently mentors an M-HEAL team.”
Dr. Bruns highlighted Yike Liu’s achievements as part of her nomination. “Yike is the clinical study coordinator for my research group,” Dr. Bruns said. “In this role, she is responsible for screening and contacting potential participants, performing consent, scheduling activities, soliciting participant surveys and progress reports, and also often attending research activities. Yike frequently goes well above and beyond her job duties. She has travelled around the area helping the research team transport study equipment to study locations, often rising at early hours to help with logistics and has contributed interesting research and logistics ideas to our active studies, earning co-authorship on future publications. She has even proposed a new, novel research direction for the lab, helping plan and write grant proposals that are now in review. Yike is also a very enjoyable person to work with, which greatly facilitates her public-facing duties.”