Attendees: J. Bear, S. Chien, B.Craig, I. Famili, S. Flaim, D. Gough, E. Hickman, M. Konno, M. Kurtis, A. Lee, I. Lorenzen-Schmidt, J. Nagle, A. Paau, J. Penhune, H. Ranney, A. Ratcliffe, G. Schmid-Schönbein, R. Sah, M.Sekins, E. Stedronsky

Approval of Minutes from 02/16/99 meeting: Approved as submitted.

New Chair of Department of Bioengineering:
Dr. Chien introduced Dr. David Gough as the new Chair of the Department of Bioengineering effective July 1, 1999. Dr. Gough is a leader in the field of biosensors. He comes to the position of Chair with outstanding credentials and scientific achievements, as well as administrative experience. Dr. Gough thanked Dr. Chien for his introduction and affirmed that he plans to carry on with the same energy and enthusiasm as Dr. Chien has for the Department.

Other Introductions:
Dr. Chien welcomed Mark Konno of Baxter Healthcare, and thanked him for coming down from Irvine. Dr. Chien also introduced Ilka Lorenzen-Schmidt and Iman Famili as the new graduate student representatives of Bioengineering. Dr. Chien announced Steven Flaim's departure from Trega Biosciences. Larry Musheck will now represent Trega. Dr. Chien thanked Dr. Flaim for his continued participation in IAB.

New Bioengineering Faculty:
Dr. Chien announced the two newest additions to the Department's faculty: Dr. Shankar Subramaniam and Dr. Gary Huber. Dr. Subramaniam, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Illinois, will officially begin his appointment as Professor of Bioengineering here on July 1, 1999. Dr. Subramaniam is an expert in Bioinfomatics. He will also have an affiliation with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD. Dr. Huber, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin's Chemical Engineering Department, will be appointed as Assistant Professor of Bioengineering of July 1, 1999. Dr. Huber's expertise is on the modeling of molecular biomechanics. The addition of Drs. Subramaniam and Huber will bring the number of Bioengineering faculty from 10 to 12.

New Powell-Focht Bioengineering Building Update:
The Department has been meeting with the architects of Ashen & Allen and the lab consultants of Research and Facilities Design. Dr. Chien mentioned that the new building would be in a quad with three other new buildings to be constructed later, one of which will be a new Computer Science Building. The Powell-Focht building will be located to make a presence on the court and on the Warren Mall. The proposal to add an empty top floor shell to the four story, 63,000 assignable square foot building has been discussed to provide for growth that can be developed according to needs. Dr. Penhune asked how much more money is required to build the next floor. Dr. Flaim asked that if the funds were raised would the university match the cost. Dr. Chien noted that a shell cost about 60% of a completed floor (or about $3 million) and that the University will match the raised funds by completing the inside when new faculty members are recruited. Dr. Penhune asked if there was anything that the Board could do to help in this capacity. Mr. Bear mentioned that two task forces have been formed to identify donors for matching funds. They have been discussing ways to identify potential donors and ways to spread the message of UCSD Bioengineering to the donors. They would like to go beyond the idea of the building and express the thrust of the Whitaker Foundation and the vision of Bioengineering for an integrated fund-raising drive. Dr. Penhune suggested writing a case statement or excerpt from Bioengineering as to why people should donate to UCSD Bioengineering. Mr. Bear asked the Board members to communicate any ideas for potential donors and name recognition to Dr. Chien.

Bioengineering Building Launching Ceremony:
The Powell-Focht Bioengineering Launching Ceremony will be held on August 12, 1999, at 3:30 - 5:00 p.m with a reception to follow. There will also be an Open Forum on the Future of Bioengineering from 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. that day.
Advanced Tissue Sciences and the Department of Bioengineering NIST Collaboration:
Dr. Ann Lee gave an excellent presentation and update on the NIST collaboration between Advanced Tissue Sciences (ATS) and the Department of Bioengineering. ATS and Bioengineering received the grant in January 1997 to develop small-diameter vascular grafts. Following Dr. Lee's presentation the board discussed advantages of Industry and Academia collaborative government grants, such as NIST.

Respectfully submitted: Elizabeth Hickman