Neal Bangerter is the new chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Boise State College of Engineering announced.
Bangerter joins the College of Engineering from Imperial College London in the United Kingdom where he was a senior faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering. Bangerter specializes in medical imaging (with a focus on MRI), machine learning, and signal and image processing.
“I’m very excited to be joining the College of Engineering at Boise State. The university has advanced so much over the past several decades, building both its educational excellence, reach, and its research capacity,” Bangerter said. “I believe the coming decade will be a critical and exciting time for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.”
During his time at Imperial College, Bangerter served as the lead of the London Collaborative Ultra-High Field Scanner project, a joint venture between King’s College London, University College London and the Institute for Cancer Research. He also recently served as Director of Imperial College’s master’s programs in biomedical engineering.
Bangerter received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Bangerter also spent a year as a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.
“I am thrilled that Dr. Bangerter is joining our COEN leadership team,” said College of Engineering Dean JoAnn S. Lighty. “His past experiences as a leader, researcher, and teacher will be invaluable as we increase student enrollment and research in the department.”
Bangerter brings a broad variety of experience in both industry and academia to Boise State. He is an electrical engineer by trade with nearly two decades of industry experience. He has served on a number of companies’ scientific advisory boards, regularly consulting in the areas of artificial intelligence, the strategic use of data, innovation and intellectual property.
His current academic interests include the development of novel pulse sequences for magnetic resonance imaging at ultra-high magnetic field strengths, and the application of machine learning to a variety of problems in medical imaging and healthcare, biosciences and other industries.
“Boise State and local industry is at the center of much of the regional investment spurred by the CHIPS and Science Act,” Bangerter said. “As Chair of the ECE Department I’m excited at the prospect of strengthening our industry partnerships, continuing to build on the educational and research excellence of the department, and helping the College of Engineering build its stature as both a regional and national leader in engineering education and research.”