Interested in Volunteering for EMBS? Here Are Two Students' Exciting Experiences.

The IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) is the world's largest international society of biomedical engineers. Volunteering for IEEE EMBS can be an enriching experience for students. We recently interviewed two exceptional EMBS volunteers to gain insight on their volunteering experience with EMBS.

Responding to a Pandemic: COVID-19 Projects in the Malone Center.

As the scope and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear in early March of 2020, the faculty of the Malone Center engaged in several projects aimed at addressing both immediate and long-term implications of COVID-19. In this article, we briefly outline the processes that we engaged in to identify areas of need, the projects that emerged, and the results of those projects. As we write, some of these projects have reached a natural termination point, whereas others continue. We identify some of the factors that led to projects that moved to implementation, as well as factors that led projects to fail to progress or to be abandoned.

Crafting the Future-Opportunities for Students by the Reinvigorated IEEE EMBS Student Activities Committee.

"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."-Bill Gates.

JTEHM: The EMB Journey to Open Access.

The ultimate goal of engineering in medicine and biology (EMB) researchers is to improve medical care for patients and communities all over the world by providing a collaborative environment for engineer-scientists and clinicians. In order for this collaboration to occur, however, there must be a widely indexed platform that promotes communication among researchers across a spectrum of nations, both economically developed and underdeveloped, and between engineer-scientists and clinicians who are less likely to have access to IEEE Xplore. In response to this need, the EMB Society (EMBS) created the Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (JTEHM), its first Gold Open Access (OA) journal. At its inception in 2012, JTEHM outlined a bold, comprehensive objective: Our unique mission-to bring together scientific researchers, practicing clinicians, and engineers to develop actionable, practical solutions for patients, families, and caregivers-requires open communication and free access.

Solutions to Gender Balance in STEM Fields Through Support, Training, Education and Mentoring: Report of the International Women in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Task Group.

The aim of this article is to offer a view of the current status of women in medical physics and biomedical engineering, while focusing on solutions towards gender balance and providing examples of current activities carried out at national and international levels. The International Union of Physical and Engineering Scientists in Medicine is committed to advancing women in science and health and has several initiatives overseen by the Women in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Task Group. Some of the main strategies proposed by the Task Group to attain gender balance are: (a) identify and promote female role models that achieve successful work-life balance, (b) establish programs to develop female leaders, (c) create opportunities for females to increase the international visibility within the scientific community, and (d) establish archives and databases of women in STEM.

Biomedical Engineering or Biomedical Optics: Will the Real Discipline Please Stand Up?

This editorial reflects on the shape of biomedical engineering as a discipline, and its relation to biomedical optics.

Automation and Process Re-engineering Work Together to Achieve Six Sigma Quality: A 27-Year History of Continuous Improvement.

BACKGROUND: In most clinical laboratories, examination quality is considered excellent, whereas pre-/postexamination quality is an area for focused improvement. In our organization, 1 pre-/postexamination quality metric, namely, lost specimens, as tracked continuously for 27 years, has demonstrated steady improvement. During this period, many of our processes transitioned to highly automated effectors. Concurrently, we implemented behavioral controls and reengineered error-prone processes. We believe that this bilateral approach has conclusively lowered our lost specimen rates. METHODS: Using data spanning 27 years, we plotted the correlation between lost specimens and the implementation dates for 8 major phases of automation, as well as 19 process improvements and engineering controls. RESULTS: The lost specimen rate decreased nearly 100-fold. In Six Sigma terms, the 12 month moving average for lost specimens currently hovers at approximately 5.94 sigma, with 11 months at or better than 6 sigma. Although the combination of implementation of process improvements, engineering controls, and automation contributed to the reduction, automation was the most significant contributor. CONCLUSIONS: The custom automation in use by our laboratory has led to improved pre-/postexamination quality. Although this automation may not be possible for all laboratories, our description of 19 behavior and engineering controls may be useful to others seeking to design high quality pre-/postexamination processes.

Australasian recommendations for quality assurance in kilovoltage radiation therapy from the Kilovoltage Dosimetry Working Group of the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine.

The Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) Radiation Oncology Specialty Group (ROSG) formed a series of working groups to develop recommendations for guidance of radiation oncology medical physics practice within the Australasian setting. These recommendations provide a standard for safe work practices and quality control. It is the responsibility of the medical physicist to ensure that locally available equipment and procedures are sufficiently sensitive to establish compliance. The recommendations are endorsed by the ROSG, have been subject to independent expert reviews and have also been approved by the ACPSEM Council. For the Australian audience, these recommendations should be read in conjunction with the Tripartite Radiation Oncology Practice Standards and should be read in conjunction with relevant national, state or territory legislation which take precedence over the ACPSEM publication Radiation Oncology Reform Implementation Committee (RORIC) Quality Working Group, RANZCR, 2011a; Kron et al. Clin Oncol 27(6):325-329, 2015; Radiation Oncology Reform Implementation Committee (RORIC) Quality Working Group, RANZCR, 2018a, b).

Will the Real Designer Please Stand Up? [Senior Design].

In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a popular television show called To Tell the Truth, on which three contestants claimed to be a person with an unusual occupation or distinction. Two of them were impostors, and the other was telling the truth. Four panelists asked the contestants questions to determine who was being truthful. After each panelist chose the contestant he or she thought was telling the truth, the host would ask "Will the real _____ please stand up?" To create drama, each contestant would rise at different times and then sit, leaving the contestant with the unusual occupation or distinction standing.