Guidant Funds Medical Software Research Program at Embry-Riddle
Daytona Beach, Fla., Aug. 31, 1998 -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has received first-year support worth $550,000 from Guidant Corporation, a leader in the medical device industry, to create a new program to conduct research for the development of software for medical devices. The donation will help build the infrastructure for a medical devices software laboratory and fund two Guidant student fellowships on the University's Daytona Beach, Fla., campus.
 The innovative research partnership between Guidant, known worldwide for its pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, and Embry-Riddle, known for aviation and aerospace education, centers on a common interest in software engineering.
The University has a software engineering degree program and software center in which faculty and students conduct projects that include research on safety-critical, real-time software systems that run navigational aids and flight controls for aviation. Six graduates and seven student interns from that program now work in Guidant's cardiac rhythm management group, designing software systems for pacemakers and implantable defibrillators.
"This all began when we found four Embry-Riddle graduates on our staff whose skills in modern software engineering topics and problems were stronger than most new graduates," says Ramin Mojdeh, Guidant's director of research and development. "That told us Embry-Riddle is doing something right, and we wanted to have more of it."
Mojdeh says Guidant is investing in Embry-Riddle because "we want to recruit top talent, and we want to create a partnership with the University in solving some of our technical challenges."
During the coming year, Soheil Khajenoori, director and professor of software engineering at Embry-Riddle, will lead the development of the knowledge base on medical devices needed to perform software research for Guidant's products that treat cardiovascular and vascular disease. The company will donate special equipment for the testing and validation of new software developed by researchers from both organizations.
Guidant also will commission specific research projects for the University's software center to complete on a contractual basis.
"While our software engineering graduates have always been prized in the aviation and aerospace industry, we're now seeing a growing demand by other industries that require their skills for critical systems," says Iraj Hirmanpour, chairman of Embry-Riddle's department of computing and mathematics.
Embry-Riddle, the world's largest fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of these and related industries through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Degree programs through the master's level are offered in Daytona Beach, Fla., Prescott, Ariz., and more than 100 teaching sites in the U.S. and Europe.
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