Lab Director
Anuradha Godavarty
Associate Professor & Undergraduate Program Director, Biomedical Engineering
Florida International University, Miami, FL
Graduate Students
Kevin Leiva – Ph.D Student
Kevin graduated from FIU in Spring 2016 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in the Fall of 2016. His research is focused on Near-infrared Optical Imaging of lower extremity ulcers. Currently, Kevin is working on perfusion studies in lower extremity ulcers and is developing techniques to demarcating regions of poor oxygenation.
Kacie Kalie – Ph.D. Student
Kacie graduated from FIU in Summer 2017 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. Currently working toward her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with expected graduation Spring 2021. She joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in Fall of 2016. Kacie’s research involves the development of hand held optical devices, including design and data processing, later applied to clinical studies for validation.
Daniela Leizaola – PhD Student & Webmaster
Daniela graduated from FIU in Spring 2021 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry. Currently working toward her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, with expected graduation Spring 2025. She was awarded as a Norman Weldon Scholar (2019 & 2020) and completed an Honors College ARCH thesis titled “Monte-Carlo based near-infrared light propagation modeling for different skin types and melanin concentrations.” Amidst joining the Optical Imaging Laboratory in Spring 2019, her primary focus was on optimizing the driver for the in-house Near-infrared Optical Scanner in order to reduce white noise for calibration. She also worked on validating the device by extracting pulse readings using dynamic imaging. Currently, she is modeling various skin types using Monte-Carlo Simulations on the MATLAB programming software. Additionally, she is investigating possible variations of tissue oxygenation among arterial calcification and chronic kidney disease subjects.
Undergraduate Students
Alex Trinidad – Undergraduate Student
Alex is a senior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. He began working Optical Imaging Laboratory in the Summer of 2020 and was awarded the Norman Weldon Scholarship for the development of a SmartPhone Oxygenation Tool (SPOT) android application. The purpose of the app is to record multiwavelength near-infrared images and create tissue oxygenation maps with ease of use.
Noble Amadi – Undergraduate Student
Noble is a senior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. He joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in the Fall of 2021. He was awarded the Norman Weldon Scholarship for the Summer of 2022 for the Calibration of an Optical Property Measuring Device.
Faiza Nazir – Undergraduate Student
Faiza is a junior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. She joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in Spring 2022 and is a CURE Research Trainee. She was awarded the Norman Weldon Scholarship for the Summer of 2022 for working on data processing of oxygenation parameters in mice models.
Sydni Spencer – Undergraduate Student
Sydni is a rising senior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. She joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in Spring 2022 and is a CURE Research Trainee. She was awarded the Norman Weldon Scholarship for the Summer of 2022 to draw a relationship between radiation dermatitis and synchrony on oxygenation maps retrieved from imaging with NIROS with the hopes of supporting current methods of clinical assessment.
Alejandro Vecchio – Undergraduate Student
Alejandro is a senior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. He joined the Optical Imaging Laboratory in the Summer of 2022. Currently,He is working to develop a mobile device app for telemedicine applications.