ECE professor Benjamin Sanchez Terrones has been given a gift by Texas Instruments, a global semiconductor company, to support him and the Sanchez Research Lab in their cutting-edge research developing new wearables to measure and monitor human health.
Sanchez Terrones will continue his work developing remote patient monitors and point-of-care diagnostic devices that can improve cardiovascular health via new applications of electricity, such as monitoring blood pressure without using a cuff. (Learn more about Sanchez Terrones’ wearables here.) Texas Instruments’ generous donation will be used to support Sanchez Terrones’ new research directions to enable non-obtrusive at-home monitoring of blood flow with a smart watch and smart ring. This clinically meaningful vital sign is currently only available for monitoring via ultrasound equipment in a hospital.
The Sanchez Research Lab will utilize semiconductor circuits manufactured by Texas Instruments in their work. Additionally, as part of the gift to the lab, this new collaboration with Texas Instruments will open new opportunities to Sanchez Terrones’ graduate students to undergo summer internships at Texas Instruments’ headquarters in Dallas, TX.
Utah leads the nation in employment growth for the health tech industry. The life sciences industry in Utah represents a highly productive, fast-growing cross-section of the state’s economy. This gift to Sanchez Terrones confirms the investment of Texas Instruments in research at the University of Utah and the state more broadly. In addition to Texas Instruments’ 300-millimeter wafer fabrication plant in Lehi, Texas Instruments announced in February 2023 their plan to build a second semiconductor plant in Lehi and invest $11 billion in this semiconductor factory. This investment represents the largest economic investment in Utah history and will create a total of 800 new, high-tech jobs.
Learn more about Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty research topics and discover ways to get involved in undergraduate research.
Written by Marlee Jeppsen.