Marco Santello has been named director of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He has served as interim director of the School since June 2011.
Santello joined ASU in 1999 as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In kinesiology, he served as the director of the master’s program and the Ph.D. program as well as interim department chair. Santello joined the Fulton Schools of Engineering in July 2010.
“I am very excited and honored by the opportunity to serve as director of our School,” says Santello. “The interdisciplinary nature of biomedical engineering, combined with its potential to generate effective means to improve the human condition, make our school a key player within the vision of ASU to serve our community—and become a hub for state-of-the art biomedical research bringing together scientists, engineers and clinical partners. The School has significant momentum thanks to first-class faculty, wonderful staff and extraordinary students. I am looking forward to guiding the school in its mission to educate future leaders in biomedical engineering and become one of the leading schools in the country.”
“Marco was selected after an extensive national search, with his candidacy enthusiastically supported by students, faculty and staff,” says Paul Johnson, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. “His collaborative and interdisciplinary nature, commitment to supporting students and faculty, and vision for linking his school to major university initiatives and external partners to enable broader impact, made him an ideal choice for director. I am looking forward to working with Marco and his faculty to achieve that vision.”
Santello is the director of the Neural Control of Movement Laboratory (NCML) whose mission is to characterize the neural mechanisms underlying sensorimotor transformations, control and learning of hand movements. Work in the NCML utilizes complementary experimental approaches, ranging from intramuscular electromyography to measuring hand kinematics and dynamics. His research has applications to rehabilitation of hand function, neuroprosthetics and biologically-inspired robotics.
Santello has over 60 publications and his research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Santello currently serves as a regular member of the Motor Function, Speech and Rehabilitation Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.
Santello has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in motor behavior and neurophysiology to over 800 students. He has mentored over 50 undergraduate and high school students, 15 graduate students and seven postdoctoral trainees.
Santello holds a bachelor of science in kinesiology from the university of L’Aquila, Italy, and a Ph.D. in exercise science from the University of Birmingham, U.K. He received his postdoctoral training in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota.
