ULTRASOUND ENGINEER

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound (CIMU) team at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington is hiring – see yourself at APL!

The Applied Physics Laboratory is a research unit at the University of Washington. Our research expertise is in ocean physics and engineering, ocean and medical acoustics, polar science, environmental remote sensing, and signal processing. We conduct research and development that is sponsored by a variety of federal and state agencies and take great pride in our long-standing status as a US Navy-designated University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Our work takes place not only on the University of Washington campus and medical centers, but in field locations around the world – at sea, in the air, and on polar ice caps. We apply rigorous scientific inquiry and engineering excellence in pursuit of solutions to important problems for the good of our region, nation, and world.

Diversity is a core value at University of Washington and the Applied Physics Laboratory shares this commitment. We are focused on building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable research environment for all students, staff, and collaborators. We believe every member on our team enriches our community by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions.

The Ultrasound Engineer will be deeply embedded in a research group that utilizes advanced ultrasound methods for both cardiovascular imaging as well as cardiac ablation (using high-intensity thermal ultrasound). This position will be primary responsible for design, fabrication, characterization (both electrical and acoustic) and pre-clinical implementation (as part of a team performing both ex-vivo and large animal in-vivo studies) of catheter-based myocardial ablation. The clinical applications investigated will include ventricular tachycardia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy septal reduction therapy. Opportunities will be available to interface with and participate in research projects in partner laboratories within the Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

Research Activities :
•        Applies independent judgement and novel research approaches to predict pressure fields and thermal bioeffects produced by ultrasound transducers, using computational simulation software.
•        Applies optical engineering and image processing principles to develop, construct, and maintain a custom ultra-fast microscope capable of studying ultrasound-induced cavitation, including custom pulsed-laser illumination, imaging and acquisition subsystems.
•        Oversees the design of therapeutic ultrasound-based medical devices through the use of computer aided design (CAD) software.
•        Develops new manufacturing techniques to fabricate such devices using tools to machine and process raw materials to achieve ultrasound transducer design specification.
•        Apply advanced engineering techniques to rapidly fabricate intracardiac ultrasound ablation catheters, ensuring consistency to allow comparisons of use in large-animal scientific studies.
•        Develops novel methods for image-guided ultrasound therapy by integrating systems such as ultrasound, fluoroscopy, electroanatomical mapping.
•        Designs and builds custom electrical circuits to match impedance between ultrasound devices and signal generators and fulfill other needs as they arise.
•        Applies appropriate software engineering to develop custom scientific instrumentation and data acquisition systems for rapid characterization of ultrasound transducers, such as calibration and spatial pressure mapping.
•        Develops custom apparatus to test ultrasound-induced cavitation using passive cavitation detection.
•        Applies signal and image processing to quantify data and develop custom scientific computational software to aid in medical device research and development.
•        Develops related intellectual property.
•        Performs scientific experiments and device characterization testing.
•        Contributes to publications and grant applications by designing protocols and describing methods and explaining experimental findings in technical detail.
•        Oversees microbubble contrast agent preparations.
•        Participates in animal research by operating experimental ultrasound devices.
•        Maintains fluency in scientific computation and instrument control software (such as MathWorks MATLAB and National Instruments LabVIEW).
•        Responsible for presenting work at national and international meetings etc.

Project Management and Mentorship :
•        Maintain knowledge of regulatory standards and manufacturing practices applicable to therapeutic ultrasound devices and intra-cardiac catheters.
•        Mentors students and junior colleagues regarding the principles of acoustic physics.  Aide with the education and training of fellows and other laboratory personnel in biomedical acoustic physics, microbubble cavitation physics, microscopy, ultrasound transducer development & characterization, general mechanical engineering and scientific computation.
•        Oversees laboratory compliance.

Requirements:
Master’s degree in engineering field and 5-7 years or more experience with engineering therapeutic ultrasound devices.

Additional Requirements
•     Knowledge of and experience with simulation tools for ultrasound propagation.
•     Experience with fabricating therapeutic ultrasound devices.
•     Experience with characterizing ultrasound fields from therapeutic ultrasound devices.
•     Experience performing in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo experiments with both small and large animal models.
•     Experience with characterization of cavitation fields generated by therapeutic ultrasound devices.
•     Experience with performing human clinical trials.
•     Experience with writing proposals and manuscripts.
•     Acoustic simulation (k-wave and other simulation packages).
•     Ultrasound transducer and catheter fabrication from raw materials including soldering, irrigation, air-backing, sealing, epoxy.
•     Electronic (comfort with network analyzer) and acoustic (comfort with hydrophones and radiation force balances) characterization of ultrasound transducers and piezomaterials.
•     Manuscript preparation.
•     MATLAB programming.
•     CAD software skills.
•     Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except where there are legal requirements such as license/certification/registration.

Desired:
•     Grant submission preparation.
•     Regulatory background including FDA-level quality systems documentation processes and good labor & practices pre-clinical workflow.
•     Large animal research methods.