Academic Affiliation
Dean, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering
Credentials
PhD, Stanford University
MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Bio
Deirdre Meldrum develops technologies that enable the study of live organisms in harsh environments from the human body to the oceans. She develops tools, sensors and automated systems to detect and analyze differences between healthy and diseased cells. In addition to her responsibilities at the Biodesign Institute, Dr. Meldrum is Dean of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
The Center for Ecogenomics is the headquarters for the Microscale Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which Meldrum directs, as well as the facility for Meldrum’s part in an oceanography project called NEPTUNE. The MLSC is a National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science. In that role, Professor Meldrum leads research to study the fundamental mechanisms governing the birth, growth and decline of human cells with the aim of better understanding and finding ways to combat the most widespread diseases and other threats to human health. As the result of achievements in its first five years, the MLSC has been awarded a second five-year $18 million federal grant to continue its work. MLSC research partners include the University of Washington, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Brandeis University.
Professor Meldrum is among the leaders of NEPTUNE, a project to construct a cabled underwater observatory in the northeast Pacific Ocean with high power and bandwidth for real-time oceanographic observations and experiments. Her team is developing sensing devices and other instruments to gain knowledge of the biological, chemical and physical environments at microbial levels on the sea floor and in the water column.
Prior to joining ASU, Dr. Meldrum was professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. In 1996 she was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers “for recognition of innovative research utilizing a broad set of interdisciplinary approaches to advance DNA sequencing technology.” She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Meldrum received the PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University, an MS in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a BS in civil engineering from the University of Washington.