Olga Imas, Ph.D.
Professor
- Milwaulkee WI UNITED STATES
- Allen Bradley Hall of Science S356
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Dr. Olga Imas is an expert in signal and image processing, biomedical engineering, circuit theory, and advanced imaging applications.
Education, Licensure and Certification
Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering and Functional Imaging
Marquette University
2004
B.S.
Biomedical Engineering
Milwaukee School of Engineering
1999
Biography
Imas has over 20 peer-reviewed publications and five patents. Her professional interests include traumatic brain injury, stroke and ischemic disease, physiological mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, and anesthesia monitoring. Prior to joining the faculty at MSOE 2008, Imas was a product manager for MICT Neurology Applications at GE Healthcare.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
STEMMY Award (STEM Forward) in Partnership with GE Healthcare
2015
Metropolitan Who is Who, Milwaukee, WI
2006
GAANN Fellowship Award, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
2001 - 2003
Richard W. Jobling Fellowship Award, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
2000 - 2003
Falk Engineering Educator Award Finalist, MSOE
2012
Affiliations
- American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) : Member
- Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) : Member
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) : Member
- Society for Neuroscience : Member
Social
Event and Speaking Appearances
Folding systems engineering into capstone design process
ABET Symposium Miami, FL, 2016
EEG coherence in evaluation of treatment of RETT syndrome with NNZ-2566
IEEE Technical Seminar MSOE, Milwaukee, WI, 2017
Assessing Impact of Interdisciplinary Labs on Ability to Solve Multidisciplinary Biomedical Problems
Vancouver, BC., 2011 ASEE
Assessing the utility of EEG coherence in evaluation of treatment of RETT syndrome with NNZ-2566
Biomedical Engineering Seminar University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, 2016
Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing – Workshop
LETI University Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2013
Patents
Method of CT Perfusion Imaging and Apparatus for Implementing Same
U.S. Patent # 7933377
2011
Smoothing of Dynamic Data Sets
U.S. Patent # 8682051
2010
Systems and Methods for Automated Diagnosis
U.S. Patent # 8233684
2010
Research Grants
Mapping visual evoked potentials under anesthesia
NIH F32 GM077763
Primary Investigator
2006 - 2007
Volatile Anesthetics and Cerebral Cortical Sensory Integration
NIH GM-56398
Co-Investigator
2003-2007
Selected Publications
Redesigning a Biomedical Engineering Capstone Design Sequence to Enhance Student Learning
BMESImas, O., LaMack, J.A., dos Santos, I., Fennigkoh, L., Tritt, C.S.
2019
Work in Progress: Developing Medical Device Evaluation Knowledge in Biomedical Engineering Graduates
ASEE Annual Conference & ExpositionImas, O., LaMack, J.A., Fenningkoh, L.
2019
A thorough knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations of medical devices, and the understanding of a clinical device evaluation process are among the top expertise areas sought after by industry employers in their biomedical engineering (BME) hires. In the past, we have been only marginally successful teaching these topics to our students. Due to various curriculum constraints (e.g. long capstone design sequence), the coverage of regulatory compliance topics was limited to high-level information, with lectures distributed throughout different courses. Student feedback indicated that the presentation of these topics had little continuity and lacked the details and specific examples necessary to appreciate the significance of device regulation in the medical device industry. Furthermore, our Industrial Advisory Committee continuously stressed the importance of expanded coverage of the clinical device evaluation process in the BME curriculum, including device-study-appropriate statistical methods, as such knowledge would be the differentiating factor for our graduates when seeking employment.
Streamlining Biomedical Engineering Capstone Design Process
ASEE Annual Conference & ExpositionImas, O., LaMack, J.A., dos Santos, I., Fennigkoh, L., Tritt, C.S.
2018
Spicing Up Instruction in Professional Topics in Biomedical Engineering
ASEE Annual Conference & ExpositionLaMack, J.A., dos Santos, I., Fennigkoh, L., Imas, O., Tritt, C.S.
2018
Volatile anesthetics disrupt frontal-posterior recurrent information transfer at gamma frequencies in rat
Neuroscience LettersImas, O.A., Ropella, K.M., Ward, B.D., Wood, J.D., Hudetz, A.G.
2005
We seek to understand neural correlates of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. We hypothesize that cortical integration of sensory information may underlie conscious perception and may be disrupted by anesthetics. A critical role in frontal-posterior interactions has been proposed, and gamma (20–60 Hz) oscillations have also been assigned an essential role in consciousness. Here we investigated whether general anesthetics may interfere with the exchange of information encoded in gamma oscillations between frontal and posterior cortices. Bipolar electrodes for recording of event-related potentials (ERP) were chronically implanted in the primary visual cortex, parietal association and frontal association cortices of six rats. Sixty light flashes were presented every 5 s, and ERPs were recorded at increasing concentrations of halothane or isoflurane (0–2%). Information exchange was estimated by transfer entropy, a novel measure of directional information transfer. Transfer entropy was calculated from 1-s wavelet-transformed ERPs. We found that (1) feedforward transfer entropy (FF-TE) and feedback transfer entropy (FB-TE) were balanced in conscious-sedated state; (2) anesthetics at concentrations producing unconsciousness augmented both FF-TE and FB-TE at 30 Hz but reduced them at 50 Hz; (3) reduction at 50 Hz was more pronounced for FB-TE, especially between frontal and posterior regions; (4) at high concentrations, both FF-TE and FB-TE at all frequencies were at or below conscious-sedated baseline. Our findings suggest that inhalational anesthetics preferentially impair frontal-posterior FB information transfer at high gamma frequencies consistent with the postulated role of frontal-posterior interactions in consciousness.
