November 2016 NUI Galway researcher identified as ‘Rising Star’

An award-winning NUI Galway researcher, Dr Emily Porter, was selected to attend the recent 2016 Rising Stars Workshop for her work on understanding human soft tissue. The workshop was hosted by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The annual academic career event brings together over 60 of the brightest female Ph.D. students, postdocs, and engineers/scientists in the fields of electrical and computer engineering and computer science. Over the two-day workshop the select group presented their work, and focused on scientific interactions and career-oriented discussions.

Dr Porter's research focuses on the dielectric properties of human tissues and their use in the design and development of cutting-edge medical devices.

Explaining her research in simple terms, Dr Porter said: “The human body is amazingly complex, and there is still so much to be understood. My interest is in the electrical properties of our tissues, including how our body interacts with electromagnetic energy such as with mobile phones or magnetic resonance imaging. This work promises to provide insight for building new electromagnetic medical devices for the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancers and other diseases.”

Based in NUI Galway’s Lambe Institute for Translational Research, Dr Porter works under the supervision of Dr Martin O’Halloran in the Translational Medical Device Lab.  Dr O’Halloran said: “Working alongside NUI Galway’s Dr Róisín Dwyer and Professor Michael Kerin in the Lambe Institute for Translational Research, Dr Porter is developing improved methods for measuring the dielectric properties of biological tissue. This will allow us to have alternatives in future to development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic technologies.”

Dr Porter’s research is funded by the European Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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