Our Mission
Our innovative Nurse-Engineer Approach leverages real-time collaborations to identify today’s healthcare problems and iterate on potential solutions that will lead to valuable advancements in patient care, nursing practice, and medical product development. Together we strive to:
Leverage the unique insights of nurses and engineers to address healthcare challenges at the forefront of patient care
Create new pathways in interdisciplinary research and education to create an open forum for sharing and learning
Supporting nurses and engineers to become leaders of healthcare innovation for a healthier and more equitable future
Training Healthcare Innovation's Next Generation
The Nurse-Engineer Approach: At the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation we are pioneering the powerful bidirectional real-time collaboration to identify healthcare issues, develop and refine solutions, assess outcomes, and make informed decisions to optimize the delivery of patient-centered healthcare.
The EMCNEI Report
Explore our Center's Achievements, Pilot Grants, Internships, and Events in the EMCNEI Reports. These annual publications offer a detailed look at our work, providing insights into our programs, milestones, and future plans. Read the latest reports to stay informed about our progress and find out how we're making an impact.
Our History
Founded in January 2021, the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation was formed using seed funding provided by Michael and Theresa Hluchyj and soon expanded thanks to a second major donation from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Charitable Foundation. The Center provides an incredible opportunity for students, staff, faculty, and corporate partners. The Product Prototyping Laboratory enables students to design and prototype new products allows for product and service testing by frontline clinical end-users.
About Elaine Marieb, RN, PhD
The Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation is named in honor of distinguished two-time UMass Amherst alumna Elaine Marieb, who earned a master of science degree from the College of Nursing with a specialization in gerontology in 1985, and a PhD in zoology from the College of Natural Sciences in 1969. A trailblazing educator with an abiding belief in the power of education to change lives, Marieb earned six different higher education degrees in all, and connected deeply with the students she taught at Springfield College and Holyoke Community College. She reached countless more students in classrooms worldwide through her many best-selling textbooks and laboratory manuals, widely considered the gold standard for teaching anatomy and physiology.
Message from the Co-Directors
"Today, healthcare technologies are too often made without the insights and understanding that clinicians bring to the table. Nurses are end-users, facing healthcare challenges on the frontlines of patient care. Engineers have the expertise and skills to envision and create medical devices and can work with nurses who bring the real-world healthcare experience needed to design the best possible products and solutions. This transformation depends heavily on collaborative research and development work among nursing, engineering, and other disciplines. The ability to quickly and effectively develop and test innovations requires both nursing and engineering skill sets. The power of the nurse-engineer approach is derived from the mutual collaboration between the two, where the nurse identifies the problem, and the engineer facilitates potential solutions."
— Karen Giuliano & Frank Sup, Co-directors
Co-Directors
Dr. Karen Giuliano's research is focused on innovation in health care practices and products that results in the improvement of patient outcomes. She is a Professor (joint) in the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and the Institute for Appplied Life Sciences. Karen has directed the creation of IV smart pumps that improve the safety of medication administration and research that reduces (non-ventilator) hospital-acquired pneumonia.
Dr. Frank Sup draws on his background in mechanical engineering to develop patient-focused solutions for medical challenges in physical movement and rehabilitation. He is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. He also directs the Mechatronics and Robotics Research Lab, where he mentors students in research on human-centered robotics and advanced design and control structures and methodologies.
Staff
Karen Battistoni joined the Center in July 2023 after working six years in UMass Amherst Alumni Relations. Continuing her work at UMass in this new role, she enjoys using her project management, team development, and event planning experience to help support center growth. She earned her BA in Communication with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film and a cognate in German from Marist College and her MA in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University.
Genevieve Sawyer is a freelance food writer with a BA in Sociology and she appreciates innovative approaches to nursing and engineering. Previously Academic Department Coordinator for Amherst College’s Film and Media Studies (FAMS) and Grants programs, as the Center Coordinator she works behind the scenes to keep the Center on track in all of its processes. She is glad to see nurses take on a more collaborative role in research and product development with their engineering colleagues.
Post Doctoral Fellows
Dr. Colin Plover draws on his experience in nursing, public health, education, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship to improve outcomes for nurses, patients, families, and healthcare systems. Colin conducts qualitative and quantitative research to inform the development of scalable and sustainable interventions informed by interdisciplinary collaborations. He is also passionate about educating and mentoring others to engage in work of this nature to create transformative change within and beyond traditional healthcare systems.
Graduate Students
Gina Georgadarellis is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She joined the Mechatronics and Robotics Research Lab in 2021 and is working with the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation. Her project focuses on the usability and perception of robotic technology within the clinical setting.
Seonhun Lee is a doctoral candidate in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Specializing in robotics research at the Center, Hoon works on functionality to discover what robots in hospitals will be able to accomplish as nurse assistants. He has found that collaborating with nurses provides him with a fresh perspective on how to work with the functionality of robots.
Karen Meade, RN received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Ohio State University and holds specialty certifications in both oncology and adult-gerontology. Her program of research explores how smart pump technology impacts oncology care. Other research interests include identifying the clinical impacts of nuisance air-in-line alarms in oncologic infusions. Research foci include the impact of nuisance air-in-line alarms of IV smart pumps and its impact in oncology care. She is the lead inventor of the B3 Buddy, a simple but novel device to secure urinary drainage bags.
Brenda Abena Nyarko is a doctoral candidate at the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She joined the center in 2023 and currently working with the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation as a research assistant. Her work revolves around the fascinating intersection of nursing and engineering.