Two exceptional institutions.
One outstanding educational experience.
The Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering is dedicated to delivering an extraordinary educational experience designed to empower the next generation of biomedical engineers, scientists and physicians. If you have a passion for learning and a desire to translate ideas into action—particularly those involving medical devices and health care technologies—let our faculty, staff and industry partners guide you on your journey.
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Student Spotlight: Q and A with Daniel Ackom
BME catches up with PhD Student Daniel Ackom, winner of an American Epilepsy Society 2026 Young Investigator Award for new research on pediatric epilepsy
Daniel Ackom has a passion for translational medicine, and his work is getting attention. As a PhD student in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, Daniel is looking to better predict medication responses in children with non-lesional epilepsy. This process begins by finding ways to better characterize the disease. For this, Daniel is using a novel combination of fixel-based analysis, an advanced diffusion MRI method for characterizing white matter, and machine learning. In translation, these findings may help better characterize non-lesional pediatric epilepsy, creating a framework for identifying meaningful imaging patterns and informing more strategic treatment approaches for pediatric epilepsy patients.
Daniel’s work is being recognized this December at the 2026 American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, where he will be recognized as one of 20 winners of the Young Investigator Award. His abstract was selected from more than 1,500 submissions for this honor. The same work was also selected for a platform presentation in the meeting’s Surgery/Neuroimaging session.
BME caught up with Daniel to learn more about his research, his motivation, and his recent award.
Hear more from Daniel about his research, his award, and his experience in MU-MCW BME
One of the most exciting aspects of the BME Department is the potential to advance your learning, problem-solving skills and engineering proficiency through exposure to engineering professors, industry mentors and faculty physicians who are working diligently to find solutions to modern health care challenges.
You can divide your time between the Marquette and MCW campuses, as well as clinical partner locations such as Froedtert Hospital, Children’s Wisconsin, the Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin, the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, Shriners Hospitals for Children and other labs around the world.
Your courses will take place on the main campus of Marquette University. However, you will have access to MCW faculty for specialized courses and experiences, as well as summer medical research programs on the MCW campus.
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Restoring Function after Spinal Cord InjuriesDr. Jordan Williams is part of a cluster of researchers at Marquette focused on restoring lost function after spinal cord injuries.
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