College of Engineering

James and Shirley Kuse Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering

Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 1988
M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 1983
Sc.B. Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Brown University, 1979

Jim Sweeney is a professor of bioengineering at Oregon State University, where he currently serves as a special assistant to the dean of engineering with a focus on strategic initiatives. He is also the James and Shirley Kuse Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering, and from December of 2014 to July of 2018 served as Head of the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering. Prior to coming to Oregon State in 2014, he was chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Software Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). He also served as interim dean of the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering at FGCU in 2012. Before joining FGCU in August of 2006, he was a tenured associate professor, department associate chair, and director of the Flinn Interdisciplinary Graduate Training Program in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering at Arizona State University, where he holds emeritus faculty status.
Prof. Sweeney is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He was the 2009-10 Program Chair and 2010-11 Division Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Division of the ASEE. He was recognized in June 2018 at the annual ASEE conference in Salt Lake City with the Theo C. Pilkington Outstanding Educator Award.
Prof. Sweeney’s research, educational and conference efforts as PI or co-investigator have been funded by the NSF, NIH, NIST, the Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research, the Whitaker Foundation, the Flinn Foundation, National Instruments, the Global Public Service Academies, the Oregon Talent Council, and the American Heart Association. His research interests are in engineering education, bio- and environmental sensors, bioelectricity, and neuromuscular stimulation. Prof. Sweeney is an author on over 80 journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings papers and patents.