Jim Sweeney is a Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering at Oregon State University, where he serves as a special assistant to the Dean of Engineering with a focus on strategic initiatives. In this role he currently leads the university’s Engineering and Design for Society (EDS) initiative as EDS Academic Director. From December of 2014 to July of 2018 he served as the James and Shirley Kuse Endowed Chair and Head of the School of Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering. Prior to coming to OSU in 2014, he was Chair of the Department of Bioengineering & 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.

Dr. 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 also the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and a member of 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. Dr. 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 have been in engineering education, bio- and environmental sensors, bioelectricity, and neuromuscular stimulation. Dr. Sweeney is an author on over 131 journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings papers, abstracts and patents.