University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
[title]
To Floyd Dunn for his outstanding contributions to ultrasonic biophysics and bioengineering.

Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering, Biophysics, and Bioengineering, University of Illinios Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

  • BS, 1949, Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois
  • MS, 1951, Electrical Engineering, Universtiy of Illinois
  • PhD, 1956, Electrical Engineering, University of Illinios

Floyd Dunn has been a world leader in applications of ultrasound in biophysics and bioengineering and has had an enduring impact on the field, both directly and through his students. He has been a leader in measurement of the ultrasonic properties of tissues and their constituents, including the identification of the mechanism of absorption of ultrasound; he has identified the levels for and the operative physical mechanisms when high-intensity ultrasound is used to alter tissue reversibly or irreversibly; and he identified one of the important contributors to the scattering of ultrasound in tissue, which is used for medical imaging. Dunn has been involved in ultrasound transducer development and in techniques of characterizing ultrasound fields, and he suggested early-on the possibility of developing and ultrasound microscope, before the commercial development of two types of acoustic microscopes (one by a former student).

Dunn also had an impact on programs at the University of Illinois. Over the years he developed several new courses in acoustics and ultrasound. He served as director of the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory from 1977 until his retirement in 1995. He provided direction and mentoring to new faculty members. In addition to his contributions to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he was a faculty member of the Biophysics Program from its inception in the early 1960s and one of the faculty members who established the Bioengineering Program on campus.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the National academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Institute of Acoustics (UK), American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Academy for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dunn has been a visiting professor at Nanjing University, Tohoku University, and University College Cardiff and a visiting scientist at the Institute of Cancer Research at the University of London. Among his many awards and honors are the William J. Fry memorial Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (1984), Medal of Special Merit from the Acoustical Society of Japan (1988), World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, History of Medical Ultrasound Pioneer Award (1988), Silver Medal of the Acoustic Society of America (1989), Senior Fogarty International Fellowship (1990), honorary member of the Japan Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (1990), Career Achievement Award from IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, and IEEE Edison Medal (1996). He received the UIUC Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1997, and he is scheduled to receive the Gold Medal of the Acoustical Society of America later in 1998.

Current as of 1998.