William D. O'Brien, Jr.

William O'Brien received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1970. He is a professor in the UIUC departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Medical Information Sciences, the Bioengineering Program, the Division of Nutritional Sciences, and the Program Director of the Radiation Oncology Training Program; and a full-time Beckman Institute faculty member in the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory. His fields of professional interest are ultrasonic imaging, bioengineering, biophysics, dosimetry and toxicity, and acoustic microscopy.

Honors and awards: AIUM Joseph H. Holmes Basic Science Pioneer Award (1993); Treasurer, World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (1991-1994); NIH Diagnostic Radiology Study Section Member (1992-present); Founding Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (1992); AIUM Presidential Recognition Award (1992 and 1985); Program Director, NIH Radiation Biophysics and Bioengineering Oncology Training Program (1991-present); Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control (1985-present); President, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (1988-1991); Outstanding Region 4 IEEE Student Branch Counselor Award (1989); Fellow, IEEE (1989); AIUM/WFUMB Pioneer Award (1988); Fellow, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (1985); IEEE Centennial Medal (1984); Fellow, Acoustical Society of America (1982).

William O'Brien's research in the Beckman Institute deals with the mechanisms by which ultrasonic energy interacts with biological materials and applications of quantitative ultrasound imaging in biology, agriculture and medicine. For example, he developed an ultrasound time-domain correlation technique by which blood flow velocity and volume can be quantified. His research includes (1) the assessment of ultrasonic imaging quantities to evaluate tissue and fluid motion and tissue elastic properties; (2) the in vivo assessment of ultrasonic energy in utero in humans including the modeling of tissue layers between the ultrasound source and fetus (in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology); (3) the estimation of temperature increase in vivo from diagnostic ultrasound systems; (4) the development of quantitative imaging systems and their applications to objectively assess quality and quantity beef grading; and (5) the estimation of in vivo ultrasound exposure and dosimetric quantities.

O'Brien's sources of research funding are the NIH, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Army, National Live Stock and Meat Board, and private corporations.

Contact Information:
4255 Beckman Institute
University of Illinois
405 N. Mathews
Urbana, IL 61801
email: wdo@uiuc.edu