Professor Art Johnson
About Dr. Johnson Ph.D., Cornell University, 1969
Dr. Johnson is a fellow of the American Society for Agricultural Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education; and a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, where he has served on the Board of Directors. He is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Materials Award in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division from the American Society for Engineering Education; and the American Society for Engineering Education's Woody Everett Award. When he's not in the lab or the classroom, Dr. Johnson may be found on his 42 acre farm, which specializes in fruit production. He has also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Visit Dr. Johnson's personal page » Current Research Dr. Johnson's research deals with a broad range of topics related to the human body, the preservation of health and safety, and investigating the physiology of healthy people. He is highly motivated by the goal of keeping well people well. "In the end," he tells us, "[my group and I] can see that our work has a direct beneficial effect on health maintenance." His research group is involved in a variety of studies, including work on physiological effects of respirator masks and how respiratory protection influences what workers can do while wearing them. His group is also working on Self-Contained Self Rescuers that generate oxygen for trapped miners during escape. In addition, they have created an Airflow Perturbation Device developed to measure the respiratory resistance of people from infants to adults. In order to design and work with these devices, Dr. Johnson and his team require a thorough understanding of mechanics, electronics, and physiology.
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Q&A with Dr. Johnson What impact could your work have on society or consumers? Our work ranges from theoretical physiological modeling to very empirical experimentation. I'm not sure that I can point to any one person and say that that person is alive and well because of what we have done, but I’m hoping that in the future that will be true. What attracted you to the Clark School? I am proud to call myself an engineer. Engineering is the profession that solves important problems facing humankind. At the same time, it is a creative endeavor. Engineering is the one profession in which a person is judged, not by who you know, but by what you do and how well you do it. So, I'm in the Clark school because that's where the engineers are. Why should young engineers consider bioengineering for their field of study? There are great opportunities in bioengineering. The field is exciting and new. Biology, combined with the creative problem-solving of engineering, is great. It has some of everything. How does the interdisciplinary nature of our program impact or improve our Engineering methods can be used to solve certain kinds of problems. Biologists have other ways to solve problems involving living things. Combining the two makes a very capable person. What kinds of roles or careers are our students prepared for? Learning how engineering and biology interact is a very powerful combination that opens many doors. Some students go on to medical, dental, veterinary, or even law school. Some go into environmental consulting. Some deal with public health. Some work for insurance companies. Some can be high school science teachers or college professors. Many go to graduate school and become researchers, while others work in hospitals as clinical engineers. Some design medical instruments, and still others work in the food industry. One thing is clear: Outsourcing of technical jobs will continue to expand in the future. Those who are prepared now for the challenges of the future will be those who have a broad-enough education that they can either: 1) manage outsourced projects, or 2) apply them locally. Our bioengineering curriculum is designed to last an entire professional lifetime. |
Dr. Johnson's research interests include human performance, biomechanics, respiratory mechanics, and ergonomics and exercise physiology. He is also dedicated to improving engineering education, with teaching interests that include engineering and electronic design, transport processes, biological systems, and instrumentation.
