Bryan Ranger

Ferrante Family Assistant Professor

Profile

Bryan Ranger is the Ferrante Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering, holds a courtesy appointment in the William F. Connell School of Nursing, and is a member of the Global Public Health and the Common Good Program faculty. At 51画鋼, he leads the Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation Lab, where his research in biomedical engineering and global health aims to develop technology that makes healthcare more accessible and cost-effective, with a current focus on device and AI algorithm development for ultrasound imaging. He is also committed to advancing engineering education, and teaches first-year engineering analysis laboratories and a health-focused tech elective in the Human-Centered Engineering program.

Prof. Ranger works at the intersection of biomedical technology innovation and global public health. Throughout his career, he has contributed to various global health initiatives, ranging from on-the-ground field research to high-level policy making, in Zambia, Uganda, India, at the WHO, and USAID. Immediately priorto joining the faculty at Boston College, he was a Program Officer in the Global Health Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he managed research programs and investments in sensing, devices, imaging, neurodevelopment, AI/Machine Learning, and digital health. His lab currently conducts collaborative research with Jimma University in Ethiopia and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Prof. Ranger completed his Ph.D. in Medical Engineering & Medical Physics through the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. His dissertation research consisted of developing ultrasound imaging methods to improve and facilitate lower limb prosthesis design. While at MIT, he was also an instructor at the D-Lab. He earned his M.S.E. and B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering, with concentrations in medical imaging and bioelectrics, from the University of Michigan.

Selected Publications

  • Bryan J. Ranger, Kevin M. Moerman, Micha Feigin, Hugh M. Herr, and Brian W. Anthony. "3D Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography for Musculoskeletal Tissue Assessment Under Compressive Load: A Feasibility Study." Ultrasonic Imaging (2024).
  • Bryan J. Ranger, Elizabeth Bradburn, Qingchao Chen, Micah Kim, J. Alison Noble, and Aris T. Papageorghiou. "Portable ultrasound devices for obstetric care in resource-constrained environments: mapping the landscape." Gates Open Research (2023).
  • Yi Li, Keshi He, Hayoung Cho, Bryan J. Ranger. "Ultrasound Segmentation Using Deep Learning: Training on Musculoskeletal Phantom Data and Testing on Clinical Data." IEEE MIT Undergraduate Research and Technology Conference (2023).
  • Kashish Shah, Dhaval K. Patel, Minesh P. Thaker, Harsh A. Patel, Manob Jyoti Saikia and Bryan J. Ranger. EMED-UNet: An Efficient Multi-Encoder-Decoder Based UNet for Medical Image Segmentation. IEEE Access (2023).
  • Connor Gaudette, Hayoung Cho, Manob Jyoti Saikia, and Bryan J. Ranger. Mimicry of skeletal muscle tissue with layered phantom for ultrasound imaging. IEEE MIT Undergraduate Research and Technology Conference (2022).
  • Bryan J. Ranger, Kevin M. Moerman, Brian W. Anthony, and Hugh M. Herr. Constitutive parameter identification of transtibial residual limb soft tissue using ultrasound indentation and shear wave elastography. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials (2022).
  • Bryan J. Ranger, Avneet Hira, Brian Smith, Xiang Zhang, and Brian W. Anthony. Work in progress: cost-effective table-top ultrasound systems as platform for biomedical engineering education. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition (2022).
  • Bryan J. Ranger, Micha Feigin, Xiang Zhang, Kevin M. Moerman, Hugh Herr, Brian W. Anthony. 3D ultrasound imaging of residual limbs with camera-based motion compensation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2019; 27(2):207-217.
  • Bryan J. Ranger and Aikaterini Mantzavinou. Design thinking in development engineering education: A case study on creating prosthetic and assistive technologies for the developing world. Journal of Development Engineering, 2018; 3:166-174.
  • Aikaterini Mantzavinou, Bryan J. Ranger, Smitha Gudapakkam, Katharine G. Broach Hutchins, Elizabeth Bailey and Kristian R. Olson. Health hackathons drive affordable medical technology innovation through community engagement. UNESCO Technologies for Development: From Innovation to Social Impact, 2016; 87-95.
  • Bryan Ranger, Peter J Littrup, Nebojsa Duric, Priti Chandiwala-Mody, Cuiping Li, Steven Schmidt, Jessica Lupinacci. Breast ultrasound tomography versus magnetic resonance imaging for clinical display of anatomy and tumor rendering: Preliminary results. American Journal of Roentgenology, 2012; 198(1):233-239.

Awards

  • Google Award for Inclusion Research (2023)
  • Google Research Scholar Program Award (2022)

Patents

  • Herr, Hugh M., Kevin Mattheus Moerman, Dana Solav, Bryan James Ranger, Rebecca Steinmeyer, Stephanie Lai Ku, Canan Dagdeviren et al. "Quantitative Design And Manufacturing Framework For A Biomechanical Interface Contacting A Biological Body Segment." U.S. Patent Application 16/969,142, filed May 20, 2021.