Asimina Kiourti earns Ohio State early career scholar award
During a surprise visit to a faculty meeting, senior leadership in the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge honored Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor Asimina Kiourti The Ohio State University 2022 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award.
Kiourti’s interdisciplinary research lies at the intersection of electromagnetics, sensors, and medicine. Her work focuses on bio-electromagnetics, wearable and implantable antennas, sensors for body area applications and flexible e-textiles.
The Distinguished Scholar Awards are among Ohio State's highest annual honors. In spring 2022, the university launched the Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award to honor three assistant professors and early associate professors who show promise of making significant contributions to Ohio State and their field for years to come.
"I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this early career stage award," said College of Engineering Dean Ayanna Howard. "Not only is Asimina pushing boundaries in the emerging field of smart clothes and wearable technology, but she also coordinates creative programs to inspire the next generation of female engineers."
Kiourti’s publication record includes 69 journal papers, one book, 12 book chapters, five patents, and more than 130 conference papers. Her work has also been recognized with 40-plus scholarly local, national and international awards, including the NSF CAREER Award and "40 Under 40" recognition by Columbus Business First in 2021. She serves as the Chair of USNC-URSI Commission K on “Electromagnetics in Medicine and Biology”, senior editor of the IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, editor of the bio-electromagnetics column for the IEEE Antennas and Propagation magazine, and associate editor of three IEEE journals.
"I am truly honored and excited to receive this prestigious award," Kiourti exclaimed. "I feel grateful for the inspiring, supportive, and collegial environment that Ohio State is providing me with and wish to thank my collaborators that span across five colleges within Ohio State and beyond. I share this honor with my research team, including past and current members of my group, and I am very much looking forward to working with them towards future advances in bio-electromagnetics research, education, service and outreach."
In October 2021, Kiourti received a five-year, $527,695 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research on wearable sensors that operate in complex and dynamic environments and can be seamlessly embedded in fabrics. The CAREER award is the NSF's most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of both.
Wearable sensors have shown promise for medical, sports, defense, emergency, and consumer applications; however, the technology is currently limited to obtrusive implementations.
“Much like cell phones that evolved from foot-long prototypes with 30 minutes of available talk time in 1983 to current smart devices, I envision wearables of the future to be seamlessly embedded in fabrics,” Kiourti said. “However, the siloed nature of current research efforts has hindered overall progress – the electromagnetics community is exploring e-textiles, the circuits community is designing sensors, and the cyber-physical systems community is developing algorithms for non-textile sensors that are artificially attached to garments.”
Kiourti earned a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the National Technical University in Greece, master of science in technology for broadband communication from University College London in the United Kingdom, and a diploma (combined BSc/MSc equivalent) in electrical and computer engineering from University of Patras in Greece.
