Prof. Ryan Halter is a Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Surgery, Geisel School of Medicine. Prof. Halter serves as the Program Area Lead of Biomedical Engineering at Thayer School of Engineering and the Technical Associate Director for the Center for Precision Health and Artificial Intelligence (CPHAI). Prof. Halter is also engaged in translational efforts through startups he has founded and co-founded including RyTek Medical, SynchroHealth, and AssurTek Surgical.
Prof. Ethan Murphy is an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth who has worked with Prof. Halter since August 2014. He has a PhD in mathematics from Colorado State University (2007). Prof. Murphy works on a variety of biomedical applications, such as prostate and breast cancer imaging, using physics-based electrical modeling, electrical impedance tomography, data fusion, error analysis, and general computational methods.
Mike returned to academia in 2016 (after just shy of 9 years in industry) with three primary objectives:
To foster his passion for teaching through immersion in postsecondary engineering education
To develop research skills including writing grant applications and scientific manuscripts
To deepen his understanding of applied mathematics and rigorously explore the theoretical underpinnings of engineering science
Research Interests: Surgical Navigation and Intrapoerative Robotic Instrumentation, Modeling and Control of Complex Dynamical Systems, Statistical Estimation and Learning
Courses at Thayer:
Yi joined the lab in January 2025. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was advised by Prof. Ann Majewicz Fey. Prior to that, he completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Xi'an Jiaotong University and Boston University.
Yi's research focuses on surgical robotics and navigation, computer vision, and multimodal large models. His ultimate goal is to develop an Intelligent and Universal Assistant for surgeons, enhancing decision-making and improving patient outcomes.
Current Projects: Imaging of critical anatomical structures at depth during robotic surgery.
Research Interests: surgical robotics and navigation, computer vision, and multimodal large models
Ehsan joined the lab in January 2025. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, and completed his Ph.D. at Stevens Institute of Technology. For more than ten years, Ehsan worked across various industries—including software development, industrial IT, and medical equipment services—serving as an R&D manager before beginning his doctoral studies. Ehsan's Ph.D. research focused on hybrid force-motion control and telemanipulation strategies in robotic tasks with applications in both surgical and manufacturing domains.
Current Projects: Image-guided robotic surgery procedures for both the TORS and ARPA-H projects.
Research Interests: Surgical robotics, Telemanipulation, Continuum Robots, Industrial Robotic Solutions, AI applications for robotics, and space applications for robotics.
Mimi is a PhD candidate in the PhD program at the Thayer School of Engineering. She graduated UC Berkeley with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering and subsequently worked in orthopedic medical device design and space rocket development before returning to school.
Mimi is interested in bioastronautics research and hopes to apply electrical impedance technology to improve medical diagnostics for space travel.
Current Projects:
Creation of an EIT instrumented cell culture chamber
Development of a spaceflight compatible urine sampling device to measure inflight urine calcium concentrations
Development of a rapid onset scopolamine delivery method and formulation for "rescue" motion sickness relief
Numerical lumped parameter modeling of the human cardiovascular system in spaceflight to explore acute hemodynamics of weightlessness exposure
Research Interests: Human Spaceflight & Electrical Impedance based technologies for monitoring cell culture
Allaire joined that lab in 2019 and is currently a PhD candidate in the Innovation Program at the Thayer School of Engineering.
In her free time she enjoys handcycling, any outdoor activity with her dog, Baloo, playing tenor saxophone with the Upper Valley Community Band, and advocating for improved health care policies with a focus on rare diseases.
Current Projects: Allaire's current project focuses on developing a probe that distinguishes between benign and malignant prostate tissue using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) for surgical margin assessment in robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomies. Allaire is also investigating the use of EIT as a metric for pulmonary function testing in ALS patients.
Research interests: Medical device hardware, surgical robotics, wearables
Sophie joined the lab in 2021 after completing a Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, where she also competed on the varsity women's soccer team. She is currently is a PhD candidate in the Innovation Program at the Thayer School of Engineering.
Outside of the lab, you’ll find Sophie gravel biking, backcountry skiing, cheffing it up, or playing pick up soccer with the grad student group.
Current Projects:
Impedance-Based characterization of Oral Cancer
Research Interests: Medical device development, electrical impedance based tissue characterization, surgical robotics
Zenia is a graduate student in the PhD program at the Thayer School of Engineering. She completed her Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University.
Current Projects: One of her current projects includes investigating the use of impedance
Sadaf joined the lab in 2023. She is a graduate student in the PhD program at Thayer School of Engineering. She completed her Bachelors of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering at Sheikh Bahei University. Following this experience, she pursued her Masters of Science at Isfahan University of Technology.
Outside of the lab, Sadaf likes Star gazing and reading books, especially self improvement books .
Current Projects:
Sarcopenia: early detection of muscle loss in patients undergoing chemotherapy with registration of EIT and Ultrasound
SEEG: Seizure localization with simultaneous EIT-SEEG electrodes, and brain stimulation combinations with SEEG electrodes.
Fluid shift: detecting fluid shifts in the brain and body with EIT for astronauts during flight in different postures.
Research Interests: Brain science (brain stimulation), Space related research
Riley is a graduate student in the PhD Innovation Program at the Thayer School of Engineering. She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. Post-undergrad, she was hired as a Research Engineer for Dr. Tripathi's Lab for Scalable Bioengineering Solutions For Diagnostics and Life Sciences to continue her work in designing and testing a device for tissue sample processing for downstream single cell sequencing.
Current Projects: Riley is currently investigating how to apply impedance technology at the cellular level for disease detection.
Research Interests: Cellular Biology, Diagnostic Devices, Medical Device development
Yuan completed her PhD in Spring 2024 from the Thayer School of Engineering. However, she is resuming her work with the Halter Lab. Yuan completed her Bachelors of Engineering from Southern University of Science and Technology
She likes dog sitting and eating noodles.
Current Projects: She currently works on developing a retractor for image-guided transoral robotic surgery.
Safina Suratwala is a Clinical Engineering Research Assistant focusing on clinical data collection for cancer detection studies using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). She holds a Master’s degree in Medical Device and Diagnostic Engineering from the University of Southern California, providing her with a strong foundation in biomedical engineering and regulatory science. In addition to her lab role, she also works part-time as a Biomedical Engineer for RyTek Medical. She has gained valuable hands-on experience in case scheduling, data collection, and patient interactions, ensuring smooth and accurate execution of clinical studies.
In her free time, Safina plays badminton, she enjoys cooking and reading, loves music and dancing.
Current Projects: Evaluating the performance of classification models in predicting the interface using data from impedance sensing dental drill in a cadaver model.
Topics of Interest: Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Hardware design, Signal Processing.
Mentor: Mimi Lan
Mentor: Mimi Lan
Nathan McAllister, Class of 2025
Mentor: Dr. Mike Kokko
Mentor: Dr. Mike Kokko
Biomedical Engineering student from Columbia University
Mentor: Dr. Ryan Halter & Dr. Joseph Paydafar
DHMC Summer Internship Program 2025
Biomedical Engineering student from Virginia Tech
Mentor: Dr. Ryan Halter & Dr. Joseph Paydafar
DHMC Summer Internship Program 2025
Jacob is currently working toward his PhD in signal processing in Electrical Impedance Tomography applications at The University of Rostock, in Rostock, Germany.
Visiting Scholar Spring 2025
Michaela graduated from RIT with a bachelors in BME and a masters in Science, Technology, and Public Policy. She is currently working as clinical research coordinator within the Otolaryngology department at DHMC.
DHMC Summer Internship Program 2024
Kendall studied computer/electrical engineering during her undergrad (Dartmouth ’14, Thayer BE ’14), then spent 4 years in industry working as a software engineer before returning to Thayer for her PhD. She is most passionate about biomedical device design and applications in space – as a NASA graduate research fellow, her PhD is focused on building an EIT system for astronauts in deep space. Currently, Kendall works as a Teaching Professor at Thayer School of Engineering.
Harsha Devaraj joined the Halter lab in 2018 after receiving his Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Mechanical Engineering from PSG College of Technology in India. At Dartmouth, his engineering science graduate degree focused on engineering in medicine, electrical engineering, and surgical innovation. He served as a graduate research assistant from 2018 to 2023. Currently, he works at Analog Devices as a systems application engineer in their digital healthcare business unit.
Alicia joined the Halter lab in 2016 after completed a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Denver. She completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering with the Halter Lab in 2021. Currently, Alicia is the CEO and Co-Founder AssurTek Surgical.
Dennis is a Dartmouth College '14, Thayer BE '14, and Thayer PhD '19. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Gordon Center for Medical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Aditya graduated with his PhD from Thayer in 2016 with his thesis "Clinical feasibility of intraoperative prostate cancer margin assessment using electrical impedance".
Torri graduated from Dartmouth College in 2017, majored in Neuroscience. She graduated with the Class of 2025 from the Geisel School of Medicine and is currently an ENT Resident at Vanderbuilt University in Nashville, TN.
Noor is a current graduate student at Geisel School of Medicine, Class of 2026 and recipient of the prestigious 2025 AOA National fellowship.
Jillian is a current graduate student at Geisel School of Medicine, Class of 2026. She has been awarded the Conquer Cancer Foundation AMRA and MSR awards for cancer research.
Mike was a Geisel School of Medicine student Class of 2022.
Interests in Medicine: Head and Neck Cancer, General Otolaryngology, Pediatric Otolaryngology, and Neuroradiology
Peter graduated from the Geisel School of Medicine in 2019 and is a current resident in Otolaryngology at the University of Michigan.
Aravind Graduated From the Geisel School of Medicine in 2020 and is currently a Vascular Surgery Resident at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Thomas graduated from Dartmouth College in 2017, where he majored in Biochemistry. He graduated with the Class of 2023 from the Geisel School of Medicine.
Chris completed his PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences in 2018, and graduated from Geisel School of medicine in 2020. He is currently an Internal Medicine Resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA
Cameron completed his Master of Science in 2024 from Thayer. His research focused on the application of Deep Reinforcement Learning to problems in robotics and controls.
Shannon's thesis centered on using electrical impedance tomography to allow surgeons to determine the presence of positive surgical margins during a robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy.
Haley completed her thesis in 2022 focusing on a novel method to combine high-density EEG and EIT in a first in human clinical study in acute stroke patients
Dhanashree completed her Master of Science from Thayer in 2021. She worked on biomedical wearables and instrumentation.
Rebecca's thesis work focused on developing a novel bioimpedance-sensing surgical drill to reduce the rate of iatrogenic injury in bone-drilling procedures.