Edwin Kan

Many wearable sensors are now popular in the market, smart watches, smart rings, smart glasses, and ECG patches.  Presently these gadgets promise relatively low cost, continuous monitoring instead of episodic clinical checks, and preventive care. However, these wearable sensors are still mostly for wellness “suggestions” instead of precise medical diagnosis because they (1) provide only average heart rates and SpO2 which are not sufficiently deterministic; (2) may require professional operators to reduce uncertainty; (3) are vulnerable to ambient noises for uncontrolled at-home uses. In comparison, I will present a new wearable radio sensor which can potentially overcome all these present concerns by (1) accurate measurements of specific internal organs and tissues with clinically useful parameters, (2) covert monitoring with minimal setup and user participation, and (3) immunity to body contact requirement and ambient noises. 

Short Bio

Edwin C. Kan received the B.S. degree from National Taiwan University in 1984, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 and 1992, all in electrical engineering.  From 1997, he was an Assistant Professor with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, where he is now a Professor in the fields of ECE, Applied Math and Biomedical Engineering. He is now on leave to work on Smart Healthcare in School of Medicine in National Yangming Chiaotung University (NYCU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He has worked on CMOS technology and semiconductor devices, but has expanded his research interests to biosensors, RF indoor locating, and IoT.  Dr. Kan received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineer (PECASE) from President Bill Clinton in October 2000. He has published over 300 journal and conference papers and has graduated 35 Ph.D. students.  He received several inventor and teaching awards from Cornell Universities, and the Mt. Jade Scholarship Award from Ministry of Education of Taiwan.