April Lovelady, PhD

Director of Immersion Experiences

Email: alovelady@tamu.edu

Biography

Dr. April Lovelady is a control systems engineer with a passion for medical innovation. Early in her career, she worked for NASA, where she played a crucial role in capturing customer requirements and converting them into tangible products for the Space and Life Sciences Program. She has since transitioned into academia, where she has designed and taught courses that focus on integrating the entrepreneurial mindset into the STEM curriculum through experiential and project-based learning.

Dr. Lovelady’s interest in entrepreneurship led her to engage with the NSF I-Corps program, which focuses on the commercialization of academic research projects. As an I-Corps participant, she gained a deep understanding of identifying value propositions and product market fit for medical devices. Her expertise in this area eventually led to her role as an Adjunct I-Corps Instructor, where she provided coaching for medical technology teams.

Driven by her passion for entrepreneurial pursuits, Dr. Lovelady also volunteers with the UT HUB Program, which promotes opportunities for minority, women, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. Her dedication to the field of medical innovation and her commitment to integrating the entrepreneurial mindset into STEM curriculum continue to inspire and motivate others.

Education and Training

PhD, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2012
MS, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2005
BS, Biological Systems Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2002

Research Interests

Medical Devices and Instrumentation, Implantable Devices for Interfacing, Wearable Devices/ Patches for infection Prevention and Control

Teaching Interests

Project Based Engineering, Integration of Bio-inspired Design and STEM, Integration of the Entrepreneurial Mindset into the STEM Curriculum

Awards and Honors

2017, Bulldog Brinckman Award
2014 & 2015, LSU AgCenter Service Award
2010, State of Texas Service Award
2009, Alfred P. Sloan Scholar
2009 USDA National Needs Fellow
2005 – 2007, MUST Mentor for NASA Internship Program
2005 & 2007 NASA Silver Quality Dollar Award

Selected Publications

Lovelady, A., Glowczwski, J., Glowczwski, A., et al. (2022). Ruminant Model for Evaluation of Dialysis AVF Cannulation. Journal of Vascular Access. (In Preparation)

ter Hofstede, B., Glowczwski, A., Lovelady, A., & Maitland, K. C. (2021, March). Modeling and optimization of immersion medium for phototherapeutic light-emitting diode array for uniform light distribution. In Design and Quality for Biomedical Technologies XIV (Vol. 11633, p. 116330C). International Society for Optics and Photonics.

Greenberg, M., Maitland, K. C., Smith, R., Glowczwski, A., Lovelady, A., Galbadage, et al. (2018). In vitro results of flexible light-emitting antimicrobial bandage designed for prevention of surgical site infections. Light-Based Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, 10479.

Lovelady, A. (Spring 2015). Potential for Butanol Recovery from Fermentation Broths. Louisiana Agriculture, 58(2): 27.