The University of Utah College of Engineering is pleased to announce the appointment of Gianluca Lazzi as a USTAR Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. An expert in the field of retinal prosthesis design and development, Dr. Lazzi’s research focuses on bioelectronics engineering; implantable devices; biological effects and medical applications of electromagnetic fields; wireless electromagnetics and antennas; and computational electromagnetics.


Dr. Lazzi was previously at North Carolina State University, where he was a professor of electrical and computer engineering. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to “Bioelectromagnetics and Implantable Devices.” He is editor-in-chief of IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters and was technical program chair of the 2009 IEEE Antennas and Propagation-URSI International Symposium. Some of his awards include the ALCOA Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award in 2009 and an NSF CAREER Award in 2001. He received his Dr.Eng. in electronic engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Utah.

The University of Utah is recruiting world-class engineering faculty as part of “USTAR” (Utah Science Technology and Research initiative)—a long-term, state-funded effort to strengthen technological research and stimulate economic development in the state of Utah. USTAR seeks to build Utah’s knowledge economy and significantly increase technology commercialization with the potential to encourage the growth of major industries in Utah and create more high-caliber jobs throughout the state.