YING SUN

From the University of Rhode Island:

With profound sadness, I regret to inform the University community that Professor of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering Ying Sun, M.S. '82, died Saturday, May 9, 2020, after an early morning run. He was 63.

A gifted teacher beloved by his students, a generous colleague who worked with researchers across campus on projects to better the lives of people with disabilities, and a devoted husband and father, Professor Sun’s impact on the University and those who knew and loved him will last for decades. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers at this very difficult time.

Professor Sun worked with students to create devices to diagnose illness, help a woman with disabilities create her own greeting card company, and develop a unique switch and arm brace to help a girl with cerebral palsy. He helped faculty and students in the Physical Therapy Department and his own students to modify toy cars for youngsters with disabilities, and he worked with a nursing professor to develop a device that reminds older adults to get off the couch and exercise.

Professor Sun's interaction with students, especially with their capstone projects, put URI Biomedical Engineering on the map. Today, companies from Boston and all over New England come to URI Engineering for our biomedical engineers. Ying Sun made this a reality.

In terms of his impact on the College, he was perhaps most influential in the establishment and accreditation of our Biomedical Engineering Program. Until his death, he was the director of the program.

Haibo He, chair of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, had this to say: "Ying was such a great colleague and friend, and has made outstanding contributions to our Biomedical Engineering Program, the department, the college and across the entire campus in many different ways. Ying was such a beloved person and always full of passion, dedication, and energy, and has always been a tremendous role-model for students.”

Professor Sun played classical guitar for more than 45 years and was a member of the Dyadic Duo. He also built his own guitars and recently combined his interest in music and engineering to co-develop a general education course entitled Technologies and Music.

Professor Sun joined the URI faculty in 1985, and his research in biomedical instrumentation and medical imaging was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the medical device industry, with more than 250 publications in professional conferences and journals. He and the URI Assistive Technology Laboratory that he initiated won the 2005 George F. Moore Memorial Award of the Rhode Island Rehabilitation Association. Serving as a consultant to hospitals and industry for more than 30 years, he authored several professional software packages for cardiovascular research, medical imaging, and neuroscience instrumentation. He has seven issued patents and several pending patents with colleagues and students, and received the 2012 URI Research and Scholarship Excellence Award in Intellectual Property Patent.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University in 1978 and his master’s degree from URI in 1982, both in electrical engineering. Worcester Polytechnic Institute awarded him a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1985.

He is survived by his wife and his children.

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