{{Short description|Turkish biomedical engineer (1949–2024)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Banu Onaral | birth_date = {{Birth date|1949|6|15}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=IEEE Membership Directory |publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |others=University of Michigan |year=2001 |volume=1–2 |pages=324 |issn=0073-9146 |oclc=1753227}}</ref> | birth_place = Istanbul, Turkey<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pusat |first=Meltem |date=September 10, 2003 |title=ABD'de üç Türk dekan |trans-title=Three Turkish deans in the U.S. |url=https://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2003/09/10/g05.html |access-date=December 18, 2024 |website=Sabah |language=Turkish}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|12|17|1949|6|15}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | known_for = Translational research and biomedical signal processing in ultrasound and optics | title = H.H. Sun Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | spouse = Ibrahim Onaral | children = Mutlu Onaral | relatives = Nuri Demirağ (grandfather) }}
'''Banu Onaral''' (June 15, 1949 – December 17, 2024) was a Turkish academic who was the H.H. Sun Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Accelerating Opportunity & Improving Regional Technology Transfer Potential |work=Sys-Con Media |date=November 25, 2008 |url=http://au.sys-con.com/node/760212}}</ref><ref>Loviglio, Joann (December 5, 2004). "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/410814018/?terms=%22Banu%20Onaral%22&match=1 Breast cancer detector studied]." Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: ''Times Leader.'' p.15 (subscription required).</ref><ref>Genao, Laura (November 17, 1995). "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/178024799/?terms=%22Banu%20Onaral%22&match=1 Helping girls consider a career in engineering]." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''The Philadelphia Inquirer.'' p.173 (subscription required).</ref>
In 1997, she founded Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/178060355/?terms=%22Banu%20Onaral%22&match=1 New School Demonstrates Power of Strategic Partnerships, Will Train Biomedical Engineers]." p.11. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''The Philadelphia Inquirer.'' September 25, 1997. (subscription required).</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Fast care might have saved Natasha Richardson |page=A02 |date=March 20, 2009 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199609478/?terms=%22Banu%20Onaral%22&match=1 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}</ref><ref>Preidt, Robert (December 14, 2004). "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/208258216/?terms=%22Banu%20Onaral%22&match=1 Scanner meant to be new tool for breast self-exam]." Springfield, Missouri: ''Springfield News-Leader.'' p.31 (subscription required).</ref>
==Education== For her secondary education, Onaral had attended the Notre Dame de Sion French Girls' High School in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-17 |title=Banu Onaral, Pioneer of Biomedical Engineering |url=https://drexel.edu/biomed/news-and-events/news/2024/December/Banu-Onaral-Pioneer-of-Biomedical-Engineering/ |access-date=2025-10-21 |website=School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems |language=en}}</ref> Onaral earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, and a BSEE and MSEE in Electrical Engineering from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey in 1973 and 1974, respectively.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1992 |title=Metropolitan area news in brief |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |page=B02}}</ref> ==Academic and research career== Onaral joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering and Science Institute in 1981. She held two sabbatical leaves at Boğaziçi University in the academic years 1980–1981 and 1987–1988.<ref name="Bio">{{Cite web|title=BIOMED Faculty Details: Banu Onaral, Ph.D. |publisher=Drexel University |url=http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/content/academics/faculty/dsp_faculty_details.cfm?RECID=61 |accessdate=October 25, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811180053/http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/content/academics/faculty/dsp_faculty_details.cfm?RECID=61 |archivedate=August 11, 2010 }}</ref>
From 1997, she served as the founding director of the School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 20, 2009 |title=Fast care might have saved Natasha Richardson |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |page=A02}}</ref><ref>Preidt, Robert (December 14, 2004). "Scanner meant to be new tool for breast self-exam". ''The Springfield News-Leader.''</ref><ref>"New School Demonstrates Power of Strategic Partnerships, Will Train Biomedical Engineers". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''The Philadelphia Inquirer.'' September 25, 1997.</ref>
Her academic focus in both research and teaching was centered on information engineering with special emphasis on complex systems and biomedical signal processing in ultrasound and optics. She led major research and development projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Naval Research (ONR), DARPA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). She supervised a large number of graduate students to degree completion and had an extensive publication record in biomedical signals and systems. She was the recipient of a number of faculty excellence awards including the 1990 Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award of Drexel University, the EDUCOM Best Educational Software Award and the NSF Faculty Achievement Award.<ref name="Bio" />
Onaral’s translational research efforts for rapid commercialization of biomedical technologies developed at Drexel and its partner institutions resulted in the creation of the Translational Research in Biomedical Technologies program. This initiative brought together academic technology developers with entrepreneurs, regional economic development agencies, local legal, business and investment communities. Under her leadership, the program was recognized by the Coulter Translational Research Partnership award following a highly competitive selection process among sixty-three institutions in North America. At the end of the five-year term, universities successful in institutionalizing translational research received an endowment to ensure the perpetuity of the program.<ref name="Bio" />
Onaral’s professional services included chair and membership on advisory boards and strategic planning bodies of several universities and funding agencies, including service on the National Science Foundation's Engineering Advisory Board, and on the proposal review panels and study sections. She served on the strategic planning team charged with the creation of Sabancı University in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref name="Bio" />
Her professional responsibilities included service on the editorial board of journals and the CRC Biomedical Engineering Handbook as Section Editor for Biomedical Signal Analysis. She served as president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the largest member-based biomedical engineering society in the world. She organized and chaired the 1990 Annual International Conference of the EMBS and Co-Chaired the 2004 Annual Conference of the Biomedical Engineering. She was a Fellow of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Founding Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She served on the inaugural Board of the AIMBE as publications chair and as Chair of the Academic Council and as the President of the Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association.<ref name="Bio" />
==Personal life and death== Her son is the American soul singer Mutlu Onaral, who performs as Mutlu. She was the granddaughter of Turkish industrialist and business magnate Nuri Demirağ. Her husband is Ibrahim Onaral.
Onaral died after a long battle with cancer in Philadelphia, United States, on December 17, 2024, at the age of 75.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 18, 2024 |title=Prof. Banu Onaral Obituary (2024) |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/prof-banu-onaral-obituary?id=57042006 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |website=Legacy.com |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |publication-place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Soykan Bal |first=Yusuf |date=December 18, 2024 |title=Nuri Demirağ'ın torunu Prof. Dr. Banu Onaral vefat etti |trans-title=Prof. Dr. Banu Onaral, Nuri Demirağ's granddaughter, has passed away |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/nuri-demiragin-torunu-prof-dr-banu-onaral-vefat-etti/3428203 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |website=Anadolu Agency |language=Turkish |publication-place=Ankara, Turkey |via=AA News Feed System}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.ansp.org/sitecore/Content/Home/now/experts/Overview/onaral-banu/ Banu Onaral, PhD] at Drexel University * [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37293749500 Banu Onaral] at IEEE
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Onaral, Banu}} Category:1949 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Drexel University faculty Category:American people of Turkish descent Category:Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Category:Engineers from Istanbul