✉ robert.gettens@wne.edu  |  📞 413-796-2299 • 213E Sleith Hall  |  🏫 BME Department  |  👥 LinkedIn  |  🏈 Beyond the Lab →

Dr. Robert Gettens

Professor & Department Chair — Biomedical Engineering

Western New England University — Springfield, MA

Dept. Chair Biomaterials Medical Devices Go Bills! Army Veteran KEEN Faculty ABET Evaluator CSWA

Army officer. Industry engineer. Researcher. Educator. Fly fisherman. Bills fanatic.
Real-world experience in every lecture. Curiosity in every project.

Meet Dr. Gettens Research
⚖ Lafayette College • Army Veteran  |  🏭 Baxter Healthcare  |  🎓 Syracuse University • WNE Dept. Chair  |  🏈 Bills Mafia  |  🎣 Adirondacks

About

Engineer. Soldier. Teacher. Human.

Dr. G (Robert Gettens), Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering, WNE

Professor & Department Chair
Biomedical Engineering • WNE

I'm Dr. G (Dr. Robert Gettens) — Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Western New England University. My career has taken me from the parade grounds of Fort Hood to the cleanrooms of Baxter Healthcare to the labs and classrooms of WNE — and every stop shaped how I teach and how I think.

My core expertise is in biomaterials and medical devices, but I've always chased interesting problems regardless of where they lead. The same restlessness that made me a platoon leader and a principal engineer makes me a better researcher and a better department chair.

I bring genuine industry and military experience into every course — because the best engineering education bridges the gap between theory and the real world where things actually break, where lives actually depend on the design.

Ph.D. • Syracuse University Department Chair Biomaterials Medical Devices ⚖ U.S. Army Veteran 🏭 Baxter Healthcare KEEN Faculty ABET Evaluator CSWA — SolidWorks Bills Mafia

Industry & Military Experience

The real-world foundation behind the research and teaching

⚖

U.S. Army — Active Duty & Reserves

Engineer Officer • Platoon Leader, 4th Infantry Division

Commissioned officer and Platoon Leader in the 4th Infantry Division following ROTC at Lafayette College. Four years of active duty, then continued service in the U.S. Army Reserves. Leadership, team building, and engineering under pressure — skills that never leave you.

🏭

Baxter Healthcare

Principal Engineer • Medication Delivery Technical Center

Advanced to Principal Engineer working on life-critical medication delivery products. Full product development lifecycle: materials selection, device engineering, manufacturing, and regulatory compliance for products that directly impact patient safety.

🏫 Why It Matters in the Classroom

Students don't just hear about design constraints — they hear about the ones that came up at 2am on a production line in Round Lake, IL. They don't just learn leadership theory — they hear what it actually looked like leading soldiers in the field. That context is irreplaceable, and it's something I'm proud to bring to every course I teach.

Research

Wide-ranging curiosity. Rigorous science.

Core expertise in biomaterials, blood-contacting medical devices, and surface science — but with a restless appetite for problems in any direction. Research topics have spanned electrochemistry, orthopedics, signal processing, rehabilitation engineering, and engineering education. If it's a good problem and needs an engineer, I want in.

🧰

Biomaterials & Surface Science

Protein adsorption, fibrinogen behavior on metallic surfaces, surface modification of implantable materials in physiological environments.

❤

Blood-Contacting Medical Devices

Device engineering and evaluation where materials must interface safely and reliably with blood — among the most demanding design challenges in biomedicine.

💊

Electrochemistry & Corrosion

Electrochemical impedance and polarization behavior of metallic biomaterials, particularly 316L stainless steel under physiological conditions.

🧹

Orthopedic Implants

Wear, fatigue, and failure modes of orthopedic materials including joint replacements and fixation devices.

🔬

Biomechanics & Mechanical Testing

Characterizing mechanical behavior of tissues and engineered materials using fatigue testing, failure analysis, and AFM techniques.

🏭

Medical Device Development

Full-cycle device development: concept, materials selection, prototyping, testing, and navigating regulatory pathways. Frequent industry collaboration and student-driven senior design projects.

🎓

Engineering Education

Entrepreneurially-minded learning, active-learning design pedagogy, and first-year engineering experience — aligned with the KEEN framework.

🧬

And Much More…

Rehabilitation engineering, biosensors, tissue mechanics, educational technology. Intellectual restlessness is a feature, not a bug.

Collaboration Welcome

Student with an idea? Company with a challenge? Colleague with an unusual question? My door (and email) is always open — the more unusual, the better.

Teaching

Real-world experience in every lecture

Philosophy

Theory matters. Context matters more. Having led soldiers and engineered life-critical devices, I connect every concept to the real decisions engineers actually face. Students leave knowing not just how, but why.

"The best engineers are curious, creative, and willing to tackle problems outside their comfort zone. That's what I try to cultivate."
🏆 2016 WNE Teaching Excellence Award
✓ ABET Program Evaluator
✓ Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA)

Courses Taught

  • Biomaterials Science & Engineering
  • Advanced Biomaterials & Medical Devices
  • Product Development & Innovation
  • Data Acquisition & Processing
  • Biomechanics I & II
  • Engineering Mechanics (Statics)
  • Sophomore Biomedical Engineering Lab
  • Junior Biomedical Engineering Lab
  • Introduction to Engineering
  • Senior Design Capstone
  • First Year Engineering Experience
20+
Years Teaching
Energy and enthusiasm, year after year.
100+
Senior Design Projects Advised
Real challenges, real solutions.
∞
Student Questions Welcomed
No question is too small or too strange.
🎓
Researchers Mentored
Undergraduate and graduate, hands-on in the lab.

KEEN — Engineering Unleashed Faculty

Active participant in the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) and its Engineering Unleashed platform. Teaching students to be curious, make connections, and create value — not just solve textbook problems.

→ engineeringunleashed.com
🔮

Interactive Class Tools

3D visualizations for materials courses — rotate, zoom, and explore.

🔮
Biomaterials • Materials Science

3D Crystal Structure Viewer

Explore SC, BCC, FCC, HCP, Diamond Cubic, Rock Salt, Zinc Blende, Cesium Chloride, Fluorite & Perovskite interactively. View crystallographic planes & directions, space-fill overlays, cut-atom unit cells, and 2×2×2 supercells.

10 Structures Miller Indices Interactive 3D
Open Viewer →
🧬
Polymer Science • Macromolecules

3D Polymer Chain Viewer

16 polymer chains (addition: PE, aPP, iPP, aPS, iPS, PVC, PMMA, PTFE, PI, pHEMA; condensation: iPLA, Nylon 6,6, PDMS, PEO, PET, PEEK) — built atom-by-atom using the NERF algorithm. Double bonds shown as golden paired cylinders. Crystal & amorphous modes, 1–200 mer units.

16 Polymers Addition & Condensation Double Bonds ═ 1–200 mer
Open Viewer →
⚙️
Manufacturing • Process Engineering

Manufacturing Processes

Animated schematic cross-sections of 13 core manufacturing processes — Casting, Forming, Molding, Machining, Joining & Additive Manufacturing — inspired by The Efficient Engineer's 2D engineering diagram style.

13 Processes 6 Categories Animated Schematics
Open Viewer →

🔮 Crystal, polymer & manufacturing process tools — more coming.

😄

Dr. G's Dad Jokes

A classroom staple since day one. You've been warned.

Every class deserves at least one. Whether it lands or gets a collective groan (spoiler: it's always the groan), the dad joke is an essential part of the WNE BME experience — engineering, biomaterials, and the Bills are all fair game.

😄 Joke of the Day
Why don't scientists trust atoms?
Joke 1 of  •  Total groans collected: 0

Timeline

From Lafayette to Springfield — the long way around

The Beginning

Lafayette College — B.S. Engineering & ROTC

Engineering student and ROTC cadet at Lafayette College. Building the technical and leadership foundations that would define everything that followed.

⚖ Active Duty Army

U.S. Army — Engineer Officer, 4th Infantry Division

Commissioned officer serving four years on active duty, including as a Platoon Leader in the 4th Infantry Division. Led soldiers, managed engineering operations, and developed the kind of leadership instincts you can only earn in the field.

⚖ Reserves

U.S. Army Reserves

Continued military service in the Army Reserves following active duty.

🏭 Industry

Baxter Healthcare — Principal Engineer

Advanced to Principal Engineer in the Medication Delivery Technical Center. Four years designing and developing life-critical medical products — from materials selection through regulatory approval and manufacturing scale-up.

Graduate School

Syracuse University — M.S. & Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering

Doctoral research in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, focusing on biomaterials surface science, protein adsorption, and the electrochemical behavior of metallic implant materials.

Academic Career

Western New England University — Faculty

Joined WNE's Department of Biomedical Engineering. Built an active research program, developed curriculum including the First Year Engineering Program, and began mentoring students at every level.

🏆 2016

WNE Teaching Excellence Award

Recognized by Western New England University for outstanding contributions to engineering education and student success.

Today

Professor & Department Chair

Leading the WNE Department of Biomedical Engineering as Chair, continuing active research, mentoring students, serving as an ABET evaluator, and yes — still cheering loudly for the Buffalo Bills every Sunday.

Working With Students

The best part of the job — no contest

WNE BME senior design class group photo
Senior Design Capstone class — WNE Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Gettens in the BME lab with students
Dr. G in the BME lab — where the real work happens
Student receiving award with Dr. Gettens
Celebrating a student achievement at an awards ceremony
Senior design team presenting medical device project
Senior design team presenting their medical device project
Student team at project showcase
Senior design showcase — WNE Career Center
Students working on biomedical device
Getting it done — students deep in the work
Students at WNE Emerging Engineers Expo 2025
Billy Zaccagnini, Ashley Figueroa & Jacob Aselton — robotic suture cutter, WNE Emerging Engineers Expo 2025  •  Photo: Douglas Hook / The Republican
Group after senior design presentations
After the presentations — a very good class
Noor Awkal and Aston Rutkowski at Emerging Engineers Expo
Noor Awkal & Aston Rutkowski — SonoSight Ultrasound Probe Holder, Emerging Engineers Expo 2025  •  Photo: Douglas Hook / The Republican
Dr. Gettens with senior design team at poster
Dr. G with a senior design team at the WNE Career Center
Students on a field outing
Students out in the field
🤓

Mentorship First

Ways of thinking, not just facts. How to ask the right question. How to push through when the experiment fails. Those things last a career.

🔍

Real Research

Undergraduates in my lab do real work with real data. That's how learning sticks — and how students discover what they're actually capable of.

🏆

Celebrating Every Win

Thesis defense. Job offer. Finally understanding that concept at midnight. Those moments never get old. Not once.

💪

High Bar, Full Support

High expectations and complete support aren't opposites — that's just what good mentorship looks like.

Interested in Working Together?

Undergraduate research, graduate advising, senior design, or just an unusual idea you want to talk through — reach out. The door is always open.

Get In Touch

Research, courses, advising, ABET, KEEN — or the Bills. Always happy to talk.

Send an Email
Office
213E Sleith Hall
Phone
413-796-2299
Department
BME @ WNE
LinkedIn
rob-gettens