Rate My Professor Hananeh Esmailbeigi

Hananeh Esmailbeigi is a Clinical Professor and Director of Industry and Alumni Engagement in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering within the Engineering faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago. She holds a joint appointment as Clinical Associate Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science. Esmailbeigi earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Illinois Chicago and her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in Iran. Her research specializations encompass wearable technology, sensory substitution and enhancement, biosensors, human-machine interfaces, brain-machine interfaces, rehabilitation engineering, neural interfaces, and medical device design and development. Directing the Wearable Technology and Sensory Enhancement Laboratory, she leads interdisciplinary efforts to create sensing and wearable technologies for medical, rehabilitation, assistive, and augmentative applications aimed at improving quality of life and characterizing diseases.

Esmailbeigi's career includes roles as Visiting Scientist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano, and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus. As Founder and CEO of HideIT Wearables Innovation Inc., her company earned the Industry Showcase Award at the 16th IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks in 2019. She has garnered major awards such as the Piergiorgio L.E. Uslenghi Global Engagement Emerging Leader Faculty Award in 2024, the NIH Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Prize in 2025 for her student career development project, the Award of Excellence in Teaching from the College of Engineering in 2023, multiple College of Engineering Advising Awards from 2017 to 2021, and the Undergraduate Student Government Faculty Open Educational Resources Leadership Award in 2024. Key publications include "Statistical evaluation of tongue capability with visual feedback" (Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2024), "A Wireless Intra-Oral Device for Respiratory and Cardiovascular Monitoring in Sport" (IEEE International Workshop on Sport, Technology and Research, 2024), "Movement of the Tongue During Target Reaching on a 2-Dimensional Surface" (Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2022), "The Pattern of Tongue’s Motion: A Free-Exploration Study" (Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2020), and "Wearable Wireless User Interface Cursor-Controller (UIC-C)" (Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2017). Her contributions extend to advising IEEE EMBS and BMES student chapters, developing professional development courses, study abroad programs in Europe, and international teaching on wearable technology, significantly impacting student career outcomes and global biomedical engineering engagement.