King Hay Yang, professor of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed director of the Wayne State University Bioengineering Center, the College of Engineering has announced.

Yang becomes only the third director in the prestigious institute's 65-year-old history, succeeding Albert King, one of the 13 distinguished professors at Wayne State University and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. King will continue as chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State, which was established in 2002 as an independent and permanent unit.

Yang is recognized worldwide for his work on human models used in conjunction with crash injury research. He and his graduate students have developed many computer models simulating impact responses for various regions of the human body. Their brain model, for instance, gives doctors and auto designers critical information about the area and extent of closed-head injuries.

Yang earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering with special emphasis in spine and impact biomechanics from Wayne State in 1985. He was appointed assistant professor in 1988. He is a recipient of the 1984 Volvo Award for best paper in Biomechanics, and he is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Pioneering research in Biomedical Engineering began at Wayne State in 1939. The graduate program in Biomedical Engineering was initiated in 1998 and the Department in 2002. The Bioengineering Center is known for its research contributions to the overall development of many automobile safety designs, including the high penetration resistant windshield, seat belt, air bags, the collapsible steering column, and the Indianapolis 500 soft wall.