Dr. Homer Nazeran, an associate professor at UT El Paso, has traveled about three-quarters of the way around the world. Along the way, he picked up some valuable lessons and experiences.
After graduating high school in Esfahan, Iran, Dr. Nazeran came to the United States, determined to secure the best engineering education possible. His first stop was The University of Texas in Austin, where he received a bachelor’s degree with honors in electrical engineering in 1975. He then moved to Cleveland, Ohio and enrolled in Case Western Reserve University, where he earned a master’s in clinical engineering in 1978. A seven-month internship in the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital was part of the degree requirements.
“During these years, I learned that engineering is not only about discovering and creating knowledge, but also (and more importantly) about applying new knowledge to create what has never been – the innovative integration of ideas, devices and systems to implement change, improve human living condition and create wealth,” said Dr. Nazeran. “I also learned that engineering is multi-disciplinary in nature, as it has to do with design and synthesis that spans a large number of disciplines.”
Armed with his engineering knowledge and an entrepreneurial ambition, Dr. Nazeran returned to Tehran and established a company (the first of its kind) to design, manufacture and sell medical instrumentation. It was during this time that he discovered that he needed additional skills in marketing and contractual agreements. He negotiated exclusive representation rights from three prestigious American and European companies with product lines in medical instrumentation and biotechnology.
“These activities provided some unique opportunities for me to enhance my understanding of how to run a business,” he recalled. “During this period, I also learned that engineering practice in the real world requires management, supervision, teamwork, interpersonal interaction and communication skills as well as a profound appreciation of cultural, social, environmental and economic factors. I spent seven years learning in the University of Real Life.”
Eager to increase his knowledge and earn a Ph.D., Dr. Nazeran enrolled in the biomedical engineering program conducted jointly by UT Arlington and the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He started as a research/teaching assistant at UT Arlington, and then became a research assistant in the Department of Pathology at UTSW before graduating in 1991.
He then moved to Adelaide, Australia to reunite with the rest of his family, only to discover a unique opportunity – become the co-founder of a School of Engineering with an emphasis on biomedical, electrical, electronics and computer engineering. Dr. Nazeran became a member of the senior academic staff in the School of Engineering at Flinders University of South Australia and taught and conducted research there for 10 years. Also while there, he became a Chartered Professional Engineer (Biomedical).
Dr. Nazeran returned to UT Arlington and UTSW in the fall of 1997 and 2001 as a visiting professor. While here, he learned of a faculty position open in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UT El Paso. He started teaching there in 2002 and developed four new biomedical engineering courses in addition to modifying two others.
“There is tremendous joy with sharing the enlightening moments of discovery with my students and removing the confusion from their faces when they understand for the first time how the human body carries out its wonderfully intricate and well-coordinated functions as a superior engineering system,” he said. “This joy is enhanced when I see the brilliance of the light bulbs going on in them. Then there is this holistic (intellectual, intuitive and spiritual) transcendental experience of reaching a summit regardless of the difficulty of the climb. Isn’t this one of the most important things worth living for?!”
