The university’s investment in its medical research received a $7 million donation from UK alumnus F. Joseph Halcomb and wife Joani Halcomb, which will be used to improve the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

UK will use the money to increase the faculty of eight in the department with the addition of one endowed chair and two endowed fellowships, and increase the research conducted by the department through fully-funded graduate fellowships, according to a UKNow press release.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering is three years old, but Dean John Walz of the department said that it is a growing field of engineering, and that advancing medical technology will save and improve lives.

The department will be named after Joseph Halcomb, who has worked in the field of medicine and innovative medical technology for nearly three decades. Joseph Halcomb said he hopes this contribution will help budding medical professionals and patients.

“What I want to see more than anything else is that students in the biomedical engineering program make a difference in patients’ lives,” Joseph Halcomb said. “It would thrill me if their advances in research lead to the development of products with clinical applications. Think of the impact: students get a head start on their careers, people with debilitating medical issues are helped and UK enlarges its reputation within the biomedical engineering industry.”