Sandy Cochran, Professor of Ultrasound Materials and Systems, holds a BSc in Electronics (1986), a PhD (1990) in ultrasonic array design and application, and an MBA (2001) all from the University of Strathclyde. At Strathclyde, he worked in the Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering (1986 – 9, 1996 – 2000), and in the Superconducting Devices Research Group, Department of Physics (1990 – 95), holding a BP / Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship in Physics (1993 - 95). From Strathclyde, he moved to the University of the West of Scotland (2000 – 7) with an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship where he set up a research group in Microscale Sensors, with colleagues. In 2007, he moved to IMSaT, University of Dundee, where he was a Head of the Division of Imaging and Technology, and Team Leader in Medical Ultrasound. In 2015 he moved to School of Engineering, Glasgow University where he is Professor of Ultrasound Materials and Systems (Systems Power and Energy).

Research 

Prof. Cochran’s research focuses on devices for ultrasound in medicine and life sciences. The IMSaT ultrasound lab is the only one in the UK dedicated to medical ultrasound device design, fabrication and testing, and one of only a handful like it in the world. Topics of particular interest are

• New piezoelectric materials and better utilisation of existing materials
• Miniature devices for clinical applications of high resolution ultrasound imaging
• Focused ultrasound surgery and ultrasound-targeted drug delivery
• Ultrasound for transmission beamforming and manipulation of cells and particles
• MIniature and microscale ultrasound systems for biomedical applications 
• Ultrasound and other techniques for sensing in the body

Prof. Cochran has led around 20 research projects with a value of more than £12m and been a co-investigator on almost 20 more, worth a further £8m. He has been a director of two startup companies and is an inventor on 10 patents. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a member of several others learned societies. He has led the supervision of sixteen successful PhD / EngD students and jointly supervised five more. He is presently lead or joint supervisor for eight PhD / EngD students.