Graduate Program Director & Associate Professor
Office: HOEN 370
(205) 975-3891
- B.A./B.S., Biology with honors and Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Donny Burke has over ten years of experience in the bioengineering field, during which he has made extensive contributions to consumer products safety. He is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and teaches in the Master of Engineering with a Concentration in Advanced Safety Engineering and Management (ASEM). He is the director of the ASEM program and leader of the Advanced Safety Engineering track in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Ph.D. program. He spent over ten years as a senior research engineer and project manager for the biomedical engineering firm BioEchoes, which specializes in providing customized solutions to government, corporate, and legal organizations in system safety, product design and development, injury prevention and serious mishap analysis, and ethical leadership training. Donny has been published in numerous scientific journals and conference proceedings, has delivered technical presentations around the world, and has patented devices on motor vehicle restraint design.
Dr. Burke is currently an active member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. He was the founding president of the ASSE student section at UAB and currently serves as the section's faculty advisor. He is also the current chair of the Next Generation Board of the ASSE Foundation. He holds a dual B.S degree from UAB - Biology with honors and Biomedical Engineering and graduated with his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering in May 2013.
Donny and his wife, Nikole, have three young daughters; Avery, Elle and Wynnie. Family time is mostly spent on trips to the beach, attending the girls’ gymnastic events, visiting out-of-state family, or simply working in the garden at home.