Ask acquaintances and friends of Kirk Beach to describe him in one word, and they’ll fill up a page.

Humble. Enthusiastic. Accessible. Driven.

But in the context of his recent win of the UW award for Distinguished Contribution to Lifelong Learning, one word often comes up: diplomatic.

Beach received the award largely for his work on UW Extension’s program in medical engineering, a series of certificates that prepare engineers to design and produce medical devices.

This program brought together faculty from several departments in the School of Medicine and College of Engineering, experts from private industry, and administrators at Educational Outreach. The effort crossed the scary boundaries between the academic, bureaucratic and financial spheres. And yet Beach came out of it unscathed, with a popular, timely program that has also earned the respect of industry professionals and researchers.

“He has done well by everyone. He pulled together faculty from both within and outside the University, while keeping a low profile. He has been humble through the whole process,” said Shaun Bennett, Educational Outreach program manager for the medical engineering program.

In addition to putting together the program, Beach also teaches the capstone course in the certificate program for medical devices. He even went through 11 courses and three labs in the program as a full participant, to ensure their quality.

The medical engineering program has only confirmed Beach’s reputation as a solid teacher, researcher and mentor. In his 27 years at the UW, Beach has been a research professor in vascular surgery, bioengineering and electrical engineering. He has taught ultrasound physics and medical engineering. He runs the UW Instrument Development Lab, and serves on many academic and industry boards.

“He’s a man of great imagination and he encourages that in students. He is a first-rate teacher. He tries to engage the students, tries to get them to look beyond the obvious,” said Sandy Spelman, professor emeritus and former chair of bioengineering.

“He takes teaching very seriously. He really sees it as his responsibility that his students come out knowing what they are doing, that they come out with a good understanding of the problems they are working with,” said Matt Bruce, a doctoral student in bioengineering who has worked with Beach.

Bruce said Beach’s background in engineering and medicine gives him the perspective to see how new materials and engineering can be used to deal with a medical problem. Traditionally, engineers and medical researchers work in different realms, without many chances to bring them together.

“He is that bridge between the clinical problem and the engineers,” Bruce said.

Perhaps it is this perspective and willingness to cross boundaries that has inspired so many local engineers to pursue the Medical Engineering program. About 150 participants since 1996 have come from aeronautical backgrounds. In fact, a third of the people currently enrolled in the program come from aerospace fields.

Beach is humble about the program’s achievements.

“The major reason for the program’s success is that we have wonderful instructors,” he said. He also credits the generous education reimbursement policy at Boeing, which refunds employees for taking classes not directly related to their jobs. But mostly, he credits the mission of medical engineering, with its emphasis on saving lives.

“This field has what I call moral appeal,” Beach said. “The engineers saw a lot of value in this.”

Still, others see Beach’s hard work and determination all over the medical engineering program.

“As the result of one man’s vision and 10 years of his effort, the University of Washington has become home to the nation’s foremost continuing education program in medical engineering,” said Bennett of Educational Outreach. “He’s provided a spectacular example of how it can be done, when someone really wants to do it.”

– Roberto Sanchez

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