Departments & Centers
Biomedical Engineering (BME)
Chancellor's Professor: E. Berbari (Chair)
Professors: G. Kassab, H. Yokota
Associate Professors: J. Schild, D. Xie, K. Yoshida
Assistant Professors: J. Ji, S. Na, C.C. Lin, J. Wallace
Clinical Associate Professor: W. Combs
Lecturer: K. Alfrey (Director of the Undergraduate Program)
Biomedical engineering is a discipline that advances knowledge in engineering, biology, and medicine to improve human health through cross-disciplinary activities that integrate the engineering sciences with the biomedical sciences and clinical practice. Students work in the development of new devices, algorithms, processes, and systems that advance biology and medicine and improve medical practice and health care delivery. Many students choose BME because it is people-oriented.
The mission of the Biomedical Engineering Department is to strive to attain world-class research and to provide the highest quality educational experience for our students. We expect and value excellence in conducting research, and training students to participate in research activities and professional practice. We accomplish our Mission as follows:
- By exploiting the most modern and innovative approaches, we are leaders in interdisciplinary biomedical engineering research and discovery.
- By providing students with an education in engineering principles, design, and modern biomedical science, we develop in them the knowledge and skills for productive careers in biomedical engineering.
- By committing to service to advance biomedical engineering, we contribute to the field.
Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering
The bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering (B.S.B.M.E.) integrates the engineering analysis and design skills of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology with the life sciences offered through the Purdue School of Science and with significant medical/clinical elements available through collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine.
The B.S.B.M.E. degree program combines a strong set of mathematics, science, and biomedical engineering courses into a demanding and rewarding four-year degree program aimed at solving contemporary problems in the life and health sciences. Outstanding features include instructional objectives that integrate the study of the fundamental principles of life and health sciences with rigorous engineering disciplines through a core of interdisciplinary courses that include biomechanics, biomeasurements, biomaterials, computational biology, and biosignals and systems analysis, among others. Many of the courses involve laboratory and problem solving recitation sections that lead the student through a practical encounter with methods of engineering analysis aimed at understanding and solving problems related to human health care and delivery. The Senior Design Experience is a two-semester sequence where a team approach is used to solve problems originating from the laboratories of faculty across the Schools of Engineering, Science, Dentistry, and Medicine, as well as from clinical and industrial partners. This approach will develop strong team-working skills among the students and enhance their communication skills with professionals outside of their discipline.
The senior year electives enable the student to pursue course content that develops a depth of understanding in a number of biomedical engineering expertise areas such as tissue engineering, biomolecular engineering, imaging, bioelectric phenomena, biomechanics, and regenerative biology. Students interested in pursuing careers in medicine or dentistry may also use their electives to fulfill these respective preprofessional requirements. Highly motivated students with strong academic credentials will find biomedical engineering an excellent premedical or predental degree program.
This exciting and innovative curriculum forms the basis of our program vision, whereby our students will be well educated in modern biomedical engineering, and with this knowledge they will be prepared to develop new devices, technologies, and methodologies that lead to significant improvements in human health care and delivery. The Biomedical Engineering Web site (www.engr.iupui.edu/bme/) has the most up-to-date information concerning the plan of study for the B.S.B.M.E. degree program.
Biomedical Engineering Program Objectives
The program educational objectives of our biomedical engineering undergraduate program are to integrate engineering and life science principles into a comprehensive curriculum that produces graduates who can achieve the following career and professional accomplishments, if desired:
- Meet employer expectations in medical device companies or other health or life science related industries.
- Pursue and complete advanced graduate degrees in biomedical engineering, or related engineering or life science areas.
- Pursue and complete advanced professional degree programs in medicine, law, business, or other professional areas.
The above program objectives are based on achieving a set of assessable program outcomes at the time the students have completed the undergraduate curriculum and are outlined below:
Program Outcomes
Upon completing the undergraduate BME degree, our students will possess:
a. an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
b. an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
c. an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
d. an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
e. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
f. an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
g. an ability to communicate effectively
h. the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
i. a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
j. a knowledge of contemporary issues
k. an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice
l. an understanding of biology and physiology
m. the capacity to apply advanced mathematics (including differential equations and statistics), science and engineering to solve problems at the interface of engineering and biology
n. the ability to make measurements on and interpret data from living systems, addressing the problems associated with the interaction between living and non-living materials and systems
Transfer Students
Transfer students are initially admitted to the Freshman Engineering Program. Subsequent transfer into the Department of Biomedical Engineering is permitted only after consultation with a Biomedical Engineering Advisor to ensure course equivalencies and to evaluate the student's overall academic achievement. Students requesting transfer into Biomedical Engineering must submit a brief application.
Admission into Biomedical Engineering
Freshman engineering students who declare a biomedical engineering major must apply to the Department of Biomedical Engineering for formal admission by April 1 of their first year. Acceptance into the department is competitive and is based on academic qualifications, advisor's recommendation, and available space.
Graduate Programs in Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineering is an interdisciplinary program and a joint effort of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, the Purdue School of Science, and the Indiana University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). In addition to these participating academic units, the program operates in close collaboration with several centers and facilities on campus, and with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette.
Students interested in the M.S.B.M.E. degree should apply directly to the Graduate Programs Office of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology in Indianapolis. Students with a master's degree, or who are solely interested in the Ph.D. degree, should apply to the Department of Biomedical Engineering at West Lafayette, even though they may be resident and study on the Indianapolis campus.
For more information about the M.S.B.M.E. visit http://engr.iupui.edu/bme/ms_bme_pos.shtml?menu=ms.
For more information about the Ph.D. program visit https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/Academics/BMEGraduateProgram/Admissions/.