A Message from the Program Chair of Biomedical Engineering
Welcome to the UC Biomedical Engineering program home on the web! Biomedical Engineering is a critically important and fast-growing discipline, with an anticipated 62% job growth from 2010 to 2020, more than any other science or engineering discipline (US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2012).
Our BME program was originated in 2001 as a undergraduate and graduate Biomedical Engineering Mechanics program. With collaboration from faculty in the UC Colleges of Engineering and Medicine, as well as support from the Whitaker Foundation, the Biomedical Engineering program was initiated in 2004 and has rapidly grown. As of 2012, we have graduated over 180 Bachelor's and 50 Master's and PhD alumni. Enrolled in 2012/2013 are over 240 undergraduate students and over 30 graduate students. Our enrolled students are consistently at or near the top of all UC engineering students in test scores, high school GPA and class rank, and percentage of female students. Our students go on to employment in the medical device industry, research in academic and government settings, and further education in graduate or medical school.
The Biomedical Engineering program is housed within UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science(CEAS). As one of three programs in the School of Energy, Environmental, Biological, and Medical Engineering, we enjoy synergy with the Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering programs. The program also maintains strong ties to UC's College of Medicine (CoM) and to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), including research and teaching collaborations.
Our faculty include leading experts in regenerative medicine, biomechanics, medical imaging, bioinformatics, and medical devices. These include 11 primary BME faculty, as well as 25 secondary BME faculty. Our primary faculty have appointments either in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science or College of Medicine, while our Secondary faculty's affiliatiations include CEAS, CoM, CCHMC, and Shriner's Hospital.
Our undergraduate program offers both a Medical Device Design focus area, based in our Medical Device Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (MDIEP), and a research focus areas including as well as a research focus area with concentrations including regenerative medicine, biomechanics, and medical imaging. In both focus areas, students take a sequence of three courses teaching the fundamentals either of medical device design or biomedical research. In their senior year, all our Bachelor of Science students complete a major design experience, in the form of either a Medical Device Design or a Research Design two-semester capstone sequence. Research Design capstone students work in active laboratories within CEAS, CoM, and CCHMC on independent, hypothesis-driven research projects with strong engineering design components. Medical Device Design capstone projects, each conceived and executed in collaboration with UC physicians, have resulted in national awards, patented inventions, and new startup companies.
Cooperative Education (co-op) first developed at the University of Cincinnati in 1906, offers our students invaluable hands-on experience as an integral part of their undergraduate education. All our undergraduate students participate in co-op, spending three to five semesters working in the medical device industry or in research laboratories. Current employers of our co-op students include Boston Scientific, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, AtriCure, Cook Medical, Prosthetic Design, and researchers at both UC and Cincinnati Children's. Student experiences and connections from co-op contribute to our high rate of successful alumni placements in both the medical device industry and in biomedical graduate programs.
Our graduate programs include a research-intensive PhD degree with focus areas including tissue engineering and biomechanics, medical imaging, and medical device innovation and entrepreneurship. We also offer the Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering and a Master of Engineering degree with a focus on medical device design. Students also enroll in our PhD Biomedical Engineering program through the UC College of Medicine MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program and the College of MedicineBiomedical Sciences Flex Option. Our graduate students are supported by UC University Graduate Scholarships, University Graduate Assistantships, and research assistantships funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and other sponsors. Recent graduate theses have included work on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, regenerative medicine for wound healing and tissue repair, and medical nanotechnology. Recent graduates have gone on to postdoctoral positions at institutions including Boston University, University of Illinois, Harvard Partners, Johns Hopkins, University of Wisconsin, The Mayo Clinic, University of California (San Francisco and Los Angeles), and University of Colorado, industry positions at Corning Life Sciences, Siemens Medical Systems, GeneCodes Diagnostics, Surgical Energetics, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and Procter & Gamble, and government research positions at the NIH, EPA, and Department of Veteran's Affairs.
Both our undergraduate and graduate programs are enhanced by a vibrant research environment at UC, with interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers, physicians, and basic scientists. Our faculty maintain leading laboratories in areas including biomedical ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and vascular regenerative medicine. Many of our graduate students also perform their research in one of the many active research laboratories within Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the UC College of Medicine.
To learn more about our BME program, please contact me (doug.mast@uc.edu) or any of our faculty. We also encourage you to schedule a visit to campus. Tours of our engineering programs are offered most Tuesday and Friday afternoons. We look forward to hearing from you!
Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org