Biomedical Engineering, M.S.

The master’s program in biomedical engineering allows the engineer the opportunity to apply recent technological developments to the solution of current biomedical engineering problems in the areas of biomaterials, biotransport, biomedical instrumentation and biomechanics. Electives in other areas to broaden the student’s exposure are also required. The program emphasizes research and preparation of a thesis associated with this computational or experimental work. Three areas of specialization (biomechanics; biomedical instrumentation, imaging, computation; biomaterials, tissue engineering) enable a student to focus on a particular area of biomedical engineering. Program policies are available in the department office.

Admission Requirements

The applicant must have a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering or its equivalent. Applicants with degrees in other fields of engineering, or science or mathematics, may be required to successfully complete preparatory undergraduate coursework before beginning the program. These courses are established by the department head when the student is admitted to the program.

General admission requirements and the application process are presented in the Academic Overview  section.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering is offered with both thesis and nonthesis options. Before completion of nine credit hours, the student must submit a master’s degree program plan indicating specific courses to be taken. For the thesis option, six semester credit hours of thesis (BME 5999 ) must be included in the 30 credit hour requirement. For the nonthesis option, students complete two additional elective courses for a total of 30 credit hours. Students interested in a fast track program are directed to the College of Engineering section).

The thesis option requires completion and successful oral defense of a thesis. A thesis proposal must be approved in advance by the faculty committee. All master’s students partly or fully supported by teaching or research assistantships are required to complete the thesis option. Nonthesis students must pass a final written program examination in the last semester before graduation.

Curriculum

The program offers three areas of specialization (biomechanics; biomedical instrumentation, imaging and computation, and biomaterials and tissue engineering). All areas require nine semester credit hours of required courses, a zero-credit seminar (taken each semester), and additional courses (BME) for a total of 21 credits. The remaining credits consist of six credit hours of thesis or three credit hours of a faculty supervised graduate project and six credit hours of elective courses as detailed in the curriculum below.