The major in biomedical engineering builds on the foundation provided by the B.S.E. core requirements, preparing students for the challenges and opportunities associated with careers in the profession.

Focus Areas

All B.S.E. students complete a focus area within their chosen major. Students majoring in biomedical engineering select one of four preapproved focus areas: bioimaging, biomechanics and biomaterials, cellular engineering, or computational bioengineering. Each focus area may be designated pre-medicine by completing a specific set of electives.

Bioimaging

Bioimaging represents the acquisition, processing, and visualization of structural or functional images of living systems. Medical imaging and image processing are integral to the extraction of anatomical and biological information from the systems level down to the molecular level with the goal of clinically seeking to reveal, diagnose, or examine diseases, as well as to the study of normal anatomy and physiology.

Biomechanics and Biomaterials

Biomechanics is the study of structure and function. It is the application of principles from classical mechanics to problems in biological systems. This focus area emphasizes cardiovascular and/or musculoskeletal biomechanics. The study of biomaterials plays an important role in the design of implants and surgical instrumentation for both cardiovascular and musculoskeletal applications.

Cellular Engineering

Cellular engineering involves the application of engineering principles to problems in cellular and molecular biology, particularly as they relate to human health. The goal of this focus area is to equip students with the quantitative tools necessary to understand, manipulate, and control cellular and subcellular processes for a range of biomedical applications, including those related to stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Computational Bioengineering

Computational bioengineering is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for modeling and understanding biological data and systems that are typically represented by large amounts of data. Computational bioengineering is a combination of computer science, statistics, informatics, and engineering to analyze and interpret biological and genomic data. It is used for the identification of candidate genes to better understand the genetic basis of disease, unique adaptations, and differences between populations.

Educational Objectives

The department provides undergraduate students with a contemporary education in a multidisciplinary field of engineering. Its objective is to produce graduates who:

  • advance the biomedical field through the responsible analysis and design of devices, systems, processes, and policies that improve human health;
  • pursue a wide range of career options, including those in industry, academia, and medicine; and
  • collaborate on multidisciplinary teams and become leaders in their chosen field.

The Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a major in biomedical engineering requires a minimum of 131 s.h. of credit; students within this major typically complete 133-134 s.h. Students must have a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in all college work used to satisfy degree requirements as well as on all coursework attempted at the University of Iowa.

All B.S.E. students are required to take the same collegiate curriculum. For information about these collegiate requirements, see the Bachelor of Science in Engineering, B.S.E. in the catalog. Students completing the major in biomedical engineering fulfill the collegiate statistics requirement by completing BIOS:4120 Introduction to Biostatistics or STAT:3510 Biostatistics.

The program has been designed carefully to enable students to satisfy the entrance requirements of the Graduate College. Students whose choice of electives includes a three-course sequence in organic chemistry, an additional biology course, and a biochemistry course may satisfy entrance requirements of the Carver College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry, or the allied health sciences.

The major in biomedical engineering requires the following coursework.

Collegiate Curriculum50
Major Requirements48
Focus Area33-34
Total Hours131-132

Major Requirements

Major requirements include a set of common courses (38 s.h.), two departmental seminars (2 s.h.), and two capstone design courses (8 s.h.).

Students in the bioimaging or computational bioengineering focus areas may choose between ENGR:2130 Thermodynamics or ENGR:2995 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Engineering.

All of these:
BME:2200Systems, Instrumentation, and Data Acquisition (with lab)4
BME:2210Bioimaging and Bioinformatics (with lab)4
BME:2400Cell Biology for Engineers (with lab)3
BME:2500Biomaterials and Biomechanics (with lab)4
BIOL:1411Foundations of Biology4
CHEM:1120Principles of Chemistry II4
ENGR:2110Statics2
ENGR:2120Electrical Circuits3
ENGR:2130Thermodynamics3
HHP:3500Human Physiology3
PHYS:1612Introductory Physics II (with lab)4

Departmental Seminars

Both of these:
BME:1010First-Year Forum1
BME:2010Professional Seminar: Biomedical Engineering1

Capstone Design Courses

Both of these:
BME:4910Biomedical Engineering Senior Design I4
BME:4920Biomedical Engineering Senior Design II4

Focus Area

Students must select focus area courses according to guidelines established by the Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering. Biomedical engineering students choose one of four preapproved focus areas: bioimaging, biomechanics and biomaterials, cellular engineering, or computational bioengineering. For details about focus areas and their requirements, visit Focus Areas on the department's website.

Each focus area has a group of four required courses (12-13 s.h.) and a list of suggested electives (21 s.h.).

Pre-Medicine Focus Area Electives

Any focus area may be designated pre-medicine by taking the following focus area electives.

All of these:
BMB:3110Biochemistry3
BIOL:1412Diversity of Form and Function4
CHEM:2210Organic Chemistry I3
CHEM:2220Organic Chemistry II3
CHEM:2410Organic Chemistry Laboratory3
Total Hours16

Bioimaging

Required Courses

All of these:
BME:5210/ECE:5470/IGPI:5206Medical Imaging Physics3
ECE:3330/IGPI:3330Introduction to Software Design3
ECE:5480/IGPI:5480Digital Image Processing3
ENGR:2730Computers in Engineering3

Bioimaging Electives

Two of these:
BME:5200/IGPI:5212Biomedical Signal Processing3
BME:5251/IGPI:5251Advanced Biosystems3
ECE:5330/IGPI:5331Graph Algorithms and Combinatorial Optimization3
ECE:5450/IGPI:5450Machine Learning3
ECE:5490Multi-Dimensional Image Analysis Tools and Techniques3

Additional Electives

At least 15 s.h. from these:
CS:2210Discrete Structures3
CS:2230Computer Science II: Data Structures4
ECE:5460/IGPI:5460Digital Signal Processing3
MATH:3800/CS:3700Introduction to Numerical Methods3
Additional courses from the "Bioimaging Electives" list above3
Courses from the "Pre-Medicine Focus Area Electives" list3-4
Additional courses with advisor approval3

Biomechanics and Biomaterials

Required Courses

All of these:
ENGR:2510Fluid Mechanics4
ENGR:2710Dynamics3
ENGR:2720Materials Science3
ENGR:2750Mechanics of Deformable Bodies3

Biomechanics and Biomaterials Electives

Two of these:
BME:2710Engineering Drawing, Design, and Solid Modeling3
BME:5101Biomaterials and Implant Design3
BME:5510Cardiovascular Engineering3
BME:5525Cardiopulmonary Design and Modeling3
BME:5610Musculoskeletal Biomechanics3

Additional Electives

At least 15 s.h. from these:
BME:3710Medical Device Design: The Fundamentals3
BME:4710Medical Device Design Studio3
BME:5340Contemporary Topics in Biomedical Engineering3
BME:5421Cell Material Interactions3
BME:5430Biotransport3
BME:5460Principles of Microfluidics3
BME:5540Quantitative Studies of Respiratory and Cardiovascular Systems3
BME:5620Introduction to Applied Biomedical Finite Element Modeling3
BME:5630Kinetics of Musculoskeletal Systems3
BME:5715Advanced Medical Device Design Studio3
HHP:1100Human Anatomy3
HHP:4130Skeletal Muscle Physiology3
HHP:4460Cardiovascular Physiology3
ISE:2360Design for Manufacturing3
or ME:2300 Manufacturing Processes
ME:4110/CEE:4515Computer-Aided Engineering3
ME:5143Computational Fluid and Thermal Engineering3
ME:5150/CEE:5540Intermediate Mechanics of Deformable Bodies3
ME:5160/CEE:5369Intermediate Mechanics of Fluids3
ME:5167/CEE:5137Composite Materials3
Additional courses from the "Biomechanics and Biomaterials Electives" list above3
Courses from the "Pre-Medicine Focus Area Electives" list3-4
May include one of these:
CEE:4533/IGPI:4115Finite Element I3
ME:4117Finite Element Analysis3

Cellular Engineering

Required Courses

All of these:
BME:5421Cell Material Interactions3
BME:5430Biotransport3
BME:5435Systems Biology for Biomedical Engineering3
ENGR:2750Mechanics of Deformable Bodies3

Cellular Engineering Electives

Two of these:
BME:4310/BMB:4310Computational Biochemistry3
BME:5441Numerical and Statistical Methods for Bioengineering3
BME:5445Stem Cells in Regenerative Engineering3
BME:5451Research Methods in Cellular Engineering3
ECE:5480/IGPI:5480Digital Image Processing3

Additional Electives

At least 15 s.h. from these:
BME:5460Principles of Microfluidics3
BME:5525Cardiopulmonary Design and Modeling3
BIOL:2512Fundamental Genetics4
BMB:3120Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I3
BMB:3130Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II3
ENGR:2510Fluid Mechanics4
ENGR:2710Dynamics3
ENGR:2720Materials Science3
ENGR:2730Computers in Engineering2-3
ME:5179/CEE:5179Continuum Mechanicsarr.
Additional courses from the "Cellular Engineering Electives" list above3
Courses from the "Pre-Medicine Focus Area Electives" list3-4

Computational Bioengineering

Required Courses

All of these:
BME:4310/BMB:4310Computational Biochemistry3
BME:5335Computational Bioinformatics3
ECE:3330/IGPI:3330Introduction to Software Design3
ENGR:2730Computers in Engineering3

Computational Bioengineering Electives

Two of these:
ECE:5330/IGPI:5331Graph Algorithms and Combinatorial Optimization3
ECE:5450/IGPI:5450Machine Learning3
ECE:5820/CS:5820Software Engineering Languages and Tools3
ENGR:2995Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Engineering (may not count as an elective if taken in place of ENGR:2130 to fulfill major requirements)3

Additional Electives

At least 15 s.h. from these:
ANTH:2320/GHS:2320Origins of Human Infectious Disease3
BIOL:2512Fundamental Genetics4
BIOL:3314/IGPI:3314Genomics3
BIOL:4213/GENE:4213/IGPI:4213Bioinformatics2,4
CHEM:5431Statistical Thermodynamics I3
CHEM:5436/IGPI:5436Electronic Structure and Informatics in Chemistry3
CS:3330Algorithms3
CS:5350Design and Analysis of Algorithms3
ECE:5800/CS:5800Fundamentals of Software Engineering3
Additional courses from the "Computational Bioengineering Electives" list above3
Courses from the "Pre-Medicine Focus Area Electives" list3-4

B.S.E./M.S. in Biomedical Engineering

The College of Engineering offers a combined Bachelor of Science in Engineering/Master of Science for biomedical engineering undergraduate students who intend to earn a M.S. in biomedical engineering. Students admitted to this program are allowed to apply three engineering courses (9 s.h.) towards both the B.S.E. and M.S. degree requirements, take an additional 3 s.h. of graduate coursework before completing their B.S.E., and attend and participate in the departmental graduate seminar. Students may begin to work on their coursework or master's thesis starting as early as the summer following the junior year of undergraduate studies.

Students applying to the B.S.E./M.S. program in biomedical engineering must meet the following criteria at the time of application:

  • a minimum of 80 s.h. completed towards their B.S.E. degree,
  • a cumulative g.p.a. of 3.50 or higher, and
  • identification of a thesis or project mentor.

B.S.E./M.P.H. (Occupational and Environmental Health Subprogram)

The combined B.S.E. in biomedical engineering/M.PH. with the occupational and environmental health subprogram enables undergraduate students majoring in biomedical engineering to begin work toward the M.P.H degree while completing their bachelor's degree. Students may count 15 s.h. of credit toward both the B.S.E. and the M.P.H. degree requirements. See the Master of Public Health, M.P.H. (occupational and environmental health subprogram) in the Catalog.

B.S.E./M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering

B.S.E. students majoring in biomedical engineering who are interested in earning a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering may apply to the combined B.S.E./M.S. program offered by the College of Engineering. The combined program permits students to count a limited amount of credit toward the requirements of both degrees. See the M.S. in electrical and computer engineering in the Catalog.

B.S.E. (Biomechanics and Biomaterials Track)/M.S. in Occupational and Environmental Health (Industrial Hygiene Subprogram)

B.S.E. students majoring in biomedical engineering in the biomechanics and biomaterials track who are interested in earning a Master of Science in occupational and environmental health with an industrial hygiene subprogram may apply to the combined B.S.E./M.S. program offered by the College of Engineering and the College of Public Health. The combined program permits students to count a limited amount of credit toward the requirements of both degrees, enabling them to begin the study of public health before they complete the bachelor's degree. See the M.S. in occupational and environmental health Undergraduate to Graduate (U2G) information on the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health (College of Public Health) website.

B.S.E. graduates with a major in biomedical engineering may pursue career opportunities in biomedical industries, such as design and development of biomedical instrumentation, diagnostic aids, life support systems, prosthetic and orthotic devices, and man-machine systems; or they may pursue traditional career opportunities in industry, such as those rooted in mechanical or electrical engineering disciplines. Other career options are available in government (Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, Veterans Affairs). Some biomedical engineering graduates elect to continue formal education in engineering, medicine, or law. On average, 93-98 percent of graduates are employed in their field of study or pursuing advanced education within seven months of graduation.

Engineering Career Services develops and promotes experiential education and professional opportunities for students in the College of Engineering. Professional staff coordinate the college's co-op and internship program, engage in employer outreach, and provide opportunities for students to network with employers, including an engineering career fair each semester and other programming related to career development.

Engineering Career Services offers individual advising and class presentations on résumé and cover letter preparation, job and internship search strategies, interviewing skills, job offer evaluation, and much more. Engineering Career Services partners with the Pomerantz Career Center to facilitate on-campus interviewing, postgraduation outcome collection, and the University's online recruiting system, Handshake.