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The VaNTH ERC is developing recommendations for the content of undergraduate biomedical engineering (bioengineering) programs. The recommendations will continue to evolve, but are based on the following:

• Biomedical engineers are recognized for their understanding of biology, as well as for breadth of engineering knowledge. Because it is built on math, chemistry, physics and biology, the curriculum will contain a broader range of topics. This is necessary, and does not prevent bioengineers from learning at least one area with considerable depth.
  

• A core of material is seen as being essential in order to define the baccalaureate bioengineer for industry. At present, it is difficult for industry to know how a bioengineer is educated without developing familiarity with each academic program. Academia should work toward preparing bioengineers with a core of commonly held knowledge, as well as quantitative and analytical skills that are not discussed here.
  
• Two of the VaNTH institutions, Vanderbilt and Northwestern, have long standing undergraduate programs, both of which contain some material that all students are exposed to, and some material that constitutes an area of focus or specialization. The difficult aspect is deciding what should be in the core, and what belongs in specializations. A third VaNTH university, the University of Texas at Austin, has also recently completed an analysis in order to construct a bioengineering undergraduate curriculum. Our recommendations benefit from the experience of those institutions, as well as others.
  
• Efficiency in covering the large amount of material that bioengineers are expected to master can partially be achieved by teaching basic engineering courses with a bioengineering orientation – for instance, biofluids rather than general fluid mechanics. The efficiency comes from focusing on particularly relevant scales (for length, temperature, force, etc.) and from choosing topics and problems that are most relevant for bioengineers. Covering the basic engineering topics in this way is also expected to produce better student engagement.
  
• VaNTH is undertaking a Delphi Study, a multistage survey of academic and industry participants, which will identify the core concepts that are generally regarded as important for all undergraduate bioengineers. While this survey is not complete, it has become apparent that some topics should certainly be in the core, and others should not.
  
  The advantage of the Delphi analysis is that it will identify concepts at a relatively detailed level. Universities can then score their curricula for compliance with what may become a standard for bioengineering content. Furthermore, they may choose to combine topics into courses in different ways to suit local needs. For instance, laboratory work may be incorporated into many courses, rather than being a separate course. While in the long run it may not be desirable to specify curriculum on the basis of course titles,but rather on the basis of concepts or topics, it is possible to make tentative recommendations on the basis of courses at this time.

The figure shows our recommended four year plan, based on the considerations above.

• Gray: Math and basic science. This shows two semesters of organic chemistry one of biology. It could be argued that this distribution should be reversed.
  

• Turquoise: Freshman engineering experience. This course would introduce design, ethics, and other aspects of engineering practice for an early experience with engineering.
  
• Blue: Basic engineering. It may not be feasible for all programs to offer bio- versions of all these courses, but for reasons indicated above, some should be in bioengineering. There is some debate about whether a full course in thermodynamics is essential, and whether another course in electrical science might be more important. The sequencing of these courses could be adjusted.
  
• Dark Green: Additional core courses for bioengineers
  
• Medium Green: Bioengineering specialization in one of several areas. This is five of the eighteen engineering courses, allowing programs to develop unique aspects of their training.
  
• Light Green: Humanities and social sciences
  
• Yellow: Free electives to be used for elective engineering courses, more humanities, independent study, etc.
  

A paper comprised of the above ideas was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) and published in their conference proceedings.

We have submitted an updated version of this paper to the peer-reviewed, IBE edition of Biotechnology Progress (to be published in Spring of 2006).

Please contact Robert Linsenmeier (r-linsenmeier@northwestern.edu) for a preprint of this manuscript.