(Return to Recommendations.)

Here we list the material that we believe might be a unifying set of content for undergraduate bioengineers. This requires much further discussion and feedback, and is not at all considered to be definitive at this time. The listing here is based on two sources at present. One is discussion within VaNTH among faculty from all the institutions, and the other is mining of the Whitaker Foundation Summit white papers on this topic.

Math and Science

Math and science content are listed briefly, for two reasons. First, bioengineering programs often have little control over the details of this part of the curriculum, and second, except for biology, we believe that this part of the curriculum has evolved to be relatively standard across institutions. This does not mean that this part of the curriculum is universally accepted. For instance, not all existing programs require organic chemistry, and not all require computer programming.

Biology, as the scientific underpinning that sets bioengineering apart from other types of engineering, presents special problems that need to be addressed further. One point that requires further analysis is what part of biology – in terms of key concepts and techniques – should be taught to bioengineers, who generally cannot take as many courses in this area as biologists can. A related issue is that the “general biology” courses at many universities do not focus on the topics listed here, and so may not be the most appropriate for bioengineering students. A second point is that for the current purposes, we contend that physiology should be regarded as part of biomedical engineering rather than part of biology. This may be only a transient state: it appears that cell and molecular biology will be equally essential for many biomedical engineers in the future. At present physiology can be approached differently – more quantitatively – for bioengineers than for biologists, whereas there is less of a distinction in courses in molecular and cellular biology for bioengineers and biologists. This is not to say that these later subjects cannot be approached quantitatively, but currently this seems more appropriate for an upper level “second pass” at these subjects for some students, rather than part of the core of bioengineering. Further, physiology may not be a key topic for bioenvironmental or biochemical engineers.

• Math

  Differential, integral, multivariable calculus
  Linear algebra
  Ordinary differential equations

• Computer skills

  High level language (e.g. Matlab)
  Programming with traditional computer language (e.g. C++)
  Spreadsheets, word processing, presentation software

• Chemistry

  General, Organic

• Physics

  Calculus based mechanics, E&M, optics and wave phenomena

• Biology

  Biochemistry, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology