Biomedical Engineering Curriculum

General Requirements

All graduate students in Biomedical Engineering are required to pass a core course entitled "Introduction to Biomedical Engineering" (BME 601). This "team-taught" course offered by a number of BME faculty and invited outside lecturers is designed to give all students an exposure to the broad field of BME. Doctoral students are required to complete additional core courses (described below), designed to enhance communication skills and develop strong research projects. All other course work is centered around "areas of proficiency" (described below) that support research activities.

Graduate students in BME must also meet all course requirements of the Graduate School of the University of Nevada, Reno. These requirements include minimum acceptable grades for graduate studies, the number of 600 versus 700 level courses, and the format of thesis and dissertation presentations.

Master's Degrees

Master's degree - plan A, thesis program: At least 24 credits of acceptable graduate courses must be completed, with a minimum of 9 credits in the life and medical sciences, and 9 in the engineering and physical sciences. A thesis approved by the student's committee must also be completed.

Master's degree - plan B, non-thesis program: At least 32 credits of acceptable graduate courses must be completed, with a minimum of 12 credits in the life and medical sciences, and 12 in the engineering and physical sciences. Plan B students are not eligible for graduate assistantships issued by the Graduate School.

A masters degree requires the demonstration of proficiency in 3 areas related to BME. At least one area of proficiency must be in the life and medical sciences, and 1 in the engineering and physical sciences. Proficiency will be assessed based on course work (generally 2 semesters of course work at the graduate level in each area) and a comprehensive exam (usually upon completion of required course work) administered by the student's examining committee. If a student's performance does not satisfy examiners, the student will be required to re-take the comprehensive exam (allowed once) and it may be recommended by the committee that the student pass additional classes.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The doctoral degree requires a total of 72 credits, with at least 48 credits in course work. A dissertation, describing original research, is required (24 credits). A minimum of 9 credits must be in the life and medical sciences and 9 in the engineering and physical sciences. If a student has successfully completed a masters degree BME program (i.e. 24 credits plus a comprehensive exam and an additional 8 credits or a thesis), a maximum of 24 credits can be transferred to satisfy requirements for the doctoral program.

At the doctoral level, proficiency must be demonstrated in 4 areas related to student research activities. At least 1 area of proficiency must be in the life and medical sciences, and 1 in the engineering and physical sciences. Proficiency will be assessed based on course work (generally 2 semesters of course work at the graduate level in each area) and a comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam will focus on advanced topics covered in graduate level courses and research papers. Typically, the student committee will administer this exam after the completion of most or all of the courses included in the doctoral program. The exam will cover the 4 areas of proficiency and take into account the student's proposed research plan as outlined in their grant-writing exercise. Students can submit a progress report if significant changes have occurred to the research plan, or if a significant time has elapsed between the grant-writing exercise and the comprehensive exam. A student can re-take the comprehensive exam once if performance is deemed unsatisfactory by the examining committee. Students who fail to satisfy the requirements of the examining committee after a second exam must drop out of the doctoral program. These students will be allowed to apply to the BME Admissions and Recruitment Committee for re-admission to complete a Masters degree.

Other Components of the Doctoral Program

Doctoral students are required to complete additional core requirements prior to graduation. These requirements are intended to: 1) expose students to the wide range of activities in BME, 2) develop and improve (verbal and written) communication skills in the scientific arena, 3) provide mechanisms to constantly track the progress of individual students and their research activities, and 4) create an environment to help develop the strongest possible research projects.

Research Rotation (BME 770)
Once a primary mentor has been selected, doctoral students are required to perform a "research rotation" (similar to independent study) in a laboratory that complements the background of the primary mentor. In other words, if the primary mentor's laboratory focuses on the life/medical sciences, a research rotation must be performed in engineering (and vice versa). This research rotation can be conducted in the laboratory of the secondary advisor. The purpose is to help expose students to the broad range of BME activities.
Communications Courses (BME 790 & 794)
Traditionally, doctoral training programs in scientific disciplines concentrate on mastery of the content of a discipline. While this is appropriate in many respects, it is also true that those trained in BME often become leaders in industry and teachers in academic institutions. In order for training to be well-rounded, students will utilize skills required for professional level teaching and scientific presentations. BME faculty offer courses in which students begin by presenting critical reviews of up-to-date scientific articles. These presentations will be accompanied by open discussions involving faculty and other graduate students. Students will progress to presenting seminars in their chosen field of interest. Finally, prior to graduation, students will be required to present results of their original research to at least one national or international scientific meeting.
Grant-writing Exercise
In order to qualify to proceed in the doctoral program, each student must write a research grant application on their proposed dissertation research. This grant should be submitted to the BME Graduate Program prior to initiating semester 3 of the Ph.D. schedule (i.e. typically semester 5 counting 1 year of work at the masters level). Under unusual circumstances, the time of submission can be adjusted with the approval of the Director. The form of the grant will be consistent with the format used by one of the major national funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation or the National Institutes of Health. A student's examining committee and any other interested faculty will formally examine the student on the grant. This will include an oral examination within 1 month of the grant's submission. If the grant proposal is not considered acceptable by the student's committee, a second grant proposal will be due 4 months from the date of the first examination. (Submission of the grant exercise to the BME program does not preclude its submission [in whole or in part] to any granting agency, for example, for the purposes of obtaining a pre-doctoral fellowship.)
There are a number of anticipated benefits from this component of a student's training: 1) To successfully pass the exercise, students will need to be well-versed in the current literature in their field, and be able to formulate and defend their research plans and methodology. 2) Students will be introduced to the style, complexities and nuances of the grant proposal process and will begin to develop those skills necessary for successful grant acquisition. 3) Students will be forced to "think through" their proposed thesis project. This is not intended to limit areas of investigation as new discoveries are made, but a great deal of time and effort can often be saved if research protocols are well-planned. 4) Finally, and perhaps most importantly, an open discussion of research proposals among faculty with diverse backgrounds frequently leads to much stronger courses of action to achieve the proposed scientific goals.

Areas of Proficiency

life and medical sciences

anatomy (structural biology)
biochemistry
cell & molecular biology
pharmacology
physiology

engineering and physical sciences

fluid mechanics
materials engineering
solid mechanics
heat transfer & thermodynamics
dynamics & vibrations
communications & signal processing
computers
control systems
electronics
fields & waves