Biomedical Engineering Across the Departments

http://vcm.seas.gwu.edu/staticfile/SEAS/Images/General/seas_research_content_biomedical.jpgBiomedical Engineering (BME) is one of the seven "signature programs" of the University, identified as key to the achievement of the goals of the University's Strategic Plan. Although BME activity is carried out throughout the University, education and research in this interdisciplinary field is necessarily focused in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). Biomedical engineering in SEAS is not concentrated in a single department; rather, this important and growing interdisciplinary field is integrated into the traditional engineering disciplines and computer science through all five degree-granting departments in the School.

At the undergraduate level, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) offers an ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) - accredited Bachelors degree program in biomedical engineering, leading to the BS in BME. Elective opportunities in other departments allow undergraduates to expand their BME training beyond the electrical and computer engineering applications that have been a cornerstone of BME for many years. Students seeking a Bachelors degree in a traditional engineering discipline or in computer science, who wish to learn more about biomedical applications, can enrich their undergraduate curriculum with a wide variety of BME-related courses, some of which support bioengineering concentrations or focus areas in other departments within the School.

At the graduate level, research and additional training opportunities are available across the School. The ECE Department offers an MS degree in biomedical engineering, and all departments offer Masters and Doctoral programs leading to degrees in the traditional engineering disciplines and in computer science. Irrespective of the degree being sought, students can select from a wide variety of biomedically related electives as they design their individual program.

An important feature of doctoral research in biomedical engineering at SEAS is the breadth of opportunities for the interested student. BME research is distributed across the entire School, embracing all the engineering disciplines and computer science, rather than narrowly in a single department. Nearly half of the SEAS faculty have biomedical interests; strengths include:


  • biological transport processes
  • biomaterials
  • cancer therapy
  • diagnostic and surgical computer support
  • drug delivery
  • fluidics and micro/nanotechnology
  • imaging and image/signal processing/analysis
  • physiological flows and tissue mechanics
  • robotics/biosensors/actuators
  • simulation and modeling
  • tissue engineering, wound healing and regenerative medicine

Graduate students who pursue biomedical engineering at SEAS have the opportunity to carry out BME-related research while earning a Ph.D. in a traditional discipline, with the rigorous engineering and application-oriented training that defines that discipline, while at the same time gaining the biologically-related experience necessary to apply that training in unique ways to improve our understanding of living systems and enhance human health worldwide. Some recent posters illustrating the variety of BME research carried out in the School can be found here.

The specific offerings of each SEAS department vary; department-specific information can be found via the links below. Contact information and areas of interest of participating SEAS faculty are available here.

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department of Computer Science
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

The University-level Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBE) supports biomedical engineering activity in SEAS and across the University, sponsoring a seminar series, and awarding undergraduate fellowships and small grants to support pilot projects. Many of the seminar speakers and grant awardees are SEAS faculty, and SEAS students are highly competitive for IBE fellowships. The IBE site also includes descriptions of several of the biomedically related research projects being carried out in the School, as well as a number of SEAS laboratories dedicated to graduate research in biomedical engineering.