Bioengineering at Cornell

Bioengineering Programs at Cornell

The following are taken from pages maintained by the College:

Cornell University's program in bioengineering offers an exceptional educational experience. Its options can augment the education of undergraduate engineers and of students in professional master's degree programs who are interested in the bioprocess, bioenvironmental, or biomedical aspects of bioengineering. Through the program's interdisciplinary Field of Biomedical Engineering, graduate students have tremendously rich and diverse opportunities for research in four emphasis areas: biomaterials; biomedical instrumentation and diagnostics; drug delivery, design, production, and metabolism; and biomedical mechanics.

Graduates of the bioengineering programs have strength in engineering and the ability to integrate engineering and the life sciences to meet the needs of this rapidly developing discipline.

The Cornell Bioengineering Program builds on a forty-year history of bioengineering research and education. With a Special Opportunity Award from the Whitaker Foundation, the program was organized in 1994, and the new graduate Field of Biomedical Engineering was approved by New York State in 1997. The faculty works to bridge cellular and molecular bioengineering with the application of engineering principles to clinical problems. The faculty includes members of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, and fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers.

A Note to Prospective Graduate Students

Cornell University offers M.S. and Ph.D. programs in biomedical engineering, as well as several M.S. and Ph.D. programs in other aspects of bioengineering. Cornell also offers professional master's degrees (M.Eng.) in all of the traditional engineering fields. Any of the M.Eng. programs can be augmented with a Dean's Certificate in Bioengineering. The program's Web address is http://BioMedEng.cheme.cornell.edu .More information about Cornell's graduate programs is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/. Information on M.Eng. programs is available at http://www.engr.cornell.edu/bioengr/biomeng.html.

A Note to Prospective Undergraduate Students

Because bioengineering can draw on any of the traditional engineering disciplines, the Cornell Bioengineering Program emphasizes the engineering side of the interface. Before all else, bioengineers have to be good engineers. Through the bioengineering option, Cornell undergraduates can major in any of the ten engineering fields and acquire a basic mastery of biology and bioengineering. A note on the academic transcript indicates successful completion of the option.

The Bioengineering Option for Undergraduates

Students who wish to pursue the Bioengineering Option must submit an application with a proposed program of study that they have developed in consultation with a faculty consultant. Students develop such a plan after entering Cornell--ideally, after they have decided on their major field and before the beginning of their sixth term. Faculty consultants are Cornell engineering faculty members with experience in some aspect of bioengineering who have volunteered to help students design the bioengineering aspect of their programs, and their assistance is supplemental to that of faculty advisors. Faculty consultants can advise students on career paths in bioengineering as well as course selection.

Students who elect the bioengineering option must complete a one-semester Bioengineering Seminar in their junior or senior year to gain an overview of what bioengineers do. In addition, they must complete four bio-related courses. Two or three of these must come from a special list of bioengineering courses, and at least one from a list of biological science courses. These courses may function as approved electives within a student's field program. With good planning, it should be possible for students to complete the bioengineering requirements without the need to take additional courses.

However, students who wish to take more than the four or five biology and bioengineering courses that can be incorporated into most field programs have two additional options. They can select the biological engineering concentration within the accredited field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, which emphasizes applications to plants and animals. Or they can select the College Program, which leads to a more general (though not accredited) engineering degree that allows the development of a faculty-guided, but individualized, program of study.

Students in the Bioengineering Option develop an understanding of bioengineering as a possible career choice. Those who choose to follow a bioengineering career have a technical basis on which to build. Those who decide not to pursue bioengineering as a career still gain an understanding of biology and engineering's relation to biology. This understanding can benefit any engineer who must deal with problems in the environment or in health and safety. Such issues are increasingly frequent in their professional careers of almost all engineers.

Bioengineering Courses

ABEN 250: Engineering Applications in Biological Systems
ABEN 367: Introduction to Biological Engineering
ABEN 451: Biomass Conversion Processes for Energy and Chemicals
ABEN 453: Computer-Aided Engineering: Applications to Biomedical and Food Processes
ABEN 454: Physiological Engineering
ABEN 455: Mechanics of Biological Tissues
ABEN 482: Bioenvironmental Engineering
ABEN 652: Instrumentation: Sensors and Transducers
ABEN 685: Biological Engineering Analysis
A&EP 320: Engineering Biophysics: The Physics of Life
A&EP 615: Molecular Biophysics of Cell Dynamics
CHEME 481: Biomedical Engineering
CHEME 520: Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Food Processing
CHEME 643: Introduction to Bioprocess Engineering
CHEME 645: Advanced Concepts in Biological Engineering
CEE 351: Environmental Quality Engineering
CEE 651: Microbiology for Environmental Engineering
ELEE 593: Bioelectric Signal Analysis and Processing
ENGRG 501: Bioengineering Seminar
ENGRG 605: Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering I
ENGRG 606: Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering II
MS&E 265: Biological Materials and Their Synthetic Replacements
M&AE 465: Biomechanical Systems: Analysis and Design
T&AM 501: Topics in Composites I
TXA 439: Biomedical Materials and Devices for Human Body Repair
VETA 604: Mechanics of Animal Motion

Also, undergraduate research projects completed for credit may be included. The course number, project description, and endorsement of the project supervisor must be submitted.

Science-Based Courses

BIOG 101-3: Biological Sciences ( 101 + 103 = 1 course)
BIOG 102-4 : Biological Sciences ( 102 + 104 = 1 course)
BIOG 105: Introductory Biology
BIOG 106: Introductory Biology
BIOG 107: General Biology
BIOG 108: General Biology
BIOAP 212: Human Physiology for Non-Biology Majors
BIONB 222: Introduction to Neurobiology
BIOBM 231: General Biochemistry
BIOES 261: Ecology and the Environment
BIOGD 281: Genetics
BIOGD 282: Human Genetics
BIOMI 290/1: General Microbiology
BIOAP 311: Introduction to Animal Physiology
BIOAP 313: Histology: The Biology of the Tissues
BIOAP 316: Cellular Physiology
BIOAP 319: Animal Physiology Experimentation
BIONB 326: The Visual System
BIOBM 330: Principles of Biochemistry, Autotutorial
BIOBM 331: Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism
BIOBM 332: Principles of Biochemistry: Molecular Biology
BIOS 333: Principles of Biochemistry (Summer)
BIOPL 342: Plant Physiology
BIOPL 343: Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering of Plants
BIOPL 346: Algal Physiology
BIOGD 385: Developmental Biology
BIOGD 389: Embryology
BIOMI 398: Environmental Microbiology
PLBR 401: Plant Cell and Tissue Culture
BIOMI 403: Transmission Electron Microscopy for Biologists
BIOMI 406: Clinical Microbiology
BIOMI 416: Microbial Physiology
BIONB 422: Modeling Behavioral Evolution
BIONB 423: Neurogenetics
BIONB 426: Electronics for Neurobiology
BIOBM 430: Basic Biochemical Methods
BIOBM 432: Survey of Cell Biology
BIOBM 433: Molecular Biology
BIOBM 437: Oncogenes and Cancer Viruses
BIOPL 444: Plant and Cell Biology
BIOG 450: Light and Video Microscopy for Biologists
BIOAP 458: Mammalian Physiology
BIOMI 485: Microbial Genetics
BIONB 491: Principles of Neurophysiology
BIONB 495: Membrane Ion Channels
all BIO 500 and above

Advanced Placement Credit in Biology may count for one course.