Bioengineering

The Department of Bioengineering accepts to its graduate program students with bachelor’s degrees or the equivalent in engineering, life sciences, or physical sciences. Individual graduate programs are planned to prepare each student for a career in the application of science and engineering to problems in medicine and biology. Faculty have joint appointments in other departments in the College of Engineering and in the School of Medicine and College of Pharmacy. Career opportunities exist in clinical engineering (hospitals), biomedical engineering (industry and government), and research and teaching (universities, research groups).

• M.S./Thesis Option: A minimum of 21 hours of course work and 9 hours in research is required.  A publicly defended MS Thesis is required.
• M.S./Course Option: 30 hours of course work and oral exam or passed PhD written qualifying exam.

Core Requirements

The following core curriculum is required for students entering the graduate program in Fall Semester with an undergraduate degree in a physical science or a traditional engineering discipline and who have not had training in the life sciences and/or biomedical engineering. Students who have taken substantially similar courses as undergraduates, students with BS degrees in Biomedical Engineering for example, must select approved alternate courses to fulfill these requirements. Substitute courses must be chosen with the guidance and approval of the departmental track advisor. The plan of study must ultimately be approved by the research supervisory committee and the director of graduate studies. General guidelines for core course substitutions are provided below.

Life Science Fundamentals

(Complete 6 hours)

• BIOEN 6000 - Systems Physiology I: Cardiovascular, Respiratory… 4 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 6430 - Systems Neuroscience: Functioning of the Nervous System 4 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 6440 - Neural Engineering 3 Credit(s)

Bioengineering Fundamentals

(Complete 6 hours)

• BIOEN 6002 - Molecular Biophysics 3 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 6250 - Biomechanics II 3 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 6302 - Biomaterials 3 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 6401 - Medical Imaging Systems 3 Credit(s)

Scientific Presentations

(M.S. complete 1 credit hour, Ph.D. complete 5 credit hours.)

Mandatory for all first year graduate students

• BIOEN 6090 - Department Seminar 0.5 Credit(s) (Taken both Fall and Spring - 0.5 credit hours ea.)

Mandatory for second year PhD graduate students

• BIOEN 7070 - Proposal Writing and Presentation I 2 Credit(s)
• BIOEN 7071 - Proposal Writing and Presentation II 2 Credit(s)

MS Requirements

Research supervisory committee

All M.S. students form a supervisory committee consisting of at least three University of Utah faculty members. The chair of the committee must have a faculty appointment in the Department of Bioengineering and at least two of the committee members must be tenure-track members of the Bioengineering faculty. The advisor and committee must be approved by the Bioengineering Associate Chair for Graduate Studies.

Thesis Option M.S.

The thesis-option M.S. requires 9 credit hours of thesis research (BIOEN 6970) and submission of a Master of Science Thesis to the Graduate School in the required format. MS students defend their thesis research in a public forum. The public defense is followed by an oral comprehensive examination administered by the thesis committee. Copies of the thesis must be given to the advisor, each member of the supervisory committee and to the bioengineering graduate program coordinator at least two weeks prior to the defense. The committee can pass the candidate, pass the candidate contingent upon the candidate’s successfully responding to issues raised at the defense, or fail the candidate. M.S. candidates are given two opportunities to pass the defense and to pass the oral comprehensive exam.

Course Option M.S.

The course-option M.S. requires completion of at least 9 credit hours of advanced courses within a Bioengineering track specialization (in lieu of a thesis). To demonstrate depth of knowledge within the field, the course-option M.S. also requires students to pass an oral exam administered by the M.S. supervisory committee or the written portion of the Ph.D. qualifying examination. For the course-option M.S., the chair of the supervisory committee is the Bioengineering track specialization advisor and the other two committee members are tenure-track Bioengineering faculty members.

Applicants must have received, prior to commencing graduate study, a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institute, college, or university. While no single field of undergraduate specialization is required, applicants are expected to have mastered basic material in the following areas:

• mathematics (calculus through differential equations)
• physics (college physics with calculus, including mechanics and electronics)
• chemistry (organic and/or biochemistry)
• materials science (introductory course or strength of materials)
• statistics
• biology (introductory cell biology, human physiology).

Completed applications are considered for Fall semester only. Application deadline is January 15.

Each applicant must submit the following:

• completed Application for Admission to Graduate School form
• appropriate fee
• official transcripts
• scores from the General Test of the GRE
• three letters of reference
• one-or two-page personal essay outlining the applicant’s background, interests, goals, and reasons for applying to the department.

International students must also submit scores from the TOEFL: a minimum score of 575 is required for admission; students with scores below 600 may be required to enroll in English courses.