Introduction to Biomedical Engineering

3 Units

This course introduces students to a wide variety of biomedical engineering fields including: biomaterials, biomechanics, biomedical devices & instrumentation, and biomedical computing & analysis. Emphasis is given to recognizing the difference between medical technology as a subject area vs. career tracks within which this subject area is: imagined, designed, fabricated and used. Students learn to distinguish the difference between how a scientist, an engineer, and a clinician are trained and interact with medical technology. Foundational topics like: engineering design, structure-function relationship, biomimicry, and biocompatibility are presented at an introductory level. Students well served by this course include: first year students trying to decide if they want to major in biomedical engineering, first year students who know they want to major in biomedical engineering but are not certain which track they wish to pursue, and upper class students in non-biomedical engineering majors who are looking for deeper insight into what this fast growing field is about.