2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work in progress describes the curriculum revision in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) program at a mid-sized, private university. The goal of this revision is to increase student competency by emphasizing industry relevant skills as well as design, while increasing student engagement through improved flexibility, and engagement with real world problems.

Input from faculty, students, and the BME Industrial Advisory Board indicated that the original curriculum had less flexibility and career readiness than was desired. In the original curriculum, students select between four subject-matter tracks (mechanical, electrical, tissue/biomaterials, and premed) with different required courses. Beyond these tracks, each student selects two technical electives. Both the tracks and limited electives constrain students’ choices – especially those that change their career goals midway through the program. Design-based courses were limited to one freshman course and the final semesters of the program (Biodesign and a yearlong capstone project.)

Work on the revision began in Fall of 2019 through multiple committees as well as several faculty retreats. This process focused on identifying key skills, tools, and course content that are essential to all BME disciplines. The original curriculum and new curriculum were also benchmarked against nine peer institutions. The revision was approved in November 2022 with the first cohort of students starting in the Fall of 2023.

The first significant revision to the curriculum is the integration of engineering design throughout all semesters with basic design and entrepreneurship being introduced in the first year, followed by yearlong, 3-credit design projects in the 2nd and 3rd year, culminating a yearlong, 6-credit capstone project. This continuous exposure to design principles and practices is intended to develop students’ problem-solving skills, creativity, and provide real world context to the content covered in their other courses.

The revised curriculum also emphasizes the consistent use of industry-standard tools such as SolidWorks and MATLAB across various courses. By incorporating these tools into multiple aspects of the curriculum, we aim to build students’ proficiency and confidence in using them. This approach not only enhances their technical skills but also demonstrates the practical applications of these tools in solving real-world engineering problems. The consistent use of these tools helps students see the interconnectedness of their coursework and understand how the skills they develop can be applied in professional settings.

Finally, the curriculum replaces, combines, or eliminates several courses from the original tracks to create a unified core curriculum with five technical electives that can be taken throughout a student’s education. Thus, students can tailor their coursework to their interests and career goals.

Data on the student opinion of the revised curriculum as well as skill acquisition is ongoing, and preliminary results will be included in the final paper.

This is an observational study. The [Institution] IRB has determined that this study is exempt from review.