4th Biomedical Engineering Education Summit Meeting

Biomedical Engineering Society, Hempstead VA

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY The preparation of well-qualified graduates by academic programs is crucial to assure national competitiveness and to sustain a vibrant economy in the United States. During the past decades, biomedical engineering and bioengineering programs have contributed significantly to the development of a highly qualified workforce that has contributed to biomedical research and spurred innovation. It is important that our educational methods and content keep pace with the rapid developments in this expanding field. The objective of the Fourth Biomedical Engineering (BME) Education Summit Meeting, to be held on May 29-31, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio is to evaluate the current state of BME educational approaches and to foster progress and improvement in biomedical engineering education to meet future national challenges. The education summit will provide a platform to discuss core competencies at the undergraduate and graduate levels to assure that our students remain prepared to meet future challenges. Our goal of envisioning and influencing the future will require perspectives from multiple stakeholders. We will therefore solicit input from employers, policy makers, education experts, and current BME educators. The meeting will be organized into 4 themes: Academic core competencies, Learning environments and evidence-based practices, Industry-ready skills, and Graduate education and special programs. These themes were selected to cover content, delivery, and educational outcomes. Each theme will be organized into small group sessions designed to allow all participants to have a voice, and to generate concrete outcomes that will benefit our community. Specific outcomes will include a series of white papers highlighting current best practices and future needs, and a repository for curricular content. More broadly, we anticipate that this meeting will allow BME educators to enhance their ability to recruit a diverse student body, and provide them with the skills needed to continue expanding our BME workforce for research, industry and regulatory purposes.