Experiments for Integrating BME Concepts into the ECE Curriculum

Rowan University, Glassboro NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Biomedical engineering (BME) is one of the fastest growing fields, with an expected job growth rate that is twice that of the overall job growth rate in the US. However, there are only 22 schools offering accredited undergraduate degrees in BME, and most schools do not have the resources to offer new degree programs. The resulting gap between the demand for qualified BME professionals and the programs for educating them constitutes a significant, yet unmet, national need. Our goal has been to develop a new educational paradigm to help reduce this gap. Our paradigm is based on a general method for introducing novel multidisciplinary content into core engineering curriculum. Our methodology consists of the integration of content specific laboratory experiments into core courses to provide essential background, followed by an elective providing topical depth. BME is used as the novel content and electrical and/or computer engineering (ECE) as the core curriculum. The method is versatile, as it can be easily modified to integrate other novel multidisciplinary content into any engineering program to provide a better-rounded engineering education. The implementation of this method has two specific objectives: first to provide ECE students with fundamental and contemporary BME knowledge for future career and graduate study opportunities; and second to improve students' interest in and comprehension of ECE concepts by acquainting them with engineering solutions to real world problems in medicine. These objectives are being achieved by integrating a set of experiments - designed to demonstrate a wide spectrum of BME concepts - into core ECE courses, along with a new elective providing a comprehensive BME overview. A major outcome of our project is a learning paradigm, which can serve as a model for integrating novel content into core engineering curriculum. The full development of our approach will serve as a building block for future undergraduate minor / concentration programs in a variety of novel content areas, such as biomedical engineering.