RIT launches biomedical engineering option

Question: What do you get when you cross engineering with biology and medicine?

Answer: State-of-the-art technology and one of the hottest fields of the early 21st Century – biomedical engineering.

A new biomedical engineering option in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering gives students expertise in the design of components for potentially life-saving medical procedures. Applications include critical-care monitoring, diagnostics, implantation and remote surgery.

“Implantable medical devices – small in size, low in power and with the ability to sense, process and control electrical signals – will evolve and replace defective biological parts in the human body,”
predicts Robert Bowman, professor and department head of electrical engineering. “Modern, integrated, microelectronic technology is ideal for engineering solutions to an array of human medical conditions.”

Biomedical engineering studies are usually offered at the graduate level, Bowman adds, making RIT’s option for undergrads unusual. Students will take courses in

biomedical instrumentation, biomedical sensors and transducers, fundamental electrophysiology, biomedical signal processing, and biorobotics/cybernetics.

RIT’s mechanical engineering department also is developing a biomedical engineering option that will include multidisciplinary courses in electrical engineering, industrial and systems engineering, and courses offered through the College of Science. In industrial and systems engineering, students study ergonomic design and predict physical and cognitive human capabilities.