Enter The Bioengineering Program

• ABET Accreditation
• Orientation
• Curriculum Requirements
• Senior Capstone
• Honors Program
• Counseling and Mentoring

ABET Accreditation

The Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET http://www.abet.org
Check our educational outcomes and program objectives.

Orientation

Once accepted to the program, new students are asked to come to a brief departmental welcome and orientation, during which they meet key faculty, staff, and student leaders, do the necessary paperwork to declare the major and arrange building and lab access, review the curriculum and continuation policy, and more. For DFA and Early Admission students this is usually at the beginning of fall quarter, and for Upper Admission students it is usually in March. Exact dates are included in letter offering departmental admission.

Curriculum Requirements

Required Courses
Bioengineering course syllabi
Option in Nano and Molecular Engineering Requirements
Prerequisites to BIOE courses
Sample 4-year schedule
Sample 4-year schedule including pre-med courses
Senior Capstone

Senior Capstone

The capstone experience is the culmination of a bioengineering education. Seniors work in faculty laboratories to conduct individual research and design projects related to real medical problems. At UW, our capstone projects involve both research (a requirement of our faculty) and a culminating design experience (a requirement of our faculty and our accrediting agency). You have two options for completing your capstone. Option A is a year-long individual research and design project (BIOEN 402) that takes place in one of our faculty labs. Option B is a two-quarter individual research project (BIOEN 403), conducted in a faculty laboratory, plus a two quarter design-and build course (BIOEN 404-405), in which you will design solutions to novel clinical problems in small teams of students. Some team design projects are conducted in industry settings.

The following list provides just a few examples of things our seniors have recently designed, developed, or studies during their capstone projects:

Independent Design Projects (BIOEN 402):
• A hydrogel to deliver otoprotective agents to the cochlea
• A brain-machine interface for restoring voluntary movement
• Ultrasound elastography techniques to image traumatic brain injury
• Nanoparticles for HIV vaccines, gene therapy, or drug delivery
• Engineered tissues to repair skeletal or cardiac muscle
• An automated system to image the eye using optical coherence tomography

Team-based Projects (BIOEN 404/405):
• Improved surgical tools for laparoscopic surgery
• Enhancements to CPR-training manikins
• An instrumented environment to test the visual acuity of mice undergoing a new retinal therapy

Independent Research Project (BIOEN 403):
• A mathematical model to evaluate the effectiveness of home-based counseling and testing on HIV prevalence in South Africa
• A method for using Carbon-13 to track macrophages injected in mice hearts
• Synergistic effects of Artemisinin and low frequency magnetic fields on cancer cells

See the Capstone Help File for complete details.

Honors Program

BIOE majors may be nominated for Departmental Honors after fall quarter of the junior core and by July 1 of the summer following junior core. Juniors receive quarterly reminders, including all necessary application information, from the academic counselor.

To complete departmental honors, the following are required:

• Keep a 3.6 departmental (BIOE-prefixed) GPA at time of nomination and graduation;
• Complete BIOEN 410, the Departmental Honors seminar, for credit;
• Successfully carry out the project proposed in BIOEN 410 prior to graduation; post an evaluation, including suggestions for improvement, to the BIOEN 410 Catalyst course website;
• Submit a personal reflection describing what was learned from the project and how it ties in to the overall educational experience at UW. The latter ensures that students who complete only departmental honors satisfy the intention of the University Honors Program that their students will reflect on the integration of service and learning.

The department’s Academic Counselor will mark honors complete in DARS when the project has been carried out and the evaluation and reflection are posted.

Counseling and Mentoring

The Academic Counselors advise BIOE majors about the BIOE curriculum, quarterly schedules, scholarships, internships, and research and other special opportunities within the department. The counselors provide advice about career planning and the application processes to graduate school and to professional degree programs (business school, law school, and a variety of clinical degree programs). The counselors also facilitate communication between faculty and students, representing student concerns to the faculty and faculty concerns to the students. Students are encouraged to make an appointment with an Academic Counselor whenever they are experiencing any problems that interfere with their success as a student.

Bioengineering Faculty also play an important advising and mentoring role for our undergraduates. The faculty help students define their research interests and clarify their directions after graduation. They provide crucial scientific mentoring to the students in their labs. BIOE students meet the faculty during classes, at departmental events, and as a result of exploring the department’s research.

Bioengineering majors often make use of additional counseling resources at the University, including:

College of Engineering Student Academic Services, to explore other engineering majors or connect with the college’s leadership and diversity programs;
Undergraduate Advising at the Gateway Center, to explore other majors outside engineering, and for pre-medical advising and advising for other clinical and professional degree programs;
The Career Center, for resume help, career advice, job search advice, interview workshops, HuskyJobs listings, employer interviews, and more;
The Honors Program for Honors information, program opportunities, and honors courses;
Engineering Co-Op, for engineering students seeking practical engineering experience prior to graduation;
UW International Programs and Exchanges, for students seeking study abroad opportunities;
The Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships, & Awards, for students applying for competitive national and international scholarships;
The Counseling Center, for help with personal issues and with clarifying career interests.