August 31, 2009 | UW Bioengineering

The University of Washington’s undergraduate program in bioengineering moved into the top 10 such programs in the country, according to new rankings of bachelor’s degree programs by U.S. News & World Report.

The UW program was ranked 7th among the nation’s undergraduate programs in bioengineering, up from 12th in last year’s rankings and marking the department’s highest such ranking in the past several years. The UW’s doctoral program in bioengineering remained in the top 5 in the nation when the U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings were released earlier this year.

The Bioengineering undergraduate program has undergone piece-by-piece adjustments since its first cohort was graduated in 2003. These efforts culminated in program accreditation by ABET a national engineering board in 2008. The department is continuing to improve its undergraduate program, including adding new senior project options and course offerings next year.

Leading the process have been Tom Horbett, chair of the Accreditation and Continuous Improvement Committee; Kelli Jayn Nichols, lead undergraduate advisor; Chris Neils, lecturer; and the department faculty.

“Many staff and faculty put a lot of effort into revising the undergraduate curriculum from the day we launched our current program a decade ago. Our significant jump in the rankings reflects the success of our hard work, success with ABET, and the fact that our first few crops of fantastic undergraduates have been impressing the people at graduate programs around the country who vote on the rankings.” said Yager.

The UW undergraduate program in bioengineering has been among the top 15 in the U.S. News rankings since the early 2000s, when the magazine began ranking specialty engineering undergraduate programs at Ph.D.-granting institutions. The UW Department of Bioengineering is jointly administered by the College of Engineering, which has also consistently ranked in the top 25 in the country for best undergraduate engineering schools, and the UW School of Medicine, which has ranked as the top medical school in training primary-care physicians for 15 consecutive years.

Much like the graduate school rankings, the undergraduate program rankings, which were released Aug. 21, are based on evaluations from deans and senior faculty at peer institutions.