New Undergraduate Bioengineering Program Welcomes Freshman Class in Fall

Date: September 2002
Contact: Marlys Amundson ( marlysa@support.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

The interface between biology and the physical sciences represents fertile ground for new and exciting discoveries in the 21st century. Educators, government agencies, companies, and, most importantly, students believe major advances will be made at this interface. As a result, bioengineering departments are being newly formed nationwide, while established departments are redefining their programs. The faculty in the Bioengineering Department at UCLA have embraced this opportunity to make an impact in this field with their new curriculum.

“Bioengineering is not just an application of traditional engineering disciplines to biology, but is a discipline in its own right,” explained bioengineering professor Daniel Kamei. “This vision for our department has shaped our thinking in developing the program, and we feel the program provides a unique engineering educational experience.”

Rather than doing what many universities have done - gathering courses from existing programs and adding a few survey-type seminars - UCLA has built its program from the ground up. The UCLA bioengineering curriculum includes 20 new, innovative courses developed specifically for the new major.

“The faculty has identified a set of fundamental basic science principles and engineering concepts that constitute the core body of bioengineering knowledge. However, when we drafted the first curriculum using existing courses to cover these concepts, the new major would have required over 250 units, with many courses covering either repetitious or less relevant concepts for bioengineers,” noted Professor Ben Wu, vice chair of the bioengineering department.

The faculty took advantage of this unique opportunity to build a first-rate curriculum by developing entirely new, highly integrated bioengineering courses that cover the most important and relevant concepts in four years. Besides unit reduction, the integrated curriculum also provides far more continuity from the freshmen year to the senior year.

“Most importantly, the unit reduction enables undergraduate students to engage in substantive research activities,” added Wu. “This intense program offers unprecedented integration of theoretical, clinical, and experimental learning opportunities.”

“We are justifiably excited about our new undergraduate program,” said Vijay K. Dhir, dean of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. “We have outstanding faculty, a curriculum unlike any other in the nation, and will be welcoming a group of highly gifted and well prepared students this fall.”

The students who were accepted to the program are all exceptional scholars who are academically aggressive and have proven their ability to succeed.

The School boasts a rich history of interdisciplinary education and research. The campus is an exceptional environment for bioengineering students with the top hospital in the western United States, top ranked medical and engineering schools, and numerous nationally recognized programs in the basic sciences.

“Our program is really an engineering and applied biology program in which physical and engineering sciences are fully woven with modern biology,” explained Depart-ment Chairman Carlo Montemagno. “As a result, the program will produce a cadre of students who are renaissance scientists in the truest sense. They’ll have the fundamental knowledge that will allow them to work in virtually any area of science or engineering that appeals to them.”

The fundamental courses the undergraduate students will take are designed to prepare them for their careers, regardless of their area of emphasis.

“The bioengineering field is evolving rapidly and if the curriculum is designed around today’s needs, the skills the students acquire may not carry them through the next decade,” explained Wu. “It would be a disservice and they would not be prepared for changes in the coming years. Students in our program will learn the fundamentals that will allow them to adapt to future needs in their field.”

The initial size of the program and the way it is structured are designed to develop a well-trained and close-knit group of graduates. Incoming freshmen will attend a week-long bioengineering camp that will give them the opportunity to meet the department’s faculty, graduate students, and each other in an informal setting.

“They’ll be completely immersed in the program from the beginning, working on a lab project as well as touring local industry and medical facilities,” explained Jacob Schmidt, a bioengineering professor. “We’ll also offer other, more social activities that will help generate strong bonds among the students, and also help create a support network for them.”

The large number of new courses offered through the department will allow the faculty to have more contact with the undergraduate students than in most departments. Even during their freshmen year, the students will be spending nearly half their time taking courses in the department. This starts with a new biophysics sequence that teaches beginning and intermediate physics principles through the use of biological systems and bioengineering technologies. Since students learn best by doing, a parallel biophysics lab has been developed to facilitate the learning experience. It is the first of 10 labs in the curriculum that will give the students training in experimental techniques and methods, which they will draw upon in their own independent research later in the program.

In their senior year, the students will take a yearlong capstone design course. Working in teams, the students will compete to identify and develop innovative bioengineering solutions to meet a specific set of design criteria. In the first quarter of this sequence, the students will focus on developing, writing, and orally defending the proposals for their designs.

Based on these proposals, the faculty will assign the students a budget for their projects. In addition to ordering supplies with their newly secured funding, the students in the second quarter will also learn any experimental and computational methods required to achieve their design. In the final quarter, the students will construct their designs, present their final projects in written and oral format, and finally compete for bragging rights.

“The purpose of the capstone design course is to give the students a taste of reality,” commented Kamei. “First, there is much educational value to seeing theory applied to practice. Second, the course will help the students learn how to work out conflicts, and secure and maximize their resources - all critical skills for project management.”

In their senior year, the students will also immerse themselves in the System Integration in Biology, Engineering, and Medicine (SIBEM) lecture, lab, and clinical rotations. Perhaps one of the most distinctive courses in this unique curriculum, SIBEM integrates fundamental engineering and biological concepts with clinical perspectives, current clinical and bioengineering limitations, and hands-on laboratory skills through organ-specific modules.

“In each module, students will be introduced to the normal physiology of an organ system, biomodeling, and control of the system, followed by an in-depth discussion of a common pathophysiology,” said Wu. “The parallel lab will focus on the engineering principles behind an existing technology that addresses a given pathology, and students will gain hands-on experience with relevant medical instruments and devices. The students are then grouped into small groups of three to five in clinical rotations to observe current technologies in action and gain clinical perspectives.”

Many of the students who enter the program are expected to go on to medical school, pursue PhDs, or enter an MD/PhD program.

“It’s a no-compromise program that will place extraordinary demands on our students,” noted Montemagno. “The end result, though, are graduates who themselves will be extraordinary.”

For more on the bioengineering program, please visit http://www.bioeng.ucla.edu.