Majors & Minors
Biomedical Engineering
Major, Minor
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Prosthetics, robotic surgery, tissue engineering and medical imaging are just some of the areas that biomedical engineers in the 21st century are exploring.
As a Union College biomedical engineering major, you will be part of an interdisciplinary program that bridges engineering and the life sciences. You will learn to apply engineering principles and analytical approaches to the study of biological systems as you seek to understand how engineering devices and materials are used in biomedical applications.
Courses
Our biomedical engineering majors take foundation and core courses in biology, biomechanics, bioinstrumentation and biosignals. They choose from among a range of upper-level electives in these areas.
Courses in biomechanics focus on approaches to understanding the structural properties and dynamics of biological cells, tissues and systems, and of engineered devices with biological and biomedical applications. Courses in bioinstrumentation and biosignals explore how sensors are engineered to obtain useful signals from cells or the human body, which can be used in biomedical applications.
A sampling of courses
Biomechanics 1
A basic biomechanics course covering two- and three-dimensional force systems, equilibrium and distributed forces. These topics are studied in the context of the musculoskeletal system.
Medical Imaging Systems
The basic physics, instrumentation, system design and image reconstruction algorithms are covered for the following: ultrasound, radiography, x-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), planar scintigraphy and positron emission tomography (PET).
Cell-Tissue Material Interaction
The interactions between living cells, tissues and implant biomaterials, with a focus on molecular and cellular level phenomena in the initiation and generation of tissue and systemic responses.
After Union
Biomedical engineers are employed in universities, industry, hospitals, research facilities, government regulatory agencies and teaching institutions. Some biomedical engineers have advanced training in other fields, as in the case of those who also earn an M.D. degree, thereby combining an understanding of advanced technology with direct patient care or clinical research.
Here is what some of our alumni have been up to:
- Research management, Partners HealthCare
- Associate project engineer, Stryker Orthopaedics
- Sales engineer and marketing coordinator, Sheaumann Laser, Inc.
- CAD engineer, ConforMIS Inc.
- Mechanical engineer, Ephesus Lighting
- Research assistant, Pediatric Oncology, Children's Hospital
