Biomedical Engineering
351 Engineering Terrace, MC 8904,
212-854-4460; bme@columbia.edu
www.bme.columbia.edu
Biomedical engineering is an evolving discipline in engineering that draws on
collaboration among engineers, physicians, and scientists to provide interdisciplinary
insight into medical and biological problems. The field has developed its own knowledge
base and principles that are the foundation for the academic programs designed by the
Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia.
The programs in biomedical
engineering at Columbia (B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Eng.Sc.D.) prepare students to apply
engineering and applied science to problems in biology, medicine, and the understanding
of living systems and their behavior, and to develop biomedical systems and devices.
Modern engineering encompasses sophisticated approaches to measurement, data acquisition
and analysis, simulation, and systems identification. These approaches are useful in the
study of individual cells, organs, entire organisms, and populations of organisms. The
increasing value of mathematical models in the analysis of living systems is an
important sign of the success of contemporary activity. The programs offered in the
Department of Biomedical Engineering seek to emphasize the confluence of basic
engineering science and applied engineering with the physical and biological sciences,
particularly in the areas of biomechanics, cell and tissue engineering, and biomedical
imaging.
Programs in biomedical engineering
are taught by its own faculty, members of other SEAS departments, and faculty from other
University divisions who have strong interests and involvement in biomedical
engineering. Several of the faculty hold joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering
and other University departments.
Courses offered by the Department of
Biomedical Engineering are complemented by courses offered by other departments in The
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and by many departments in the
Faculty of Medicine, the School of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, and the Mailman School of
Public Health, as well as the science departments within the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences. The availability of these courses in a university that contains a large
medical center and enjoys a basic commitment to interdisciplinary research is important
to the quality and strength of the program.
Educational programs at all levels
are based on engineering and biological fundamentals. From this basis, the program
branches into concentrations along three tracks: biomechanics, cell and tissue
engineering, and biomedical imaging. The intrinsic breadth included within these tracks,
plus a substantial elective content, prepare bachelor’s and master’s students to
commence professional activity in any area of biomedical engineering or to go on to
graduate school for further studies in related fields. The program also provides
excellent preparation for the health sciences and the study of medicine. Graduates of
the doctoral program are prepared for research activities at the highest level.
Areas of particular interest to
Columbia faculty include orthopaedic and musculoskeletal biomechanics (Professors
Ateshian, Guo, and Mow), cardiovascular biomechanics (Professors Costa, Holmes, and
Homma), cellular and tissue engineering and artificial organs (Professors Hung, Kam,
Leonard, H. H. Lu, Morrison, Sia, and Vunjak-Novakovic), auditory biophysics (Professor
Olson), body composition (Professor Pierson), and biomedical imaging (Professors
Alderson, Brown, Hielscher, Hillman, DeLaPaz, Konofagou, Laine, Z. F. Lu, Pile-Spellman,
Sajda, and Smith).
Facilities
The Department of Biomedical
Engineer-ing has been materially assisted by University funding and awards from the
Whitaker Foundation. Extensive new facilities have recently been added to the
department, including new teaching and research laboratories that provide students with
unusual access to contemporary research equipment specially selected for its relevance
to biomedical engineering. An undergraduate wet laboratory devoted to biomechanics and
cell and tissue engineering has been added, together with a biomedical imaging and data
processing laboratory. Each laboratory incorporates equipment normally reserved for
advanced research and provides exceptional access to current practices in biomedical
engineering and related sciences. Adjacent to the new laboratories is a lounge that
serves as a meeting point for biomedical engineering undergraduate and graduate
students.
Research facilities of the
Biomedical Engineering faculty include the Liu Ping Laboratory for Functional Tissue
Research (Professor Mow), the Hatch MRI Research Center (Professor Brown), the Heffner
Biomedical Imaging Laboratory (Professor Laine), the Laboratory for Intelligent Imaging
and Neural Computing (Professor Sajda), the Biophotonics and Optical Radiology
Laboratory (Professor Hielscher), the Cardiac Cell Mechanics Laboratory (Professor
Costa), the Bone Bioengineering Laboratory (Professor Guo), the Cell and Tissue
Engineering Laboratory (Professor Hung), the Biomaterial and Interface Tissue
Engineering Laboratory (Professor Lu), the Neurotrauma and Repair Laboratory (Professor
Morrison), the Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory (Professor Konofagou), the
Microscale Biocom-plexity Laboratory (Professor Kam), the Molecular and Microscale
Bioengin-eering Laboratory (Professor Sia), and the Laboratory for Functional Optical
Imaging (Professor Hillman). These laboratories are supplemented with core facilities,
including a tissue culture facility, a histology facility, a confocal microscope, an
atomic force microscope, an epifluorescence microscope, a freezer room, a machine shop,
and a specimen prep room.