The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering is a joint department between the Georgia Tech Institute of Technology and the Emory University School of Medicine. This collaboration is the first of its kind between a public and private university and provides a unique environment for multidisciplinary education and research. At Georgia Tech, BME students develop knowledge integrative skills that allow them to contribute at the cutting edge of both engineering and medicine.
Click here to view recent news from the BME department featuring the successes of both students and faculty.
Focus Areas
The BME department is an exceptional program with six major research thrusts:
- Cardiovascular Mechanics and Biology
- Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
- Neuroengineering
- Biomedical Imaging and Bioinformatics/Biomedical Systems Analysis
- Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
- Health Systems
Undergraduate Students
The ABET accredited undergraduate program seeks to educate students to become leaders in biomedical engineering and impact medicine, basic science, and applied technology. Undergraduate students undertake a comprehensive curriculum that includes courses in biology and biochemistry, circuits and electronics, biomechanics, and sensors and instrumentation, among others. Freshmen participate in a problem-based learning course in which they tackle a complex real-world problem in biomedical engineering while becoming self-directed learners and developing effective communication and collaborative skills. Seniors take a BME capstone design course that incorporates engineering standards and constraints concerning economic, environmental, sustainability, manufacturability, and ethical issues. Many BME undergraduates have also won undergraduate awards for laboratory research.
Graduate Students
The graduate program consists of two distinct Ph.D. programs. The Joint Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program is conferred jointly by both Georgia Tech and Emory and is based on an integration of life sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The goal is to enable students to postulate and solve biomedical problems quantitatively and with a systems perspective. Both Georgia Tech and Emory faculty provide an integrative teaching medium for students by "team-teaching" courses.
The Bioengineering Ph.D. program is an interdisciplinary program to which students apply from a "home department" such as Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Textile and Fiber Engineering, or the College of Computing. Bioengineering program faculty are drawn from these and other departments at both Georgia Tech and Emory. Students fulfill the Ph.D. degree requirements for both their home department and the Bioengineering program and complete coursework in traditional engineering and bioengineering.
In addition, Georgia Tech and Emory offer an MD/PhD program.
