What is Biomedical Engineering?
Biomedical engineering is a field of study wherein healthcare and engineering collide. Experts in the field are known to use their engineering expertise to create solutions to improve the designs and develop more medical products.
Biomedical engineers has helped shape the world with their knowledge and expertise. Typically, those who enter this field will help design medical equipment and devices. While there is a wide variety of specialties, many biomedical engineers have been known in the advancement of creating artificial internal organs or body part replacements, as well as machines that diagnose medical problems. Furthermore, they also provide their expertise as a form of technical support to install, adjust, maintain or repair biomedical equipment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Benefits of Pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering
Advancing your knowledge in the biomedical engineering field with a master’s degree will be a great choice. Many graduate degrees can be complete between 1 to 2 years, depending if you want to specialize in a sub-field. Here are just some of the benefits you’ll be getting after completing your master’s degree in biomedical engineering.
Salary: The average salary of a person who has completed an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering is about $65,225 per year. On the other hand, if you complete a graduate degree, salaries can range from $86,860 to $94,800 per year. This salary average may be higher since this information is dated May 2016 in the BLS website.
Growth: In biomedical engineering, pursuing a graduate degree can mean you are going into a research-based career, entering a sub-field, or gearing towards higher education like postgraduate studies. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to grow
Job Opportunity: While entering the biomedical engineering profession only requires an undergraduate degree, there are other jobs opportunities once you’ve completed your master’s degree. According to the University of Texas, this field is growing rapidly to the point that there will be a 70 percent increase in career opportunities in the next 10 years.
Colleges and Universities Offering Biomedical Engineering Graduate Degrees
Many universities and colleges offer a master’s program in biomedical engineering. We’ve created a list of 10 schools around the US that offer this course and what you can expect from each of them. For further information on each university, we’ve also provided direct links to their respective graduate program.
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University is world-renowned with its innovation and advances in research revolving around the medical and scientific fields. This university offers Master of Science and Engineering in Biomedical Engineering where you can choose to go through a thesis track or a specialized track. In the thesis track, this is for students who are planning to pursue a PhD. The thesis track program focuses on research projects that will prepare students to pursue careers in development and research. On the other hand, a specialized track provides students with focus areas such as Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation, Computational Medicine, Neuroengineering and Technology, Regenerative and Immune Engineering, and Systems Biology. This track can be completed within one year.
https://www.bme.jhu.edu/graduate/mse/overview/
Northwestern University
Northwestern University offers two Master of Science tracks in Biomedical Engineering. One track requires a thesis while the other doesn’t. If you’re looking to pursue a professional career, you may choose to take advantage of the graduate program without thesis track. On the other hand, if you’re planning to pursue research in laboratories, you should choose the thesis track.
http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/biomedical/graduate/masters/
Columbia University
Columbia University offers a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MS BME) where students are offered not only world-renowned education but also opportunities. Several of Columbia’s MS BME graduates have land high paying jobs with top positions. Others have created their own firms as the master’s program in this university also enhances an individual’s entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.
http://bme.columbia.edu/biomedical-engineering-masters-program
University of Southern California-Viterbi
USC offers a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering degree that can be completed within two year or less. Their program has a coursework only track or coursework and thesis track. Offering more than 30 different courses for their graduate program, the school also has three laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment for students. They offer four graduate degree programs. One of them is a MS in Biomedical Engineering (BME) degree. The other BME degrees are offered with a concentration in Medical Imaging and Imaging Informations, Neuroengineering, or Medical Device and Diagnostic Engineering.
Tufts University
Tufts University’s School of Engineering offers MS and/or PhD degrees in Biomedical Engineering. There is also an interdisciplinary program for a Master of Science degree that integrates engineering and biotechnology in the curriculum. It offers a specific engineering that that’ll provide students freedom in terms of learning their interests and choosing career paths. Faculty members in this university are also some of the leaders in biomedical engineering research.
http://engineering.tufts.edu/bme/graduate/
Stanford University
Stanford University is known for its excellent reputation towards research and education. Furthermore, the school is situated near Silicon Valley where there multiple industries specializing in biomedical engineering reside. A great advantage in taking up your master’s degree in Stanford is the small class size where students can develop and build relationships with faculty members and colleagues.
https://bioengineering.stanford.edu/admissions/masters-admissions
Duke University
Duke University’s Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering program focuses on career options. There will be an internship required to complete the program so students can develop the skills they need for working in the field. Furthermore, the curriculum also includes business leadership and management courses to improve job positions in the future.
https://bme.duke.edu/grad/masters/meng
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota is located in an area where medical device industries thrive. Students can take advantage of this by doing internships or gaining work experience with the university’s affiliated companies in the area. The faculty members are professionals in their respective field and students can expect to learn in an intellectual environment that encourages them to research and apply their biomedical engineering knowledge. There will also be clinical/translational research collaborations between students and faculty members.
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is one of the top universities to go to when you’re looking to specialize in a sub-field of biomedical engineering. The university is known for producing top-notch engineers in the fields of Biomechanics, Computation and Modeling, Imaging and Biophotonics, Micro- and Nano-Technology and Molecular Engineering, Neural Engineering, and Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials. One of the main reasons the university is the best school to take these up is because of the faculty members and the lab associated with the research in these fields.
http://bme.umich.edu/academics/graduate/
Cornell University
Cornell University offers Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering program. The university’s goal in terms of education is to prepare individuals to immediately enter professional practice after graduation. Students can expect to gain knowledge in a wide array of biomedical engineering subjects. They will also be exposed to the biomedical devices along with therapeutic strategies used in the healthcare setting.