NEWS

CHAPEL HILL --The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University will launch a new joint graduate degree program in biomedical engineering this fall.

Biomedical engineering stresses the application of science and engineering, mathematical analysis and computer techniques to biomedical problems.

The new joint program, approved by the 16-campus University of North Carolina Board of Governors last spring, will begin later this month with the opening of the fall 2003 semester on both campuses. The program will offer students both a master of science degree and doctor of philosophy degree in biomedical engineering. Initial impetus for the program arose from faculty on both campuses; more than 150 faculty members expressed interest in a collaboration

The program is aimed at enabling better use of biomedical engineering resources at both universities. For UNC, it will mean closer ties to NC State’s College of Engineering, which contains 11 engineering departments and ranks seventh nationally in non-federal research expenditures. For NC State, the program will also afford closer ties to National Institutes of Health-funded biomedical research in UNC’s School of Medicine. Overall, Carolina ranked 13^th nationally in NIH funding in fiscal 2002.

"The joint biomedical engineering graduate program will serve as a valuable academic link between the applied sciences, basic life sciences and medical programs at UNC and the engineering, science and veterinary medicine programs at NC State," said Dr. Jeffrey L. Houpt, dean of the UNC School of Medicine. "In addition, cooperation between our two major research universities can leverage scarce resources."

Currently, both universities have eight core biomedical engineering faculty. Thus, the joint program is expected to improve research mentor opportunities for biomedical engineering graduate students enrolled through both universities.

Among research initiatives currently planned for the program are bioelectronics and biosensors; biomaterials and tissue engineering; medical imaging; implants and medical devices; intracellular engineering and functional genomics. Both campuses have launched major genomics initiatives. Also planned are joint teleclasses with live video and audio.

Since the 1960s, the number of graduate schools offering biomedical engineering degrees has increased nationally to more than 70. Graduate biomedical engineering enrollment continues to rise, from roughly 600 in 1960 to nearly 3,000 today. Currently, biomedical engineering leads the engineering disciplines in the percentage of degrees awarded to women. In addition, employment opportunities for trained biomedical engineers are expected to increase by more than 30 percent through 2010. The average starting salary in 2001 for a master’s degree graduate in biomedical engineering was more than $62,000.

"Combining the strengths of two top institutions will not only provide a wealth of academic, research and employment opportunities for students, it will also benefit the state as these biomedical engineers enter a field that is experiencing rapid growth, particularly in North Carolina," said Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of NC State’s College of Engineering.

Students may enter the program with an undergraduate degree in engineering or in the physical or life sciences. Admission may be through application to either institution and will be subject to the recommendations of the Joint Graduate Studies Committee.

Joint graduate biomedical engineering programs in the Southeast currently include those between Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology and the universities of Memphis and Tennessee at Memphis.

- 30 -

UNC contact: Les Lang, (919) 843-9687, llang@med.unc.edu
NC State contact: Mick Kulikowski, News Services, (919) 515-3470 or mick_kulikowski@ncsu.edu