Focus Areas

Within the Biomedical Engineering curriculum (General Sample Four-Year Plan and General Curriculum Map) are a series of suggested focus areas that have been formulated and are designed to enable students to acquire in depth knowledge in their chosen area of interest. Students may choose from among the focus areas pre-approved by the Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The courses comprising each focus area demonstrate coherence, focus, and purpose within the given area. Each focus area consists of four required engineering courses and seven electives (i.e., focus area electives). Regardless of the area of emphasis, all of the requisite courses for the four focus areas, and at least two focus area electives, must be three-semester-hour technical courses (i.e., an engineering science or design course). Please refer to the current list of courses that satisfy each pre-approved focus area.

The Pre-Approved Focus Areas:

Each focus area can have a pre-medicine designation.  Students may tailor their elective course selection to achieve a goal outside of those implicit to the pre-approved focus areas, as long as the course selections show coherence, focus, and purpose.

All students should consult with their departmental advisor and submit for approval a Plan of Study to the BME Undergraduate Curriculum Committee by the end of the student's fourth semester of study. Requests should be submitted via the online Plan of Study Form.