BME Academic Pathways: Using electives to build depth in specific areas
BME graduates are highly sought after by employers primarily for their ability to seamlessly bridge engineering, biology, and medicine. They are also valued for their strong communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills. The B.S. in BME curriculum well prepares students in all of these attributes. However, some students desire to build depth in a specific area of interest based on their career or personal interests. Below are a series of suggested focus areas for those who wish to do so. You can use this guide to determine what BME, Engineering, Technical, and Unrestricted electives to take to build depth.
All students interested in a particular focus area should consult with their BME advisor for additional input and guidance.
You can explore more areas and career pathways here: https://navigate.aimbe.org/find-your-dream-job/career-pathways-in-bioengineering/ and https://navigate.aimbe.org
BME Academic Pathways
This area bridges computer science, applied mathematics, statistics, biology, and medicine.
What is it?
Data science tools and technologies help biomedical researchers understand disease mechanisms and improve health care.
What you'll learn:
How to use coding and programming tools, as well as computational techniques, to extract knowledge from datasets to understand and solve biological and medical problems.
Examples of work being done in these areas:
Some biomedical engineers working in this area have developed software tools to organize biological data, used artificial intelligence to improve healthcare delivery, utilized modeling techniques to better understand physiological processes, or employed computation and bioinformatics to analyze genomic or proteomic data.
Possible Career Sectors:
- Software development
- Data science
- Project management
- Biostatistics
- Biomedical informatics
- Computational biology
- Academia
- Clinician scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses
- BME 4350: BME Data Science
- BME 4360: Molecular Data Science
- BME 4370: Quantitative Biological Reasoning
- Non-BME UVA Courses:
- BIOL 4230: Bioinformatics & Functional Genomics
- CS 2100: Data Structures & Algorithms I
- CS 2120: Discrete Mathematics & Theory I
- CS 3410: Software Development Essentials
- CS 4501: Digital Image Processing
- CS 4501: Natural Language Processing
- CS 4710: Artificial Intelligence
- CS 4774: Machine Learning
- ECE 2410: Introduction to Machine Learning
- ECE 2700: Signals & Systems
- ECE 4501: Machine Learning in Image Analysis
- ECE 4502: Machine Learning for Engineers
- ECE 4750: Digital Signal Processing
- PSYC: Computational Neuroscience
This area bridges biology, medicine, design, innovation, physics, and chemistry, as well as aspects of the business world.
What is it?
Biotechnology utilizes cellular and biomolecular processes to develop drug-delivery vehicles, gene and cellular therapy, and other forms of therapeutics. Pharmaceutical engineering involves the design and fabrication of pharmaceutical drugs and therapies.
What you'll learn:
How to use knowledge of cellular, biomolecular, and tissue physiology to design, target, and manufacture therapeutics.
Examples of work being done in these areas:
Some biomedical engineers working in this area have developed drugs for pharmaceutical companies, developed vaccines to treat infectious diseases, or developed genetic engineering techniques targeted at cancer treatment.
Possible career sectors:
- Research & development
- Biomedical therapeutics
- Regenerative medicine
- Medical devices/manufacturing
- Biotechnology
- Pharmaceuticals
- Biomaterials
- Cellular engineering
- Biomanufacturing
- Clinical research associate
- Entrepreneurship
- Quality assurance/control
- Regulatory affairs
- Project management
- Academia
- Clinician scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses:
- BME 3030: Design & Innovation in Medicine
- BME 3040: Regulation & Design of Biomedical Products
- BME 4360: Stem Cell Engineering
- BME 4370: Quantitative Biological Reasoning
- BME 4380: Microbial BME
- BME 4390: Bioreaction Kinetics: Biomedical & Pharmacological Perspectives
- BME 4414: Biomaterials
- BME 4417: Tissue Engineering
- BME 4550: Immunoengineering
- BME 4550: Engineering Women's Health
- BME 4806: Biomedical Applications of Genetic Engineering
- BME 4890: Nanomedicine
- Other Courses:
- BIOL 3030: Biochemistry
- BIOL 3090: Our World of Infectious Disease
- BIOL 3270: Microbiology
- BIOL 4390: Biological Therapy of Cancer
- BIOL 4585-003: Advances in Drug Discovery & Emerging Therapies
- CHE 2246: Intro to Biotechnology
- CHE 4449: Polymer Chemistry & Engineering
- CHE 4456: Bioproduct & Bioprocess Engineering
- CHEM 2410/11: Organic Chemistry I
- CHEM 2420/21: Organic Chemistry II
- CHEM 4090: Analytical Chemistry
- CHEM 4410: Biological Chemistry I
- COMM 4381: Developing & Managing Innovative Products
- COMM 4680: Entrepreneurship
- MAE 3210: Fluid Mechanics
- MSE 4220: Polymer Physics
- PHS 3825: Global Public Health-Challenges & Innovations
- STS 4110: The Business of New Product Development
This area bridges design, innovation, electrical engineering, biology, medicine, and aspects of the business world.
What is it?
Biomedical devices are instruments, implants, or other biotechnologies used for life science research and to diagnose, prevent, and treat diseases.
What you'll learn:
Learn how the fundamental aspects of cell biology and physiology, as well as design and innovation, are used to develop and manufacture devices that further biomedical research and medicine.
Examples of work being done in this area:
Some biomedical engineers in this area have worked on technologies such as knee or hip implants, pacemakers or cardiovascular stents, wearable biomedical sensors, neural prosthetics, or any other device that interfaces with the human body.
Possible career sectors:
- Research & development
- Biomedical therapeutics
- Medical devices/manufacturing
- Biomaterials
- Manufacturing
- Field service engineering
- Clinical research associate
- Entrepreneurship
- Quality assurance/control
- Regulatory affairs
- Project management
- Academia
- Clinician scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses
- BME 3030: Design & Innovation in Medicine
- BME 3040: Regulation & Design of Biomedical Products
- BME 4370: Quantitative Biological Reasoning
- BME 4414: Biomaterials
- BME 4550: Engineering Women's Health
- BME 4550: GoingPro
- Other Courses:
- COMM 4381: Developing & Managing Innovative Products
- COMM 4680: Entrepreneurship
- ECE 2300: Applied Circuits
- ECE 2330: Digital Logic Design
- ECE 2600: Electronics
- ECE 2700: Signals & Systems
- MAE 3210: Fluid Mechanics
- MAE 3620: Machine Elements & Fatigue in Design
- PHS 3825: Global Public Health-Challenges & Innovations
- STS 4110: The Business of New Product Development
This area bridges computer science, biology, medicine, and computation to better understand the genetic, molecular, and cellular behaviors that cause disease, leading to improved human health applications.
What is it?
Systems biology focuses on understanding the structure and function of biological systems on multiple levels, from molecules to organs, through data obtained with theoretical, experimental, and computational methodologies. This area strives to understand the nature of molecular and cellular processes and how individual biological entities interact to produce function at the cellular and organism level.
What you'll learn:
How to obtain, integrate and analyze complex data from multiple scales and sources to develop a quantitative understanding of function and apply that understanding to improve technologies.
Examples of work being done in these areas:
Some biomedical engineers in this area have worked on using an understanding of molecular pathways to develop personalized medicine approaches to diseases, used computational methods to better understand cancer progression and treatment outcomes, or utilized high-throughput experiments to discover potential drug targets for cardiovascular disease.
Possible Career sectors:
- Research & development
- Process optimization
- Computational biology
- Precision medicine
- Synthetic biology
- Bioinformatics
- Project management
- Academia
- Clinical scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses:
- BME 4315: Systems Bioengineering
- BME 4350: BME Data Science
- BME 4360: Molecular Data Science
- BME 4370: Quantitative Biological Reasoning
- Non-BME Courses:
- BIOL 4020: Computational Evolutionary Biology
- BIOL 4230: Bioinformatics & Functional Genomics
- BIOL 4770: Synthetic Biology
- CS 2100: Data Structures & Algorithms I
- CS 2120: Discrete Mathematics & Theory I
- CS 4501: Natural Language Processing
- CS 4710: Artificial Intelligence
- CS 4774: Machine Learning
- ECE 2410: Introduction to Machine Learning
- ECE 2700: Signals & Systems
- ECE 4501: Machine Learning in Image Analysis
- ECE 4502: Machine Learning for Engineers
- ECE 4750: Digital Signal Processing
- PSYC: Computational Neuroscience
- SYS 3021: Deterministic Optimization Models
This area bridges basic science, engineering, innovation, and clinical medicine.
What is it?
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine involves the engineering of synthetic or biological materials to improve or restore function at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels.
What you'll learn:
How to harness the power of cells, materials, and advanced therapeutics to promote tissue repair and treat disease.
Examples of work being done in these areas:
Some biomedical engineers in this area have worked on creating tissue or organ substitutes, such as artificial skin or cartilage, heart valve replacements, or bioartificial organs. Other engineers have worked on ways to improve the wound healing process or limit the immune response to maximize biomaterial/tissue integration.
Possible Career Sectors:
- Biomedical therapeutics
- Regenerative medicine
- Medical devices/manufacturing
- Biotechnology
- Pharmaceuticals
- Research & development
- Biomaterials
- Cellular engineering
- Clinical research associate
- Academia
- Clinician scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses
- BME 4290: Stem Cell Engineering
- BME 4380: Microbial BME
- BME 4414: Biomaterials
- BME 4417: Tissue Engineering
- BME 4550: Mechanobiology
- BME 4550: Immunoengineering
- BME 4806: Genetic Engineering
- Other Courses
- BIOL 4390: Biological Therapy of Cancer
- CHE 4449: Polymer Chemistry & Engineering
- ENGR 3610: Nanoscale Devices & Systems
- CHEM 2410/11: Organic Chemistry I
- CHEM 2420/21: Organic Chemistry II
- CHEM 4090: Analytical Chemistry
- MAE 3210: Fluid Mechanics
- MSE 4220: Polymer Physics
- PHYS 3040: Physics of the Human Body
This area bridges mechanical engineering, physics, biology, and medicine.
What is it?
Every tissue and cell in the body experiences mechanical forces as a major component of its formation, function, and/or disease pathogenesis. Biomechanics is the application of principles of classical mechanics to problems in biological and medical systems.
What you'll learn:
Learn about the mechanical interactions that occur at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organism levels during tissue development, homeostasis, and disease, and how this knowledge can be used to understand disease and repair processes and to design technological solutions.
Examples of work being done in these areas:
Some biomedical engineers in this field work to understand how prosthetic devices can be better designed, how the body responds to stress and strain, or how injuries can be remediated through rehabilitation. In sports biomechanics, engineers work in tandem with physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, coaches, and the athletes themselves to improve performance, recovery time, and injury prevention. Some engineers in this area work on biomechatronics, or the design of devices that interact with human muscle, skeleton, or the nervous system (e.g. robotic prosthesis). Other engineers in this area are working on understanding how blood moves through the cardiovascular system, how cells experience mechanical forces from the extracellular environment, or the mechanical properties of materials used in the body.
Possible career sectors:
- Research & development
- Project management
- Sports medicine
- Neural engineering
- Neural prosthetics
- Rehabilitation medicine
- Robotics engineering
- Tissue engineering
- Ergonomics
- Human factors engineering
- Clinical research associate
- Academia
- Clinician scientist
How to build depth:
- BME Courses
- BME 4280: Motion Biomechanics
- BME 4550: Mechanobiology
- Other Courses:
- MAE 3210: Fluid Mechanics
- KINE 3410: Exercise Physiology
- KINE 3600/01: Musculoskeletal Anatomy
- PHYS 3040: Physics of the Human Body
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found here.
Licensure Disclosure
- As a member of the State Authorizations Reciprocity Agreement, the University of Virginia (UVA) is authorized to provide curriculum in a distance learning environment to students located in all states in the United States except for California. (34 CFR 668.43(a)(6)& 34 CFR 668.72(n)).
- Upon completion of an engineering degree program which prepares graduates for licensure or certification, graduates may be eligible for initial professional licensure in another U.S. state by applying to the licensing board or agency in that state. Please visit the University’s state authorization web pages to make an informed decision regarding which states’ educational requirements for initial licensure are met by this program. (668.43(a)(5) (v)(A) - (C))
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