Building the Future of Medicine

BME at UVA builds its engineering curriculum on a solid base of biological knowledge. As part of our “biology-first” approach, BME students take a two-semester physiology course for engineers and a customized cell and molecular biology course during their first year as majors. Our graduates leave UVA with a fundamental understanding of the biological origins of disease that sets them apart from their peers.   

Biomedical engineering has become increasingly data driven and is inherently interdisciplinary and collaborative. The undergraduate program at UVA embodies these trends, preparing graduates to make valued contributions from the very start of their careers.

Advances in data science and systems modeling have already produced dramatic advances in research, drug development, and treatment—and much more is yet to come. BME at UVA is known throughout the world for being at the forefront of this revolution. As a result, our students have an unprecedented opportunity not simply to master new computational approaches but to learn from faculty who are creating them.

Not only is data science and systems modeling integrated into the curriculum, but students have ample opportunity to join faculty labs and take a meaningful role in advancing their research. You will find BME students helping to identify biomarkers for cancer, contributing to models for building human tissue, and applying computational approaches to advancing the treatment of disease in scores of ways.

The UVA Biomedical Engineering program starts with an advantage that most programs cannot hope to equal: co-location with the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the UVA Medical Center. Proximity has a pervasive impact on every aspect of our students’ education.

Engineers learn by doing. That is one reason why BME at UVA emphasizes design from the first year of the program. The other is that by the time our students graduate, we want them to have hands-on experience identifying a clinical problem and working in teams to create a workable solution. At UVA, students learn to ideate and create.

This emphasis on design starts in the first semester and continues through Capstone. One of the highlights is the year-long Ideas Lab, where students practice design thinking approaches and master computational and experimental approaches for measuring and analyzing real medical data at multiple scales.

Undergradaute Research in BME

Design and Clinical Immersion in BME

Biomedical engineering is inherently interdisciplinary, but cross-disciplinary collaboration is a learned art. It requires the ability to appreciate viewpoints of colleagues who approach design and discovery from different perspectives and to meet the expectations of stakeholders with different interests. Our graduates’ facility as collaborators gives them a jumpstart on their careers.

Educational Outcomes for the UVA BME Undergraduate Program

• Define and apply mathematical, computational, and engineering foundations.
• Integrate physical and life science, mathematical, computational, and engineering principles toward BME-specific applications.
• Define and perform the engineering design process
• Define and perform fundamental steps in the research process
• Analyze, visualize, and interpret data
• Measure and perturb biological and biomedical systems
• Develop strategies to continuously acquire contemporary concepts and skills
• Function on a team where members together provide leadership, create a collaborative & inclusive environment, and effect goals, tasks, and objectives
• Communicate science and engineering concepts and results to a variety of audiences
• Recognize ethical principles in biomedical applications
• Identify relevant aspects of the governmental regulatory process
• Demonstrate awareness of inclusivity, equity, and empathy in research and design

The Program Educational Objectives for the Undergraduate Program in BME reflect not only the breadth and biological skills expected of this discipline, but the principles of free inquiry, ethical conduct, creativity, and continuous personal growth.

BME Program Educational Objectives

• Graduates draw upon their biomedical engineering foundations to perform experimental measurement, quantitative analysis, and engineering design.
• Graduates use tools and methods at the current state-of-the-art in biomedical engineering.
• Graduates apply problem solving abilities and multidisciplinary perspectives to understand and advance scientific discoveries and technological innovations.
• Graduates act to improve human health.
• Graduates exhibit intellectual curiosity, creativity, leadership and continuous personal growth.