Doing EE or ME for the BME field?

smkumar0 · 07-05-2007, 01:09 PM

Hello.

My friend is going into her first year of college this fall. She was interested in eventually getting into biomedical engineering. The only problem is that her school doesn't have an undergrad BME program. I had suggested that she consider doing EE or ME and then specializing in BME. Is that possible?

Also, I heard from some people that since BME is a relatively new and developing field, that it's better for people who want to go into BME to first do EE or ME in undergrad rather than doing BME for undergrad. Is this true? I had heard this from people who justified it saying a biotech company would rather hire a person with more experience in electrical or mechnical rather than a BME who had less experience in those areas.

Sorry if this question has been asked before. I was looking through the other bme threads and the ones I looked at were mainly talking about doing BME with premed.

Thanks.

GatorEng23 · 07-05-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

I had suggested that she consider doing EE or ME and then specializing in BME. Is that possible?

Yes, that is a possible (and a recommended) track to get into BME. Most schools don't have undergraduate biomedical engineering programs, so she isn't alone.

Quote:

Also, I heard from some people that since BME is a relatively new and developing field, that it's better for people who want to go into BME to first do EE or ME in undergrad rather than doing BME for undergrad. Is this true?

I think it's a better track, majoring in EE or ME first makes a more well rounded engineer and is a "safer" choice. That is, in case you don't find work in the biomedical field, at least you have that EE or ME degree to fall back on. Whether employers prefer this, I'm not sure. But as long as you can prove to them your knowledge and what you can do for them in BME, it shouldn't matter.

hinmanCEO · 07-06-2007, 03:07 PM

EE is right

steevee · 07-06-2007, 09:10 PM

Your questions have in fact been asked many times before. It also depends on the kinds of things she wants to do. ME deals with a lot of artificial organs. Prosthetics and artificial hearts are some obvious examples. EEs usually design equipment that takes in and processes data, insulin pumps and imaging (MRI, PET, CT). I got this info from wikipedia.

urrjun · 07-12-2007, 04:58 AM

I think going EE is a really good idea. As cool as some of the stuff you learn in Undergrad BME is, you will ALWAYS need knowledge of EE/signal processing to actually be useful. This is why Medtronic (allegedly) has a policy not to hire undergrad BME majors...they have to learn too much to be worth it.

scorp · 07-12-2007, 09:08 AM

urrjun I seriously doubt that medtronic would have such a (silly) policy. What's your source?

caseengr · 07-12-2007, 09:40 AM

[quote]This is why Medtronic (allegedly) has a policy not to hire undergrad BME majors...they have to learn too much to be worth it.[/qoute]

This is completely false. Medtronics recruits heavily from my school (Case Western), and although they also hire EEs, MEs, ChemEs, etc. They seem to prefer to hire a lot more Biomedical Engineers than engineers from the more traditional disciplines.

Jason1117 · 07-12-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

EEs usually design equipment that takes in and processes data, insulin pumps and imaging (MRI, PET, CT). I got this info from wikipedia.

I'm sort of familiar with MRI,PET,etc.Because my mom is a doctor who mainly focuses on these stuff.It has more to do with nuclear medicine I guess.
EE graduate can apply their skills to a wide variety range of machines,PET may be one of the applications.

Slorg · 07-12-2007, 09:27 PM

I almost got involved in an EE research project at my school that involves designing a blood pressure meter and giving it cool wireless capabilities (like automatically texting a doctor).

dr_reynolds · 07-12-2007, 09:33 PM

I always recommend ME or EE for students going into the Biomed field. Then go and get a Master's in Biomed. From what I've seen a master's in Biomed opens a lot more career options than just a bachelors. And having a traditional major gives you a good engineering background.

scorp · 07-12-2007, 09:40 PM

dr_reynolds, how about a BS in BME and a MS in CS?

niceilike · 07-13-2007, 03:55 PM

also, it depends on the type of BME they want to do. if you want to go into the devices industry, then ee or me would be good. but if you want to go into the molecular side, ChE with some molecular biology coursework is ideal. this is according to umich's former dean of ChE, now BE chair at UC riverside.

dr_reynolds · 07-13-2007, 08:09 PM

A BS in BME and ME is CS might be ok, but I'm not sure how marketable you would be. I don't see the crossover with this. You need less CS and more computer engineering.