UMD Ranks #10 in Public Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Programs

The Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) undergraduate bioengineering program remains highly ranked in national standings, according to the U.S. News & World Report (USNWR).

On September 24, USNWR announced in the 2024-25 Best Colleges rankings that BIOE ranks 10th nationwide among public university bioengineering and biomedical engineering undergraduate programs, and ranked 26th overall.

“The Fischell Department of Bioengineering is committed to providing a transformative and inclusive educational experience“, says Distinguished University Professor and Department Chair John P. Fisher. “Our most recent public and overall rankings demonstrate the sustained efforts and achievements of our faculty, staff, and students. As we continue to evolve, we are excited about the future and remain committed to delivering excellence in bioengineering education and research.”

Housed in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, which advanced three spots to 16th overall among undergraduate engineering schools, the BIOE undergraduate program is designed to empower bioengineers with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to address the world’s most pressing human health challenges. With over 450 undergraduate students, the program has continued to grow each year to meet the increasing need for doctors who are technically competent and for engineers who are properly trained in medical science.

Department Highlights

Capstone. Central to the undergraduate experience is an unparalleled, two-semester Senior Capstone design course. Students tackle current human health issues, investigate and conduct research, and meet with industry and bioengineering experts to turn their ideas into novel innovations.

The Capstone course matches small teams of students with industry representatives, medical doctors or surgeons, and other bioengineering experts who serve as clinical mentors on these design projects. Mentors have come from various local institutions, including the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Children's National Health Center, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. These clinical mentors play a critical role in helping undergraduates navigate the lifecycle of a bioengineering innovation—from ideation to prototyping—before students graduate from the program.

“The Fischell Department of Bioengineering is committed to providing a transformative and inclusive educational experience. Our most recent public and overall rankings demonstrate the sustained efforts and achievements of our faculty, staff, and students. As we continue to evolve, we are excited about the future and remain committed to delivering excellence in bioengineering education and research.”

John P. Fisher, Chair

The course culminates in a Capstone design showcase at the end of the school year. On May 1, 2024, the A. James Clark School of Engineering hosted its first annual Capstone Design Expo at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity Center, exhibiting the ingenuity of over 500 engineering seniors from various civil and environmental, aerospace, mechanical, and bioengineering programs. The Expo featured 98 projects focused on solving some of society's most pressing challenges, with 20 projects from the Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) centered on advancing healthcare and technology for medical diagnostics.

The 2023-2024 Capstone teams tackled a diverse array of challenges and innovations, including a portable, affordable cardiopulmonary exercise device, designed to track heart and lung health for telemedicine patients and athletes. Another team focused on improving feeding tubes for children, creating an innovative design to reduce complications. In addition, another project featuring a virtual reality endoscopy controller was developed for better medical training, offering a more realistic experience for doctors learning endoscopy procedures. Notably, several of these teams have continued to collaborate with their clinical mentors, and their work may soon be published or integrated into procedures at their mentors’ respective organizations.

At the inaugural Expo, a team of bioengineering seniors took home the Dean’s Award (and a $1,000 prize) for their capstone design project, “Accessible Ventilation Coach for Opioid Overdose Bystanders.” Their innovative adjunctive device, which uses a printed circuit board, connects to a bag valve mask (BVM) and provides visual guide LEDs for the proper rate and depth of breath compressions, along with feedback LEDs synchronized with the user’s performance. An audio system also provides coaching during use, guiding users in real time to increase or decrease their speed or pressure of compressions.

Curriculum. The BIOE undergraduate program curriculum is founded in biology, driven by human health issues, and emphasizes innovation. The department’s objective is to merge the principles and applications embedded in engineering with the sciences of biology, medicine, and health. The coursework also addresses the issues and challenges of modern day health care. BIOE students dive deep into exploring how disparities in public health access and care—as well as decades-long gaps in representation in bioengineering research—have contributed to preventable differences in disease and injury burdens in the U.S. and throughout the world.

With this foundation, BIOE has intentionally designed the program for career readiness. All students in the bioengineering major have the opportunity to participate in research in state-of-the-art bioengineering labs on campus, either within the department or through special programs. Students are exposed to a full range of career interests, including those in medicine, human health, foods, government, dentistry, law, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, ecological/bioenvironmental engineering, biomedical devices, bioprocessing, and teaching.

In addition to the traditional bioengineering curriculum, the Biocomputational Engineering (BCE) program offers a unique blend of physical and biological sciences, along with computation and data science. This program equips graduates with advanced skills in programming, modeling, and machine learning, preparing them for careers in public health, biotechnology, and data science. Notably, the BCE program is the first in the nation to be ABET accredited, ensuring that it meets high standards of quality and relevance in engineering education.

Published September 30, 2024