
Biomedical Engineering Minor
The goal of the BME Minor program is to educate students in how to apply fundamental engineering principles to solve challenging problems in biology and medicine. The BME Minor program aims to guide students to gain an appreciation of diverse biomedical engineering sub-disciplines via coursework, which relates math, physiology, and engineering electives drawn from many different disciplines, reflecting interdepartmental nature of modern biomedical engineering.
Below are frequently asked questions about the BME Minor:
- Fill out the top portion of the BME minor application [pdf] (use this form only for the BME minor). Application forms are also available in the BE Academic Office, Rm. 16-267.
- Meet with your department’s BME advisor (list provided below) in order to plan your program of study. Make sure that your program of study satisfies all the rules, both for major and BME minor degree, especially the rules related to allowed overlap between major and minor.
- Submit the completed application form, signed by your department’s BME advisor, to either Prof. Jongyoon Han or Prof. Ellen Roche, for final approval.
- Bring the completed application to the BE Academic Office, Rm. 16-267. You will be emailed a copy of your application and it will appear on your student record.
You should apply by the end of your sophomore year, and must apply no later than “Add Date” of spring term junior year.
To change any part of your approved program, you must revise your plan and submit a revised application to Profs. Han or Roche.
- Pick up a minor completion form from the BE Academic Office (16-267), the Student Services Center (11-120), or visit the Registrar website.
- When you have completed all of the course requirements for the minor, take a copy of your most recent grade report and a minor completion form to a BME minor co-director. He/she will then sign the completion form to verify that you have satisfied all of the course requirements.
- Bring the completion form to the BE Academic Office, Rm. 16-267. You will be emailed a copy.
You must complete the minor by the minor completion date, typically the third week of the term you expect to receive the SB degree. Any completion forms filed after this date will be subject to a late fee, billed to your account.
The BME minor is an interdepartmental minor program, with its core requirements drawn from many different departmental subjects. In order to ensure students’ exposure to materials outside of their major program, the BME minor requires students to take at least 3 subjects (30-36 units) that are not used for fulfilling their major curriculum requirements, to fulfill the BME minor requirement.
Core Subjects: 3.5~4 subjects (42~48 units)
- Programming & Computational Modeling – 12 units
- 6.100A & 6.100B or equivalent
PLUS
- Mathematics – 18-24 units
- A minimum of 6 units each of any two of the following three subject areas:
- Differential Equations (18.03 or 3.016 or other 6-12 unit subjects)
- Or
- Linear Algebra (18.06 or other 6-12 unit subject)
- Or
- Applied Probability and Statistics (18.600, 1.010, 6.3700 (6.041), 9.07 or other 6 or 12 unit subjects)
PLUS
- Human Physiology – 12 units
- 7.20 or 6.4820 (6.022) or 9.01 or permission for alternate human physiology class.
Biomedical Engineering Subjects: 3 subjects (30-39 units)
At least 3 subjects from the course lists below. Note – some classes are listed under multiple courses and can only be counted once. # not offered regularly **not offered 2024/2025
1.063J Fluids and Diseases
1.088J Genomics and Evolution of Infectious Disease
1.089 Environmental Microbial Biogeochemistry
2.180 Biomolecular Feedback Systems
2.184J Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement
2.715J Optical Microscopy and Spectroscopy for Biology and Medicine#
2.74 Bio-inspired robotics
2.750J Medical Device Design
2.785J Cell-Matrix Mechanics
2.787J Tissue Engineering and Organ Regeneration
2.788 Mechanical Engineering and Design of Living Systems
2.799 The Cell as a Machine#
3.052 Nanomechanics of Materials and Biomaterials
3.054 Cellular Solids: Structure, Properties, Applications#
3.055J Biomaterials Science and Engineering
3.056J Materials Physics of Neural Interfaces**
6.4800 Biomedical Systems: Modeling and Inference
6.4810J Cellular Neurophysiology and Computing
6.4820J Quantitative and Clinical Physiology
6.4900 Introduction to EECS via Medical Technology
6.8701J Advanced Computational Biology: Genomes, Networks, Evolution
6.8711J Computational Systems Biology: Deep Learning in the Life Sciences
6.8801J Biomedical Signal and Image Processing
7.33J Evolutionary Biology: Concepts, Models and Computation
7.37J Molecular and Engineering Aspects of Biotechnology
7.61 Eukaryotic Cell Biology with Medical Applications
9.123 Neurotechnology in Action
9.17 Systems Neuroscience Laboratory
9.24 Disorders and Diseases of the Nervous System
9.26 Principles and Applications of Genetic Engineering for Biotechnology and Neuroscience
9.271 Pioneering Technologies for Interrogating Complex Biological Systems
9.272J Topics in Neural Signal Processing
9.35 Perception
9.40 Introduction to Neural Computation
9.422J Principles of Neural Computation
10.213 Chemical and Biological Engineering Thermodynamics
10.28 Chemical-Biological Engineering Laboratory
10.380J Viruses, Pandemics, Immunity#
10.424 Pharmaceutical Engineering
10.443 Future Medicine: Drug Delivery, Therapeutics, and Diagnostics
10.495 Molecular Design and Bioprocess Development of Immunotherapies
16.400J Human Systems Engineering
16.423J Aerospace Biomedical and Life Support Engineering
20.203 Neurotechnology in Action
20.205 Principles and Applications of Genetic Engineering for Biotechnology and Neuroscience
20.110J Thermodynamics of Biomolecular Systems
20.305J Principles of Synthetic Biology
20.309J Instrumentation and Measurement for Biological Systems
20.310J Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
20.330J Fields, Forces and Flows in Biological Systems
20.BME Pre-approved* undergraduate research in junior or senior year (12 units)
20.230 Immunology
20.260 Computational Analysis of Biological Data
*A 20.BME application form (.doc) must be submitted to the BE Academic Office by ADD date the term in which you plan to enroll. The form must be signed and approved by your faculty UROP supervisor and a BME minor program director.
Please consult with an advisor as early as possible, especially if you will be seeking approval for a UROP or course substitution.
Course 1: Prof. Lydia Bourouiba
Course 2: Prof. Ellen Roche, Prof. Alex Slocum, Prof. Nevan Hanumura, Prof. Marty Culpepper
Course 3: Prof Craig Carter
Course 5: Prof. Moungie Bawendi, Prof. Tim Swager
Course 6: Prof. Sixian You
Course 7: Prof. Michael Yaffe
Course 8: TBD (contact BME Co-Director)
Course 9: TBD (contact BME Co-Director)
Course 10: TBD (contact BME Co-Director)
Course 16: Prof. Lonnie Petersen
Course 20: Prof. Angela Koehler, Prof. Alan Jasanoff, Dr. Justin Buck, Dr. Steve Wasserman, Dr. Maxine Jonas
Questions about course requirements, approving electives, etc:
Professor Jongyoon Han
Co-Director, BME Minor Program
Room 36-841
Professor Ellen Roche
Co-Director, BME Minor Program
Room E25-334
Questions about program deadlines, forms, and other administrative requests:
Cathy Greene
Undergraduate Academic Administrator, Course 20
Room 16-267