Biomedical Engineering (BS)

The program in biomedical engineering leading to the B.S. degree is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.

The objectives of the undergraduate program in biomedical engineering are as follows:

  1. Professional employment in areas such as the medical device industry, engineering consulting, and biotechnology;
  2. Graduate studies in biomedical engineering or related fields;
  3. Attendance at medical, dental, or other professional schools.

The undergraduate program in biomedical engineering will prepare graduates who will have:

  1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
  2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
  3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
  4. an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
  5. an ability to function effectively on teams whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
  6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
  7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

The undergraduate curriculum is designed to provide broad knowledge of the physical and engineering sciences and their application to the solution of biological and medical problems. Students are strongly encouraged to take courses in the order specified in the course tables; deviations must be discussed with a departmental adviser and approved by the department before registration. The first two years provide a strong grounding in the physical and chemical sciences, engineering fundamentals, mathematics, and modern biology. This background is used to provide a unique physical approach to the study of biological systems. The last two years of the undergraduate program provide substantial exposure to fundamentals in biomedical engineering with emphasis on the integration of principles of biomedical engineering, quantitative analysis of physiology, and experimental quantification and measurements of biomedical systems.

The common core biomedical engineering curriculum provides a broad yet solid foundation in biomedical engineering. The flexible choice of technical electives in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, other departments in the Engineering School, as well as in other departments in the arts and sciences allows students to broaden their biomedical engineering education to their individualized interests for a personalized curriculum. These qualities allow the faculty to prepare students for activity in all contemporary areas of biomedical engineering. Graduates of the program are equipped for employment in the large industrial sector devoted to health care, which includes pharmaceuticals, medical devices, artificial organs, prosthetics and sensory aids, diagnostics, medical instrumentation, and medical imaging. Graduates also accept employment in oversight organizations (FDA, NIH, OSHA, and others), medical centers, and research institutes. They are prepared for graduate study in biomedical engineering and several related areas of engineering and the health sciences. Students can meet entrance requirements for graduate training in the various allied health professions. No more than three additional courses are required to satisfy entrance requirements for most U.S. medical schools.

All biomedical engineering students are expected to register for nontechnical electives, both those specifically required by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and those needed to meet the 27-point total of nontechnical electives required for graduation.

First and Second Years

As outlined in this bulletin, in the first two years, all engineering students are expected to complete a sequence of courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, modern biology, English composition, and physical education, as well as nontechnical electives including the humanities. For most of these sequences, the students may choose from two or more tracks. If there is a question regarding the acceptability of a course as a nontechnical elective, please consult the approved listing of courses in Liberal Arts Core for Columbia Engineering 27-Point Nontechnical Requirement or contact your advising dean for clarification.

Please see the charts in this section for a specific description of course requirements.

For students who are interested in the biomedical engineering major, they must take ELEN E1201 INTRO-ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. For the computer science requirement, students must take ENGI E1006 INTRO TO COMP FOR ENG/APP SCI. They must take the two-semester BIOL UN2005 INTRO BIO I: BIOCHEM,GEN,MOLEC and BIOL UN2006 INTRO BIO II:CELL BIO,DEV/PHYS in the second year, which gives students a comprehensive overview of modern biology from molecular to organ system levels. In addition, all students must take APMA E2101 INTRO TO APPLIED MATHEMATICS in their second year.

Third and Fourth Years

The biomedical engineering programs at Columbia are based on engineering and biological fundamentals. This is emphasized in our core requirements, which cannot be waived nor substituted. All students must take the two-semester introduction to biomedical engineering courses, BMEN E3010 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING I and BMEN E3020 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING II, which provide a broad yet solid foundation in the biomedical engineering discipline. In parallel, all students take the two-semester Quantitative physiology, I and II sequence (BMEN E4001 QUANTITATIVE PHYSIOLOGY I- BMEN E4002 QUANT PHYSIOLOGY II:ORGAN SYST), which is taught by biomedical engineering faculty and emphasizes quantitative applications of engineering principles in understanding biological systems and phenomena from molecular to organ system levels. In the fields of biomedical engineering, experimental techniques and principles are fundamental skills that good biomedical engineers must master. Beginning in junior year, all students take the two-semester sequence Biomedical engineering laboratory, I­­ & II (BMEN E3810 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING LAB IBMEN E3820 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING LAB II). In this two-semester series, students learn through hands-on experience the principles and methods of biomedical engineering experimentation, measurement techniques, quantitative theories of biomedical engineering, data analysis, and independent design of biomedical engineering experiments, in parallel to the Biomedical engineering I & II and Quantitative physiology I & II courses. In addition, all students must take BMEN E4110 BIOSTATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS. In the senior year, students are required to take a two-semester capstone design course, Biomedical engineering design (BMEN E3910 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN and BMEN E3920 BIOMEDICAL ENGIN DESIGN II), in which students work within a team to tackle an open-ended design project in biomedical engineering. The underlying philosophy of these core requirements is to provide our biomedical engineering students with a broad knowledge and understanding of topics in the field of biomedical engineering.

Parallel to these studies in core courses, students are required to take flexible technical elective courses, which are defined in the following section. The curriculum prepares students who wish to pursue careers in medicine by satisfying most requirements in the premedical programs with no more than three additional courses. Some of these additional courses may also be counted as nonengineering technical electives. Please see the course tables for schedules leading to a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

It is strongly advised that students take required courses during the specific term that they are designated in the course tables, as scheduling conflicts may arise if courses are taken out of sequence.

Technical Elective Requirements

Technical electives provide in-depth understanding of a student's chosen interests. A technical elective is defined as a 3000-level or above course taught in SEAS or 3000-level or above course in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or biotechnology. 2000-level organic chemistry and biochemistry courses may also count toward technical electives; please consult your adviser.

Students are required to take 21 points of technical electives. Of these, at least 15 points must be clearly engineering in nature (Engineering Content Technical Electives) as defined below. In addition, at least 6 points of the Engineering Content electives must be from courses in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

  1. Engineering Content Technical Electives provide sufficient engineering content to count toward the 48 units of engineering courses required for ABET accreditation and are defined as:
    1. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, except
      BMEN E4010
      BMEN E4103
      BMEN E4104
      BMEN E4105
      BMEN E4106
      BMEN E4107
      BMEN E4108
      BMEN E6510STEM CELL, GENOME ENG & REGEN MED
      BMEN E4000SPECIAL TOPICS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (fall 2019)

      (Note that only 3 points of BMEN E3998 PROJECTS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGIN may be counted toward technical elective degree requirements.)
    2. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, except MECE E4007 CREATIVE ENG & ENTREPRENEURSHP
    3. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Chemical Engineering, except CHEN E4020 PROTECTN OF INDUST/INTELL PROP
    4. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Electrical Engineering, except EEHS E3900
    5. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics program, except
      CIEN E4128
      CIEN E4129MANAGING ENG & CONST PROCESSES
      CIEN E4130DESIGN OF CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS
      CIEN E4131PRIN OF CONSTRUCTN TECHNIQUES
      CIEN E4132PREV&RESOL OF CONSTR DISPUTES
      CIEN E4133CAPITAL FACILITY PLANNING/FIN
      CIEN E4134CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY LAW
      CIEN E4135STRATEGIC MGT - ENG & CONSTR
      CIEN E4136Entrepreneurship in Engineering and Construction
      CIEN E4138REAL ESTATE FIN/CONST MANAG
      CIEN E4140ENVIR,HLTH,SAFETY CONC CONSTR
    6. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Earth and Environmental Engineering program
  2. Courses from the following departments are not allowed to count toward the required 48 units of engineering courses:
    1. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
    2. Department of Computer Science
    3. Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
    4. Program of Materials Science and Engineering

Once 48 points of engineering content are satisfied, students may choose their remaining technical electives as defined at the beginning of this section.

If a 3000-level or greater course is cross listed between two departments, eligibility as an engineering content technical elective is determined by either of the listed departments in its designation, independent of order. At least one of the programs that are listed must be ABET-accredited to be considered engineering content. For example, APBM E4560 Anatomy for physicists & engineers and BMCH E4810 ARTIFICAL ORGANS are both engineering content technical electives. Finally, a cross-listed course that is greater than or equal to 3000 level and with BMEN in its call letters will qualify as a BME Engineering Technical Elective.

The accompanying charts describe the eight-semester degree program schedule of courses leading to the bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

The undergraduate Biomedical Engineering program is designed to provide a solid biomedical engineering curriculum through its core requirements while providing flexibility to meet the individualized interests of the students. All students are encouraged to design their own educational paths through technical electives. The following grouped courses provide a useful guide for students who wish to focus their studies in a particular Biomedical Engineering topic. The requirements for these elective concentrations are identical to those of the major’s course requirements. To declare and earn this designation a student must take at least four of the courses listed for that concentration, and at least two of those must be biomedical engineering courses. It is not necessary to declare a concentration for the B.S. program.

To meet entrance requirements of most U.S. medical schools, students will need to take BIOC GU4501 BIOCHEM I-STRUCTURE/METABOLISM (4), CHEM UN2543 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LABORATORY Organic chemistry laboratory (3), PHYS UN1494 INTRO TO EXPERIMENTAL PHYS-LAB (3), and PSYC UN1001 THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY (3) as well.

Biofabrication and Nanotechnology

MECE E3100INTRO TO MECHANCIS OF FLUIDS
MECE E3113
MSAE E4090NANOTECHNOLOGY
MECE E4212MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS
BMEN E4550MICRO/NANO STRUCT CELL ENG
BMEN E4580FOUND OF NANOBIOSCI/NANOBIOTECH
BMEN E4590BIOMEMS:CELL/MOLECULAR APPLIC

Bioinformatics and Machine Learning

BIOL UN3041CELL BIOLOGY
COMS W3101PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
COMS W3137HONORS DATA STRUCTURES & ALGOL
BINF G4006TRANSLATIONAL BIOINFORMATICS
BINF G4015
ECBM E4040NEURAL NETWRKS & DEEP LEARNING
ECBM E4060INTRO-GENOMIC INFO SCI & TECH
STAT GU4241STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING
COMS W4252INTRO-COMPUTATIONAL LEARN THRY
BMEN E4420SIGNAL MODELING
BMEN E4460Deep Learning in Biomedical Imaging
BMEN E4470Deep Learning for Biomedical Signal Processing
COMS W4701ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
CBMF W4761COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS
COMS W4771MACHINE LEARNING
BMEN E4895Analysis and Quantification of Medical Images

Biomaterials

MSAE E3010FOUNDATIONS OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
BMEN E4501Biomaterials and Scaffold Design
BMEN E4510TISSUE ENGINEERING
BMEN E4520SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY:PRIN GENETIC CIRCUITS
BMEN E4530DRUG AND GENE DELIVERY
BMEN E4590BIOMEMS:CELL/MOLECULAR APPLIC
MEBM E4710MORPHOGENESIS:BIOL MAT SHP/STR
CHEN E4800Protein engineering

Biomechanics

MECE E3100INTRO TO MECHANCIS OF FLUIDS
ENME E3105MECHANICS
MECE E3113
MECE E3301THERMODYNAMICS
BMEN E4301
BMEN E4302BIOMECHANICS OF MUSCULOSKELETAL SOFT TIS
BMEN E4310SOLID BIOMECHANICS
BMEN E4320FLUID BIOMECHANICS
BMEN E4340BIOMECHANICS OF CELLS
MEBM E4710MORPHOGENESIS:BIOL MAT SHP/STR
BMEN E4750SOUND AND HEARING

Biosignals and Biomedical Imaging

ELEN E3810
BMEN E4410PRIN OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE
BMEN E4420SIGNAL MODELING
BMEN E4430PRIN OF MAG RESONANCE IMAGING
BMEE E4740BIOINSTRUMENTATION
ELEN E4810DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
BMEN E4894BIOMEDICAL IMAGING
BMEN E4898BIOPHOTONICS

Cell and Tissue Engineering

CHEM UN2443ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I-LECTURES
CHEM UN2444ORGANIC CHEMSTRY II-LECTURES
BMEN E4210DRIVING FORCES OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
BMEN E4310SOLID BIOMECHANICS
BMEN E4501Biomaterials and Scaffold Design
BMEN E4510TISSUE ENGINEERING
BMEN E4550MICRO/NANO STRUCT CELL ENG

Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

MECE E3408COMPUTER GRAPHICS & DESIGN
ENGI W4100RESEARCH TO REVENUE
BIOT GU4160BIOTECHNOLOGY LAW
BIOT GU4161ETHICS IN BIOPHARM PAT/REG LAW
BIOT GU4200BIOPHARMACEUTICAL DEV & REG
BIOT GU4201SEM-BIOTECH DEVPT & REGULATION
BMEE E4740BIOINSTRUMENTATION
CHEN E4920PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY FOR ENGINEERS

Genomics and Systems Biology

CHBM E4321The genome and the cell
APMA E4400INTRO TO BIOPHYSICAL MODELING
BMEN E4420SIGNAL MODELING
BMEN E4520SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY:PRIN GENETIC CIRCUITS
BMEN E4530DRUG AND GENE DELIVERY
BMEN E4590BIOMEMS:CELL/MOLECULAR APPLIC
CHEN E4700PRINCIPLES OF GENOMIC TECHNOL
CHEN E4760
CHEN E4800Protein engineering

Neural Engineering

ELEN E3810
BMEB W4020Computational neuroscience: circuits in the brain
BMEE E4030NEURAL CONTROL ENGINEERING
BMEN E4050ELECTROPHYS OF HUM MEMORY * NAVIGATION
BMEN E4310SOLID BIOMECHANICS
BMEN E4420SIGNAL MODELING
BMEN E4430PRIN OF MAG RESONANCE IMAGING
ELEN E4810DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
BMEN E4894BIOMEDICAL IMAGING

Premed and Pre-Health Professional

CHEM UN2443ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I-LECTURES
CHEM UN2444ORGANIC CHEMSTRY II-LECTURES
CHEM UN2493ORGANIC CHEM. LAB I TECHNIQUES
CHEM UN2494ORGANIC CHEM. LAB II SYNTHESIS
BIOC UN3300BIOCHEMISTRY
BMEN E4320FLUID BIOMECHANICS
BMEN E4410PRIN OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE
BMEN E4530DRUG AND GENE DELIVERY

Robotics and Control of Biological Systems

MECE E3100INTRO TO MECHANCIS OF FLUIDS
ENME E3105MECHANICS
MECE E3113
BMEE E4030NEURAL CONTROL ENGINEERING
BMEN E4050ELECTROPHYS OF HUM MEMORY * NAVIGATION
MEBM E4439MODELING & ID OF DYNAMIC SYST
MECE E4602INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS
BMEE E4740BIOINSTRUMENTATION

Biomedical Engineering Program

An overview of the degree track in PDF format can be found here

First Year
Semester I
MATH UN1102CALCULUS II 
Choose one of the following Physics courses depending on track: 
INTRO TO MECHANICS & THERMO 
PHYSICS I:MECHANICS/RELATIVITY 
ACCELERATED PHYSICS I 
Choose one of the following Chemistry courses depending on track: 
GENERAL CHEMISTRY I-LECTURES 
CHEM UN1500 (taken Semester l or ll)
GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY 
2ND TERM GEN CHEM (INTENSIVE) 
INTENSVE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
ENGL CC1010 (taken Semester l or ll)UNIVERSITY WRITING 
ENGI E1006 (taken Semester l or ll)INTRO TO COMP FOR ENG/APP SCI 
PHED UN10011PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES 
ENGI E1102 (taken Semester l or ll)1THE ART OF ENGINEERING 
HUMA UN1121 or UN1123 (taken Semester l or ll)1MASTERPIECES OF WESTERN ART 
Semester II
APMA E2000 (taken Semester ll or lll)MULTV. CALC. FOR ENGI & APP SCI 
APMA E2001 (taken Semester ll or lll)MULTV. CALC. FOR ENGI & APP SCI 
Choose one of the following Physics courses depending on track: 
INTRO ELEC/MAGNETSM & OPTCS 
PHYSICS II: THERMO, ELEC & MAG 
ACCELERATED PHYSICS II 
Choose one of the following Chemistry courses depending on track: 
GENERAL CHEMISTRY II-LECTURES 
CHEM UN1500 (taken Semester l or ll)
GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY 
INTENSVE GENERAL CHEMISTRY-LAB 
INTENSVE ORG CHEM-FOR 1ST YEAR 
ENGL CC1010 (taken Semester l or ll)UNIVERSITY WRITING 
PHED UN10021PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES 
ENGI E1102 (taken Semester l or ll)1THE ART OF ENGINEERING 
HUMA UN1121 or UN1123 (taken Semester l or ll)1MASTERPIECES OF WESTERN ART 
Second Year
Semester III
APMA E2000 (taken Semester ll or lll)MULTV. CALC. FOR ENGI & APP SCI 
APMA E2001 (taken Semester ll or lll)MULTV. CALC. FOR ENGI & APP SCI 
Choose one of the following Physics courses depending on track: 
INTRO-CLASSCL & QUANTUM WAVES 
PHYSICS III:CLASS/QUANTUM WAVE 
Choose one of the following Nontechnical Requirements:1 
EURPN LIT-PHILOS MASTERPIECS I 
CONTEMP WESTERN CIVILIZATION I 
Global Core (3-4)
 
ELEN E1201INTRO-ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 
BIOL UN2005INTRO BIO I: BIOCHEM,GEN,MOLEC 
Semester IV
Choose one of the following Nontechnical Requirements:1 
EURPN LIT-PHILOS MASTRPIECS II 
CONTEMP WESTRN CIVILIZATION II 
Global Core (3-4)
 
ECON UN1105
 - ECON UN1155
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS 
APMA E2101INTRO TO APPLIED MATHEMATICS 
BIOL UN2006INTRO BIO II:CELL BIO,DEV/PHYS 
Third Year
Semester V
BMEN E3010BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING I 
BMEN E3810BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING LAB I 
BMEN E4001QUANTITATIVE PHYSIOLOGY I 
BMEN E4110BIOSTATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS 
Nontech Elective (3 points) 
Semester VI
BMEN E3020BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING II 
BMEN E3820BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING LAB II 
BMEN E4002QUANT PHYSIOLOGY II:ORGAN SYST 
Technical Elective (3 points)2 
Nontech Elective (3 points) 
Fourth Year
Semester VII
BMEN E3910BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN 
Technical Electives (9 points)2 
Nontech Electives (3 points) 
Semester VIII
BMEN E3920BIOMEDICAL ENGIN DESIGN II 
Technical Electives (9 points)2 
1

Students can mix these requirements according to what is available. 

2

Five of seven technical electives must have engineering content, and two of them must be from the Biomedical Engineering Department.