Opinion : Biomedical Engineering

"Biomedical Engineering...The best BS at Boston University" -Prof Lutchen

The Boston Globe has an article today that MIT is adding a new major for the first time in decades. That major: Bioengineering. The globe seems to think that this is a revolutionary new development, but the fact is that MIT is behind the times. There are dozens, if not hundreds of other similar programs in this country, and nothing that I have seen suggests MIT's program will be anything revolutionary. It will be nationally renowned of course, but only because MIT and its endless list of corporate sponsors will pour millions of dollars into it and use its undue influence to retain the best researchers. As a student of biomedical engineering across the river at BU, I am surprised that this is a news-worthy issue. I am happy if, as the globe claims, this will add legitimacy to the field, but I don't think anything will really change. MIT has been operating the Whitehead institute for years and always provides the research side of the Harvard Medical School, both of which technically count as biomedical engineering. They have made huge contributions in areas such as medical instrumentation and bioinformatics, and I don't see what difference it makes if they change the wording on a few undergraduate degrees. Here at BU we have had biomedical engineering for over 20 years. And we are not alone. ABET has accreditation requirements for these programs and there are honor societies and publications tied to them. The field is well established. In short, this is not a revolutionary event; this is merely an excuse for a monolithic institution to spend more money on research and hire more scientists.

disclaimer: I am at BU partly because i got rejected at MIT