The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) is changing its undergraduate curriculum, introducing new concentrations that allow students to narrow their focus of study within the field. Stevens has aimed to make the BME major the intersection between engineering and science, and guarantee a multidisciplinary education, allowing students to feel confident in working with teams of engineers from different fields. In an interview with the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies for the BME Department, Professor Sally Shady, The Stute got the inside scoop regarding these recent changes and their expected effect on students.
In her position, Shady is in charge of maintaining the BME undergraduate curriculum’s alignment with current global health issues. In a world where technological advancement is constant, especially in the medical field, this can be quite a demanding task. Shady said that the recent curriculum developments are intended to address this dynamic environment.
As for what sparked the idea to make changes to the curriculum in the first place, Shady recalls that the BME department chair, Dr. Kang-Mieler, “wanted to redevelop the program to provide students with the opportunity to specialize and explore concentrations at a greater depth.” Shady also mentioned that students had asked for the inclusion of concentrations in the past.
Shady and Kang-Meiler had an idea, but the process to actually enact these changes took time. Shady explains that overall there are two points of views that need addressing when creating these concentrations; regionally and nationally. She then remarks, “We then worked on leveraging our strengths and bringing some of our expertise to these significant areas in biomedical engineering.” Now that the idea for these changes were more concrete, it was time to share it to obtain feedback. Shady and her colleagues brought these changes to the entire biomedical engineering department and its faculty. Once they addressed that group’s concerns and came up with a finalized curriculum modification, they took it to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. The committee reviewed the proposal and voted on its approval. Since the plans were approved, Shady seemed happy with the results, commenting that “the process went very well.”
As a result of these successful changes, the BME department will be introducing the following concentrations this academic year: Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Biomechanical Rehabilitation and Neuroengineering, and Biomedical Imaging.
In closing, Shady urges anyone who wants to learn more about these areas in biomedical engineering to reach out to her at sshady@stevens.edu or anyone else in her department.
