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We are committed to educating the next generations of BME graduates for success in this transformative field and to tackling some of the most daunting health problems facing our society. Both goals are made possible through our dedicated faculty, our state-of-the-art research, and our alignment with the UAB Heersink School of Medicine. Under the leadership of Jay Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., the department has ranked fourth nationally in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. This level of funding accelerates our research and offers favorable opportunities to our students engaged in the UAB educational and research enterprise.

We offer bachelor’s, fifth year and two-year master’s, and doctoral degree programs. The bachelor’s degree program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.

Why Study Biomedical Engineering at UAB?

Human pelvis finite element model. The partnership between Engineering and Medicine helps us foster the highest levels of research while offering a world-class BME education. But those aren't the only reason we think our program excels.

High-Quality Facilities, Strong Research, and an Active Faculty

The BME faculty has developed an outstanding interdisciplinary curriculum to train students to solve health-care related problems using advanced quantitative and analytical techniques. All of our courses are taught by full-time BME faculty members, who also maintain an active and productive research program. Their research expertise is part of the classroom experience, along with hands-on experience for our students.

We have high-quality facilities for laboratory experiments, computer simulations, and lab-based projects. Many of the BME courses include a laboratory component where students receive hands-on training with instrumentation, computer simulations, and lab techniques common to the discipline.

Student Organizations and Internships

Students can further their professional development through participation in biomedical engineering student organizations. They can also seek internships or co-ops in industry or the UAB Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and other schools and departments. Many of our students complete a minor in business. These additional experiences provide opportunities to apply principles mastered in your courses to ‘real world’ problems in biomedical engineering.

Career Potential

Graduating with a degree in Biomedical Engineering can prepare you to enter the workforce; pursue advanced education in graduate school; or attend medical, dental or another professional school. Some of our alumni have gone on to:

A design on display at the BME Research Symposium Poster Session.
  • careers in medical products companies such as BioHorizons Implant Systems, Biological Innovations, Cook Medical, GE Medical, Evonik Industries, Guidant Corporation, Medtronic, NuTech Medical, Novartis, Phillips Medical Systems, Proctor & Gamble, St. Jude Medical, Smith & Nephew, TransGenRx, and Wright Medical Technology
  • careers in medical centers and hospitals, health care groups, consulting companies, and computer application groups
  • careers in regulatory agencies like the FDA
  • advanced education — master’s, PhD, medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, MD/PhD, DMD/PhD — at institutions such as Duke, Georgia Tech, Rice University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas, UAB, and Vanderbilt

Want to Learn More?

We invite you to explore our website to get a glimpse of some of the exciting learning, research, and collaboration opportunities our department has to offer. If you have any questions about our program, please fill out the Request More Information form. We look forward to seeing you at UAB!