Self-Study Report Biomedical Engineering Program Rensselaer

ABET Self-Study Report for the Biomedical Engineering Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY

July 1, 2019 submitted to the Engineering Accreditation Commission ABET 415 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201 Confidential

The information supplied in this Self-Study Report is for the confidential use of ABET and its authorized agents, and will not be disclosed without authorization of the institution concerned, except for summary data not identifiable to a specific institution.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ...... 3 CRITERION 1: STUDENTS ...... 6 CRITERION 2: PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES ...... 15 CRITERION 3: STUDENT OUTCOMES ...... 22 CRITERION 4: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ...... 26 CRITERION 5: CURRICULUM ...... 45 CRITERION 6: FACULTY ...... 62 CRITERION 7: FACILITIES ...... 69 CRITERION 8: INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT ...... 75 PROGRAM CRITERIA ...... 79 Appendix A – Course Syllabi ...... 83 Appendix B – Faculty Vitae ...... 173 Appendix C – Equipment...... 210 Appendix D – Background Information of to the Institution ...... 214 Appendix E – Assessment Materials ...... 227 Appendix F – Additional Materials ...... 240 Acronyms ...... 248 Signature Attesting to Compliance ...... 249

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A. Contact Information

Juergen Hahn, Ph.D. Professor and Department Head Department of Biomedical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th St., JEC 7049 Troy, NY 12180-3590 (518) 276-6548 E-mail: [email protected]

B. Program History

The first biomedical engineering class graduated with a B.S. degree in 1967. In its initial phase, the program placed a strong emphasis on the application of electrical and mechanical engineering principles and methods to physiological systems and their clinical or pathological changes. Students were educated with a rigorous foundation in electrical or mechanical engineering and a deep understanding of physiological living systems. During the past two decades, the explosive growth of new biological knowledge at the cellular and molecular level has fundamentally changed biomedical engineering, both in general and here at Rensselaer. Current faculty expertise and interests reflect these changes with a focus on developing new tissues, devices, and systems based on fundamental biological and engineering principles. The undergraduate curriculum has changed accordingly and is subject to continuous modifications and updates based on suggestions and feedback from the program’s constituencies. The last ABET review took place November 24-26, 2013. Since then, the following major changes have been made:  The number of lecturers and professors of practice in the department has grown from 1.5 to 6. The number of full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty has remained reasonably constant at 13: two people left the department, one retired, two new tenure-track faculty were hired and we have one ongoing search.  We have restructured our curriculum such that students have more flexibility with regard to their specific tracks (biomaterials, biomechanics, and bioimaging/bioinstrumentation). Each track now has a unique set of core classes and the track electives are modified into BME Technical Electives to allow students to choose between depth and breadth. This modification was based on input and review over multiple years of data obtained from outcome scoring, alumni surveys, and senior exit surveys. C. Options

The biomedical engineering program offers concentration tracks in biomechanics, biomaterials, and bioimaging/instrumentation. These tracks are not noted on the diploma.

Students are advised with respect to their chosen track by their assigned faculty advisors, as well as individual consultations with faculty members whose research interests align with their chosen track. The tracks consist of three required classes per track. Additionally students choose two BME Technical Electives courses from a list of approved courses. Also, they are encouraged to engage in hands-on undergraduate research projects, either through the formal Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute-wide Undergraduate Research Program (URP), or informally through sponsored research projects or directed studies for class credit.

Students have the option of obtaining a dual degree by fulfilling all degree requirements for two curricula. Common to both majors are the Rensselaer requirements of 24-credit-hour mathematics/science and 24-credit-hour humanities and social science courses. Students need to be assigned advisors from both programs and their degrees need to be cleared by both programs. Students will receive a diploma noting both majors.

D. Organizational Structure

The BME program is the sole undergraduate degree program within the Department of Biomedical Engineering, which is led by Department Head Dr. Juergen Hahn. The BME department resides within the Rensselaer School of Engineering, led by Dean of Engineering Dr. Shekhar Garde, with the assistance of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Dr. Kurt Anderson, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Dr. Liping Huang, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Matthew Oehlschlaeger. The Dean of Engineering reports to Provost Dr. Prabhat Hajela who reports to President Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, who in turn reports to the Board of Trustees.

The Biomedical Engineering Department executes and oversees the various components of its undergraduate program as follows. The Department Head Dr. Juergen Hahn and the Chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Dr. Eric Ledet have the primary responsibility for the undergraduate program. The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee meets 1-3 times per semester to discuss the BME curriculum, advising, accreditation, and other topics. Committee members include the Advising Coordinator and Degree Clearance Officer (Dr. Uwe Kruger) and the advisor for the pre-med program (Dr. Mariah Hahn). In addition, the department is supported by the Laboratory Manager, Mr. Stephen Kalista, who oversees the undergraduate teaching laboratory. Overall administrative and business assistance is provided by Ms. Mary Foti, Ms. Kristen Bryk, and Mr. Brian Gambacorta.

E. Program Delivery Modes

The Biomedical Engineering Program uses a traditional lecture/laboratory, on-campus delivery mode.

F. Program Locations

The program is offered on the Troy campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Students have the option to participate in the study abroad program that allows for the transfer of courses taken at participating foreign universities to meet degree requirements. The transfer

of such courses is subject to the approval of the BME Degree Clearance Officer, relevant faculty members who teach equivalent classes at Rensselaer, and the School of Engineering Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies.

G. Deficiencies, Weaknesses, or Concerns from Previous Evaluation(s) and the Actions Taken to Address Them

The most recent ABET Final Statement for Rensselaer’s Biomedical Engineering Program is dated August 14, 2014 and constitutes the final statement for the ABET EAC visit on November 24-26, 2013. The final report identified no Deficiencies, Weaknesses, or Concerns.

H. Joint Accreditation The Biomedical Engineering Program is not jointly accredited and does not seek joint accreditation by more than one ABET Commission.

GENERAL CRITERIA

CRITERION 1: STUDENTS

A. Student Admissions

First-year students are admitted by the Undergraduate Admissions Office, based on criteria that include standardized test scores, subjects completed in high school, recommendations, and high-school grades. A student who is admitted to the School of Engineering may major in any engineering department/program. There is no administrative limitation on the number of students majoring in the biomedical engineering program.

Although students may indicate their preferences at the time of admission, they are not required to designate a major until their third semester at Rensselaer. The biomedical engineering student demographics are notably diverse, with slightly over 50% of each program year class being women and/or under-represented minorities. The number of freshman and sophomore students indicating an interest in biomedical engineering is approximately 90 – 120 per class.

B. Evaluating Student Performance

Student performance is monitored throughout the undergraduate years. Not only do students receive a letter grade for each course they take, but their performances are monitored continuously using a centralized electronic Student Information System (https://sis.rpi.edu). The Student Information System (SIS) serves multiple purposes; one of these is to store and maintain current CAPP (Curriculum, Advising, and Program Planning) reports that provide a summary of a student’s progress against all degree requirements and lists all requirements based on the catalog in effect in the student’s year of entry to Rensselaer. A sample CAPP Report is shown in Appendix F. The CAPP Report serves as a Rensselaer-internal document that lists all graduation requirements organized by category, including communication, math and physics, computer science, core engineering, required BME core courses, BME concentration courses, BME technical electives, humanities and social sciences, and free electives. It should be noted that each section shows the required number of credits, the applicable completed number of credits, the list of courses taken with final grades and the semester. The CAPP report can be accessed by the student, the assigned academic advisor, and the departmental advising coordinator. Students are required to meet with their advisors at least once per academic year to review progress towards graduation, to identify potential problems, and to explore future career options.

Additional advising and learning resources are available to students and faculty through the Advising and Learning Assistance Center (ALAC, http://alac.rpi.edu). The Electronic Warning System (EWS) allows faculty to notify students about poor attendance, missing/poor assignments, poor test performance, inadequate writing, communication or math skills, or other reasons that might contribute to a student failing a course. When a faculty member places a student on EWS, it triggers several actions. First, the student is

6 notified of the warning. Second, the student’s advisor is notified such that multiple warnings from one or more instructors can be detected easily. Lastly, ALAC is notified and contacts the student to offer suggestions for help or make referrals for specific assistance. The goal of EWS is to alert students early that they are falling behind academically and to assist them in seeking help so that they can take corrective steps and improve their performance. In addition to EWS, ALAC runs the Faculty Intervention Program (FIP) for first year students in their spring semester who had experienced academic difficulty during their fall (first) semester. These students are provided a personal faculty mentor with whom they meet weekly to identify the causes for poor performance and to develop ways to overcome them.

Student performance in individual courses is evaluated through letter grades and a cumulative grade point average (GPA) based on a 4.0 scale. Grades from courses taken elsewhere are not included in the GPA calculation. Rensselaer uses course grades for undergraduate students based on the scale: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, and F that carry the numerical equivalents: A = 4.00, A- = 3.67, B+ = 3.33, B = 3.0, B- =2.67, C+=2.33, C=2.0, D+=1.33, D=1.0, F=0. The minimum cumulative grade point average for graduation is 2.0. Subject to restrictions, a student may elect to take up to twelve credit hours of course work in a Pass/No Credit grading mode, with a grade of P (Pass) or NC (No Credit) given, respectively. Required courses (listed by name or as a course from a required selection list, such as concentration course or a BME Technical Elective) in the students major field may not be taken as Pass/No Credit.

Students whose GPA for any term falls below 1.50 in a single term are placed on academic probation as a warning that they are in jeopardy of losing their good academic standing. Students are informed of their probationary status by a letter from the Director of ALAC at the end of the semester. Academic and extracurricular restrictions may also be placed on them so that they can concentrate on their academic programs. If a student’s GPA for any term falls below 1.50, he or she is placed on academic probation automatically. In addition, any student whose cumulative GPA falls below the following specified averages is automatically placed on probation: freshman – 1.50 at the end of the fall term or 1.80 at the end of the spring term; sophomores – 1.80 at the end of the fall term or 2.00 at the end of the spring term; juniors and seniors – 2.00 at the end of the fall or spring term. Probation is removed when the following minimum requirements are met during a term in a program of not less than 12 credit hours: freshman – 1.50 GPA for the term and a cumulative GPA of 1.80; sophomores – 1.50 GPA for the term and a cumulative GPA of 1.80 for the Fall term, and 2.00 GPA for the Spring; junior and seniors – 1.50 GPA for the term and a cumulative GPA of 2.00. A student on academic probation may have that status removed at the end of the summer session if he or she maintained a GPA of 1.50 during the previous term and has raised his or her cumulative GPA to the following prescribed levels: entering sophomore year, 1.80; entering junior year, 2.00; entering senior year, 2.00.

If a student is on academic probation for two consecutive terms, then the student’s case goes before the Academic Standing Committee. At this time the student is called into the ALAC and is asked to sign an academic contract in which the student agrees to adopt required academic behaviors (e.g. attend all lectures; do all assignments; visit the ALAC every other week). Noncompliance with this signed contract will result in dismissal.

Grading is based upon evaluation of course components such as homework assignments, examinations, oral presentations, and written reports. The instructor teaching the course does the evaluation and submits grades online into the Student Information System (SIS).

C. Transfer Students and Transfer Courses

Transfer students are an important part of the School of Engineering, as well as the entire Rensselaer community. Rensselaer has an excellent record of retaining and graduating transfer students. Each year, Rensselaer enrolls more than 200 transfer students from two-and four-year colleges in the United States as well as other countries. To be considered for transfer admission, a student should have earned at least 12 credit hours in the appropriate course work at another accredited college or university. Admission decisions are made by the Office of Transfer Admissions, which is part of the Undergraduate Admissions Office. The Assistant Director of Admissions has the responsibility of coordinating requirements and establishing transfer credit with the Associate Deans of the five Rensselaer schools. Transfer admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis. Files are reviewed when they are completed and notification is sent to the student. Once a student has been admitted, a comprehensive review process is undertaken to determine the appropriate transfer credits to be awarded. Based on a syllabus and/or catalog description for all courses taken at previous schools, the equivalent Rensselaer credit is determined by the department or program at Rensselaer offering a particular course, in consultation with the Assistant Director of Admissions. The report of transfer credit equivalence is then provided to the registrar’s office, which prepares a Curriculum, Advising, and Program Planning (CAPP) Report showing how transfer credits are being used to satisfy the major requirements and which courses still need to be taken. The CAPP report is also provided to the new transfer student’s advisor to assist in the development of a plan of study and the first semester registration process.

In order to earn a Rensselaer undergraduate degree, a student must be registered full-time (minimum of 12 credit hours per semester) for a minimum of four semesters and must complete a minimum of 64 credit hours at Rensselaer, all of which will be applied to the baccalaureate degree. Two semesters of part-time study at Rensselaer will be considered equivalent to one semester of full-time study. If a transfer student elects to study abroad in a program not affiliated with Rensselaer, no more than 16 credits may be transferred from that program. These credits will not be considered in the 64 credits which must be completed at Rensselaer. Students who participate in study-abroad programs that are affiliated with Rensselaer may count those transfer credits toward the 64 credits taken at Rensselaer.

Rensselaer requires a degree candidate to earn the last 30 credits in courses completed on this campus or through a program formally recognized by Rensselaer. Transfer courses are limited to two courses or eight credits counting towards the student’s last 30 credits and require the approval of the director of the Advising and Learning Assistance Center.

Admission of transfer students to an engineering program at Rensselaer is handled by Core Engineering in coordination with the department to which the student seeks admission.

Transfer students meet with the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies who reviews their transcripts and determines the credit transferability of prior course work.

Students graduating with an A.S. degree from a two-year or community college affiliated with Rensselaer may transfer at the end of two years with full junior status if accepted for admission to Rensselaer. Admission requirements are usually established through articulation agreements signed by officials at both schools. For those two-year colleges frequently supplying transfer students, the transfer credit review process has been automated to facilitate admission and registration.

It is not uncommon for a student originally admitted to one of the other four schools at Rensselaer (Architecture; Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Management; Science) to seek a transfer into the School of Engineering. Subject to individual evaluation, such transfers are welcomed. All such transfers must be approved by the Associate Engineering Dean for Academic Affairs. There are no rigid criteria; however, a review of the student’s academic performance at Rensselaer is discussed by the Associate Dean with the student, to determine the best course of action. As a general guideline, students should show overall good academic standing at Rensselaer and should have demonstrated at least a 3.0 Quality Point Average in math/science/engineering courses during the semester prior to the admission to Engineering.

There is a fifth category of students who transfer into the School of Engineering. That is a small group (about 60) of students admitted to Undecided General Studies (UNGS) as freshmen. These students have not yet determined their intended school at Rensselaer. By agreement with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, such students are not admitted to UNGS unless they would have been qualified for admission to the School of Engineering. These students are given special guidance during the first year through ALAC. As a result, we have agreed to guarantee admission of these students to the School of Engineering anytime during the first year, as long as they are in good academic standing at Rensselaer. Approximately, half of these students choose the School of Engineering and another half chooses the School of Science, with small numbers moving on to the other three schools. All are required to enroll in one of the five schools, as Rensselaer does not have a “general studies” major.

D. Advising and Career Guidance

The Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the School of Engineering is responsible for assigning academic advisors to all incoming freshmen. The majority of incoming freshman indicate a preference for a particular academic program, and at the time of entering will be assigned a faculty advisor from the department of interest. This is done in coordination with each department. In the BME department, the advising load of each tenured faculty is approximately 30-35 students and each tenure-track faculty has approximately 25 students for their first three years at Rensselaer. Incoming freshmen who do not declare a major will be assigned an initial advisor within the School of Engineering until they have declared a major – which must be done by the end of the fall term, sophomore

9 year – and then they will be assigned a new advisor. The faculty advisor from the student’s academic major program serves as the student’s principal advisor until graduation.

The Office of the Registrar ensures that each undergraduate student meets with an academic advisor at least once a year; this typically occurs during the spring semester. These meetings are documented through the Student Advisory Meeting (SAM) section within SIS, where the advisor needs to verify that the meeting with the student had taken place. A student who fails to meet the SAM requirement will not be able to register for new courses. Students are encouraged to meet with their advisors more often than once a year to discuss academic performance, progress towards graduation requirements, course loads, concentration choices, minors, dual majors, transfer credit, scheduling for co-ops or study abroad, request for references, and career choices.

Rensselaer offers additional services to support students and to enhance their academic performance. The Office of the First-Year Experience, ALAC, and FIP all provide various forms of supplemental academic and non-academic assistance to undergraduate students.

In addition to BME faculty advisors, the BME department has appointed an advising coordinator, a full-time position filled by a Professor of Practice. The advising coordinator serves in three capacities concerning student advising. First, the advising coordinator directly advises approximately 40 students, which includes most of the students who have transferred to Rensselaer as these students traditionally require more guidance. Second, when a new faculty member enters the BME department, the advising coordinator meets with and instructs the faculty member regarding the advising process. Third, the advising coordinator serves as the Degree Clearance Officer (DCO) of the department, certifying that undergraduate candidates have met the requirements for graduation. All students can meet with the advising coordinator for consultation in addition to the assigned faculty advisor. For instance, students who need to get courses approved taken as part of the study abroad program or who would like to coordinate a co-op opportunity with their course of study may want to consult with the advising coordinator.

Students may receive career guidance from their advisors as well as other organizations at Rensselaer. The Center for Career and Professional Development provides students with access to resources that will support career decision-making and career exploration, and provides experiences and opportunities to develop the skills necessary to conduct a successful job search. This includes summer, co-op, and full time jobs. The center also supports students’ efforts to locate away semester experiences as part of the Arch at Rensselaer. The Archer Center for Student Leadership Development provides leadership education. It enhances leadership skills through programs such as corporate training techniques, team development, effective communication, and ethical decision making. The Professional Development course sequence, required of all biomedical engineering students, is another way to enhance professional skills. These courses cover topics such as working in teams, public speaking, conflict resolution, styles of leadership, theories of leadership, and development of communication skills.

The formal advising process is supplemented by initiatives including advising support from the student chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Designed to take advantage of both peer advising and faculty advising, these sessions provide an informal atmosphere during which upper level students discuss their experiences in various courses and offer perspectives on restricted elective selections. Faculty members use these sessions to discuss graduate program opportunities, international programs and co-op opportunities.

Beginning in 2016, the School of Engineering introduced the advising Hub to further improve advising throughout the school, especially during the first three semesters. The Hub is open 4.5 days a week and is staffed by full-time professional staff whose sole responsibility is student advising. Students are still assigned advisors in the department when they declare a major, however, the Hub is the first stop and serves as the students’ principal advisor in their first three semesters. Students in semesters 4-8 can still go to the Hub for advising, however, the primary advising responsibilities for them lies with their departmental advisors. The reason for this split is that students do not have to declare a major until their third semester and as such, providing advice independent of a department is necessary. At the same time, as students get closer to graduation, they have more specific career-related questions which are better handled by departmental advisors.

The BME department pioneered advising through the Hub in 2016/17 and all other departments joined the program in 2017/18. The Hub initially started out with three full time advisors which has since grown to five with an ultimate goal of seven full-time professional advisors.

Aside from changes made to student advising within the School of Engineering, the Institute has implemented a change by moving away from CAPP Reports and replacing them with reports in Degree Works in Fall 2018. This change was initially only done for new students, but was extended to all students currently in Spring 2019.

Student also receive nonacademic advice and help through their CLASS (Clustered Learning, Advocacy and Support for Students) Dean. CLASS (https://info.rpi.edu/class ) is a comprehensive approach to the student experience at Rensselaer. Through ongoing integrated support, guidance, and co-curricular activities, CLASS connects students to a network of faculty, staff, and other students, ensuring that they are a successful part of a strong community of learners.

E. Work in Lieu of Courses

The Biomedical Engineering Program does not have a provision to accept work in lieu of courses.

F. Graduation Requirements

The degree awarded at graduation is the Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering. The graduation requirements can be found on the Department of Biomedical Engineering website (http://bme.rpi.edu/undergraduate). They are also entered into a student’s CAPP report which lists all requirements based on the catalog in effect in the year the student entered Rensselaer. This report can be viewed by the student, the student’s advisor, the degree clearance officer in the student’s department and personnel in the registrar’s office. The students and their advisors check CAPP reports throughout a student’s time at Rensselaer. As previously noted, a blank CAPP report is provided in Appendix F.

The graduation requirements listed in the CAPP report are organized by categories, including communication, math and physics, computer science, core engineering, required BME core courses, BME concentration courses, humanities and social sciences, and free electives.  Credit Hours: Completion of at least 128 semester hour credits with passing grades is required for the Bachelor of Science degree.  Grade Point Average: An overall grade point average of 2.00 is required for graduation.  Communication Intensive Course Requirements: A communication intensive course chosen from the list supplied by Humanities and Social Sciences must be taken. In addition, the Biomedical Engineering Senior Design course satisfies the BME major communication intensive requirement.  Math and Physics Requirement: Students must complete 20 credits of courses in Calculus I and II, Differential Equations and Physics I and II. Each course is 4 credits.  Computer Science Requirement: Students must complete a 1 credit introductory programming course. Note: student can take CSCI 1100 (4 credits) in place of CSCI 1190 (1 credit) but only 1 credit of CSCI 1100 will be used to satisfy the computer science requirement.  Core Engineering Requirements: Students must complete 19 credits of courses as follows: o Chemistry I – 4 credits o Introduction to Engineering Analysis – 4 credits o Introduction to Engineering Design- 4 credits o Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty – 3 credits o Engineering Graphics and CAD or Engineering Communications – 1 credit o Professional Development (2 course sequence) – 3 credits  Required BME Core Courses: Students must complete 34 credits of courses as follows: o Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology – 4 credits o Biomaterials Science and Engineering – 4 credits o Bioimaging and Bioinstrumentation – 4 credits

o Biomechanics – 4 credits o Modeling of Biomedical Systems – 4 credits o Bioengineering Lab – 4 credits o Advanced Systems Physiology – 4 credits o Biomedical Engineering Product Development and Commercialization – 3 credits o Biomedical Engineering Design – 3 credits  BME Concentration Course Requirement: Students must complete three courses in one of three concentrations, Biomaterials, Biomechanics, or Bioimaging/Instrumentation.  BME Technical Elective: Students choose two courses as technical electives from a list of approved courses. BME Technical Electives can be taken to either add depth to an existing concentration or to add breadth to the degree. Listings of the required courses in each concentration and the BME technical elective courses can be found in the undergraduate handbook downloadable from the departmental website or the Rensselaer Catalog.  Humanities and Social Sciences Requirements: Students must complete 22 credits (nominally 6 courses) in humanities and social sciences. At least two courses (8 credits) must be chosen from each of humanities and social science course offerings. One course (at least 2 credits) must satisfy the School of Engineering’s Professional Development II (PDII) requirement. No more than three courses can be at the 1000 level and no more than three courses can be pass/no credit. At least one 4 credit course must be at the 4000 level. A depth requirement must be satisfied where a student completes two 4-credit courses in the same humanities or social science subject area, where at least one course must be above the 1000 level, and where neither course is pass/no credit.  Free Elective Requirement: Twelve credits in any subject area or areas may be used to complete this requirement.

The Degree Clearance Officer (DCO) is appointed by each academic department at the request of the Registrar to establish a centralized administrative structure for degree oversight and clearance. In the BME department, the advising coordinator also serves as the DCO. The DCO ensures that all degree requirements are met and confirms waivers or substitutions for department-specific requirements.

The procedure to ensure that all graduation requirements are fulfilled is straight forward using the following steps:

1. The DCO in the BME department checks all CAPP reports for each potentially graduating senior 2 – 3 months before graduation. The DCO signs off on the CAPP reports at that time and notes any potential problems. The student is notified by the registrar’s office of any problems noted. 2. A few days before graduation, the DCO meets with a representative of the registrar’s office and examines each CAPP Report and signs off that all requirements have been met, including the GPA requirement.

G. Transcripts of Recent Graduates

Transcripts from recent graduates will be provided to the visiting team along with explanations of how the transcripts are to be interpreted. The transcripts will be selected according to the instructions provided by the EAC of ABET Team Chair. In addition, example CAPP reports, degree clearance forms, and any information needed for their interpretation will be provided.

CRITERION 2: PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

A. Mission Statement

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Rensselaer) was established in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer “for the purpose of instructing persons … in the application of science to the common purposes of life.” Building on that tradition, Rensselaer’s mission today is “to educate the leaders of tomorrow for technologically based careers. We celebrate discovery, and the responsible application of technology, to create knowledge and global prosperity” (https://admissions.rpi.edu/undergraduate/). Rensselaer is committed to providing a superior undergraduate education by combining theory with experiential learning, grounded in fundamental scientific and technological concepts with an appreciation of the social forces that shape human history. Rensselaer will provide excellent programs distinguished by interactive pedagogies; partnerships with faculty in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship; and a campus culture that creates a lifelong relationship with Rensselaer.

The vision for Rensselaer’s School of Engineering is “to be a top tier school of engineering with global reach and global impact - committed to technological excellence by integrating research and education, and in educating for career success” (http://catalog.rpi.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=18&ent_oid=979&returnto=440). The mission of Rensselaer’s Biomedical Engineering Department is “to educate the biomedical engineering leaders of tomorrow who will apply fundamental engineering principles to the responsible solution of problems in biology and medicine, to contribute to human disease management, and to bring engineering innovation and technology to the clinic while creating knowledge and enhancing global prosperity.” (http://bme.rpi.edu/accreditation)

B. Program Educational Objectives

The program educational objectives (PEOs) support the mission of Rensselaer and of the School of Engineering. They can be found by the general public at the department’s website (http://bme.rpi.edu/accreditation) and Rensselaer’s catalog. They are printed in the Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Handbook (http://www.rpi.edu/dept/biomed/forms_handbooks/BME_Undergraduate_Handbook.pdf) and displayed at prominent places within the department. The PEOs for the biomedical engineering program are as follows:

Within five years of receipt of a baccalaureate degree graduates of the biomedical engineering program will:

1. Be engaged in professional practice in industry, academia, or government related to biomedical engineering; and/or 2. Have enrolled in an academic program pursuing a graduate, medical, law, business, or other professional post-graduate degree.

C. Consistency of the Program Educational Objectives with the Mission of the Institution

These BME PEOs focus on successful activities and achievements during the first career phase after graduating with a baccalaureate degree. We expect our graduates to show success either in the workforce or in a professional degree program. Thereby, our graduates will be on course of fulfilling Rensselaer’s mission, namely “to become the leaders of tomorrow, to celebrate discovery, to apply technology responsibly, and to create new knowledge and global prosperity.” The relationships between Rensselaer’s mission and the PEOs are given in Table 2-1. Checkmarks indicate a high degree of consistency.

Table 2-1: Relationship between BME PEOs and Rensselaer’s Mission

PEO #1 PEO #2

Be engaged in Have enrolled in an professional academic program practice in industry, pursuing a Rensselaer Mission academia or graduate, medical, government related law, business, or to biomedical other professional engineering post-graduate degree to become the leaders of tomorrow √ √

to celebrate discovery √ √

to apply technology responsibly √ √ to create new knowledge and √ √ global prosperity

D. Program Constituencies

The constituencies of the Biomedical Engineering Program at Rensselaer include:

 Alumni/ae  Employers/advisors from industry, academia, government  Current undergraduate students

Each of these constituencies is also a stakeholder in the biomedical engineering program. The alumni/ae are the graduates of our program and possibly best qualified and motivated to express their needs as well as to suggest changes and improvements. The employers/ advisors either seek to employ well-educated graduates or admit and advise students who have specific skills, capabilities, interests, and experiences. The current undergraduate students will benefit directly from a well-defined and well-executed educational program. They are motivated to express their needs and to provide useful feedback on the program’s

educational objectives. All of these constituencies are interested in the success and continued improvement of our BME program.

Each of our constituencies contributes to the review and revision of our program educational objectives either directly through surveys, questionnaires, visits, service on our external advisory council, and personal interactions with the department head and faculty or indirectly through professional societies and networks.

E. Process for Review of the Program Educational Objectives

The process of periodically reviewing and revising the Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) was first developed and approved by the BME faculty in fall 2001, and has been followed ever since. The review and revision process described in the following paragraphs is used.

As shown in Figure 2-1, key elements of the process are the constituencies, the input methods, and the review and revision steps. The goal is to ensure that the needs of our constituencies are acquired on a regular basis, deliberated within the BME program, and incorporated into BME program components (i.e. curriculum, syllabi, SOs, and PEOs).

PEO Review and Revision Process

Constituencies Input Methods Review & Decision

Alumni/ae Surveys Faculty Meetings Alumni/ae Senior Exit Surveys Undergraduate Students Graduate Placement Curriculum Committee Advisors from Data industry, Departmental External Advisory government, Retreats Committee discussion academia

Program Undergraduate Educational Student Curriculum Mission Objectives Outcomes Course Syllabi

BME Program

Figure 2-1: Processes for Review and Revision of Program Educational Objectives.

The input methods consist of four elements: senior exit surveys, alumni/ae surveys, graduate placement data, and external advisory council discussions. Each one is described in more detail below. 17

BME Alumni/ae Survey: The alumni/ae survey is sent out to all graduates three, four, and five years after graduation by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. The School of Engineering oversees the process of administering these surveys. Survey responses are collected and analyzed by Rensselaer’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. The Office then generates final reports that summarize responses, provide statistical analyses, and list selected individual feedback comments. The BME alumni/ae surveys are carried out annually.

BME Senior Exit Survey: The senior exit surveys are formalized into quantitative online questionnaires coordinated by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. These surveys are conducted annually.

Graduate Placement Data: Where our students go after graduation is considered an important piece of data for our program. Each year, Rensselaer’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) collects placement information immediately after graduation and distributes this information to relevant departments. Evaluating these files allows us to track the percentage of students that go into different areas, the companies that employ our students, and the professional or graduate schools where our students seek advanced degrees. We are specifically interested in how many students go into industry, professional schools, or graduate school. In addition, we try to evaluate the quality of the placements as a measure of program success. The graduate placement data supplements the employment/advanced degree information provided in the alumni/ae surveys.

External Advisory Council: The BME department has a formally established external advisory council consisting of alumni/ae and leaders from academia, government, industry, and hospitals. They meet on campus in the late spring of every year to provide input, discuss new developments in the field of biomedical engineering, and describe the needs of our constituencies from academia, industry, and government. Table 2-2 lists the current members of this committee:

Table 2-2: Members of the BME Advisory Council

Mr. Edward J. Arkans ‘75 Mr. Peter Latham ACI Medical, Inc. Latham BioPharm Group, Inc. 1857 Diamond St. 2 Clock Tower Place, Suite 440 San Marcos, CA 92069 Maynard, MA 01754

Dr. David Boas Dr. Kyongbum Lee Boston University Professor and Chair 44 Cummington Mall, Room 403 Chemical & Biological Engineering Boston, MA 02215 Tufts University Medford, MA, 02155 Mr. William Edelman ’78 Medical Device Industry Executive Dr. Joseph Mansour ‘75 2 Mann’s Hill Crescent Professor Emeritus Sharon, MA 02067 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Case Western Reserve University Dr. Arthur Erdman ‘71 Cleveland OH 44106 Director, Medical Devices Center Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Dr. George E. Mavko ‘74 Professor Intuition Perspective Insight Department of Mechanical Engineering 6050 E Fangio Place Univ. of Minnesota Tucson, AZ 85750

Mr. Paul FitzGerald Mr. Chris McDonnell ‘90 CT Systems & Applications Lab VP, Research and Development General Electric Corporate R&D Center PDI, Inc. 1 Research Circle Montvale, NJ 70645 Niskayuna, NY 12309 Mr. Richard Packer ‘80 Dr. Nadeem Ishaque ‘90 ZOLL Medical Corporation Chief Innovation Officer 269 Mill Road GE Healthcare Imaging Chelmsford, MA 01824-4105

Mr. Stuart Foster ‘72 Mr. Ajit Prabhu ‘98 Technology & Discovery CEO & Chairman Edwards Lifesciences Quality Engineering and Software 1 Edwards Way Technology Irvine, CA 92614 Singapore

Mr. Hooks K. Johnston, Jr. ’60 Dr. Harold Singer SVP Smith & Nephew (ret) Center for Cardiovascular Studies 16 Gloria St Albany Medical Center Newburyport, MA 01950 43 New Scotland Ave. Albany, NY 12208 Dr. Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer ‘93 Building 149, Room 2301 Dr. Peter Torzilli ‘74 13th Street Hospital for Special Surgery Charlestown, MA 02129 New York, NY 10021

Dr. Robert V. Violante ‘61 1056 University Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94301-2236

Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences Columbia University 622 West 168th Street, VC12-234 New York NY 10032

Dr. Sheldon Weinbaum ’59 The City College of New York Steinman Hall T-404B 160 Convent Ave. New York, NY 10031

Table 2-3 summarizes the schedules for obtaining input from our constituencies. The BME program uses an annual schedule as the Senior Exit and Alumni/ae surveys are sent out, monitored, collected, and analyzed annually by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. The summary reports provided by this office are then reviewed in regular faculty and committee meetings or retreats. The Center for Career and Professional Development provides graduate placement input in summary format. The support received from these offices minimizes the administrative burden of collecting input information from our constituencies and allows the program to collect and review input on an annual basis. Survey results, meeting minutes, and decisions are all documented and stored electronically in the BME department office. Aside from these formal methods for seeking input, the BMES student chapter at Rensselaer is involved in the periodic review of the program and is asked for feedback on changes to the curriculum. The department head meets with the BMES officers at least once a year and the BMES student chapter has been assigned a faculty liaison, most recently Dr. Deva Chan, who regularly interacts with the students and, among other things, seeks their input on matters involving the curriculum.

Table 2-3: Summary of Constituent Input to PEOs and Schedule

Constituencies Input Method Schedule Students Senior Exit Survey Every spring Alumni/ae Alumni/ae Survey Every fall Employers, External Advisory alumni/ae, Every spring Council discussions academic advisors Graduate Placement Graduating Seniors Every year Data

Recent Review and Revision of BME Program Educational Objectives

The PEOs for the BME program have been reviewed during the course of the last accreditation cycle and have been found to be still appropriate for the program. The PEOs were further reviewed by the faculty during a retreat in summer 2017 and at advisory council meetings (Spring 2017, 2019). For sake of completeness the current BME PEOs are restated below.

Within five years of receipt of a baccalaureate degree graduates of the biomedical engineering program will:

CRITERION 3: STUDENT OUTCOMES

A. Student Outcomes

Throughout most of this review period, the Biomedical Engineering Program has sought to achieve the following student outcomes:

(a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering

(b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data

(c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability

(d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams

(e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems

(f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility

(g) an ability to communicate effectively

(h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context

(i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning

(j) a knowledge of contemporary issues

(k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice

These outcomes were changed in December 2017 to match the new ABET accreditation criteria.

The new student outcomes are:

Students who successfully complete this Biomedical Engineering program will be able to demonstrate:

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 a team 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

B. Relationship of Student Outcomes to Program Educational Objectives

The eleven original Student Outcomes (SOs) detailed above provide our students with the broad knowledge of technical principles and societal issues that are needed to reach the long- term program educational objectives for successful employment and/or continued professional education in the field of biomedical engineering. The relationship between each SO and our PEOs are given in Table 3-1. While each student outcome contributes in some form to the attainment of the program educational objectives, the degree to which they contribute is indicated by single or multiple check marks.

Table 3-1: Relationship between Student Outcomes and Program Educational Objective based upon original SOs (The degree to which each SO contributes to each PEO is indicated by single or multiple check marks)

PEO #1: PEO #2:

Be engaged in professional Have enrolled in an academic SOs practice in industry, academia or program pursuing a graduate, government related to biomedical medical, law, business, or other engineering professional post-graduate degree

(a)   (b)   (c)   (d)  (e)   (f)   (g)   (h)   (i)  (j)   (k)  

For the revised (2017) student outcomes this mapping is shown in Table 3-2.

Table 3-2: Relationship between Student Outcomes and Program Educational Objective based upon 2017 SOs (The degree to which each SO contributes to each PEO is indicated by single or multiple check marks)

PEO #1: PEO #2:

(1)   (2)   (3)   (4)  

(5)   (6)   (7)  

CRITERION 4: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

A. Student Outcome Assessment

The BME Program has followed and applied continuous improvement processes for over a decade. While the processes have been modified and updated during this time, the fundamental mission of the program has remained the same: To educate the biomedical engineering leaders of tomorrow who will apply fundamental engineering principles to the responsible solution of problems in biology and medicine, to contribute to human disease management, and to bring engineering innovation and technology to the clinic while creating knowledge and enhancing global prosperity. We seek to prepare our students for successful careers in industry, government, or academia in biomedical engineering and to empower them as life-long learners.

Our overall continuous improvement process is shown schematically in Figure 4-1. The program stakeholders provide feedback and input through a broad spectrum of means which include direct measures of SO achievement by students, regularly scheduled annual surveys (alumni/ae survey, senior exit survey, senior design self-evaluations), periodic evaluations (co-op employer evaluations, outcome scoring), instructor observations, and unstructured student input.

Continuous Improvement Process

Input Methods Review & Decision Stakeholders

Alumni/ae Surveys ♦ Faculty Meetings Undergraduate Senior Exit Surveys ♦ Students Undergraduate Curriculum Senior Design Evaluations ♦ Committee Alumni/ae Co-op Employer Evaluations ○ Departmental Retreats Outcome Scoring ○

Student Program Undergraduate Educational Curriculum Mission Outcomes Objectives Course Syllabi

BME Program

Figure 4-1: Process for assessing and/or changing Student Outcomes (♦ assessment occurs every year, ○ assessment occurs every 2-3 years)

Results from these assessment methods are carefully studied, evaluated, and reviewed by the faculty (undergraduate curriculum committee, faculty meetings, and departmental retreats), and discussed with leaders from industry, academia, and government who serve on the departmental external advisory council. Final decisions on suggested changes are made by the faculty. Implementing this continuous improvement process may result in modifications to the undergraduate curriculum, course syllabi, or the overall mission of the program.

As detailed in Table 4-1, we use multiple methods and different schedules for assessing the attainment of Student Outcomes. These include both direct and indirect assessment methods. The indirect methods are based on alumni/ae surveys, senior exit surveys, senior design self- evaluations, and employer evaluations of BME co-op students. The direct method is based on scoring multiple aspects of each Student Outcome in several courses using results from specific (often highly tailored or specifically designed for this purpose) exam questions, homework assignments, lab tasks, or oral presentations. A more detailed description of the indirect and direct assessment methods follows below. It should be noted that the Student Outcomes that were in place for almost the entire review period are used for continuous improvement. The mapping of the old outcomes to the revised one is also presented in this section, but is not the focus of the continuous improvement.

Table 4-1: Assessment Methods and Frequency for each Student Outcome

SO Indirect Direct Student Outcome Alumni Senior Co-Op Senior Design Scoring in Selected Survey Survey Evaluation Self-Evaluation Courses Annual Annual Every 3 years Annual Biennual (a) √ √ √ √ √ (b) √ √ √ √ (c) √ √ √ (d) √ √ √ √ √ (e) √ √ √ √ √ (f) √ √ √ √ √ (g) √ √ √ √ √ (h) √ √ √ √ (i) √ √ √ √ √ (j) √ √ √ √ (k) √ √ √ √

Indirect Assessment Methods

The first tool for indirectly assessing SOs is our alumni/ae survey using a questionnaire specifically developed for our program. The alumni/ae survey is sent out to all graduates three, four, and five years after graduation by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. This office also collects and evaluates survey responses, and generates summary reports on an annual basis. Since fall 2011, these surveys are administered annually online, coordinated by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. In alumni/ae surveys,

27 alumni/ae were asked to quantitatively rate their attainment of SOs. The surveys were conducted to assess SO 3(a)-3(k) until 2018 and were modified for 2019 and beyond to assess SO 3.1.-3.7.

The second tool for indirectly assessing SOs are surveys of graduating seniors. These senior exit surveys are formalized into quantitative online questionnaires coordinated by the Associate Engineering Dean for Undergraduate Studies and are conducted annually. One of the questions of the survey is that students are asked to quantitatively rate their attainment of SOs. Similarly to the alumni surveys, the senior exit surveys focused on SO 3(a)-3(k) until 2018 and were modified for 2019 and beyond to assess SO 3.1.-3.7.

Approximately 10-12% of our undergraduate students participate in Rensselaer’s co-op program, which is administered through the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). After completing the co-op internship, the co-op employer is required to fill out an online evaluation of the performance of each participant student. An example of this questionnaire is given in Appendix E. The questionnaire was designed and developed several decades ago (about 1970) and is uniformly used for all Rensselaer undergraduate engineering students. While the evaluation criteria are not directly linked to SOs, they are nonetheless well correlated and provide meaningful information. We use this information to gain additional assessment data for our SOs.

The fourth tool for indirectly assessing attainment of SOs are senior design self-evaluations that are conducted at the end of each semester through Digital Measures (https://provost.rpi.edu/learning-assessment/digital-measures). These evaluations seek to estimate student attainment of the primary outcomes for this capstone course. Specifically, students are requested to evaluate their attainment of the course-specific ABET outcomes at the time of course completion. The course BMED 4600 (Biomedical Engineering Design) has been selected for student self-assessment since students need to demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge and skills from previous classes in order to successfully complete their design projects. Students were specifically asked to quantitatively rate their attainment of each of the SOs related to the capstone design course.

Indirect Assessment Results

The results of all indirect and direct assessment methods were rescaled to a 1 - 4 level scale (if needed), binning student performance as either: (1) Below Expectations, (2) Progressing Towards Attainment, (3) Satisfactory, and (4) Exceeds Expectations.

A particular Student Outcome was considered to be attained if at least two of the following three criteria were met:

1. At least 90% of students scored 2 or better 2. At least 65% of students scored 3 or better 3. The average student score was at least 2.5 (the minimum average score which would meet criteria 1 and 2)

Alumni/ae Surveys Alumni/ae were first asked to rate their attainment/ability in each of the SO areas. While alumni/ae surveys were conducted every year, a cycle is a two-year period, therefore scores used for assessment were computed by averaging over the two years. The alumni/ae survey results for all three cycles are summarized in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2: Alumni/ae Survey Results for 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019 (SOs highlighted in blue indicate a possible issue)

SO 2014-2015 2016-2017 2018-2019 % > % > % > % > % > % > Average Average Average Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory (2) (3) (scale: 1-4) (scale: 1-4) (scale: 1-4)

(a) 95% 84% 3.2 99% 89% 3.4 97% 92% 3.1

(b) 96% 81% 3.2 98% 86% 3.3 98% 86% 3.1

(e) 95% 83% 3.1 98% 82% 3.2 95% 81% 3.0

(f) 96% 76% 3.1 98% 91% 3.4 94% 84% 3.1 (g) 86% 73% 3.0 92% 82% 3.2 97% 87% 3.2

(h) 88% 62% 2.8 89% 73% 3.0 94% 63% 2.8

(i) 94% 74% 3.2 96% 82% 3.3 98% 81% 3.2 (j) 79% 59% 2.6 91% 63% 2.8 94% 70% 2.8

(k) 93% 72% 3.0 92% 77% 3.0 92% 65% 2.7

In brief, alumni/ae reported satisfactory attainment of all SOs except for the following three SOs in 2014-2015: 1) SO(c) – ‘ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability’, 2) SO(h) – ‘the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context,’ and 3) SO(j) – ‘a knowledge of contemporary issues’.

Table 4-3: Alumni/ae Survey Results for 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019

2014-2015 2016-2017 2018-2019

% > % > Average% > % > Average% > % > Average Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory (2) (3) (scale: 1-4)(2) (3) (scale: 1-4)(2) (3) (scale: 1-4)

(i) 100% 72% 3.0 100% 77% 3.16 94% 67% 2.8

(d) 100% 65% 3.0 99% 82% 3.23 100% 65% 2.9

(i) 97% 66% 2.8 98% 69% 3.03 100% 69% 2.9

In a separate portion of the alumni/ae survey, alumni/ae were also asked to rate their capabilities in certain areas against that of their non-RPI peers (Table 4-3). While the mapping of these evaluation criteria to our SOs is not perfect, there is a strong correlation to some of our SOs, as indicated in the second column of Table 4-3. Overall, alumni/ae reported positive outcomes. However, in the 2018 cycle, a concern regarding their ability to perform with respect to ‘engagement in the design of biomedical products, processes and systems within the context of ethical, societal, and environmental factors’ was noted. This particular area of concern mirrors SO(c).

Furthermore, alumni/ae were asked to score the importance of the SO (orange line) and their own level of preparedness or attainment of it (blue line) (Figure 4-2). With regard to the five skills highlighted in this figure, alumni/ae consistently rated their performance below that importance of the particular SO. The SO for which the gap between “importance” and “preparedness” was not closing or at least maintaining was SO(c).

Cumulatively, these results indicate SO(c), SO(h) and SO(j) as areas of concern. Our steps to improve these outcomes are described below in Section B: Continuous Improvement.

Figure 4-2: Summary of selected SOs from 2014-2018 Alumni Survey Results. Ideally, the level of “Preparedness” (blue) and the level of “Importance” (orange) should overlap.

Senior Exit Surveys Results for the spring 2014-2018 senior exit surveys are given in Table 4-4. Data were rescaled to a 1 - 4 scale and SO attainment was evaluated as in the alumni/ae surveys. The results indicate persistent (more than 1 cycle) concerns regarding attainment of 1) SO(c) – ‘ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability’, 2) SO(h) – ‘the broad education necessary to understand

30 the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context,’ 3) SO(j) -‘a knowledge of contemporary issues’, and 4) SO(k) –‘an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice’. Remaining areas of concern (SO(a) – ‘an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering’ and SO(b) – ‘an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data’) were noted for only the 2016-2017 cycle. Steps are being taking to address these concerns as outlined in the following sections.

Table 4-4: Senior Exit Survey Results for 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019 (SOs highlighted in blue indicate a possible issue) SO 2014-2015 2016-2017 2018-2019 % > % > Average% > % > Average% > % > Average Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory (2) (3) (scale: 1-4)(2) (3) (scale: 1-4)(2) (3) (scale: 1-4)

(a) 95% 84% 3.0 88% 64% 2.6 92% 68% 2.7 (b) 89% 76% 2.9 85% 68% 2.6 88% 64% 2.6

(e) 97% 92% 3.0 91% 66% 2.7 94% 72% 2.8 (f) 97% 89% 3.1 92% 69% 2.8 92% 78% 3.0 (g) 92% 76% 2.9 87% 69% 2.7 96% 90% 3.1

(h) 94% 81% 2.9 84% 49% 2.4 85% 60% 2.6

(i) 92% 73% 2.8 90% 67% 2.7 94% 77% 3.0 (j) 89% 73% 2.8 84% 49% 2.4 86% 61% 2.5

(k) 89% 65% 2.7 78% 55% 2.4 79% 62% 2.5

Further evaluation of these results on an annual basis (Figure 4-3) indicate that confidence in outcome attainment was at its lowest in 2016, and metrics in most SOs have been increasing since this time. The students graduating in 2016 were the first students graduating following institution of a number of curricular changes in 2012-2013. For instance, BMED 2300 - Bioimaging and Bioinstrumentation as well as MATH 2010 - Multivariable Calculus were made required courses for incoming students at that time. Based on student comments within the exit surveys, we believe the shift between 2015 and 2016 in exit survey assessment of SO evaluation reflects concerns regarding these changes in the curriculum; the increasing confidence in outcome attainment since then indicates that this may possibly have been a temporary concern.

Chart Title 3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00 (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k)

2015 2016 2017 2018

Figure 4.3: Longitudinal trends for confidence of student outcome attainment as judged by senior exit surveys.

Senior Design Self-Evaluations Following senior design, students are asked to self-evaluate their attainment of several key SOs pertaining to Senior Design. Data were rescaled to a 1 - 4 scale and SO attainment was evaluated as in the alumni/ae surveys. Summary results, given in Table 4-5, indicate satisfactory attainment for each of these outcomes, except for SO (d) – ‘the ability to function in multidisciplinary teams’ where 2018-2019 metrics fell below desired criterion thresholds.

Steps being taken to address areas of concern based on the Senior Exit Survey and the Senior Design Self-Evaluations are detailed in Section B: Continuous Improvement.

Table 4-5: Senior Design Evaluations for 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019 SO 2014-2015 2016-2017 2018-2019 % > % > Average% > % > Average% > Average Progressing Satisfactory Progressing Satisfactory % > Satisfactory (2) (3) (scale: 1-4)(2) (3) (scale: 1-4)Progressing (2) (3) (scale: 1-4)

(a) 100% 100% 3.46 98% 85% 3.18 95% 89% 3.32

(e) 100% 100% 3.41 96% 90% 3.19 95% 84% 3.16 (f) 100% 100% 3.43 94% 76% 3.01 89% 84% 3.11 (g) 100% 100% 3.46 95% 88% 3.20 89% 79% 3.26 (i) 100% 86% 3.32 92% 69% 2.87 100% 86% 3.43

Co-op Employer Evaluations From 2014-2018, 59 BME undergraduate students participated in co-op internship programs at companies such as Alcon Laboratories, Edgewell, Regeneron, Johnson & Johnson, Becton Dickinson, Stryker, Merck, AngioDynamics, DePuy Synthes Mitek, Olympus Surgical Technologies, Bristol Myers-Squibb, and Medtronics as well as at research centers such as the Albany Medical Center and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Each mentor/employer was asked to fill out an online one-page evaluation form that scores student performance in nine different areas. The evaluation form is given in Appendix E. Table 4-6 gives average scores on a 1 - 4 scale, as used for the alumni/ae survey data assessments. While the mapping of these evaluation criteria to our SOs is not perfect, there is a strong correlation to some of our SOs, as indicated in the last column of Table 4-6. The target levels of attainment corresponded to average scores greater than or equal to 3.0 for each category. These goals were met or exceeded for each of the mapped outcomes.

Table 4-6: Co-op Employer Evaluation Scores Employer Evaluation of Student Performance Relative to Other Co-Op Students % > % > Average Associated Progressing Satistfactory (2) (3) (scale: 1-4) SO(s) Team Work (Works well with others, values diversity, and 100% 97% 3.6 (d) strives toward team goals) Attitude (Enthusiastic, positive and displays interest in work) 98% 97% 3.7 (i) Initiative (Self-motivated, diligent, and seeks additional work 100% 90% 3.5 (i), (d), (h) when necessary) Decision-Making (Evaluates options, displays maturity, and 100% 83% 3.3 (f), (h) demonstrates good judgment) Technical Skills (Proficient and adept in field of assigned 100% 83% 3.2 (a), (e), (k) responsibility) Leadership Qualities (Possess potential to lead and direct 100% 75% 3.1 (d) others) Communication (Can express self well to superiors and 100% 90% 3.3 (g) employees across all levels) Accomplishment of Objectives (Task oriented, persistent, 100% 88% 3.4 (f) and steadily works toward completion of tasks) Quality of Work (Takes pride in work; displays neatness, 100% 93% 3.5 (f) thoroughness, and accuracy)

Direct Assessment Method

Direct evaluation of outcomes is performed by scoring-focused coursework samples from specific core engineering and required BME courses. The course-outcome map that was in place until Fall 2018, and which will be used for this assessment, is given in Table 4-7. The rows of this table list undergraduate core engineering and required biomedical engineering courses while the columns list all Student Outcomes. A (red) check-mark (√) or a (black) “x” in a cell establishes the link between these two. The (red) check-mark indicates that the SO

of this column is assessed in this course, while a black “x” in a cell indicates that this course covers topics and materials supporting this SO, but no formal assessment is done.

Table 4-7: Relationship between Student Outcomes and Courses (Fall 2014- Fall 2018)

Course Title (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) ENGR 1100* Intro to Engineering Analysis √ √ x ENGR 2050* Intro to Engineering Design √ √ √ √ √ √ Modeling and Analysis of ENGR 2600* √ √ √ Uncertainty ENGR 4010* Professional Development III √ √ √ √ √ Biomaterials Science and BMED 2100 √ √ Engineering BMED 2540 Biomechanics √ √ BMED 2300 Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation √ √ x BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab x √ x √ x √ BMED 4200 Modeling of Biomedical Systems x √ √ Biomedical Product Development BMED 4260 √ √ √ √ and Commercialization BMED 4500 Advanced Systems Physiology BMED 4600 Biomedical Engineering Design x √ √ x x √ x x √ x √ A red checkmark indicates that this student outcome will be assessed X A black x indicates that the course addresses this student outcome, but there is no assessment Courses in blue fields are required engineering courses Courses in light blue fields are required biomedical engineering courses * Assessment uses disaggregated BMED specific data

For each Student Outcome to be assessed (red check-mark in Table 4-7) the course instructor identifies several specific tasks for scoring such as a particular exam questions, homework assignment, or some other performance task. The overall score for a specific SO is calculated from these individual scores. Scores are electronically stored in Digital Measures1.

1 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has extended an electronic acquisition system using Digital Measures (DM) for faculty activity reporting and archiving course evaluations, learning outcomes, and results from each state of the assessment loop across the entire Institute.

This system is designed support uniformity in documentation. Faculty are required to document all required fields needed to generate both Institute-standard course syllabi and ABET syllabi including learning outcomes and assessment measures planned. To further ensure uniformity in the process, each instructor completes a course assessment action form that summarizes the results of course-level assessments of learning outcomes.

Digital Measures is also used to document the mapping of learning outcomes to program-level student outcomes that, in turn, are mapped into school-level outcomes. Information from course assessment action forms that summarize the results of the course-level assessments of learning outcomes are translated into program-level assessments in each program which are then summarized to document all actions related to loop- closure in the assessment process.

It should be noted that BMED 4500 does not have a relationship to any of the SO as BMED 4500 is a human physiology course that exclusively has science, but no engineering, content. This is further illustrated by the course being taught by a pathologist from Albany Medical Center, Dr. Peter Vincent, who holds an adjunct appointment in the BME department. Furthermore, the labs of this course are conducted at the Albany Medical Center. However, BMED 4500 contributes significantly to the education of our students and satisfies several of the BME Program Criteria.

In late fall of 2017, the SOs were changed to adopt the newly implemented SOs by ABET, i.e. 3.1.-3.7. As such, the mapping between courses and student outcomes shown in Table 4-7 had to be revised. This revision was recommended by the ABET committee and then discussed and approved by the faculty at a faculty meeting in Spring 2018 to become effective that fall. In order to develop a new mapping, the suggested mapping from Table 4-8 was used as a starting point. These results where then discussed and fine-tuned at a faculty meeting.

Table 4-8: Changes in Criterion 3 - Student Outcomes

Old Language New Language EAC Criteria effective 2017-18 and 2018-19 Approved by the EAD Cycles October 20, 2017 Criterion 3. Student Outcomes Criterion 3. Student Outcomes The program must have documented student The program must have documented student outcomes that prepare graduates to attain the outcomes that support the program educational program educational objectives. objectives. Attainment of these outcomes prepares Student outcomes are outcomes (a) graduates to enter the professional practice of through (k) plus any additional engineering. outcomes that may be articulated by Student outcomes are outcomes (1) through (7), plus any additional outcomes that may be the program. articulated by the program. (a) an ability to apply knowledge of 1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve mathematics, science, and engineering complex engineering problems by applying (e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve principles of engineering, science, and engineering problems mathematics (b) an ability to design and conduct 6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experiments, as well as to analyze and experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and interpret data use engineering judgment to draw conclusions

Digital Measures serves as a repository for all materials and data are gathered in support of Rensselaer’s approach to student learning and assessment.

(c) an ability to design a system, component, 2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce or process to meet desired needs within solutions that meet specified needs with realistic constraints such as economic, consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as environmental, social, political, ethical, health well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and and safety, manufacturability, and economic factors sustainability (d) an ability to function on multidisciplinary 5. an ability to function effectively on a team whose teams members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives (f) an understanding of professional and ethical 4. an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibility responsibilities in engineering situations and make (h) the broad education necessary to informed judgments, which must consider the understand the impact of engineering impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context (j) a knowledge of contemporary issues

(g) an ability to communicate effectively 3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences (i) a recognition of the need for, and an 7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge ability to engage in life-long learning as needed, using appropriate learning strategies

(k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, Implied in 1, 2, and 6 and modern engineering tools necessary for

The revised mapping, which was approved by the faculty can be found in Table 4-9 below. It should be noted that this revised mapping is not used for continuous improvement purposes in this report to ensure consistency across the different continuous improvement cycles. However, this mapping is already part of the current syllabi (see Appendix) and will be used for continuous improvement in the future. Also, the new student outcomes 3.1.-3.7. have been used for the senior exit survey in Spring 2019.

Table 4-9: Relationship between Student Outcomes and Courses beginning Fall 2018

Course Title (3.1) (3.2) (3.3) (3.4) (3.5) (3.6) (3.7) ENGR 1100* Intro to Engineering Analysis √ ENGR 2050* Intro to Engineering Design x √ √ √ √ √ ENGR 2600* Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty √ ENGR 4010* Professional Development III x √ √ √ BMED 2100 Biomaterials Science and Engineering √ x x BMED 2300 Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation √ x BMED 2540 Biomechanics √ BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab x x x √

BMED 4200 Modeling of Biomedical Systems x x √ Product Development and BMED 4260 √ √ √ Commercialization BMED 4500 Advanced Systems Physiology BMED 4600 Biomedical Engineering Design x √ √ √ √ √ √ A red checkmark indicates that this student outcome will be assessed X A black x indicates that the course addresses this student outcome, but there is no assessment Courses in blue fields are required engineering courses Courses in light blue fields are required biomedical engineering courses * Assessment uses disaggregated BMED specific data

Direct Assessment Results

A particular Student Outcome was considered to be attained if at least two of the following three criteria were met:

Outcome Scoring Summary results from SO scoring in selected courses for the 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019 assessment cycles are shown in Table 4-10. As an example of the process using the performance criteria described above, the final assessment cycle indicated issues in SO(e) – ‘an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems in biomedical engineering’.

Table 4-10. Results of SO Scoring for 2014-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018-2019 data (SOs highlighted in blue indicate a possible issue)

Steps to correct and improve the student outcomes are described below.

Trends in Attainment of Student Outcomes In examining assessed Student Outcomes data, it is critical to be watchful for trends in attainment. Figure 4-4 summarizes SO average scores by direct assessment from 2014-2018. Overall, most SO average scores were maintained across time However, a downward trend exists for several outcomes, most notably SO(a), SO(e), SO (f), and SO(k). These trends indicate that we need to pay particular attention to outcomes SO(a), SO(e), and SO(f) and SO(k) in upcoming outcome scoring cycles to ensure that the downward trend is reversed.

Figure 4-4. Average scores for each Student Outcome in each of the past three outcome scoring cycles

B. Continuous Improvement

Available assessment data and results were evaluated annually by the program ABET coordinator and discussed in undergraduate curriculum committee meetings, faculty meetings, and faculty retreats. Curricular responses and changes have been prompted by new formal assessment data input as well as informal feedback from students, alumni/ae, and instructors. Each of these were carried out with the intent of identifying and addressing issues in the curriculum which required responses and for which the existing data provided a sufficient basis for discussion, decision, and action. More full data assessment was conducted following completion of each formal assessment cycle. Relatively minor issues (e.g. overlap between two courses) were resolved through informal discussions with individual faculty members. Issues that required action on the part of multiple faculty members, often associated with a concentration track, or which required broader faculty discussion were presented to the faculty at faculty meetings or retreats.

Table 4-11 summarizes the actions taken for each SO during the past three years as a result of our continuous improvement process.

Table 4-11: Summary of actions taken for each SO per Continuous Improvement. “U” = “unsatisfactory rating by at least two assessment method for that cycle”. “C”= “Unsatisfactory rating by one assessment method for that cycle”; “S” = “satisfactory rating by all assessment methods for that cycle”. “*” = persistent downward trend noted in at least one of the three temporal diagrams of SO attainment.

Assessment Cycle Trend 2014- 2016- 2018- SO Remedial Action Concern 2015 2017 2019 (a) * S C S Changes to core courses BMED 2540 and BMED 2300

(b) S S C Changes to core courses BMED 2540 and BMED 4010

Changes to core courses BMED 4010 and BMED 4200 (c) * C C U Changes to several track specific courses and popular technical electives

(d) S S C Coaching of team interactions is being refined in BMED 4600

(e) * S S C Changes to core courses BMED 4200 and BMED 2100, 2540, and 2300

(f) * S S S Actively monitoring

(g) S S S No action

Changes to BMED 4260 and BMED 2100, 2540, and 2300 (h) C C C Changes to several popular technical electives (i) S S S No action

Changes to BMED 4260 and BMED 2100, 2540, and 2300 (j) C C C Changes to several popular technical electives

Changes to core courses BMED 4200 and BMED 4010 (k) * S C C Changes to several track specific courses and popular technical electives Introduction of two new technical electives

As a result of these annual reviews following our continuous improvement process, several corrective action steps have been taken over the past five years. The following section summarizes some of these action steps and provides the motivation for and the outcomes of them.

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Example 1

Basis: Results from the 2017 (2016-2017 cycle) senior surveys revealed concerns regarding SO(a). On review of outcome scoring, the 2016-2017 concerns could be traced to the Biomechanics track. Namely, despite the overall outcome scoring for SO(a) for 2016-2017 cycle meeting our success criteria, scores for SO(a) from BMED 2540 – Biomechanics were sub-par. The concerns appeared to arise from perceived ability to apply mathematical skills to biological and physiological problems.

Action: To address 2016-2017 cycle data, the core course BMED 2540 - Biomechanics – was modified in Fall 2017 to include an updated term project, which involves applying some background research and basic mechanics concepts learned in class to a student-generated computer model of healthy and damaged tissue. The Biomechanics track required-course BMED 4580 - Biomedical Fluid Mechanics was also revised in Fall 2017 to include detailed derivation of all formulas (Conservation of mass/ continuity equation and conservation of momentum/ Navier-Stokes equations, etc) starting from first principles, with an emphasis on assumptions and limitations as pertaining to biological problems.

Results: Concerns in the SO(a) in the Biomechanics area appeared to be addressed by the changes in biomechanics, as the 2018-2019 scoring outcomes for the Biomechanics area had risen to meet our success criterion. That said, a technical elective BMED 4280 - Biomechanics of Soft Tissues- was also introduced in Spring 2018 to enhance student ability to apply math and science to relevant physiological problems in biomechanics. However, effects of the changes made must continue to be monitored for both the Biomechanics and Bioimaging/Instrumentation tracks, in particular as a downward trend in SO(a) scoring has been noted (Figure 4-4).

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Example 2

Basis: Results obtained from the 2014-2015 alumni/ae survey and the 2016-2017 and 2018- 2019 senior surveys indicated sub-par attainment of SO(c). Furthermore, the 2018-2019

40 outcome scoring noted concerns in SO(c). Based on further analysis and student comments, these concerns were traced to perceived challenges in applying design principles in broader contexts.

Action: Based on prior (previous ABET cycle) continuous improvement concerns in SO(c), BMED 4260 (Biomedical Product Development and Commercialization) was introduced as an elective course for existing students and as a required course for incoming students in Fall 2013 and as an elective course for those already enrolled. This course focuses on the marketing, societal, regulatory constraints on BME design problems. Based on 2014 cycle data, this course was revamped in Fall 2015 to deepen the design element of the course as well as increase the regulatory information to which students were exposed. In Fall 2017, BMED 4260 became officially required by all students as a pre-requisite for BMED 4600 (BME Design). This has allowed the senior design project - generally fit into a single semester in BMED 4600 – to be expanded over 2 semesters, allowing students greater time to practice and internalize the design process.

Results: According to 2018-2019 senior survey and outcome scoring results, concerns persist regarding the attainment of SO(c). Furthermore, a downward trend in SO(c) scoring was noted in Figure 4-4. In response, further design elements are being introduced into earlier required courses (BMED 2100, BMED 2540, BMED 2300) with the goal of having students repeatedly execute and improve their design process over time. For instance, BMED 2100 – Biomaterials Science and Engineering - has recently introduced a module in which students must develop a business plan for a new biomaterial.

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Example 3

Basis: Results obtained from the 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 senior surveys indicated sub-par attainment of SO(k). Based on further analysis and student comments, these concerns were traced to their perceived ability to use computer tools for data analysis and interpretation of biomedical problems.

Action: Broad changes have been made in response to these concerns. In short, we have sought to increase student exposure both to data analysis and to computer tools for biomedical engineering. Based on student concerns noted during the 2008-2014 ABET review period, a statistics lecture combined with statistics software utilization was introduced into the required core course BMED 4010 – Biomedical Engineering Lab - in Fall 2015. Furthermore, a mandatory Labview graphical user interface assignment was introduced into BMED 4010 along with lectures demonstrating advanced functions of Excel. These lectures and assignments were further refined in 2016 based on the continued concerns noted in the 2015-2016 cycle. In 2016-2017, MATLAB training was enhanced in the core course BMED 4200 – Modeling in Biomedical Engineering - and in 2017, comprehensive examples of real life problems involving PDEs solved via coding were introduced.

Outside of these core course modifications, several track specific changes have been made to address concerns in SO(k) pertaining to data analysis and the use of computational tools and data analysis. For instance, changes to the Biomechanics track required course BMED 4580 - Biomedical Fluid Mechanics - were introduced in Spring 2018. Specifically this course was revised to include MATLAB examples (4-5 of them) to integrate main concepts and analyze materials discussed in class. The code and the results are discussed in class and different parameters are varied to examine their effects and test the models’ limitations. Furthermore, several changes have been made to popular technical electives to incorporate computational components. For instance, in BMED 4280: Biomechanics of Soft Tissues, required use of open source software FEBio for project was implemented for the course project. In BMED 4590 Medical Imaging, use of Python and open source libraries were introduced.

Result/Impact: Despite these measures, concerns in SO(k) continued to be noted in the 2018-2019 cycle. To address these continued concerns, we are implementing computational tools into the characterization modules of the required course BMED 2100 – Biomaterials Science and Engineering. In addition, starting Fall 2019 – a course on programming will be introduced to potentially replace the required core course CSCI 1190 (1 credit hour) with a more in depth 3 credit hour course. This course will incorporate C, C++ and incorporate programming specific to biological problems.

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Example 4

Basis: Based on 2018-2019 senior survey results, SO(b) – ‘an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data’ - was listed as an area of concern.

Action: Due to faculty concerns regarding student ability to design and conduct experiments that were noted prior to 2018, the core course BMED 2540 – Biomechanics - was revised in Fall 2017 to include a class session in the BME teaching labs involving observation of biomechanical testing and discussion of the limitations of this testing. Based on the 2018- 2019 senior survey results, a module introduced in 2015 into the core course BMED 4010 – Biomedical Engineering Lab - on automated cell counting is being revamped. In this module, students compare side by side, cell counts as performed by hand using a hemocytometer versus counts performed with an automated cell counter. The image analysis process used by the automated counter is presented and the limitations of both manual and automated systems are discussed. The revised module will enhance design elements so that the students can step through and entire experimental design, execution, and data analysis process. Further changes pertaining to data analysis are included in Example 2 above.

Result/Impact: We will continue to monitor this outcome to assess efficacy of implemented changes.

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Example 5

Basis: Concerns regarding the attainment SO(h) and SO(j) were noted from various sources for each assessment cycle. These scores combined with faculty feedback indicated that increased exposure of our students to contemporary societal, economic, and regulatory issues pertaining to BME was required.

Action: Based on prior concerns noted for SO(h) and SO(j) prior to 2014, BMED 4260 - Product Development and Commercialization - was introduced into our curriculum in Fall 2014. Initially, this course was an optional course for all students entering prior to 2014. A primary focus of this course was to allow focus on contemporary societal, economic and regulatory issues in bringing a BME technology/produce to market. Due to continued concerns in SO(h) and SO(j) in the 2014-2015 review cycle, BMED 4260 was heavily revised in 2015 to enhance the content geared towards contemporary regulatory issues. Following continued concerns in cycle 2016-2017, the required core course BMED 2100 – Biomaterials Science and Engineering - was revised to place greater emphasis on broader societal impacts and biomaterial-based device regulatory constraints. Changes were also made in several popular technical electives. For instance, in 2017, BMED 4650 – Introduction to Cell and Tissue Engineering - was revamped to include greater emphasis on societal and regulatory constraints.

Result/Impact: For the 2018-2019 cycle, continued issues in the attainment of SO(h) and SO(j) were noted. Careful consideration of these various results have led us to identify the following as the source of these combined issues: insufficient exposure to limitations/constraints of current biomedical engineering systems (such as MRI, 3D printing, various software packages) and how these limitations impact public health and society. We have therefore introduced new lectures into core course BMED 2300 – Bioimaging and Bioinstrumentation - regarding the limitations of current multimodality imaging systems in terms of assessing patient health/disease. The core course BMED 2100 – Biomaterials Science and Engineering - is increasingly incorporating characterization modules that can allow improved understanding of the limitations of various characterization modalities and the constraints these place on product quality assessment.

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Example 6

Basis: Based on 2018-2019 SO scoring, SO(e) – ‘an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems’ - was identified as an area of concern.

Action: Based on these 2018-2019 scoring results as well as 2018 Advisory Council Feedback, we are in the process of refining open ended problem solving modules which – as noted above – have already been introduced into several of our core courses. For instance, in the core course BMED 4200 – Modeling of Biomedical Systems - comprehensive examples of open-ended real life problems involving PDEs solved via coding were introduced in 2017.

These are being revised to include extraneous information to force students to identify required quantities. Similarly, some required information will be absent from the problem statement, to force students to learn how to identify and search for required quantities.

Result/Impact: We will continue to monitor this outcome to assess efficacy of implemented changes.

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The continuous evaluation of our assessment data as well as our assessment tools and processes is ongoing, as indicated throughout this section. We have made a number of improvements in our curriculum beyond that described above. For instance, we moved from track-specific electives to BME technical electives to allow students flexibility when taking newly introduced electives. Comments in the alumni/alumnae surveys have shown time and time again that some of our former students wished that they had more exposure to statistics and experimental design (or more generally that they had some skill set that they did not acquire). In order to address this, we introduced new elective course (BMED 4480: Biomedical Data Science and BMED 4470: Biostatistics). We also removed the track- specific requirement so that our students can take courses useful for them regardless if they are in their chosen track or not.

C. Additional Information

Copies of the Fall 2018 and Fall 2019 alumni/ae surveys and the Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 senior exit surveys can be found in Appendix E. The reason for supplying both the 2018 and the 2019 versions is that the surveys up until 2018 used the old SO 3(a)-3(k), which are used for this section, while the 2019 surveys assess the new SO 3.1.-3.7. All assessment methods as of the writing of this report are using the SO 3.1.-3.7. More detailed analyses will be provided during the ABET visit.

CRITERION 5: CURRICULUM

A. Program Curriculum

1. Curriculum

The current BME curriculum and its three concentration tracks are presented in Tables 5-1a- d below. Courses are offered on a semester basis. The first table describes the overall curriculum for BME students while the subsequent three tables describe the concentrations courses in each of the three BME tracks (Biomaterials, Biomechanics, and Bioimaging/Instrumentation) as well as the BME Technical Elective courses. It should be noted that the concentration is not noted on the diploma. The curriculum is published in the BME Undergraduate Student Handbook which can be found on the departmental website (http://www.rpi.edu/dept/biomed/forms_handbooks/BME_Undergraduate_Handbook.pdf) and in the Rensselaer catalog (http://catalog.rpi.edu/index.php). The curriculum is reviewed annually by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and revised with the approval of the full departmental faculty.

The BME curriculum meets the minimum overall 128 credit hours that the School of Engineering requires for bachelor of science degrees as well as the requirements for mathematics, basic sciences and engineering topics (see Table 5-1 for details).

BME students receive a solid mathematical foundation in four four-credit-hour mathematics courses MATH 1010 (Calculus I), MATH 1020 (Calculus II), MATH 2010 (Multivariable Calculus and Matrix Algebra), MATH 2400 (Introduction to Differential Equations), as well as in three four-credit-hour mathematically intensive engineering courses that introduce the fundamental methods of numerical and statistical analysis ENGR 1100 (Introduction to Engineering Analysis), ENGR 2050 (Introduction to Engineering Design), and ENGR 2600 (Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty). The foundation in the basic sciences is provided by one year of physics with laboratory experience in PHYS 1100 (Physics I, 4 credits), PHYS 1200 (Physics II, 4 credits), one semester of chemistry in CHEM 1100 (Chemistry I, 4 credits) and one semester of biology BIOL 2120 (Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology, 4 credits). The biology course includes classroom and laboratory experiences on living organisms. During the first two years, BME students also get introduced to the tools and techniques of engineering graphics in ENGR 1200 (Engineering Graphics and CAD, 1 credit), manufacturing processes in ENGR 1300 (Engineering Processes, 1 credit) as well as the development of solid engineering design models in ENGR 2050 (Introduction to Engineering Design, 4 credits).

Rensselaer requires that all undergraduate students complete a minimum of 24 credit hours within humanities, arts, and social sciences. Engineering students meet this requirement by taking a minimum of 8 credit hours of humanities, 8 credit hours of social sciences and a minimum of 2 credits for Professional Development II, chosen from an approved list. These courses cover additional humanities and social sciences topics. In addition, engineering students may choose up to 12 credit hours of unrestricted electives.

Table 5-1a Curriculum Biomedical Engineering Program

Indicate Subject Area (Credit Hours) Whether Course is Required, Elective or a Maximum Selected Engineering Last Two Terms Section Course Elective by an Topics the Course was Enrollment (Department, Number, Title) R, an E or an Check if Offered: for the Last Two List all courses in the program by term starting with the first SE.1 Math & Contains Year and, Terms the term of the first year and ending with the last term of the final Basic Significant General Semester, or Course was year. Sciences Design (√) Education Other Quarter Offered2 FALL FRESHMEN 240-Lecture CHEM 1100 Chemistry I R 4 F2018, S2019 62-Lab ENGR 1100 Intro to Engineering Analysis R 4† F2018, S2019 79 ENGR 1200 Engineering Graphics and CAD R 1√ F2018, S2019 45 148-Lecture MATH 1010 Calculus I R 4 F2018, S2019 17- Recitation Humanities or Social Science Elective E 4 SPRING FRESHMEN 194-Lecture BIOL 2120 Intro to Cell and Molecular Biology R 4 S2018, S2019 21-Lab ENGR 1300 Engineering Processes R 1 F2018, S2019 29 147-Lecture MATH 1020 Calculus II R 4 F2018, S2019 43-Recitation PHYS 1100 Physics I R 4 F2018, S2019 49 Humanities or Social Science Elective E 4

FALL SOPHOMORE CSCI 1190 Beg C Programming for Engineers R 1 F2018, S2019 46 305-Lecture ENGR 2050 Intro to Engineering Design R 3√ 1 F2018, S2019 26-Lab MATH 2010 Multivariable Calculus and Matrix 154-Lecture R 4 F2018, S2019 Algebra 38-Recitation 128-Lecture MATH 2400 Intro to Differential Equations R 4 F2018, S2019 34-Recitation PHYS 1200 Physics II R 4 F2018, S2019 55 SPRING SOPHOMORE BMED 2100 Biomaterials Science and Engineering R 4 F2018, S2019 49 BMED 2300 Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation R 4 F2018, S2019 49 BMED 2540 Biomechanics R 4 F2018, S2019 51 ENGR 2600 Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty R 1* 2 F2018, S2019 79 FALL JUNIOR BMED 4200 Modeling of Biomedical Systems R 4 F2018, S2019 46 Concentration I R/SE 4 Free Elective I E 3 Humanities or Social Science Elective E 4 SPRING JUNIOR BMED 4500 Advanced Systems Physiology R 4 F2018, S2019 62 Concentration II R/SE 4 Free Elective II E 3 Humanities or Social Science Elective E 4 Professional Development II R 2 F2018, S2019 36

FALL SENIOR 48-Lecture BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab R 4√ F2018, S2019 12-Lab BMED 4260 Biomedical Product Development & R 3√ F2018, S2019 Commercialization 44 Concentration III R/SE 3 BME Technical Elective I SE 3 Free Elective III E 3 SPRING SENIOR BMED 4600 Biomedical Engineering Design R 3√ F2018, S2019 38 ENGR 4010 Professional Development III R 1 F2018, S2019 48 BME Technical Elective II SE 3 Free Elective IV E 3 Humanities or Social Science Elective E 4 TOTALS-ABET BASIC-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS 37 54 35 2 OVERALL TOTAL CREDIT HOURS FOR 128 COMPLETION OF THE PROGRAM PERCENT OF TOTAL > 29.2% >41.4%

Total must satisfy either credit Minimum Semester Credit Hours 30 Hours 45 Hours hours or percentage Minimum Percentage 25% 35.2 %

* 1-credit of ENGR-2600 Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty is dedicated to statistics, probability distributions functions, and probability. † ENGR-1100 Introduction to Engineering Analysis dedicates 1-credit (~ 8 lectures) to the basics of linear equations and linear algebra. Degree programs such as BMED, which require MATH 2010 Multivariable Calculus and Matrix Algebra, do not apply this 1-credit of linear algebra from ENGR 1100 in their count of math and basic science because this material is covered in greater

1. Required courses are required of all students in the program, elective courses (often referred to as open or free electives) are optional for students, and selected elective courses are those for which students must take one or more courses from a specified group. 2. For courses that include multiple elements (lecture, laboratory, recitation, etc.), indicate the maximum enrollment in each element. For selected elective courses, indicate the maximum enrollment for each option. √ Course contains significant design.

Instructional materials and student work verifying compliance with ABET criteria for the categories indicated above will be required during the campus visit.

Table 5-1b Biomaterials Concentration Biomedical Engineering Program

Maximum Indicate Whether Last Two Terms Section Course Course is Required, the Course was Enrollment (Department, Number, Title) Elective or a Credit Hours Offered: for the Last List all courses in the program by term starting Selected Elective by Year and, Two Terms the with the first term of the first year and ending an R, an E or an SE Semester, or Course was with the last term of the final year. Quarter Offered2 Required Courses (Concentration I-III) ENGR 1600 Materials Science for Engr R 4 F2018,S2019 39 ENGR 2250 Thermal and Fluids Engr I R 4 F2018,S2019 75 MTLE 2100 Structure of Engr Materials R 4 F2018,S2019 52

Table 5-1c Biomechanics Concentration Biomedical Engineering Program

Maximum Indicate Whether Last Two Terms Section Course Course is Required, Credit Hours the Course was Enrollment (Department, Number, Title) Elective or a Offered: for the Last Two List all courses in the program by term starting Selected Elective by Year and, Terms the with the first term of the first year and ending an R, an E or an SE Semester, or Course was with the last term of the final year. Quarter Offered2 Required Courses (Concentration I-III) BMED 4540 Biomechanics II R 4 F2017, F2018 47 BMED 4580 Biomed Fluid Mechanics R 3 F2017, F2018 35 ENGR 2250 Thermal and Fluids Engr I R 4 F2017, S2018 66

Table 5-1d Bioimaging/Instrumentation Concentration Biomedical Engineering Program

Maximum Indicate Whether Last Two Terms Section Course Course is Required, Credit Hours the Course was Enrollment (Department, Number, Title) Elective or a Offered: for the Last Two List all courses in the program by term starting Selected Elective by Year and, Terms the with the first term of the first year and ending an R, an E or an SE Semester, or Course was with the last term of the final year. Quarter Offered2 Required Courses (Concentration I-III) ECSE 2010 Electric Circuits R 4 F2018, S2019 69 ECSE 2410 Signals and Systems R 4 F2018, S2019 77 ENGR 2350 Embedded Control R 3 F2018, S2019 73

Table 5-1e BME Technical Elective Courses Biomedical Engineering Program

Course Maximum Indicate Whether Last Two Terms Section (Department, Number, Title) List all courses in the program by term starting with the first term of the Course is Required, Credit Hours the Course was Enrollment first year and ending with the last term of the final year. Elective or a Offered: for the Last Two Selected Elective by Year and, Terms the an R, an E or an SE Semester, or Course was Quarter Offered2 BME Technical Elective Courses BMED 4280/6280 Biomechanics of Soft Tissue SE 3 S2018, S2019 24 BMED 4410/6410 BioMEMS SE 3 S2018, S2019 29 BMED 4420/6420 Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research SE 4 F2017, F2018 42 BMED 4440/6440 Biophotonics SE 3 S2018, S2019 14 BMED 4450/6450 Drug and Gene Delivery SE 3 F2016, F2018 55 BMED 4460/6460 Biological Image Analysis SE 3 S2018, S2019 21 BMED 4470/6470 Biostatistics for Life Science Applications SE 3 F2017, F2018 19 BMED 4480/6480 Biomedical Data Science SE 4 S2018, S2019 28 BMED 4510/6510 Mechanobiology (not offered every year) SE 3 S2016, S2018 46 BMED 4550/6550 Cell Biomechanics SE 3 F2017, F2018 18 BMED 4590/6590 Medical Imaging SE 3 F2017, F2018 19 BMED 4650/6650 Introduction to Cell and Tissue Engineering SE 3 S2018, S2019 33 BMED 4660/6660 Muscle Mechanics and Modeling SE 3 S2018, S2019 32 ECSE 4090 Mechatronics SE 3 F2017, F2018 19 ECSE 4480 Robotics I SE 3 F2017, F2018 14

ENGR 2300 Electronic Instrumentation SE 4 F2018, S2019 72 MANE 4030 Elements of Mechanical Design SE 4 F2018, S2019 140 MANE 4050 Modeling and Control of Dynamic Systems SE 4 89-Lecture F2018, S2019 22-Recitation MANE 4240 Introduction to Finite Elements SE 3 F2018, S2019 65 MANE 4670 Mechanical Behavior of Materials SE 3 F2017, F2018 34 MANE 6480 Health Physics and Medical Aspects of SE 3 S2016, S2018 10 Radiation (not offered every year) MTLE 4050 Introduction to Polymers SE 3 F2017, F2017 59 MTLE 4250 Mechanical Properties of Materials SE 4 S2017, S2018 16 MTLE 4470 Biology in Materials Science SE 3 S2017, S2018 30 MTLE 4720 Applied Mathematical Methods in Materials SE 3 F2018, F2019 14

All BME students take one introductory course in each of our concentration tracks. Specifically, they take BMED 2100 (Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 4 credits), BMED 2300 (Bioimaging and Bioinstrumentation, 4 credits), and BMED 2540 (Biomechanics, 4 credits). Building on these introductory biomedical engineering courses, as well as on the solid mathematical and basic science courses, each concentration track consists of three required courses (noted as R/SE in Tables 5.1b-d as the courses are required for a concentration, but the students get to choose their concentration). Furthermore, all students take two BME Technical Elective courses. The electives courses can be chosen as any of the courses shown in Table 5-1e or can be any BMED elective courses to allow students flexibility to take newly introduced elective courses. A more detailed description of each concentration track follows.

Biomaterials provides students with the opportunity to focus on the interaction between materials and living tissues at multiple levels (cellular, tissue, organ). Students receive a foundation in ENGR 1600 (Materials Science and Engineering, 4 credits), ENGR 2250 (Thermal and Fluids Engineering, 4 credits), and MTLE 2100 (Structure of Engineering Materials 4 credits). Two additional technical elective courses, shown in Table 5-1e, can be chosen from a list of about two dozen courses giving students some flexibility to follow their areas of interest.

Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems. The biomechanics concentration curriculum requires three foundational courses in ENGR 2250 (Thermal and Fluids Engineering, 4 credits), BMED 4580 (Biomedical Fluid Mechanics, 3 credits), and BMED 4540 (Biomechanics II, 4 credits). Two additional technical elective courses, shown in Table 5-1e, give students the flexibility to tailor their degree according to their areas of interest.

Bioimaging/Instrumentation is the application of electrical engineering principles to biomedical instrumentation and imaging problems. Three required engineering courses lay the foundation for this track: ECSE 2010 (Electric Circuits, 4 credits), ECSE 2410 (Signals and Systems, 4 credits), and ENGR 2350 (Embedded Control, 3 credits). Two additional elective courses, shown in Table 5-1e, provide further depth or breadth.

A list of which of the courses from Table 5-1e is recommended for which concentration can be found on the undergraduate student handbook. This, together with the flexibility to replace a course from the list with a new BMED elective course, allows students to tailor their degree plan to include more depth in a given area or more breadth about BME as a whole.

2. Alignment of Curriculum with Program Educational Objectives

Our two PEOs seek to prepare BME graduates for successful career paths in the field after graduation. The immediate first steps after the baccalaureate degree are typically either employment in industry and government or enrollment in an advanced degree program.

The relationship between our PEOs and our core courses is given in Table 5-2. While these core courses lay the foundation for engineering and biomedical engineering, each elective course taken thereafter further supports and deepens the skills required for successfully achieving each PEO. Table 5-2 demonstrates and undergirds the linkages between PEOs and core biomedical engineering course work.

Table 5-2: Relationship between required courses and PEOs

Core Courses PEOs

Engineering Core Courses #1 #2

ENGR 1100 Intro to Engr Analysis   ENGR 2050 Intro to Engr Design   Modeling and Analysis of ENGR 2600   Uncertainty ENGR 4010 Prof Development III  

BME Core Courses

BMED 2100 Biomaterials Sci and Engr   Bioimaging/ BMED 2300   Bioinstrumentation BMED 2540 Biomechanics   BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab   BMED 4200 Mod of Biomed Systems   BME Product Development BMED 4260   & Commercialization BMED 4500 Adv Systems Physiology   Biomedical Engineering BMED 4600   Design

3. Attainment of Student Outcomes as supported by the Curriculum and its Associated Prerequisite Structure.

The curriculum is structured so that each Student Outcome is covered multiple times throughout the four-year long course of study. As shown in Table 4-2 and Table 4-3 (Relationship between Student Outcomes and Courses), most SOs are introduced during the first two years of study. They are reinforced in selected courses during the subsequent junior and senior years. The prerequisite structure was designed to assure that students will follow the prescribed curriculum order and will not be able to take courses out of sequence (unless an exception is granted by course instructor). This approach optimizes pedagogical impact and outcomes. Therefore, the design of our curriculum supports the attainment of SOs.

4. Prerequisite Structure.

Table 5-3 lists the prerequisites for BME program courses in four categories. The first category covers foundational courses in mathematics, biology, physics, and chemistry, the second and third one list the engineering and biomedical engineering core courses,

respectively, that are needed to succeed in subsequent courses. The final category lists the prerequisites for elective courses.

Table 5-3: Prerequisite Chart for BME Curriculum Courses

Course Prerequisite Biology, Math, Physics, Chemistry BIOL 2120 Cell and Molecular Biology None CHEM 1100 Chem I None MATH 1010 Calculus I None MATH 1020 Calculus II MATH 1010 MATH 2010 Mult. Var. Calculus and Mat Algebra MATH 1020 MATH 2400 Diff Equations MATH 1020 PHYS 1100 Physics I None PHYS 1200 Physics II PHYS 1100, co-req MATH 1020

Engineering Core Courses CSCI 1190 Beg Programming for Engr None ENGR 1100 Intro to Engr Analysis None ENGR 1200 Engr Graphics and CAD None ENGR 1300 Engr Processes None ENGR 1100 and either ENGR 1200 or ENGR ENGR 2050 Intro to Engr Design 1400, co-req PHYS 1200 ENGR 2600 Mod and Anal of Uncertainty MATH 1010 ENGR 4010 Prof Development III senior standing Prof Development II (see below) Choose 2 of about 30 courses

BME Core Courses BMED 2100 Biomaterials Sci and Engr None BMED 2300 Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation PHYS 1200 BMED 2540 Biomechanics ENGR 1100 BMED 2100, BMED 2300, BMED 2540, co-req BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab BMED 4200 BMED 4200 Mod of Biomed Systems MATH 2400, PHYS 1200, co-req CSCI 1190 BME Product Development & BMED 4260 ENGR 2050, Senior Standing Commercialization BMED 4500 Adv Systems Physiology BIOL 2120 BMED 4600 Biomedical Engineering Design BMED 4260

BME Concentration Courses BMED 4540 Biomechanics II BMED 2540 BMED 4580 Biomedical Fluid Mechanics ENGR 2250 ECSE 2010 Electric Circuits MATH 2400, PHYS 1200 ECSE 2410 Signals and Systems ECSE 2010 ENGR 1600 Mat Science for Engineers CHEM 1100

ENGR 2250 Thermals and Fluids Engineering I ENGR 1100, PHYS 1100, co-req MATH 2400 ENGR 2350 Embedded Control CSCI 1010 or CSCI 1100 or CSCI 1190 MTLE 2100 Structure of Engineering Materials ENGR 1600

BME Technical Elective Courses BMED 4280 Biomechanics of Soft Tissue BMED 2540 or ENGR 2530 BMED 4410 BioMEMS Junior or Senior standing BMED 4420 Clinical Orthopedics and Related BMED 4500 Research BMED 4440 Biophotonics PHYS 1200 BMED 4450 Drug and Gene Delivery BMED 2100 BMED 4460 Biological Image Analysis BMED 2300 BMED 4470 Biostatistics for Life Science MATH 2010 and ENGR 2600 Applications BMED 4480 Biomedical Data Science MATH 2010 and ENGR 2600 BMED 4510 Mechanobiology BMED 2540 BMED 4550 Cell Biomechanics BMED 2540 or ENGR 2530 BMED 4590 Medical Imaging BMED 2300 or approval of instructor BMED 4650 Introduction to Cell and Tissue ENGR 2250 and either BMED 2540 or ENGR Engineering 2530 BMED 4660 Muscle Mechanics and Modeling None ECSE 4090 Mechatronics ENGR 2350, ECSE 2410, and Senior standing ECSE 4480 Robotics I MATH 2400 and either MATH 2010 or ENGR 1100 ENGR 2300 Electronic Instrumentation PHYS 1200, co-req MATH 2400 MANE 4030 Elements of Mechanical Design MATH 2400, ENGR 2530 MANE 4050 Modeling and Control of Dynamic MATH 2400, PHYS 1200 Systems MANE 4240 Introduction to Finite Elements ENGR 2250 or ENGR 2530 or ECSE 4160 MANE 4670 Mechanical Behavior of Materials ENGR 2530 MANE 6480 Health Physics and Medical Aspects None of Radiation MTLE 4050 Introduction to Polymers None MTLE 4250 Mechanical Properties of Materials ENGR 1600, MTLE 2100 MTLE 4470 Biology in Materials Science ENGR 1600 MTLE 4720 Applied Mathematical Methods in MATH 2400, and access to Mathematica Materials

The list of courses that satisfy the School of Engineering’s requirement for Professional Development II can be found in this document: www.rpi.edu/dept/srfs/PDIICoverStatement2018.pdf

A graphical representation of the pre- and co-requisites for BME program courses is given next in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1: Flow chart of prequisites for required courses in the BME curriculum

5. Requirements in terms of hours and depth of study in each subject area

As described and shown in previous sections, our BME program exceeds the minimum credit hour requirements for a BS degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Both the science and engineering minimum credit hour requirements in these two subject areas are met with any combination of core, elective concentration track courses, and BME technical elective courses. The remaining credit hours are taken in humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as in technical electives. Our curriculum rigorously integrates biology with engineering to provide depth in biomedical engineering and breadth in a chosen concentration area. By incorporating laboratory experiments in many of our courses, our students experience directly the interaction of living with non-living systems, how to obtain data in such systems,

and how to apply statistical methods for properly interpreting these data. Thus, our curriculum supports the program criteria for biomedical engineering programs and prepares students for successful careers in this field.

6. Major Design Experience

While multiple courses in the BME curriculum cover various aspects of engineering design, the major design experience consists of the introductory design course ENGR 2050 (Introduction of Engineering Design, 4 credits) followed by the discipline-specific sequence of BMED 4260 (Biomedical Product Development and Commercialization, 3 credits) and BMED 4600 (Biomedical Engineering Design, 3 credits). ENGR 2050 focuses on team design and prototyping experience while the BMED 4260/4600 course sequence is a guided approach towards the development of design skills for biomedical engineering seniors. In particular the BMED courses provide students with practical experiences in multiple aspects of design and product development, including designs that meet device standards and are furthermore constrained by economical, societal, ethical, biomedical, or clinical conditions. These two courses encompass concepts and principles from earlier courses, such as ENGR 2050.

Students work individually and in teams to address biomedical design problems using methods drawn as necessary from engineering and from the physical and mathematical sciences. The course requires that students engage in teamwork to define needs and design devices or systems. Oral and written communication skills are emphasized in various reports and presentations throughout the semester. Students also develop strong written and oral presentation skills, as well as the ability to lead and/or contribute to multidisciplinary teams. Both skill sets are needed to succeed in industrial, academic, and clinical environments.

During the two semesters, students are introduced to general methods in engineering problem solving (e.g. brainstorming, mind mapping, decision matrices), product definition, identification of physical or biomedical constraints and specifications, regulatory considerations (including design controls), product development, intellectual property, and ethics in design. The students are also asked to identify and apply appropriate engineering standards and comply with relevant regulations as part of their design.

During the BMED 4260 semester, students are presented with open-ended design challenges that are solicited from a network of clinical practitioners ranging from surgeons to physical therapists. The course instructors evaluate the proposed design problems and adjust the scope of each project to broaden or narrow it appropriately based on what students can accomplish during the two semesters and use knowledge and skills developed in previous coursework. The projects and their descriptions are then compiled into a list. Students then indicate their top choice projects in a cover letter which is submitted along with their resume which highlights courses, skills, experiences and interests. The instructors then match students to projects based on skills and preferences.

Teams are formed of 4-6 students per project, depending on interests and experience. Each team is advised by a faculty member and an outside clinical expert. Student teams are

expected to establish domain expertise, develop specifications for their designs (design inputs), engineer details of their design solution (design output), and ultimately develop ideas into functional prototypes. Each team prepares progress reports and presentations during the two semesters to keep the clinical experts, faculty, and other student teams apprised of their progress.

Students meet four major milestones during the semester which are documented in written reports and oral presentations. (1) The “Product Design Specification” (PDS) document and presentation is a major milestone in the design process. In the PDS, students quantitatively and objectively define a comprehensive set of functions, constraints, and specifications related to their design. This includes appropriate standards and regulations which govern the design process and the means by which they will verify/validate design outputs meet design inputs. (2) The “Design Alternatives” document contains descriptions of the major conceptual design alternatives (potential solutions) to the problem which students are trying to solve. (3) The “Best Design Alternative” document is used to describe the chosen design alternative along with sub-systems and the preliminary engineering analysis used to refine design details. Included in the Best Design Alternative report is a decision matrix in which the students objectively evaluate their designs based on the specifications (design inputs) defined in the PDS. (4) The “Final Design Report” document summarizes the entire design effort from problem definition through final design details and prototype description. In the Final Design Report, students also evaluate their designs and validate to what extent the final product meets the design constraints defined in the PDS document.

Students also maintain a “Design History File” throughout the design process which encompasses all of their work on the project. This includes end-user interviews that drive user-defined needs, benchmarking of other products, market information, intellectual property constraints, research, and regulatory considerations.

Emphasis is placed on the successful development of a functional prototype. Final designs are presented by the students to the general public and alumni judges at the annual Design Showcase. At the conclusion of the Design Showcase, a “Best Design” award is given by alumni judges based on (1) innovation, (2) practicality, and (3) overall impact.

7. Co-op Program and Undergraduate Research Program (URP)

Biomedical Engineering students may participate in the co-op program organized by Rensselaer’s Career and Professional Development Center, but there are no provisions to use cooperative education to satisfy curricular requirements.

The Biomedical Engineering department has a very strong Undergraduate Research Program (URP). This is a program that allows students to work in a professor’s laboratory for credit or financial support. A student may earn one to four credit hours per semester for participating in the URP. The number of credit hours is negotiated with the faculty sponsor and these credits are entered into the transcript under “Independent Study.” On average, about 30% of a cohort class takes advantage of these opportunities during their time at Rensselaer.

8. Materials Available during Visit

Course syllabi, textbooks, samples of student work, examples of our continuous improvement process, meeting minutes, etc. will be available during the visit to demonstrate attainment of SOs.

B. Course Syllabi

Course syllabi for required mathematics, science, engineering, and biomedical engineering courses are given in Appendix A.

CRITERION 6: FACULTY

A. Faculty Qualifications

All BME tenured and tenure-track faculty members have expertise and experiences that together cover the full spectrum of courses offered by the BME program. While all faculty have ample advanced academic training, including postdoctoral training periods at the best research institutions in the world, several also have industrial and/or clinical experiences. The latter is particularly important for our students who plan to pursue careers in industry or clinical settings.

Faculty qualifications are listed in Table 6-1, and their biographical sketches are included in Appendix B. All BME faculty hold earned doctoral degrees from excellent programs in biomedical engineering or closely related fields. They maintain active sponsored research programs, publish regularly in scholarly journals, and attend national and international conferences. They are well qualified to deliver a broad spectrum of BME courses and their research programs and experiences relate directly to the program’s elective courses.

Many BME faculty members interact with biomedical engineering practitioners and employers of biomedical students through sponsored research projects, invited lectures, and consulting. In addition, they meet annually with members of the BME external advisory council whose members are selected to represent a broad spectrum of BME practitioners.

The BME department also has seven joint faculty with synergistic academic training and interests. Their primary appointments are in Biological Sciences (BIOL), Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE), Chemistry (CHEM), and Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering (MANE). Some joint faculty members cross-list their courses as BMED courses, making them available as electives for BME students. They also serve as research advisors to our students and mentors to our junior tenure-track faculty.

B. Faculty Workload

Table 6-2 provides a summary of BME faculty workload for the last two semesters. As in most research universities, faculty members have multiple responsibilities that include research, teaching, and service. Tenured and tenure-track faculty in biomedical engineering teach an average of 1 course per semester. During the first year of appointment, tenured and tenure-track faculty at all levels have no teaching obligation for one semester. Professors of Practice and Lecturers teach or perform services equivalent to 3 courses per semester for a full time appointment. Adjunct faculty members nominally teach 1 course per semester.

BME faculty members balance their active research programs with responsibilities related to advising students, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, organizing seminars, mentoring student groups and chapters, serving on departmental, school or university committees, and engaging in professional societies.

Table 6-1. Faculty Qualifications

Biomedical Engineering Program

4 Years of Experience Level of Activity H, M, or L

Highest Degree Earned-

Faculty Name 3 Field and Year Rank Rank T, TT, NTT TT, T, (yrs) (yrs) Professional Professional Registration/ Registration/ industry Appointment Govt./Ind. Govt./Ind. mer work in work mer Type of Academic of Academic Type FT or PT or FT Professional Professional Teaching (yrs) Teaching Development Development Practice (yrs) (yrs) Practice Organizations Consulting/sum This Institution Institution This Ahmad Abu- Ph.D. – 2018 LEC NTT FT --- 1 1 None L M L Hakmeh Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. – 2014 Monica Agarwal LEC NTT FT --- 5 5 None L M L Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. – 2012 Deva Chan AST TT FT --- 3 3 None M H L Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. – 2001 David Corr ASC T FT 1.5 13 13 None H M L Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. – 1985 Stanley Dunn Computer Science, P T FT --- 34 12 None L M L Imaging Science Ph.D. - 2006 Ryan Gilbert P T FT --- 13 9 None H H L Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. – 2002 Juergen Hahn P T FT --- 16 7 None H H L Chemical Engineering Ph.D. – 2004 Mariah Hahn P T FT --- 14 7 None H M L Electrical Engineering Ph.D. – 1998 Xavier Intes P T FT 6 13 13 None H H L Physics Ph.D. – 2002 Uwe Kruger LEC NTT FT --- 17 4 None L M L Mechanical Engineering Eric Ledet Ph.D. – 2003 ASC T FT --- 16 16 None M M H

Biomedical Engineering Randall Ph.D. – 1987 LEC NTT FT 31 1 1 None L M L McFarlane Chemical Engineering Hisham Ph.D. – 2000 LEC NTT FT 15 4 4 None L M L Mohamed Biomedical Engineering Deanna Ph.D. – 2001 ASC T FT --- 15 15 None M M L Thompson Chemical Engineering Deepak Ph.D. – 1997 P T FT --- 20 20 None M M M Vashishth Biomedical Materials Ph.D. – 2007 Leo Wan ASC T FT --- 8 8 None H H L Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. – 1992 Ge Wang Electrical and Computer P T FT --- 26 6 None H H L Engineering Ph.D. – 2003 Xun Wang LEC NTT FT --- 16 3 None L M L Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. – 2006 Pingkun Yan Electrical and Computer AST TT FT 11 2 2 None M H L Engineering

Instructions: Complete table for each member of the faculty in the program. Add additional rows or use additional sheets if necessary. Updated information is to be provided at the time of the visit. 1. Code: P = Professor ASC = Associate Professor AST = Assistant Professor I = Instructor A = Adjunct LEC = Lecturer/Professor of Practice 2. Code: TT = Tenure-track T = Tenured NTT = Non Tenure-track 3. At Rensselaer 4. The level of activity, high, medium or low, was based on the 2018 workload and annual reviews

Table 6-2: Faculty Workload Summary

Biomedical Engineering Program

Program Activity Distribution3 Classes Taught (Course No./Credit Hrs.) % of Time Faculty PT Research Other4 Devoted Member or Term and Year2 or (name) FT1 Teaching to the 2018-2019 Scholar- Program5 ship ENGR 1100 (Intro. to Engineering Analysis) 4 cr. F2018 Ahmad Abu- ENGR 2050 (Intro to Eng. Design) 4 cr. F2018 – 2 sections FT ENGR 1100 (Intro. to Engineering Analysis) 4 cr. S2019 – 2 90% 0% 10% 100% Hakmeh sections ENGR 2600 (Mod. and Analysis of Uncertainty) 3 cr. S2019 Monica BMED 4010 (BME Laboratory) 3 cr. F2018 - 4 sections FT BMED 2100 (Biomaterials) 4 cr. S2019 90% 0% 10% 100% Agarwal BMED 4010 (BME Laboratory) 3 cr. S2019 - 3 sections Deva Chan FT BMED 4280 (Biomechanics of Soft Tissues) 3 cr. S2019 15% 75% 10% 100% BMED 4540 (Biomechanics II) 4 cr. F2018 David Corr FT BMED 4010 (BME Laboratory) 3 cr. S2019 45% 45% 10% 100% BMED 4660/6660 (Muscle Mech. and Modeling) 3 cr. S2019 Stanley Dunn FT ISYE 4140 (Statistical Analysis) 4 cr. F2018 15% 0% 85% 100% BMED 2100 (Biomaterials ) 4 cr. S2019 Ryan Gilbert FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 4450/6450 (Drug and Gene Delivery) 3 cr. F2018 Juergen Hahn FT BMED 4200 (Modeling of Biomedical Systems) 4 cr. F2018 15% 35% 50% 100% Mariah Hahn FT BMED 2100 (Biomaterials) 4 cr. F2018 15% 75% 10% 100% BMED 2300 (Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation) 4 cr. F2018 Xavier Intes FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 4440/6440 (Biophotonics) 3 cr. S 2019 BMED 4200 (Modeling of Biomedical Systems) 4 cr. F2018 ENGR 2600 (Mod. and Analysis of Uncertainty) 3 cr. F2018 – Uwe Kruger FT 2 sections 75% 0% 25% 100% BMED 4200 (Modeling of Biomedical Systems) 3 cr. S2019 BMED 4480/6480 (Biomedical Data Science) 4 cr. S2019 BMED 4420/6420 (Clin. Ortho. and Rel. Res.) 4 cr. F2018 Eric Ledet FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 4600 (Biomedical Eng. Design) 3 cr. S2019 Randall ENGR 2050 (Intro to Eng. Design) 4 cr. F2018 FT ENGR 2090 (Engineering Dynamics) 4 cr. F2018 – 2 sections 90% 0% 10% 100% McFarlane ENGR 2090 (Engineering Dynamics) 4 cr. S2019 – 3 sections BMED 4260 (BME Prod. Devel. & Comm.) 3 cr. F2018 BMED 4580/6580 (BME Fluid Mechanics) 3 cr. F2018 Hisham BMED 4600 (Biomedical Eng. Design) 3 cr. F2018 FT 90% 0% 10% 100% Mohamed BMED 2300 (Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation) 4 cr. S2019 BMED 4260 (BME Prod. Devel. & Comm.) 3 cr. S2019 BMED 4600 (Biomedical Eng. Design) 3 cr. S2019 Deanna ENGR 2050 (Intro to Eng. Design) 4 cr. F2018 FT BMED 4410/6410 (BioMEMS) 3 cr. S2019 45% 45% 10% 100% Thompson BMED 4650/6650 (Intro to Cell and Tissue Eng) 3 cr. S2019 Deepak BMED 4510/6500 (Mechanobiology) 3 cr. S2018 FT 7.5% 42.5% 50% 100% Vashishth Teaches one course every other year as center director BMED 4550/6550 (Cell Biomechanics) 3 cr. F2018 Leo Wan FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 2540 (Biomechanics) 4 cr. S2019

BMED 4590/6590 (Medical Imaging) 3 cr. F2018 Ge Wang FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 2300 (Bioimaging/Bioninstrumentation) 4 cr. S2019 BMED 2540 (Biomechanics) 4 cr. F2018 BMED 4470/6470 (Biostatistics for Life Science) 3 cr. F2018 ENGR 2600 (Mod. and Analysis of Uncertainty) 3 cr. F2018 Xun Wang FT 90% 0% 10% 100% BMED 2540 (Biomechanics) 4 cr. S2019 ENGR 2600 (Mod. and Analysis of Uncertainty) 3 cr. S2019 – 2 sections BMED 4260 (BME Prod. Devel. & Comm.) 3 cr. F2018 Pingkun Yan FT 30% 60% 10% 100% BMED 44606460 (Bio. Image Analysis) 3 cr. S2019

1. FT = Full Time Faculty or PT = Part Time Faculty, at the institution 2. For the academic year for which the self-study is being prepared. 3. Program activity distribution should be in percent of effort in the program and should total 100%. 4. Indicate sabbatical leave, etc., under "Other." 5. Out of the total time employed at the institution.

The following table demonstrates how the expertise of our core and joint faculty are related to the three concentration tracks of the biomedical engineering program.

Table 6-3: Faculty Associated with BME and their Area(s) of Expertise

Bioimaging/ Name Biomaterials Biomechanics Instrumentation BME Core Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty Chan, Deva ✓ ✓ Corr, David ✓ ✓ Dunn, Stanley ✓ Gilbert, Ryan ✓ Hahn, Juergen ✓ ✓ Hahn, Mariah ✓ ✓ Intes, Xavier ✓ Ledet, Eric ✓ Thompson, Deanna ✓ ✓ Vashishth, Deepak ✓ ✓ Wan, Leo ✓ ✓ Wang, Ge ✓ Yan, Pingkun ✓

BME Core non-Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty Ahmad Abu- ✓ ✓ Hakmeh Agarwal, Monica ✓ ✓ Kruger, Uwe ✓

Randall McFarlane ✓ Mohamed, Hisham ✓ ✓

Wang, Xun ✓

BME Joint Faculty Cramer, Steven ✓ De, Suvranu ✓ ✓ Dordick, Jonathan ✓ Gross, Richard ✓ Linhardt, Robert ✓ Swank, Douglas ✓ Xu, George ✓

C. Faculty Size

The BME department has 13 full-time tenure-track/tenured faculty members, including the Dean of Graduate Education, Dr. Stanley Dunn, and the Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Dr. Deepak Vashishth, who both have significant administrative loads. Additionally, it has five full-time lecturers and one professor of practice all of who participate in student advising. The department is well balanced by faculty ranks. Of the 13 tenure-track/tenured faculty, seven are tenured full professors, four are tenured associate professors, and two tenure-track assistant professors.

With the exception of one BME faculty in a full-time administrative position, all tenured and tenure-track faculty are research active. Several of them have won national awards for their research work (including five NSF Career awards) and are fellows of professional societies (i.e. AIMBE, BMES, IEEE). They have also been recognized by the student body and the institution for excellence in teaching (i.e. Class of 1951 Excellence in Teaching Award, Trustees’ Outstanding Teacher Award, School of Engineering Classroom Excellence Award, Rensselaer Alumni Association Teaching Award). Teaching and use of innovative teaching tools in classroom and laboratory settings are taken very seriously. Graduate students serve as teaching assistants (TAs), for both lecture and lab courses, and they are all required to undergo TA training (hosted by the Office of Graduate Education).

D. Professional Development

National and international conferences in a variety of biomedical engineering areas serve as the primary way for BME faculty to develop professionally and to keep current with developments in the field. BME faculty members attend a number of conferences each year using travel funds from their research grants. The department may provide travel funds in cases where these funds are lacking and travel is necessary. All tenure-track faculty members are provided with generous start-up funds, which include travel funds for conferences.

Each tenure-track faculty member in biomedical engineering is also provided with a senior faculty mentor and the department funds a monthly mentor-mentee lunch. These meetings provide additional opportunities for professional development in a one-on-one setting. Both the staff and faculty are encouraged to attend workshops and seminars that are geared towards undergraduate curricula and innovation in teaching.

The Rensselaer Faculty Senate offers additional opportunities for faculty development by organizing peer-to-peer seminars on topics related to career development, advancing teaching and research skills, balancing life and career issues, and selecting proper mentors.

Additional professional development opportunities and programs are offered at Rensselaer through the Office of the Provost. The annual “Colloquium on Teaching and Learning” covers diverse topics such as studio-based learning, eLearning and MOOCs, social and professional networking, problem-based learning, learning styles, and emerging technologies for education. The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment provides materials and advice that support faculty in improving teaching skills, incorporating effective assessment methods into courses, and properly linking course materials with expected course learning outcomes.

E. Authority and Responsibility of Faculty

Tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track biomedical engineering faculty teach courses that are assigned by the department head. Addition of new courses or changes in the course content must be first submitted by a faculty member to the BME-Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (BME-UCC). Such changes are reviewed by the BME-UCC. Upon BME-UCC approval, the course can be authorized by the department head, and then taught up to three times. Such a course receives a temporary number (BMED 49xx for undergraduate and BMED 69xx for graduate courses). After a new course has been taught three times, then an application for providing a course with a permanent number needs to be made. This application is submitted to the BME-UCC for review and approval. Based upon approval by the BME-UCC, this course addition is discussed and voted on by the BME faculty, and endorsed by the department head. Using student and instructor evaluations, as well as progress on course objectives, a case for addition/deletion is then made to the School of Engineering Curriculum Committee (SECC) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Curriculum Committee. Upon successful completion of this process, a permanent number is assigned to the course and the course will be listed in the Rensselaer Catalog.

CRITERION 7: FACILITIES

A. Offices, Classrooms and Laboratories

A-1 Offices

The administrative office suite of the BME department is located on the 7th floor of the Jonsson Engineering Center (JEC). The suite provides space for the department head, two administrative assistants, and a small conference room. Outside and immediately adjacent to the suite are nine offices assigned to the BME department, one for the advising coordinator and DCO, three for the lecturers, one for the lab manager, and the remainder for departmental faculty. Very close to the office suite are two meeting spaces available for group meetings and teaching assistant office hours. There is also a separate copy and supply room. Faculty and graduate student offices are located on the 7th floor of JEC and the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). All offices are spacious, heated and cooled appropriately, well lit, ergonomically furnished, and connected to Rensselaer’s Internet and phone services.

A-2 Classrooms Classrooms are assigned by Rensselaer’s Registrar according to class size and needs. The department prepares a list of courses to be offered during the following semester, the desired days/times, the technical equipment needed (such as LCD projectors or Ethernet connections), and the anticipated class size. If the Registrar’s classroom assignment turns out to be inadequate, they can usually be changed quickly. A-3 Laboratories Providing sufficient laboratory experiences for our undergraduate students is critically important to our program. While some laboratory experiences are included in introductory biology and engineering courses, the most important experiences are provided in the required course BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab), offered each semester. This course is taught in two adjacent rooms, the BME Teaching Lab, totaling 1,512 square feet in the Jonsson Engineering Center (JEC 5205 and JEC 5213). Additional expansion space is available across the hall in JEC 5214 for testing future experiments. Students perform six one-week experiments, a more comprehensive two-week experiment, and the Design Your Own Experiment (where they design, execute, and report back on a cumulative experiment). Both during the Design Your Own Experiment in BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab) as well as during the major design experience in BMED 4600 (Biomedical Engineering Design) students have access to School of Engineering laboratories. Specifically, students can utilize the JEC Student Machine Shop, the Design Lab, and the Manufacturing and Innovation Learning Lab (MILL) (for details see http://manufacturing.eng.rpi.edu/fabrication). The JEC Student Machine Shop and the Design Lab can be used to build design prototypes from projects in ENGR 2050 (Introduction to Engineering Design) to more complex senior design projects. The MILL gives our students the chance to prototype their designs on advanced manufacturing machines. An overview of equipment available in these laboratories is given in Appendix C. 69

The laboratory portion of BMED 4500 (Advanced Systems Physiology) is carried out at Albany Medical College, approximately 12 miles away from Rensselaer. These laboratories are also utilized by medical students, so the laboratory spaces are held to the standards of their regulatory body, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Approximately one third of our undergraduate students participate in the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) that is managed by the Office of Undergraduate Education (https://info.rpi.edu/undergraduate-research). This program provides real-world, hands-on research experience for undergraduate students by working directly with a faculty member on a bona fide research project. BME faculty laboratories where URP projects are carried out are located throughout JEC and CBIS. Students typically conduct research on cell culture, instrumentation development and testing, image processing and numerical analysis, musculoskeletal mechanics, tissue engineering, optics, cellular imaging, and other areas. More detailed descriptions of the individual faculty laboratories can be found in Appendix C. A-4 Laboratory Safety. Students’ safety while working in laboratories is an utmost priority. The most comprehensive laboratory safety instruction is provided in BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab)¸ a required course for all BME undergraduate students. Before the students begin working in the laboratory, they have two lectures on safety. The first lecture is on basic lab safety – including appropriate attire, various forms of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Good Lab Practices (with regards to hygiene), and emergency response procedures. The second lecture is Biosafety Jeopardy, which is given by Rensselaer Environmental Health and Safety personnel. Lecture slides, which are made available to students, engage the students, and get them to think about their own safety in the laboratory. The first time students come to lab, they are given a 5-minute safety quiz. For the quiz, they are allowed to walk about within the lab and hallway to locate the nearest safety shower, fire extinguisher, fire alarm pull box, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), and exits. Students are given access to the MSDSs in three locations: hard copies are available in the laboratory, the website http://hr.rpi.edu/page_396.html, and on the learning management system (BlackBoard, https://lms.rpi.edu/). In addition, the procedures for the experiments include required and suggested PPE. PPE available in the laboratory includes splash goggles, safety glasses, lab coats, nitrile gloves, and steel mesh gloves (for working with scalpels). In addition to the safety instructions provided in BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab), students are also encouraged to take an on-line course provided by the Office of Environmental Health and Safety. B. Computing Resources

The use of computing resources and advanced software packages is ubiquitous at Rensselaer. Ever since initiating the award-winning Mobile Computing Program more than a decade ago, all undergraduate students are required to have laptop computers with sufficient processing power and capability to connect wired or wirelessly to major computing resources on campus. Access to the network is campus-wide including all residence halls and eating facilities. With approximately 1,125 wireless access points across all buildings on campus, the students have access to the network almost everywhere.

For ease of support and to guarantee that students are using a common set of appropriate tools, each Mobile Computing Program laptop contains the following software:  Microsoft Windows 10 Education (64-bit)  Microsoft Office Professional 2016 (32-bit; 64-bit available for user installation)  Maplesoft Maple symbolic algebra program  Siemens NX CAD package

Software available for installation by all Rensselaer students is listed below, unless otherwise noted the latest versions are available. Other course specific software is made available to students upon faculty request.  Abaqus  Maple  Altair HyperWorks 2017  Mathematica  Aspen  Matlab  Bentley Software Suite  Office365  ANSYS CFD  Siemens NX  GeoStudio  SecureCRT  LabVIEW  SolidWorks 2017 SP3.0  Logger Pro  Windows 10 Education  MapInfo V11.0

There are 156 public workstations in classrooms and labs across campus. Some of the larger public workstation areas are located in the Voorhees Computing Center, Folsom Library, and the Pittsburgh Building. Many of these sites are open 24 hours a day and weekends.

The BME Teaching Laboratory on the 5th floor of JEC holds two laptops (purchased S2013) and thirteen desktops (updated on a rolling basis, with the most recent purchased F2017). Depending upon the computer’s role within the laboratory, they are equipped with some of the following programs:

 LabView 2016 TA Instruments Rheometer,  Microsoft Office Suite 2016 Gen5 for BioTek plate readers,  Image Pro Premier v9.2 BioCapture/Lab Course Teaching  ImageJ System for the Great Lakes  Equipment-specific software (i.e. Neurotechnology BioRadios, Bluehill for Instron, TRIOS for DeskCAT, etc.

C. Guidance

In the BME Teaching Lab, students are guided by written procedures, and supervised by TAs, the laboratory manager, and the faculty member(s) teaching the course. In addition, the laboratory manager is available for instructional assistance with various pieces of equipment and techniques outside of BME Teaching Lab. For each laboratory session, there are a

maximum of 12 students present (4 groups of 3 students) with 1-2 TAs and the laboratory manager where the course instructor is overseeing the experiments. Each lab procedure identifies certain ‘checkpoints’ where the students have to interact with the TA/instructor to be sure they are on the right path. The TA/laboratory manager/instructor circulate through the groups to ensure that they are following the instructions in a safe manner. In addition, the students have a lecture on biosafety and a general lab-safety lecture and SkillPort training on Laboratory Safety at Rensselaer (1 hour), Rensselaer Manufacturing and Prototyping Laboratories - Safety Orientation (1 hour), and Biosafety at Rensselaer (1 hour).

D. Maintenance and Upgrading of Facilities

The laboratory manager conducts regular maintenance of laboratory equipment and schedules necessary maintenance of larger equipment by outside providers. Equipment found to be functioning poorly is repaired or replaced. Small upgrades are made in consultation with course instructors as needed. With respect to large items (capital equipment), the department is asked annually if there are needs for upgrading current equipment or purchasing new equipment. In consultation with the department head, the laboratory manager prepares a list of laboratory upgrades, prioritizing the replacement of obsolete equipment and the addition of new equipment consistent with contemporary industry and academic research labs. These requests are reviewed by the School of Engineering with appropriate funds granted. In addition to departmental expenditures supporting these facilities, the department has seen significant support from the School of Engineering with new purchases totaling approx. $400k since the last ABET review. A summary of these expenditures are listed as follows:

FY18 (approx. $45k)  purchase of Plasma Cleaning Chamber (Harrick Plasma, $8.5k)  purchase of Type I water system (Millipore, $6k)  purchase of thin film grips for Instron 5543 (Instron, $5.5k)  installation of 26 networking connections and wi-fi access point ($5.5k)  purchase of four computers, monitors, and arm mounts (Dell, $5k)  purchase of 75” UHD display with computer (LG/Dell, $5k)  purchase of new lab benches and worktops ($3.5k)  purchase of Image Pro Premier 9.3 upgrade (Media Cybernetics, $3k)  assorted other purchases (new pipetters, water bath, etc., $3k)

FY17 (approx. $6k)  purchase of Countess II automated cell counter ($2.5k)  purchase of arctangle loading posts (Flexcell ($1.5k)  assorted other purchases (replacement microscope light guides, thermocouples, microphone, etc. , $2k)  completion of equipment installation/renovations from FY16

FY16 (approx. $345k)

 purchase of Instron 5966 Load Frame with additional torsion package (torsion drive + biaxial load cell), 3- & 4- point bending fixtures, expansion box with strain gage cards, debris shield, etc. (Instron, $107.5k)  purchase of Discovery HR-2 Rheometer, software, environmental test chamber, tensile grips, and tribology accessories (TA Instruments, $75k)  purchase of AVE 2 video extensometer system for Instron 5543 allowing full field strain mapping (Instron, $46k)  renovations to existing lab space and to newly added lab space in JEC 5214 (~$35k)  purchase of Flexcell 5000T system w/ computer (Flexcell, $26.5k)  purchase of educational optical CT scanner + software (DeskCAT, $19k)  purchase of four new BioRadio systems (Great Lakes Neurotechnologies, $12.5k)  purchase of EPOCH plate reader (BioTek, $7.5k)  purchase of Bluehill 3 upgrade for Instron 5543 including software, hardware, and new computer (Instron, $5.5k)  assorted other purchases (computers for major equipment above, electrical upgrades, new lab benches, etc., $10k)

FY15 (approx. $4k)  purchase of UV transilluminator ($1k)  purchase of SPOT 5.2 software upgrade for microscope ($600)  assorted other purchases (printer, shelving systems, lab tables, tools, etc, ($2.5k)

Along with the listed equipment, the laboratory manager has prioritized infrastructure improvements (new/reconfigured lab benches, computers mounted on arms above work surfaces, network access, etc.) which allow an enhanced student experience, efficient and open work spaces, and additional room for expansion. Further, Rensselaer and the School of Engineering have been supportive in the BME department’s efforts to improve the students’ experience in BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab), allowing for smaller student groups while working in the laboratory and smaller class sizes in the lecture hall. Finally, a new instructional laboratory space has been added to the teaching lab facility (approx. 50% added space) providing additional room for growth of the program including new areas for testing, fume hoods, and a fridge/freezer room.

E. Library Services

The Rensselaer Libraries support Rensselaer’s educational and research endeavors by providing access to needed scholarly content. Complementary to this, the Libraries provide learning and social spaces aimed at enabling learning and discovery and offer online, as well as personal, consultation and group instruction on information resources.

The library has integrated many electronic resources into its offering, such as research databases and digital music libraries. The library is also one of 1250 federal depository libraries in the United States, and maintains an up-to-date archive of thousands of federal documents open to the public. As of 2018, over 458,260,999 resources are available online or in the Folsom Library to faculty, staff, and researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute including over seven million books and eight million trade publications. A Collection Development Team meets weekly to review electronic resource usage statistics and make renewal, cancellation and new subscription decisions.

The needs of Rensselaer’s programs, faculty, researchers and students are met through a structured, organized, and transparent approach toward purchasing new books, providing excellent access to library resources, both on-line as well as on-premises, and obtaining books through interlibrary loan. Access to a comprehensive set of professional journals and the online catalog is provided either electronically through the Library’s web interface RensSearch (http://library.rpi.edu/setup.do) or directly at the library facility.

Rensselaer’s Libraries interact with faculty members through two committees, the Rensselaer Library Advisory Committee and the Departmental Faculty Library Liaisons. Dr. Randall McFarlane is the current faculty representative for the BME department. The Liaison Committee meets in the fall and spring semester to provide update on the latest library news and projects. Departmental representatives submit requests for purchasing new books or subscribing to journals on a regular basis.

F. Overall Comments on Facilities

The Bioengineering laboratory supervisor, BME faculty, teaching assistants, and School of Engineering personnel make every effort so that BME and School of Engineering laboratories and computing resources are utilized in a safe and proper manner. These efforts include appropriate training before any work is conducted. Furthermore, appropriate use of facilities is monitored and students who fail to follow appropriate practices will not be allowed to continue using the facilities. Lastly, facilities and equipment are kept up to date by the same people and personnel in order to optimize students’ experiences.

CRITERION 8: INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

A. Leadership

The Rensselaer School of Engineering leadership hierarchy consists of the Dean Dr. Shekhar Garde, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Dr. Kurt Anderson, the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Dr. Liping Huang, and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Matthew Oehlschlaeger. Each department within the School of Engineering is led by a department head, in the case of Biomedical Engineering the Department Head is Dr. Juergen Hahn. The department head meets with the Dean on a bi- weekly basis to discuss decisions that affect the department. The department head in Biomedical Engineering is supported by the Graduate Program Director Dr. Leo Wan, the Chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Dr. Eric Ledet, and the Advising Coordinator and Degree Clearance Officer Dr. Uwe Kruger.

B. Program Budget and Financial Support

The budget for the BME department is determined by the School of Engineering, and is based on input from the department, historical data, and the priorities outlined in the Rensselaer Plan, the School of Engineering Performance Plan, and the BME department Performance Plan. Over the past five years, the BME department has experienced a net increase of 4.5 non-tenure-track/non-tenured faculty members, which has been a very desirable development as the program has concurrently experienced an increase in undergraduate enrollment from 391 to 431.

The School of Engineering provides a “general support” lump sum for all non-salary expenses, which covers items such as laboratory costs, telephone, photocopying, and travel. Although the department’s internal budgeting tends to follow historical precedents, the department head makes ad hoc decisions each year as to how these monies are distributed among undergraduate educational needs and other departmental needs. In all cases, undergraduate education is given the highest priority. The BME department expenditures for the last four fiscal years are given in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1: Support expenditures for BME department.

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 Expenditure category Operations (not including staff) $7,698 $8,136 $6,914 $5,894 Travel $23,634 $20,425 $17,585 $20,478 Equipment/Supplies $65,677 $49,084 $76,987 $64,277 Gifts and Endowment Income $53,979 $59,967 $54,657 $61,259 Capital Equipment/Facilities $0 $344,324 $16,136 $0 Graduate Teaching Assistants $1,098,900 $1,242,850 $1,314,000 $1,888,750 (tuition and stipend) Total $1,346,896 $1,802,432 $1,587,765 $2,131,307

Rensselaer provides a large number of teaching assistant positions to the college which are then distributed among the individual departments based upon enrollment and teaching load. The BME department has seen its number of TA allocations remain at a very high level and in 2018, a total of 17 TA positions were allocated to the BME department. This number allows us to assign 0.5-1 TAs for each section of core undergraduate classes and some TAs for elective courses with high enrollments. This significantly increases the ability of TAs to address the individual needs of the undergraduate students. It also increases the interactions between students and TAs.

C. Staffing

Three full-time staff members and one half-time staff member current support the department. The two full-time administrative staff members are Ms. Mary Foti and Ms. Kristen Bryk who hold the positions of administrative coordinator and administrative specialist, respectively. Both staff members are involved in the undergraduate program. Their duties include: maintaining student databases; facilitating course scheduling; maintaining records of course syllabi and course evaluations; communicating curricular changes to students in a timely manner; maintaining faculty files for biographical sketches, faculty activity sheets, and department head’s annual evaluations; and writing meeting minutes. Mr. Brian Gambacorta holds the half-time position of business administrator. His responsibilities include budgeting, forecasting, purchase orders, travel expense reports, and similar business- related departmental activities.

The third staff member is Mr. Stephen Kalista who serves as a laboratory manager and also handles safety inspections for the labs located in the Jonsson Engineering Center.

Advising: Advising is handled by the faculty where each tenure-track faculty member advises 25 undergraduate students, which it increased to 35 advisees after promotion to associate professor and reaches approximately 40 advisees at the rank of professor. The professors of practice (Dr. Uwe Kruger) serves as advising coordinator and DCO and advises approximately 40 undergraduate students. Additionally, he helps to standardize advising practices in the department, including training of new faculty on curricular requirements for undergraduates. He is available to advise all BME students, and works with the registrar's office to keep CAPP reports current.

As indicated in section 1.D, though BME students always have a faculty member as an academic advisor, five full-time professional advising staff in the Student Services Hub serve as the student principal advisor through the first half of the sophomore year. Though, these Hub advising staff serve as the first point of contact with respect to freshman and sophomore advising needs, students are always free to obtain advice from their faculty advisor.

Rensselaer Support Staff: Rensselaer provides support staff at multiple levels. Financial matters for the department are handled by Mr. Brian Gambacorta, while most financial matters for research grants are handled by support staff in research centers that faculty members are affiliated with. The School of Engineering has an IT support team in addition to

what the Institute provides. Very specialized staff for certain types of equipment are commonly provided by research centers. Most notably, over half the faculty are housed in the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS), and CBIS has its own staff for administrating research grants, providing support and management services for common core facilities.

The Office of Human Resources offers a variety of staff training opportunities. Methods for retention of staff include merit raises, adjustment of a staff position in terms of duties and salary, but also many benefits provided by Rensselaer. These include generous health care and retirement packages, as well as a 75% reduction in tuition for dependents attending Rensselaer.

D. Faculty Hiring and Retention

The department submits a performance plan annually which outlines goals and the resources required to attain these goals. One component of the performance plan is a request for faculty positions. The School of Engineering reviews the performance plan and allocates faculty positions to individual departments based upon needs identified in the departmental performance plan. If new positions are allocated to the BME department, the department head initiates a formal faculty search and establishes a faculty search committee.

The faculty position to be filled is broadly advertised, including in appropriate journals and on the department’s web site. The faculty search committee meets on a regular basis, usually weekly, to review the applications and makes decisions for which applications to pursue and to request reference letters. When a list of finalists has been determined, then these finalists are discussed at a faculty meeting before any candidates are invited. The faculty candidates will be invited to visit campus for 1-2 days and meet with most of the faculty, the department head, and also the Dean of Engineering. Written feedback is solicited from the faculty after the visit, including evaluations of the faculty candidates’ potential for teaching, research, and service. The School of Engineering has a Compact for Diversity document which also includes a sample of the evaluation forms used for these purposes. The feedback from the faculty is summarized by the faculty search committee and passed on to the department head with a recommendation. The department head makes a hiring decision after evaluating the feedback summaries of all candidates. The negotiations about start-up packages are conducted between the department head and the faculty candidate.

The department has several options available for retaining current faculty. These include salary adjustments (requested by the department head but needs to be approved by Rensselaer), allocation of additional resources from the departmental budget, student support in the form of teaching assistantships, or increased/upgrades in laboratory space. One example that has been used in the past is that the department has paid for computer upgrades for faculty on a regular basis. Another example is that the teaching and service assignments of each faculty over a period of several years are reviewed periodically to ensure that no faculty member is given time intensive assignments for several years in a row.

E. Support of Faculty Professional Development

Rensselaer offers professional development opportunities for faculty. Faculty may request sabbatical leaves for purposes of professional development through study, research, scholarly activity or experience in government, industry, universities or consulting. Sabbaticals can be taken in one of two forms: (i) Leave for one semester, with half salary, may be given upon completion of six consecutive semesters of service; (ii) Leave of two semesters with half salary, or one semester with full salary, may be given upon completion of twelve semesters of service. All requests for sabbatical leave require the approval of the department head, the Dean, and the Provost.

Newly hired faculty members receive travel budgets in their start-up packages, and many travel to professional conferences at least once during each academic year, sponsored by Rensselaer or extramural research grants. Most faculty members have research grants, which provide funding for travel to conferences and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues. Additionally, funds are available for students to travel to conferences as long as they present at the conference. Some faculty members receive partial summer salary support from Rensselaer so that they can develop new courses, pursue research plans, or participate in other activities of Rensselaer. In addition, many faculty members with research grants receive summer support from their grants.

PROGRAM CRITERIA

The 2018-2019 ABET EAC document requires that biomedical engineering programs meet additional curriculum-specific Program Criteria. Specifically,

“The structure of the curriculum must provide both breadth and depth across the range of engineering and science topics consistent with the program educational objectives and student outcomes. The curriculum must prepare graduates with experience in: (a) Applying principles of engineering, biology, human physiology, chemistry, calculus-based physics, mathematics (through differential equations) and statistics; (b) Solving bio/biomedical engineering problems, including those associated with the interaction between living and non-living systems; (c) Analyzing, modeling, designing, and realizing bio/biomedical engineering devices, systems, components, or processes; and (d) Making measurements on and interpreting data from living systems.”

Our BME curriculum, guided by our program educational objectives and student outcomes, provides both breadth and depth in biomedical engineering to our students. The curriculum seeks to educate students (a) to conduct biomedical research or design biomedical products, processes, and systems that integrate engineering and the life sciences, and (b) to create knowledge or to develop new technologies with impact on human health and well-being. We believe that our graduates have the solid foundational knowledge in mathematics, science, engineering, and the life sciences as well as in-depth knowledge in a biomedical engineering concentration area to function successfully in professional practice or in a graduate or professional degree-granting program.

The biomedical engineering program prepares graduates to have an understanding of biology and physiology and other natural sciences and to apply this knowledge to solve biomedical engineering problems, to analyze and design devices, systems, and components, and to make measurements on and interpreting data from living systems. While the overall curriculum is shown in Table 5-1, Table 9-1 delineates how specific required core courses address and fulfill biomedical engineering program criteria. Furthermore, Table 9-2 includes some specific examples of how these biomedical engineering program criteria are addressed. Fundamental knowledge in biology and is provided in BIOL 2120 (Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology) and knowledge about physiology is reinforced in BMED 4500 (Advanced Systems Physiology) and connected with mathematical methods and tools. This combined body of knowledge is further enhanced in other BME required and elective courses. Thus, building on sufficient courses in science, engineering, and mathematics, biomedical engineering students learn how to apply these methods to biomedical problems within living and non-living systems.

Table 9-1: Relationship between Biomedical Engineering Program Criteria and Required Courses

Course Title 9.a 9.b 9.c 9.d ENGR 1100 Intro to Engineering Analysis x ENGR 2050 Intro to Engineering Design x x ENGR 2600 Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty x ENGR 4010 Professional Development III BMED 2100 Biomaterials Science and Engineering x BMED 2300 Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation x x BMED 2540 Biomechanics x x BMED 4010 Bioengineering Lab x x BMED 4200 Modeling of Biomedical Systems x x x BMED 4260 Product Development and Commercialization x BMED 4500 Advanced Systems Physiology x x x BMED 4600 Biomedical Engineering Design x x x An x indicates that the course addresses this BME program criterion Courses in blue fields are required engineering courses Courses in light blue fields are required biomedical engineering courses

Table 9-2 provides further details on lab and design experiments in required BME courses that reinforce the understanding of how living and non-living systems interact with each other to form exquisitely complex systems. For instance, BMED 2300 (Bioimaging/Bioinstrumentation) covers topics from the acquisition and monitoring of vital physiological signals to the principles of multiple diagnostic imaging modalities. Special attention is paid to the interaction between sensor or imaging devices with tissues and organs, both from a patient

Table 9-2: Examples from required core courses that address BME Program Criteria

Program Criteria Core Courses Topic areas a. Applying principles BIOL 2120 (Intro to Lectures and laboratory exercises of engineering, Cell and Molecular introducing current concepts in molecular biology, human Biology) and cellular biology. physiology, chemistry, calculus- based physics, Engineering methodologies applied to BMED 4500 (Advanced mathematics entire physiological systems and their Systems Physiology) (through differential interactions. equations) and statistics. b. Solving Interface problems between biomedical BMED 2100 bio/biomedical implants and body reactions are studied (Biomaterials) engineering and analyzed.

problems, including BMED 2300 Application of mathematics and those associated (Bioimaging/ engineering to analyze introductory with the interaction Bioinstrumentation) bioimaging and biosensor problems. between living and Introduction to statistical methods applied BMED 4010 non-living systems. to biomedical measurements and (Bioengineering Lab) problems. c. Analyzing, Advanced mathematical and BMED 4200 (Modeling modeling, designing, computational methods applied to of Biomedical Systems) and realizing modeling physiological systems. bio/biomedical Biomedical design problems at the BMED 4600 engineering devices, interface of engineering and (Biomedical systems, biology/physiology, employing Engineering Design) components, or mathematical analysis and synthesis

processes. methods. d. Making Lab experiments include ECG, EMG, measurements on bone stress and strain, membrane BMED 4010 and interpreting data transport, soft tissue measurements. (Bioengineering Lab) from living systems. Students can propose and design their own experiments. Biomedical systems analysis methods that BMED 4200 (Modeling include the consideration of problems of Biomedical Systems) derived from the interaction of living and non-living systems. Large animal experiment with BMED 4500 (Advanced measurements and data analysis from Systems Physiology) major organ systems. safety as well as from a measurement and data acquisition point of view. In addition to two required core courses, courses in each concentration track provide ample examples of how engineering knowledge, methods, and techniques can lead to a deeper understanding of these complex systems.

BMED 4500 (Advanced Systems Physiology) is a unique course that includes lectures and laboratory sessions. Students are instructed by faculty members from Albany Medical College (AMC, http://www.amc.edu). For lectures, AMC faculty come to RPI. For the laboratory sessions, Rensselaer students are bused to AMC. Experiments include an electrocardiography experiment, cardiovascular computer simulation, computer simulation of respiratory gas exchange, computer simulation of respiratory mechanics, and control of blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmias (animal lab).

In BMED 4010 (Bioengineering Lab) all students receive hands-on practical experiences in carrying out biomedical experiments addressing measurement methods, data acquisition, signal processing, and data interpretation within each concentration track. The course begins with one- week experiments such as acquiring unfiltered and filtered ECG signals from human subjects under resting and exercise conditions or measuring the transport characteristics of bovine endothelial cells grown on a permeable membrane in response to chemical, electrical, and

mechanical stimulation. Two week experiments are more in depth and require two laboratory periods to complete. For example, one two-week experiment, “Cell Strain Analysis,” involves culturing Mouse Dermal Fibroblasts on a flexible membrane, and subjecting them to in vitro mechanical stimulation (utilizing a FlexCell© system). After a week of culture, students fix, permeabilize, stain, and image the cells, and then examine the effect of mechanical stimulation on cell alignment and viability. Another two-week experiment, “Electromyography”, has the students collect electromyographic data from several scenarios: isometric and dynamic contraction of the bicep, and dominant vs. non-dominant hand/arm gripping. Students analyze and visualize the resulting waveforms using Excel tools. The course concludes with “Design Your Own Experiment” labs. Students are provided with a problem statement, design and execute their experiments based on the equipment/procedures learned during the one and two- week experiments, and then write a formal lab report. Examples of such experiments include “Designing an Artificial ACL,” “Hydrogels for Spinal Injuries,” or “External Fracture Fixation of Chicken Bone.”

Student Exit Surveys and Alumni/ae Surveys include specific questions about our program criteria. Survey results from the past six years indicate that students and graduates feel they have a good understanding of biology and physiology in the context of professional practice or seeking advanced degrees.

Appendix A – Course Syllabi

Course Number and Name: BMED 2100, Biomaterials Science and Engineering

Credits and Contact Hours: 4 credits, 4 contact hours/week

Instructor and Coordinator: Mariah Hahn, Professor, BMED, CBIS 2121

Textbook(s): Biomaterials: The Intersection of Biology and Materials Science. Antonios Mikos and J. S. Temenoff, AbeBooks, 2008.

Catalog Data: Presents structure-property relationships of implant materials including metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites, with an emphasis on mechanical and surface properties in the broader context of implant design. Biological performance of biomaterials, case studies of traditional implants—as well as emerging, tissue-engineered materials— are emphasized.

Course Classification: Required for all BME students

Course Objectives: Introduction to different classes of biomaterials (metals, ceramics, polymers and their composites), the host response to implanted biomaterials, and some practical professional issues concerning the field of biomaterials. Topics include structure-function relationships (material composition and properties), protein/cell-material interactions, characterization methods, and FDA regulations.

Prerequisites: None Co-requisites: None

Computer Usage: Required for multiple homework assignments.

Laboratory Projects: None

Student Outcomes (Criterion 3): (X) 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 (X) 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 a team 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

(X) 7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies

BME Program Criteria: ( ) 9.a Applying principles of engineering, biology, human physiology, chemistry, calculus-based physics, mathematics (through differential equations) and statistics.

(X) 9.b Solving bio/biomedical engineering problems, including those associated with the interaction between living and non-living systems.

( ) 9.c Analyzing, modeling, designing, and realizing bio/biomedical engineering devices, systems, components, or processes.

( ) 9.d Making measurements on and interpreting data from living systems.

Topics: Structure property relationships of metals, ceramics and polymers, composites, nano- and micro-particles, bulk and surface property characterization, degradation of materials, surface modification of materials, biological testing of materials, device safety and ethics, cardiovascular medical devices, orthopedic medical devices, adhesives and sealants, burn dressings, hydrogels, sutures, bioelectrodes, tissue engineering.

Course Number and Name: BMED 2300, BioImaging and BioInstrumentation

Credits and Contact Hours: 4 credits, 4 contact hours/week

Instructor and Coordinator: Ge Wang

Textbook(s): Introduction to Biomedical Imaging. Andrew Webb. IEEE Press series in Biomedical Engineering, 2003.

Supplemental Materials: Additional materials are posted on RPI-LMS related to specific lecture topics.

Catalog Description: This course serves as an introduction to biomedical imaging, instrumentation and application with focus on data acquisition and image reconstruction. Basic principles of major biomedical imaging modalities and appropriate use of instruments will be covered for solving biomedical problems, such as x-ray radiography, computed tomography, nuclear imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasounds, and optical imaging.

Prerequisites: PHYS 1200 (Physics II) Co-requisites: None

Course Classification: Required for all BME students

Course Outcomes: Students who successfully complete the course should be able to:  Perform basic Fourier analysis and signal processing tasks using MatLab  Draw and explain the critical components of biomedical imaging instruments  Understand how the systems work, and describe the characteristics of the resultant images  List advantages and limitations of each imaging modality

Student Outcomes (Criterion 3): (X) 1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics

(X) 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 a team 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

BME Program Criteria: (X) 9.a Applying principles of engineering, biology, human physiology, chemistry, calculus-based physics, mathematics (through differential equations) and statistics.

(X) 9.b Solving bio/biomedical engineering problems, including those associated with the interaction between living and non-living systems.

( ) 9.c Analyzing, modeling, designing, and realizing bio/biomedical engineering devices, systems, components, or processes.

( ) 9.d Making measurements on and interpreting data from living systems.

Topics: Linear system, Fourier analysis, signal processing, circuit and network analysis; image quality assessment; principles, instrumentation and application of x-ray radiography, computed tomography, nuclear imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and optical imaging.

Course Number and Name: BMED 2540, Biomechanics

Credits and Contact Hours: 4 credits, 4 contact hours/week

Instructor(s) and Coordinator(s): Xun Wang, Ph.D., Lecturer, JEC 7040 and Leo Wan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, CBIS 2147

Textbook: Mechanics of Materials, F. P. Beer and E. R. Johnston, 1981

Supplemental Materials: Additional materials are provided as handouts.

Catalog Description: Application of mechanics to the study of normal, diseased, and traumatized musculo-skeletal system. Areas covered include determination of joint and muscle forces, mechanical properties of biological tissues, and structural analysis of bone-implant systems. Case studies are discussed to illustrate the role of biomechanics and biomaterials in the design of implants.

Prerequisites: ENGR 1100 (Introduction to Engineering Analysis)

Co-requisites: None

Course Classification: Required for all BME students

Course Outcomes: Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:  Understand and define quantitatively the role of biomechanics in human physiology  Understand the fundamental definition and manipulation of stress and strain components  Understand the mathematical equations, and underlying assumptions, that describe uniaxial, torsion, bending, and combinations of these behaviors.  Understand mechanical testing of biological material and identify structure-function material property relationships in skeletal tissues  Use the biomechanical theories described above to obtain quantitative solutions to biomechanics problems in physiology  Use computational tools to set up and solve biomechanics problems in physiology

Student Outcomes (Criterion 3): (X) 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