Bachelors in Biological Engineering
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Biological Engineers improve people’s lives today and help assure a sustainable quality of life for tomorrow. They create solutions to problems by coupling living systems (human, plant, animal, environmental, food, and microbial) with the tools of engineering and biotechnology. Biological engineers improve human health through biomedical engineering; ensure a safe, nutritious food supply and create critical, new medicines through food and bioprocess engineering; secure a healthy and safe environment through ecological engineering; and create tools to manage agriculture, the environment, and the products of biotechnology through bioresource engineering.
Biological Engineering is an ABET accredited program leading to the B.S. degree. M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are also offered. The curriculum is under the joint supervision of the dean of the College of Engineering and the dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering degree is conferred by the College of Engineering and is granted after the successful completion of 128 hours of approved course work.
The educational objectives of the Biological Engineering program are to produce graduates who:
1) Effectively apply engineering to biological systems and phenomena (plants, animals, humans, microbes, and the environment) with demonstrated proficiency in basic engineering skills, technical knowledge, and professional and personal skills.
2) Are well prepared for diverse careers in biological engineering, life-long learning, and professional and ethical contributions to society through sustained accomplishments in biomedical engineering, ecological engineering and biotechnology.
Areas of Concentration
The three areas of concentration in biological engineering are as follows:
Biomedical Engineering – nanomedicine, tissue engineering, organ regeneration and its clinical application, bioinstrumentation, biosensing/medical imaging, medical electronics, physiological modeling, biomechanics, and rehabilitation engineering. This area is excellent preparation for medical, veterinary or dental school as well as for graduate programs in biomedical engineering.
Biotechnology Engineering – biotechnology at the micro- and nanoscale, food processing, food safety and security, developing new products from biomaterials, and biotransformation to synthesize industrial and pharmaceutical products.
Ecological Engineering – integrates ecological principles into the design of sustainable systems to treat, remediate, and prevent pollution to the environment. Applications include stream restoration, atershed management, water and wastewater treatment design, ecological services management, urban greenway design and enclosed ecosystem design. Each student is required to complete 18 semester hours of approved electives in his or her area of concentration. Six hours must be from the biological engineering design elective courses (listed below) from a single area of concentration. The remaining 12 hours are classified as technical electives and consist mainly of upper-division courses in engineering, mathematics, and the sciences as approved by the student’s adviser. The selected technical electives must include at least six hours of upper-level engineering courses, either within BENG or from other engineering departments. The department maintains a list of approved electives. The areas of technical concentration and the recommended elective courses for each are listed here.
