Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education

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NIH R25 (PAR-19-215) “Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education” Abstract The typical undergraduate Biomedical Engineering (BMED) curriculum includes a broad base of coursework in math, biology, chemistry, physics, and general engineering – typically serviced by other departments, before beginning – what students often call – their “real” BMED education in their third year in the program. We have developed a Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Partnership (BiCEP) program to provide clinically-relevant team-based design experiences at every level of the curriculum. Projects and experiences seed and germinate, feeding additional entrepreneurial opportunities beyond the core undergraduate curriculum. At the core of the BiCEP program consists of two parts: i) Summer Immersion in Design Experience (SIDE) course focusing on the device design and development process and entrepreneurship in the biomedical space, and ii) a Clinical Immersion Experience (CLINEX) program that engages students with clinical mentors in a hospital setting. Combining these experiences for students between their 2nd and 3rd years of the program provides a contextual bridge between their varied lower-division coursework and their more integrative upper-division core courses in the BMED program. Observing procedures in clinical and hospital settings, and engaging with their clinical mentors, students will develop a project idea and carry it through needs finding, ideation/brainstorming, and prototyping phases. SIDE coursework will scaffold their clinical experiences, providing a forum for sharing clinical observations and aid the development of their projects. Multiplying the impact of the SIDE, students and faculty will develop projects to integrate in to coursework at every stage of the BMED program. Clinical observations and ideation activities in first year introductory major courses, prototyping activities in second year design and manufacturing coursework, modeling projects in third year simulation and analysis coursework, and most importantly, SIDE participants and clinical mentors will act as “clients” for our capstone senior design projects in the fourth year of the program. Successful projects at the capstone level are further expanded into graduate level projects through our Master’s Project Track and/or engaged with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for student-led business creation, acceleration, and incubation. The goal of this program is to integrate the clinical and medical context with design experiences throughout the BMED curriculum.