Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering

The Ph.D. program in Biomedical Engineering is offered by UND and North Dakota State University (NDSU).  The program is offered jointly by UND’s College of Engineering and Mines, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and NDSU’s College of Engineering.

Every Ph.D. student will be associated with at least one of the following Biomedical Research Groups (BRGs):

  • Biomechanics
  • Biomaterials
  • Bio-instrumentation
  • Multi-scale, bio-system simulation and modeling
  • Bio-Signals
  • Other emerging areas as identified

The student’s graduate committee must consist of at least one faculty member from NDSU.

Program Requirements

This program prepares students who have a strong interest in gaining in-depth knowledge in biomedical engineering at the graduate level. Specific requirements over and above the general UND Academic Catalog requirements are listed below.

Minimum Admission Requirements

  1. Bachelor of Science degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program; or
  2. Students holding a B.S. degree in other disciplines may be admitted to Qualified Status with an obligation to acquire the necessary background undergraduate engineering knowledge. The exact requirements will be determined on a case-by-case basis
  3. Minimum GPA is 3.0 (4.0 scale) is required. Conditional admittance may be obtained for GPAs less than 3.0.

Degree Requirements (total 90 credits)

Required:
Anatomy-Physiology (3-6 credits) from the following:
EE 590 (Physiology and Anatomy for Biomedical Engineers)6
or
BIOL 660 (NDSU - Animal Physiology)3
Seminar (3-6 credits, 1 credit per semester) taken from the following:
ENGR 562Seminar in Engineering1
EE 5701
ENGR 790 (NDSU - Seminar)1
Classes related to BRG12-15
Dissertation6-30
Electives:
Graduate Preparation, e.g., Grant Writing3-6
Internship (industrial, clinical or research lab)3-6
Electives:1-36
Elective courses (approved by advisor)up to 36

Note: A maximum of 30 credits can be transferred from a M.S. program.

If a student is assigned to more than one BRG, he/she can take courses in those BRGs to satisfy required classes.

The following courses may be considered for the above BRGs:

Bioinstrumentation BRG

EE 5393
EE 456Digital Image Processing3
EE 521Digital Signal Processing3
BME 5453
BME 5503
ECE 683 (NDSU - Instrumentation for Engineers)3
ECE 685 (NDSU - Biomedical Engineering)3
ECE 796 (NDSU - Biomedical Photonics)3

Biomaterials BRG

ME 490Special Laboratory Problems1-3
BME 5453
CHE 593ASpecial Topics (Biochemical Engineering)1-3
CHEM 665 (NDSU - Principles of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics)3
ECE 685 (NDSU - Biomedical Engineering)3
ECE 701 (NDSU - Quantitative Drug Design)2
CE 725 (NDSU - Introduction to Biomaterials, Materials in Biomedical Engineering)3
MN 785 (NDSU - Biocompatibility Testing)3
MN 786 (NDSU - Tissue Engineering)3

Biomechanics BRG

ME 439Introduction to Robotics3
ME 490Special Laboratory Problems1-3
ME 529Advanced Finite Element Methods3
BME 5453
ECE 485 (NDSU - Biomedical Engineering)3
ME 668 (NDSU - Introduction to Biomechanics)3
ME 680 (NDSU - Biofluid Mechanics)3
ME 743 (NDSU - Biomechanics of Impact)3
ME 755 (NDSU - Fluid Mechanics for Bio/Nanotechnologies)3

Biosignals BRG

EE 456Digital Image Processing3
EE 508Intelligent Decision Systems3
EE 521Digital Signal Processing3
EE 5393
BME 5453
EE 590 (Engineering Computation)3
EE 590 (Biomedical Signal Processing)3
ECE 685 (NDSU - Biomedical Engineering)3

Multi-Scale System Simulation and Modeling BRG

BME 5453
ECE 685 (NDSU - Biomedical Engineering)3
ECE 687 (NDSU - Cardiovasclar Engineering I)3
ECE 688 (NDSU - Advanced Cardiovascular Engineering II)3

List of Elective Courses:

In addition to the following list, BRG courses can be considered as elective courses.

PPT 500Principles of Physiology and Pharmacology6
PPT 503Advanced Pharmacology or Physiology3
PPT 505Research Techniques1-3
BIMD 510Basic Biomedical Statistics2
BIMD 516Responsible Conduct of Research2
NURS 510Adv Physiology/Pathophysiology I3
NURS 511Adv Physiology/Pathophys II3
NURS 573Research Funding3
BIOC 673 (NDSU - Methods of Biochemical Research)3
BIOC 716 (NDSU - Biochemistry of Proteins and Enzymes)4
CPM 771 (NDSU - Methods of Polymer Characterization)3
CHEM 685 (NDSU - Industrial Biotechnology)2
PSCI 611 (NDSU - Pharmacodynamics and Applied Therapeutics)3
NURS 702 (NDSU - Ethics/Policy)
NURS 706 (NDSU - Healthcare Delivery Systems, Financing, & Informatics)
NURS 714 (NDSU - Advanced Pathophysiology I)
NURS 716 (NDSU - Advanced Pathophysiology II)
PHARM 685 (NDSU - Economic Outcomes Assessment)

Other classes as deemed appropriate by student’s advisory committee