Core Course Requirements
The core courses provide a common foundation for all students, either from life science or physical science/engineering backgrounds.
Introduction to Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology should be taken in a student’s first semester if possible. Instrumentation and Laboratory Experience (3 credits) is designed to give students exposure to cutting-edge research methodology in a number of different areas, with a balance between biomedical engineering and biotechnology areas. The core mathematics requirement offers a choice for those from a physical science, engineering, mathematics background or a life sciences background. Quantitative Physiology (3 credits) helps integrate the curriculum for individuals with life science and engineering undergraduate backgrounds, permitting engineers and physical scientists an appreciation of how organisms function from the organ/system perspective and giving life scientists a more rigorous quantitative approach to physiology than is usual in undergraduate courses. Bioethics (1 credit) and Advanced Cell and Molecular Biology (3 credits) fill out the core requirements.
Specialization Options: 12 credits
Specialization courses help the student attain depth in focused areas. The BMEBT program organizes specialization opportunities under various options:
Biomedical Engineering Specialization Options
•Biomaterials: Tissue Engineering, Polymers/ Plastics, Fibers/Textiles, Nanotechnology
•Biomedical Information Systems: Bioinformatics, Genomics, Proteomics
•Biomedical Instrumentation: Clinical Sciences, Signal Processing, Sensors, Microprocessing, Manufacturing/ Quality Control
•Biomechanics: Biotransport, Cell Mechanics, Tissue/Organ Mechanics, Joint/Muscle Mechanics
•Medical Imaging: Optics, NMR, MRI, Acoustics, Cell Imaging
•Medical Physics/Radiological Sciences: Dosimetry, Shielding/ Protection, Nuclear
Instrumentation
Biotechnology Specialization Options
•Agricultural Biotechnology: Therapeutics, Pharmacology, Nutritional Biochemistry, Food Science Technology
•Bioprocessing/Applied Microbiology: Bioremediation, Fermentation, Biocatalysis, Applied Genetic Engineering
•Molecular Biotechnology: Clinical Sciences, Biochemical Applications, Diagnostics.
Faculty involved in each specialization will see to an appropriate combination of depth and breadth in the student’s selection of specialization courses. They may announce some structure to the course selections allowed within the area. With the approval of their advisor, students will select 12 credits of course work (minimum) from within one of the specializations. Any graduate course approved by the advisor may be used to satisfy this requirement. Some specialization options will require more than 12 credits.
Each campus participating in the BMEBT program offers its own emphases within this overall list of specializations. Not all of the specialization options or specific topics are available at the Dartmouth campus.
Capstone Requirement: 3 credits
As students transition from coursework to dissertation research, they undertake a capstone project course. This is designed to be a culminating experience in which the student synthesizes his/her course knowledge and experimental skills into a brief but detailed experimental study, which also involves cross- field interdisciplinary cooperation. Although in some cases this project may be done individually under the supervision of one faculty member, it is expected that students will join in a team-based, collaborative effort involving students from a number of different disciplines or post-doctoral fellows and industry representatives; and with intercampus participation.
Master of Science degree awarded: 31 credits accrued
Following successful presentation of the capstone project and with a minimum of 31 credits of completed or transferred in required and approved courses, students can be awarded the Master of Science degree as a Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology credential along the way toward the doctorate. Students interested in receiving the MS degree must indicate their interest to receive the degree at the beginning of the semester in which they intend to complete the requirements for the MS degree.
Students must have at least a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to receive the MS degree and advance to the Qualifying Examination.
Selection of Doctoral Dissertation Committee
As they move through this stage of their program, students will select their Doctoral Dissertation Committee, with one person as the major advisor. A committee must be formed in accordance with the guidelines for doctoral programs at UMass Dartmouth, as presented in this Catalogue. The advisor and at least one other dissertation committee member must be chosen from the approved Program Faculty of the Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology program. Having one member of a dissertation committee be an outside industry scientist or engineer is encouraged. Also, strongly recommended is for one’s committee to have one faculty member from a campus other than the candidate’s home campus. It is expected that all three members will not represent the same academic departmental affiliation. Each student’s committee is approved by the campus AACC, which will also approve any changes to a previously-approved committee.
Qualifying Examination
Students must pass a written qualifying examination that will cover questions on course work as well as experimental procedures the student has utilized. The qualifying examination will be administered and evaluated by program faculty selected by the AACC. The examination must be taken within one year after completion of the MS Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology requirements, or, for a student with advanced standing, within two years of entering the program. Doctoral students, in consultation with their advisor, will identify two topic areas in which to be examined. One of the topics must be primarily engineering/technological in nature (for example, solid mechanics), and another primarily biological in nature (for example, pathophysiology of musculoskeletal disorders). The examination will be in written form and given during two one-half days within a one- week period. Examinations for a given topic area will be designed to be completed within a three to four-hour period. The material covered by the exam may be designated as specific portions of courses, textbooks, and journal articles. Emphasis will be placed on the student’s ability to integrate information in the areas examined. Examinations for a given topic area will be graded Pass or Fail. Students who are unsuccessful in their first attempt in a given topic area may repeat it once. Failure to pass the examination on any topic area on the second attempt results in overall failure on the Qualifying Examination and dismissal from the PhD program.
Doctoral Seminar: 1 credit each/2 semesters
Doctoral students will present research in progress. The seminar will emphasize not only research but also communication and writing. Every active doctoral candidate will present her or his work in progress in the seminar, and in addition there will be at least two presentations from external speakers. Students will write summaries of each presentation. Course is graded pass-fail or satisfactory-unsatisfactory (depending on grading system in use on the campus). Students must complete this course in at least two different semesters.
Dissertation proposal (Oral Preliminary Examination)
Students must present for approval a written dissertation proposal and then defend it in an oral presentation to his or her dissertation committee. The dissertation proposal will follow the format established for NIH proposals, including the page limits, and will perform an extensive review of the literature on the student’s chosen topic, present original hypotheses, design experiments to test the hypotheses, document the appropriate methodology that will be used, project anticipated results, and indicate how such results might be interpreted. The proposal must show application to a current biomedical/ biotechnological problem. After successfully defending the dissertation proposal, the student attains the designation “doctoral candidate.” Failure to pass the defense of the dissertation proposal (oral examination) results in dismissal from the PhD program.
Dissertation course credits: 30 credits minimum
Doctoral students will register for a minimum of 30 credits of doctoral research with their faculty advisor (dissertation chair). They will use these credits during preparation and defense of the dissertation proposal, carrying out their dissertation research and preparation and defense of the doctoral dissertation.
Dissertation defense
The doctoral candidate will defend his/her written dissertation before the doctoral dissertation committee, the university, and the outside community. The specific format of the defense is usually decided by the committee chair, but a typical format consists of the PhD candidate first presenting an overview of the thesis research, then answering specific questions asked by the committee members. Questions may test anything from knowledge of the existing literature, to scrutinizing of the material and methods or experimental design, to the assumptions in the research, to the interpretation of the results, to recommendations for future work. If the candidate has worked closely with his or her advisor, and committee, it is likely that there will be no surprises at this final stage of the process. It is common, however for the committee to ask that certain minor revisions be made to the written dissertation before final submission to the library. Successful defense of the dissertation and presentation of the finished work to the library will result in the awarding of the PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology. Dissertations must be filed with Dissertation Abstracts International.
PhD Degree awarded: 63 credits total
Academic Sanctions - Dismissal and Continuation
Students must meet the UMass Dartmouth requirements for progression and quality. Faculty advisors monitor the progress of each Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology student through his or her core and specialization courses. If requirements are not met, a recommendation for dismissal is made by the AACC of the student’s campus to the administrators on the Program Oversight Committee (POC), and if the POC approves the dismissal the appropriate member will carry that action through on the student’s campus. A student thus dismissed may appeal the dismissal to the IACC, which will similarly recommend to the POC.
Admission and Standards
Applicants from many different science/engineering undergraduate programs are invited to apply. Because the degree brings together biomedical engineering with biotechnology, it is designed equally for students with life sciences or engineering/ physical science backgrounds. One’s specific background will be of less interest in determining qualification for entrance than will be one’s personal and career goals, demonstrated academic ability and research potential, and commitment to an interdisciplinary, team-work approach.
Applications will be accepted from individuals holding appropriate bachelor’s degrees or master’s degrees (or the US baccalaureate equivalents from a foreign institution). Applicants should have a background in life science, physical science, or engineering. All applicants must have taken a full year (two semester or three quarter sequence) of calculus, and the successful applicants will normally have had undergraduate coursework in statistics/experimental design and in life science/biomedical science.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact participating faculty to explore how they might fit into a specific specialization option before submitting their application and to report on the results of those contacts in their Statement of Purpose (see below).
Admission Standards
Applicants submit the following and are expected to meet the standards indicated:
- In general students with an overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher will be considered for admission. Applicants must present official undergraduate and graduate transcripts from all schools attended.
- Applicants accepted into the program should present a minimum Graduate Record Exam (GRE) combined verbal + quantitative score of 300. The AACC will also pay particular attention to the applicant’s score on the new GRE analytical writing section of the general examination because of the emphasis placed on strong writing skills in this program. Only official GRE scores from the Educational Testing Service will be considered acceptable.
- Applicants must have a minimum of two semesters of calculus and have strong quantitative skills.
- International applicants should present a minimum Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 72 TOEFL or a minimum IELTS score of 6. Only official scores from the Educational Testing Services will be considered acceptable.
- Three letters of recommendation, from individuals familiar with the applicant’s academic ability and potential to conduct original research at the doctoral level, will be required.
- Applicants will also be required to submit a Statement of Purpose (personal essay). This statement is an important element in the application packet. It has two related roles:
- Indication of an applicant’s qualifications and motivation for the program: Applicants should indicate their qualifications and motivation to undertake this program as well as their personal and career goals. Specifically, the statement should indicate the applicant’s background, research credentials, and career plans as they relate to the multidisciplinary nature of the doctorate, and discuss research experience (academic and industrial) and any publications, grants, or patents.
- Indication of how an applicant will fit into the program: Applicants should indicate their specific areas of interest within Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, so that a fit between their interests and qualifications and the specific specialization options that the program offers can be determined. If the applicant has a specific interest in working with one or more of the program’s faculty, he/she should describe that specific interest and identify those faculty members.
The Statement of Purpose should also exemplify the applicant’s writing skills.
- We invite applicants also to submit a personal résumé.
Individual circumstances can be taken into account, and extraordinary qualifications in some areas can be used to outweigh weaknesses in others. The GRE can be waived by petition to the AACC for applicants with a prior graduate degree from an accredited US institution; an application without the GRE must demonstrate exceptional potential.
Admissions decisions are made at the campus level, under the purview of each campus’s Admissions/Advising/Curriculum Committee (AACC). Each campus will follow the admissions standards agreed on for the program and ratified through the Intercampus Academic Coordinating Committee (IACC). However, a campus wishing, for special reasons, to accept an applicant who does not meet minimum admissions standards set for the program by the IACC may request from the IACC a waiver of those standards in that specific case.
Along with an admissions decision comes consideration of the appropriate program of courses for the applicant. The interdisciplinary nature of our program gives special importance to the advising relationship in forming a specific academic program to meet each student’s specific goals. Applicants may be offered admission with a number of courses identified as conditional requirements that they will need to take to fill in for gaps in preparation or knowledge. Each admitted student is assigned to a faculty advisor, who is identified in the letter of admission. Acceptance into the program is subject to the availability of appropriate advisors.
Admission Process
It is a UMass BMEBT program principle that applicants apply to the graduate admissions office of the campus that they seek as their “home campus.” This will be the campus of the faculty member anticipated to be the student’s major advisor and possible future dissertation research director. Generally, applicants will apply only to one campus. Those applicants who are unsure of their intended campus should engage in conversations with prospective faculty mentors in order to make a probable determination. Applicants unsure of their choice of campus may trust that the four participating campuses will cooperate in sharing information about applicants. The participating campuses will take special care that the applications of well-qualified applicants who would not fit the specific specializations or faculty availability of the campus to which they apply will be forwarded for consideration by faculty on other participating campuses.
Those considering the UMass Dartmouth campus should learn about campus options by contacting the program co-directors. Applicants should discuss any plans that they form through those discussions in their Statement of Purpose in the application packet.
UMass Dartmouth will announce admissions decision dates for fall and spring semester entrance. Although applications may be accepted by the campus after those dates, available spaces in the program may have already been committed. The same dates will serve as preferred deadlines for financial assistance consideration, after which applicants will risk significant reductions in the availability of assistantship support. We reserve the right to offer admission and assistantships to top applicants before the announced deadlines.
Transfer of Credits/Advanced Standing
Students who have previously completed graduate course work may transfer up to six credits, following the UMass Dartmouth graduate transfer policies. The transfer credit may replace core or specialization course requirements. The project/directed studies, seminar, and dissertation research credits will not be accepted for transfer from institutions outside of the UMass system.
Students may also have core courses waived without transfer of course credit. Students would still be responsible for the full credits required of each degree (31 credits for the MS and 63 credits for the PhD), but would not have to take the waived course.
Students who join the program with an earned master’s degree may receive Advanced Standing in the doctoral program. The number of credits required to complete the PhD will be determined in individual advisement, but at a minimum 9 course (core or specialization) credits, the capstone project course (3 credits), doctoral seminar (taken twice, 1 credit each) and 30 dissertation research credits will be required. Advanced Standing students will be required to pass the Qualifying Examination before progressing to the dissertation stage. Students who enter the program with advanced standing will not earn the MS degree.
Advising
Campus AACC’s are responsible for overseeing the advising components of the program, which are initiated while each student is still an applicant. Students will be assigned a faculty advisor when they are accepted into the program. The initial faculty advisor will either be a member of the AACC or a program faculty member appropriate to the applicant’s Statement of Purpose.
After the student’s first year in the program, s/he may want to change to a new advisor who fits the student’s research interest and is likely to become the chair of the student’s dissertation committee. Occasionally, a student may ask to change to a new advisor on a different home campus. The AACC of the new campus must assent to the move and verify that an advisor is assigned and other appropriate arrangements are made. The transfer should then be presented to the IACC for its approval, and if it does approve, notification will go to the POC so that the administrators for the campuses affected can arrange for transfer of registration and academic records, and address other student status issues.
Registration Across Campuses
UMass campuses collaborate to permit joint-program students, like those in the BMEBT, at one campus to take courses at another with a minimum of effort. In brief, UMass Dartmouth BMEBT students go to our Registrar’s Office to register and pay for a course offered at another campus (offered either on that campus or by distance learning). That campus provides evidence of course completion, and grades as well as credit are shown on the UMass Dartmouth transcript.
Financial Assistance
A limited number of assistantships are available on a competitive basis. Applicants desiring teaching or research assistantships should submit completed applications by March 15th. Other assistance, such as loans or work study, may be available to you. Please refer to the chapter on “Expenses and Financial Assistance.”
Almost all assistantship support in this program comes in the form of Research Assistantships. Applicants are invited to contact faculty about opportunities for Research Assistantships.
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