Biomedical Engineering

An Interdisciplinary Curriculum

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Dr. Kirk Schultz, Dean

Dr. Roger L. King, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Dr. William Batchelor, Department Head

Dr. Steven Elder, Graduate Coordinator

100 Ag and Bio Engineering Bldg

662-325-3282

selder@abe.msstate.edu

The interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering program is administered through Agricultural and Biological Engineering for the College of Engineering .  Programs of study and research leading to both the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Biomedical Engineering are available.  Biomedical Engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering principles to study and finds solutions for problems associated with the human body, medicine, and the health care field.  At MSU, students can concentrate on research in biomaterials and biomechanics, tissue engineering, ergonomics/human factors, biosimulation/modeling, and other areas.  

Admission Criteria—Regular admission into the M.S. or Ph.D. programs requires that the student meet the admission requirements of the Office of Graduate Studies, have an undergraduate engineering or approved computer science (or remedial engineering course work), submit GRE scores, submit TOEFL scores if applicable, receive a positive recommendation by the coordinating committee of the biomedical engineering graduate committee, and be accepted as a student by a member of the biomedical engineering graduate faculty.  The student must have a 3.00 grade point average or higher and, if applicable, a TOEFL score of 600 or greater.  Special arrangements for early pre-selection/admission of undergraduate students will be made for engineering students from Jackson State University and science and math students from The Mississippi School of Math and Science.  A student entering the Ph.D. program should have a M.S. in an engineering discipline.  Special consideration may be given to exceptional students with a B.S. degree in engineering who may wish to bypass the M.S. in completing the requirements for the doctoral degree. 

Program of Study/Completion Requirements—The M.S. degree requires 24 semester hours credit above the baccalaureate degree, at least half of which must be from 8000 level courses or above.  In addition, six or more research/thesis credit hours are required.  As part of the 24 course work hours students must take: ABE 8501, ABE 8801, BIO 6514 or BIO 6114, and ST 8114.   An oral comprehensive examination, and a thesis are required.  The Ph.D. degree requires that the student pass a preliminary exam, a dissertation, a minimum of 48 course work hours beyond the B.S., and 20-32 research hours (for a total of 80 hours).  In addition to the required course list for M.S. students, a Ph.D. student must also take a graduate-level mathematics course, or approved substitute, such as an additional graduate level statistics course.

The graduate committee for each M.S. and Ph.D. student will be composed of a minimum of four and five faculty members, respectively.  Faculty members on the graduate Biomedical Engineering faculty hold appoints in departments in the College of Engineering at MSU, the Department of Chemistry at MSU, the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at MSU, the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at MSU, and in departments of the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) in Jackson, MS.  The following requirements for a M.S. graduate committee will apply:  chair must be an MSU engineering faculty member, one member must be a clinician (CVM faculty, UMC faculty, or practicing clinician), two or more members must be engineers, and two or more members must be MSU faculty members.  The following requirements for a Ph.D. graduate committee will apply:  chair must be an MSU engineering faculty member, one member must be a clinician (CVM faculty, UMC faculty, or practicing clinician), three or more members must be engineers, and three or more members must be MSU faculty members.

Provisional Admission—If an applicant does not fully meet the admission requirements of the program, it may be possible for that student to be provisionally admitted.  If provisionally admitted, the student must attain a 3.00 GPA on the first nine hours of graduate courses taken at Mississippi State University .  Transfer hours or unclassified graduate hours cannot be used.  If a 3.00 GPA is not attained, the student may be dismissed from the graduate program. 

If a student applying to the M.S. program does not have an undergraduate degree in engineering or an approved C.S. degree, the student will be required to complete approximately 45-48 hours of prerequisite course work in mathematics, the sciences, and engineering.  The student will be granted contingent admission until the course requirement has been satisfied.  If a student applying to the Ph.D. program does not have a B.S. or M.S. in engineering or C.S., the same set of 45-48 hours of courses will be required before the student is fully admitted.

Academic Performance—Unsatisfactory performance in the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering is defined as any of the following:  failure to maintain a B average in attempted graduate courses after admission to the program; a grade of U, D, or F in any one course; more than two grades below a B; failure of the preliminary exam (Ph.D. students only); failure of the research defense; unsatisfactory evaluation of a thesis or dissertation; or failure of a required component of the program of study.  Any one of these or a combination of these will constitute the basis for review for possible dismissal.  The graduate coordinator will review the record along with the student’s graduate committee and take a final course of action which will be recommendation for immediate dismissal or the establishment of a probationary period in which corrective action must take place.  Appeal of dismissal can be made by submitting a written appeal statement to the department head.  If the dismissal is upheld by the department head upon the student’s appeal, the student can then submit a written appeal to the dean of the College of Engineering . 

For further information about the program, contact the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program Coordinating Committee, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Box 9632 , Mississippi State , MS   39762 or send an e-mail to abe-head@abe.msstate.edu.  Information can also be found on the Ag and Bio Engineering website at http://www.abe.msstate.edu.

Selected Courses for the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program:

ABE 6312      Biosystem Environments II. 2 hours

ABE 6423      Bioinstrumentation II. 3 hours

ABE 6513      Dynamics of Aging. 3 hours

ABE 6523      Biomedical Materials. 3 hours

ABE 6624      Experimental Methods in Materials Research. 4 hours

ABE 6613      Biomechanics. 3 hours

ABE 6633      Rehabilitation Engineering. 3 hours

ABE 6803      Biosystems Simulation. 3 hours

ABE 8314      Corrosion of Biomedical Implants. 4 hours

ABE 8324      Failure Analysis of Metallic Medical Implants. 4 hours

ABE 8501      Journal Reviews in Biomedical Engineering ^{a, b}. 1 hour 

ABE 8801      Clinical Experience for Biomedical Engineering ^{a, b}. 1 hour

ABE 8911      Agricultural and Biological Engineering Seminar. 1 hour

BIO 6514       Animal Physiology ^{a , b, c}. 4 hours

BIO 6114       Cellular Physiology. 4 hours

BIO 8104       Experimental Molecular Biology. 4 hours

BIO 8133       Advanced Cell Biology. 3 hours

CHE 6323      High Polymer Theory and Practice. 3 hours

CME 8113     Computational Geometry. 3 hours

CPE 8813      Digital Image Processing. 3 hours

CSE 6633      Artificial Intelligence. 3 hours

CSE 8663      Neural Computing. 3 hours

ECE 6723      Microprocessors. 3 hours

EM 6213       Advanced Mechanics of Materials. 3 hours

EPP 8223      Scanning Electron Microscopy. 3 hours

IE 6113         Human Factors Engineering. 3 hours

IE 6133         Ergonomics. 3 hours

MA 8203       Foundations of Applied Math I. 3 hours

MA 8213       Foundations of Applied Math II. 3 hours

ME 8243       Finite Elements in Mechanical Engineering. 3 hours

ST 8814         Design and Analysis of Experiments ^{a , b} . 4 hours ^a  all M.S. students must take these courses ^b all Ph.D. students must take these     courses plus one graduate-level mathematics course or approved  ^c or BIO 6114 Cellular Physiology