The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently approved the creation of a new undergraduate major in biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia. Though the University has a strong and long-established graduate program in biomedical engineering, it had not previously offered a bachelor's degree in this emerging field.
Thomas C. Skalak, chair of the graduate department, said the burgeoning discipline is the "most exciting field in the coming 100 years," citing the rapid progress in medical research following the completion of the mapping of the human genome as a catalyst for the field as a whole. Approximately 45 third-year Engineering students are expected to receive degrees in the new major in 2005, and the department expects roughly 50 undergraduates per class to major in biomedical engineering, Skalak said. He added that it is possible that the department will "simply take off," as have similar new departments at leading universities nationwide.
The faculty for the undergraduate program will be comprised of professors from both the Medical School and the Engineering School, as well as a number of anticipated new professors from a hiring phase initiated to augment the department, Undergraduate Program Director William Walker said.
Because of this collaboration of individuals from various fields of study, the new major will be classified as inter-disciplinary, Walker said, stressing the importance of assuring that students entering into the sciences be endowed with the "technical vocabulary" essential to making new advances in fields which do not strictly fall within the domain of any one field.
"Recently, the big advances have tended to happen in team efforts, drawing from people of differing backgrounds," Walker said.
The establishment of the new major has been funded by the Whitaker Foundation, a private group that works nationwide to support biomedical engineering research and found facilities and departments at leading institutions across the country, Walker said. The University has benefited extensively in recent years from generous private grants from this foundation, and has recently completed a new state-of-the-art facility, MR-5, from additional funds from the Whitaker Foundation.
Walker stressed the intention of the undergraduate faculty to attempt to maintain relatively low numbers of undergraduates within the major, approximately 50 students per class, in order to foster a close relationship between the students and professors of the biomedical engineering department.
The new major will be kick-off today with a party on the Lawn, Skalak said.
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