Biomedical Engineering (BSE)

4 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of Connecticut

Program Overview

UConn's Biomedical Engineering program blends core engineering fundamentals with biology and medicine, letting you specialize in one of four focused tracks — Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Computational and Systems Biology, Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, or Systems, Imaging and Instrumentation. It's built for students who want to design the technology behind modern healthcare — from medical devices to diagnostic imaging — while graduating with a credential that opens doors to both industry and advanced study.

Curriculum Structure

Year One builds your science and engineering foundation with ENGR 1166: Foundations of Engineering, BIOL 1107: Principles of Biology I, and general chemistry coursework, giving you the calculus and lab science base everything else in the program depends on.

Year Two deepens that foundation with CHEM 1128Q: General Chemistry II, CE 2110: Applied Mechanics I, ECE 2001: Electrical Circuits, and PNB 2264: Human Physiology and Anatomy, pairing core physics and circuits knowledge with a direct look at how the human body actually works.

Year Three is where BME-specific training kicks in through BME 3120: LabVIEW Basics for Engineers and BME 3900: Junior Design, alongside your track's core courses — for example, BME 3600: Biomechanics and BME 3700: Biomaterials for the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering track, or BME 3400: Biosystem Analysis and BME 4201: Introduction to Medical Imaging for the Systems, Imaging and Instrumentation track.

Year Four culminates in the two-course capstone sequence BME 4900: Biomedical Engineering Design I and BME 4910W: Biomedical Engineering Design II, where you apply everything you've learned to a full engineering design project, alongside your remaining track electives (like BME 4710: Tissue Engineering or BME 4810: Machine Learning Methods for Biomedical Signal Analysis, depending on your track).

Focus Areas: Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Computational and Systems Biology, Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, and Systems, Imaging and Instrumentation.

Learning Outcomes: Graduates are prepared to engage in professional practice as biomedical engineers and/or biomedical scientists in occupational settings involving human health and well-being, to advance in their professional careers, and to pursue continued professional development or post-graduate education in biomedical engineering or related fields.

Professional Alignment (Accreditation): The program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, under the commission's General Criteria and Program Criteria for Bioengineering and Biomedical and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

Reputation: UConn's College of Engineering was ranked No. 58 nationally in U.S. News & World Report's 2026 graduate engineering rankings, with its programs approaching the top 30 among public universities (No. 31) after climbing 13 spots since 2015.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

UConn's BME program is uniquely positioned across three schools — Engineering, Dental Medicine, and Medicine — giving students access to clinically relevant research and real hospital-adjacent exposure most undergrad programs can't offer. With 33 BME faculty members spanning the Storrs and UConn Health campuses, students train in hands-on labs from day one and finish with a full two-semester capstone design experience:

Core lab & software training: BME 3120: LabVIEW Basics for Engineers, giving students industry-standard instrumentation and data acquisition skills
Group/team-based capstone project: The two-course senior design sequence BME 4900 and BME 4910W (Biomedical Engineering Design I & II), where students work in teams to design, build, and present a full biomedical engineering solution — following on from BME 3900: Junior Design in year three
Internships: Supported through the College of Engineering's Experiential Education office and UConn's Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills; past engineering interns have worked at organizations like Raytheon, Pratt and Whitney, General Dynamics Electric Boat, NASA, and the State of Connecticut
Clinical exposure: Direct ties to UConn Health and the School of Dental Medicine give BME students access to clinically relevant, translational research most engineering programs don't offer
Research facilities: Access to the UConn Innovation Partnership Building (IPB), a cross-disciplinary applied research facility spanning biomedical devices, manufacturing, and cybersecurity, plus the Center for Advanced Microscopy and Materials Analysis (CAMMA) and the Institute of Materials Science, both supporting biomaterials and biomedical device research
Student organizations: Groups like the Biomedical Engineering Society and Engineering World Health, which connect students to service-oriented and industry-facing project work
Track specialization courses: Hands-on, lab-based coursework specific to each track, such as BME 3500: Biomedical Engineering Measurements, BME 4500: Bioinstrumentation, and BME 3700: Biomaterials
Career support: UConn's Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills offers career coaching, Handshake access, and engineering-specific career fairs and resources through career.uconn.edu/experiential-learning

Progression & Future Opportunities

UConn BME graduates go on to apply engineering and analytical techniques directly to human health, working across medical device design, clinical settings, and regulatory affairs. Typical career paths include Clinical Engineer, Biomechanics Engineer, Medical Device Engineer, and Research Scientist: here's how UConn sets that up.

Career services support: UConn's Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills provides career coaching, Handshake job/internship postings, career fairs, and dedicated "Engineering, Data, and Science" career community resources
Employment & outcomes stats: UConn publishes annual undergraduate outcomes data (2025 Undergraduate Outcomes At-A-Glance) tracking employment and continuing education rates across majors, available through the Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills
University–industry partnerships: The UConn Innovation Partnership Building connects students and faculty with industry partners on biomedical device research, and engineering internships have placed students at organizations including Raytheon, Pratt and Whitney, General Dynamics Electric Boat, and NASA
Long-term accreditation value: ABET accreditation under the Engineering Accreditation Commission's Bioengineering and Biomedical Program Criteria gives the degree lasting recognition with employers and graduate programs
Graduation outcomes: Common career paths for graduates include biomechanics, clinical engineering, manufacturing, medical devices, patient care, product development, quality control, regulatory affairs, research, and systems engineering; alumni have also gone on to medical schools including Boston University, Georgetown, Tufts, Yale, and UConn's own medical school

Further Academic Progression: UConn's Biomedical Engineering Department offers a clear path to keep building on your degree with its Master of Science and Ph.D. programs in Biomedical Engineering, plus a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) with a Biomedical Engineering concentration — recently ranked No. 36 nationally by U.S. News for its online offering. Graduates commonly pursue further study in bioinstrumentation, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical science, robotics, or medicine itself, with UConn BME alumni having gone on to top medical schools nationwide.