Welcome from the Chair
Welcome to the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University! On March 1 of this year, I had the honor of becoming the fifth Chairman of Biomedical Engineering at Case and it is with great enthusiasm that I look forward to working with the university and faculty to lead the new vision for the department. As most of you know, Biomedical Engineering is one of the most challenging and rewarding of the engineering fields and we have a longstanding track record in producing the best and brightest in the field. We are also one of the most experienced BME programs in the nation. Since 1968, we have worked diligently to earn our ranking as the ninth best Biomedical Engineering Department in the country by U.S. News and World Report for 2008. Our goal is to move to the top five in five years. Our vision for the future to achieve this and other goals is young and bold. First, we have initiated an active faculty recruitment campaign with plans to bring in four additional faculty in the areas of imaging (2), tissue engineering, and neural engineering. We will be creating new programs and opportunities in the highly regarded Case School of Medicine. Specifically, this year we will be beginning our first expansion of new faculty, space and resources into the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. We believe that with our 6th place ranking in NIH funding, we can achieve our primary goal of graduating engineers and scientists whose extensive training will help define biomedical engineering for the future and benefit the world community of the 21st century. More details are found below.
Building on the accomplishments of our world-class faculty, our student body comprises the best and brightest from 17 countries. Currently, we have approximately 300 undergraduate students and 120 graduate students in our program. Revitalizing our undergraduate students’ experiences continues to be the primary focus of the department. Based on our belief that an early introduction to research skills and the design process will develop more creative engineers, we encourage undergraduates early in their academic careers to work on research projects with faculty advisors. Hence, a primary goal of the next year is initiation of Phase II of the Wickenden Building renovation, that will include new undergraduate computer and biomedical instrumentation laboratories. Our award-winning students consistently take the knowledge gained from faculty-taught classes and faculty-directed research projects and convert it into peer-review articles, seminars, and national and international conference posters and presentations, and compete for (and oftentimes win!) national/international student competitions.
As one of only 10 university BME programs nationwide to partner with the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation for Translation and Innovation Research, our faculty benefits from the unique opportunity to collaborate closely with renowned clinical researchers to bring interdisciplinary engineering discoveries and biomedical applications directly from bench to bedside. This program, and the permanent endowment that will be created with our success, will enable us to create a culture of innovation, development and translation to patient care to impact not only our research mission but also our student educational experiences.
We are in the midst of creating a strategic plan that promises to enhance all facets of our program. This process should lead to new priorities, new ideas for undergraduate teaching, new types of undergraduate research laboratory experiences and graduate training that will lead to our Ph.D. gradates continuing to being the most highly sought after in academia or industry.
We thank you for visiting our website. We urge you to make a comprehensive examination of all pages. “Visit” each faculty member, investigate his or her research; visit the students, get their appraisal of our program and the BME student organizations; then visit us in person and experience our outstanding location within walking distance of 2 world-class hospital systems and numerous world-renowned cultural institutions
Please call 216-368-4063 or email bmedept@case.edu with any questions.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Jeffrey L. Duerk, Ph.D.
Chairman, Biomedical Engineering
Director, Case Center for Imaging Research
Case Western Reserve University
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