Biomedical Data Science Minor

The Minor in Biomedical Data Science is designed to integrate data science principles — preparing, transforming, modeling, visualizing, validating and communicating data — with the unique challenges and considerations of medicine and health care.  The curriculum encompasses: (1) fundamental mathematics concepts such as linear algebra, probability, statistics, and computer modeling; (2) specialized data science education necessary to practically approach the particular challenges of genomic data, sensor data, and healthcare data; and (3) learning the ethical considerations of privacy, equity, and access unique to medical data sharing and analysis.

A minor in Biomedical Data Science requires the completion of 18 units selected from the following menus. McKelvey Engineering students of all disciplines, as well as students majoring in biology, physics, neuroscience, or other sciences, are ideal candidates for this minor.  All courses must be taken with a credit option to qualify for the minor.

Curriculum 

Core Biomedical Engineering Courses (all must be completed):

1. BME 231: Foundations of Biomedical Computing (Spring), No prerequisite. First offering SP22
2. BME 440: Biomedical Data Science (Fall), Prerequisite: BME 231, starting FA22
3. BME 4015: Senior Capstone – Data Science (Spring), Prerequisite: BME440.  First offering SP23

Mathematics Course (must complete one from this list):

1. MEMS 201: Numerical Methods and Matrix Algebra (Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 217
2. ESE 318: Engineering Mathematics A (Fall/Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 233 and MATH 217 or equivalent
3. MATH 309: Matrix Algebra (Fall/Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 131

Probability and Statistics Course (must complete one from this list):

1. ESE 326 or Engr 328: Probability and Statistics for Engineering (Fall/Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 233 or equivalent
2. SDS 2200 or MATH 2200: Elementary Probability and Statistics (Fall/Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 131
3. SDS 3200 or MATH 3200: Elementary to Intermediate Statistics and Data Analysis (Fall/Spring), Prerequisite: MATH 132

Biomedical Engineering Upper Level Elective (must complete one from this list):

1. BME 470 : Mathematics of Imaging Science (Fall), Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
2. BME 472: Biological Neural Computation (Spring), Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
3. BME 519: Advanced Cognitive, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience (Spring), Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
4. BME 533: Biomedical Signal Processing (Spring), Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
5. CSE 554A: Geometric Computing for Biomedicine (Fall), Prerequisite: CSE 332 (or proficiency in programming in C++ or Java or Python) and CSE 247.

Course lists here are current as of December 2023. Additional courses may be added to these lists as new courses are developed. Questions about the biomedical data science minor can be addressed to Prof. Patricia Widder.