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Undergraduate Programs
Curriculum
The Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis requires students to complete all of the courses in the core curriculum, five upper-level engineering electives (two from Tier I and three from Tier II), five humanity/social science electives and three general electives.
Students must also meet all McKelvey School of Engineering and WashU requirements (including the English composition requirement) and, to satisfy ABET requirements for a professional degree, must accrue 47 engineering topics credits over their coursework. The total BME curriculum requires a total of 120 credit hours.
Curriculum Core
Physical Sciences (18 credit hours)
- Chem 1701: General Chemistry I (3 credit hours)
- Chem 1702: General Chemistry II (3 credit hours)
- Chem 1751: Chemistry Lab I (2 credit hours)
- Chem 1752: Chemistry Lab II (2 credit hours)
- Physics 1740: Physics I (3 credit hours)
- Physics 1741: Physics I Lab (1 credit hour)
- Physics 1742: Physics II (3 credit hours)
- Physics 1743: Physics II Lab (1 credit hour)
Biological Sciences (7 credit hours)
- Biol 2960: Principles of Biology I (4 credit hours)
- Biol 3057: Physiological Control Systems (3 credit hours)
Mathematics (18 credit hours)
- Math 1520: Calculus II (3 credit hours)
- Math 2130: Calculus III (3 credit hours)
- Math 2500: Differential Equations (3 credit hours)
- ENGR 3180: Engineering Mathematics A (3 credit hours)
- ENGR 3190: Engineering Mathematics B (3 credit hours)
- ENGR 3280: Engineering Statistics with Probability (3 credit hours)*
*ESE 3260 Probability and Statistics for Engineering can be substituted for ENGR 3280 Engineering Statistics With Probability.
Engineering Science (12 credit hours)
- ENGR 1201: Introduction to Engineering Computing (3 credit hours)
- Three Tier II courses (9 credit hours)
Biomedical Engineering (35 credit hours)
- BME 1400: Intro to Biomedical Engineering (3 credit hours)
- BME 2200: Intro to Biomedical Circuits (4 credit hours)
- BME 2400: Biomechanics (3 credit hours)
- BME 2401: Biomechanics Lab (1 credit hour)
- BME 3010: Quantitative Physiology I (4 credit hours)
- BME 3015: Quantitative Physiology II (4 credit hours)
- BME 3200: Bioengineering Thermodynamics (3 credit hours)
- BME 3660: Transport (3 credit hours)
- BME 4970: Senior Capstone Design A (2 credit hours)
- BME 4971: Senior Capstone Design B (2 credit hours)
- Two Tier I courses (6 credit hours)
Other (30 credit hours)
- Humanities/Social Sciences (H/SS) (18 credit hours)**
- General electives (13 credit hours)
**3 units of H/SS must be CWP 150x: College Writing (H). This course may not be taken Pass/No Pass.
Tier I
Some Tier I courses may not be offered every year. Students should verify that a course is offered in a particular semester by using the BME Tier I tag in Workday.
| BME 3290 | Biothermodynamics in Practice (spring) | Schreiber |
| BME 4191 | AI-Augmented Neuromedical Data Science (fall) | Barbour |
| BME 4320 | Physics of Biopolymers and Bioinspired Polymers (spring) | Pappu |
| BME 4400 | Biomedical Data Science (fall) | Silva, Widder, Raman |
| BME 4420 | Biomacromolecules Design and Engineering (spring) | Rudra, Schreiber |
| BME 4710 | Bioelectric Phenomena (fall) | Moran |
| BME 4790 | Biofabrication & Medical Devices (fall) | Rutz, Schreiber |
| BME 5230 | Biomaterials Science (fall) | Huebsch, Schreiber |
| BME 5330 | Biomedical Signal Processing (spring) | Hu |
| BME 5430 | Molecular and Cellular Engineering (spring) | Vahey, Schreiber |
| BME 5440 | Biomedical Instrumentation (spring) | Zhu |
| BME 5501 | Translational Neuroengineering | Moran |
| BME 5642 | Human-Machine Interfaces (fall) | Seáñez |
| BME 5650 | Biosolid Mechanics (fall) | Setton |
| BME 5690 | Cardiac Electrophysiology (fall) | Zemlin |
| BME 5700 | Mathematics of Imaging Science (fall) | Jha |
| BME 5720 | Biological Neural Computation (spring) | Raman |
| BME 5750 | Molecular Basis of Bioelectrical Excitation (fall) | Cui |
| BME 5780 | Engineering for Women's Health (fall) | O'Brien |
| BME 5910 | Biomedical Optics I: Principles (fall) | Zhu |
| BME 5940 | Ultrasound Imaging (fall) | Chen |
| MEMS 5508 | Image-based Measurement of Shape, Motion, and Deformation (spring) | Bersi |
| MEMS 5564 | Orthopaedic Biomechanics- Cartilage/Tendon (spring) | Lake |
| MEMS 5565 | Mechanobiology of Cells and Matrices (fall) | Pathak |
| MEMS 5566 | Engineering Mechanobiology (fall) | Genin |
| MEMS 5613 | Biomaterials Processing (spring) | Guan |
Double Majors
Students majoring in biomedical engineering may choose to double major within the McKelvey School of Engineering, leading to a second professional Bachelor of Science degree in one of the other engineering disciplines in four years. Depending upon the second major chosen, total unit requirements may range from 140 to 148 (or fewer if the student enters with AP credits). Hence, some summer work may be necessary in order to complete a double major within four academic years. To determine the specific requirements to be satisfied for both degrees, students are urged to consult with an adviser in the second department and their four-year adviser as early as possible.
Minors
Many undergraduate engineering students pursue a minor in engineering or other disciplines. View the list of McKelvey Engineering minors.