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Detailed Information

Programs of Study

The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) offers M.S., D.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees. Two concentrations are offered at the graduate level: biomaterials and biomechanics. Biomaterials research centers on investigating engineering applications for the design of prosthetic devices such as implants or tissue-engineered constructs, which requires sophisticated knowledge of the structure, properties, and behavior of a wide range of materials–metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, composites, and biological materials. Implant design and the new field of tissue engineering involve a working knowledge of material properties, tissue-biomaterial interactions, and biocompatibility. Mechanics has helped solve problems involving cell physiology, blood flow, skin rheology, bone mechanics, load-bearing prostheses design, joint-lubrication methods, and countless other items of interest in medicine. Continuum mechanics, finite-element analysis, strain-gauge techniques, model-analysis techniques, and micromechanics are some of the methods used to attack these problems in biomechanics.

The Biomedical Engineering M.S. degree can be obtained with or without a thesis. The latter option is recommended for students who do not plan further graduate studies. The thesis option is advised for students who plan to obtain a higher graduate degree. The master’s thesis should contribute new knowledge to the field of study. Students pursuing the M.S. (with or without thesis) must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours, at least 15 of which must be at the 6000–6960 level and have the BMED prefix. The minimum number of credits for course work is 24; the minimum number of credits required with the BMED prefix is 18. One course in the life sciences (biology or physiology) and one course in advanced math are required. In consultation with their adviser, students must develop a plan of study that satisfactorily meets Institute and Departmental requirements. For students working toward the M.S. with thesis, the academic load consists of a minimum of eight courses, plus thesis (3–6 credits). Four of these courses must have the BMED prefix, with three of the four courses at the 6000 level. One course in biology and one course in math are required. Students choose an additional two elective courses at the 4000 or 6000 level and must meet all other Departmental requirements in order to earn the M.S. degree.

Matriculation into the doctoral program is based upon prior demonstration of a high level of academic achievement in graduate and/or undergraduate work. Advanced study and research are conducted under the guidance of a faculty member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and an interdisciplinary committee. A minimum of 30 credits in graduate course work (6000 level) are required for the doctoral degree, in addition to the residency and thesis requirements. Students may need to take additional, appropriate courses at the 4000 level to prepare for graduate-level course work. These requirements are formalized in a plan of study that is prepared in consultation with the student’s research adviser and doctoral committee. The minimum course work requirements total 30 to 34 credits and are distributed as follows: advanced mathematics or statistics, 3–4 (one course); advanced life sciences (advanced biology or advanced physiology), 6–8 (two courses); engineering depth courses (a minimum of three courses should have the BMED prefix), 18 (five to six courses); and advanced laboratory techniques, 3–4 (one course).

Biomedical engineering research at Rensselaer involves three schools within the Institute and collaborations with Albany Medical College; Stanford University; University of Missouri–Kansas City Dental School; Cleveland Clinic; Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City; Massachusetts General Hospital; Boston University; Union College; Benet Laboratories; University of Rochester Medical Center; Georgetown University Medical Center; University of Montreal; Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio; Mayo Clinic; Center for Tissue Integrated Reconstruction; NYU School of Dentistry; Indiana University–Purdue University; State University of New York at Stony Brook; Beth Israel Hospital; Harvard University; University of California, Santa Barbara; Penn State University; Hospital Edourd Harriot, Lyon, France; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis Research; and University of Calgary, Canada.

Research Facilities

Research is supported by state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, including the Rensselaer Libraries, whose electronic information system provides access to collections, databases, and the Internet from campus and remote terminals; the Rensselaer Computing System, which permeates the campus with a coherent array of more than 7,000 nodes of distributed laptops, desktops, advanced workstations, and servers; a shared toolkit of applications for interactive learning and research and high-speed Internet connectivity; one of the country’s largest academically based, class 100 clean room facilities; high-performance campuswide computing facilities that allow for serial or parallel computation; and five core laboratories for molecular biology, proteomics, bioimaging, and tissue engineering.

Rensselaer’s research capabilities have been enhanced with the addition of the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI). The result of a $100-million collaboration with IBM and New York State, the CCNI is the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputing center and a top-ten supercomputing center of any kind in the world. The CCNI is made up of massively parallel Blue Gene supercomputers, POWER-based Linux clusters, and Opteron-based clusters, providing more than 100 teraflops of computational muscle and approximately a petabyte of shared online storage.

Other facilities and research centers include the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies; the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation; research centers for integrated electronics, terahertz science, nanotechnology, fuel-cell and hydrogen research, lighting research, science and technology policy, and infrastructure and transportation studies; the Geotechnical Centrifuge Research Center; the Darrin Fresh Water Institute; and the Scientific Computation Research Center. In addition, academic departments and faculty laboratories have extensive discipline-specific research capabilities and equipment.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is available in the forms of teaching and research assistantships and fellowships, which include tuition scholarships and stipends. Rensselaer assistantships cover the academic year, with summer support available in many departments. University, corporate, or national fellowships fund many of Rensselaer’s full-time graduate students. Outstanding students may qualify for university-sponsored Rensselaer Graduate Fellowship Awards, which carry a minimum stipend of $22,000 and a full tuition and fees scholarship. All fellowship awards are calendar-year awards for full-time graduate students. Low-interest, deferred-repayment graduate loans are available to U.S. citizens with demonstrated need.

Cost of Study

Full-time graduate tuition for the 2008–09 academic year is $36,950. Other costs (estimated living expenses, insurance, etc.) are projected to be about $13,680. Therefore, the cost of attendance for full-time graduate study is approximately $50,630. Part-time study and cohort programs are priced differently. Students should contact Rensselaer for specific cost information related to the program they wish to study.

Living and Housing Costs

Graduate students at Rensselaer may choose from a variety of housing options. On campus, students can select one of the many residence halls and immerse themselves in campus life or choose from a select number of apartments designed for graduate students only. There are abundant, affordable options off campus as well, many within easy walking distance.

Student Group

Of the 1,176 graduate students, 29 percent are women, and 92 percent are full-time, with 75 percent of full-time graduate students studying at the doctoral level.

Student Outcomes

Rensselaer’s graduate students are hired in a variety of industries and sectors of the economy and by private and public organizations, the government, and institutions of higher education. Their starting salaries average $74,807 for master’s degree recipients and $82,750 for Ph.D. recipients.

Location

Located just 10 miles northeast of Albany, New York State’s capital city, Rensselaer’s historic 275-acre campus sits on a hill overlooking the city of Troy, New York, and the Hudson River. The area offers a relaxed lifestyle with many cultural and recreational opportunities, with easy access to both the high-energy metropolitan centers of the Northeast–such as Boston, New York City, and Montreal, Canada–and the quiet beauty of the neighboring Adirondack Mountains.

The Institute

Recognized as a leader in interactive learning and interdisciplinary research, Rensselaer continues a tradition of excellence and technological innovation dating back to 1824. Rensselaer has five schools–Architecture, Engineering, Management, Science, and Humanities and Social Sciences–that offer more than 100 graduate programs in over forty-eight disciplines that attract top students, researchers, and professors. The discovery of new scientific concepts and technologies, especially in emerging interdisciplinary fields, is the lifeblood of Rensselaer’s culture and a core goal for the faculty, staff, and students. Fueled by significant support from government, industry, and private donors, Rensselaer provides a world-class education in an environment tailored to the individual.

Applying

The admission deadline for the fall semester is January 1. Basic admission requirements are the submission of a completed application form (available online), the required application fee ($75), a statement of background and goals, official transcripts, official scores on the GRE General Test, TOEFL or IELTS scores (if applicable), and two recommendations.

The Faculty and Their Research

• John B. Brunski, Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania. Oral and maxillofacial implants and the bone-implant interface: analytical models for predicting loads on implants; finite-element models for predicting loads on implants; measuring loads on implants in humans; interfacial stress transfer and bonding; in vivo studies of overload; mechanisms of overload; loading, bone healing, and gene expression. (brunsj@rpi.edu)
• James A. Cooper Jr., Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Drexel. Biomaterials, cell and tissue engineering, orthopaedics, stem cell biology, materials fabrication, bioimaging, bioreactors.
• David T. Corr, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin. Wound healing; musculoskeletal soft-tissue mechanics, injury, and modeling; skeletal muscle; tissue engineering (collagenous soft tissue).
• Guohao Dai, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., MIT. Biofluid mechanics, cell and tissue engineering, vascular biology.
• Vesna Damljanovic, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Cellular biomechanics, cell mechanotransduction, multiscale biomechanics, tissue engineering.
• Natacha DePaola, Professor and Department Head; Ph.D., Harvard-MIT. Growth and differentiation of bone cells under controlled mechanical and biophysical stimuli, the effects of altered gravity conditions in the physiology of living organisms at the molecular and cellular levels, and cellular bioelectromagnetism: development of instrumentation and methods for the accurate in vitro evaluation of cell function in variable mechanical environments, cell bioreactor design for tissue engineering, and the growth of three-dimensional cell constructs towards the engineering of new functional tissues. (depaola@rpi.edu)
• Xavier Intes, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Bretagne Occidentale (France). Biophotonics, biomedical instrumentation, biomedical imaging.
• Ken Jansen, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Stanford. Computational mechanics, parallel computing, computational fluid dynamics.
• Eric H. Ledet, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Rensselaer. Defining the mechanism by which repetitive mechanical loading leads to degeneration of the intervertebral disc and surrounding tissues through two parallel efforts: development of novel sensors to measure directly real time in vivo forces in the intervertebral disc during daily activities and characterization of the biologic response of subchondral bone adjacent the intervertebral disc to repeated mechanical loading; biomechanical evaluation of novel spine stabilization devices; characterization of adjacent level effects following surgical intervention in the lumbar spine; biomechanics of fracture fixation devices; microsensor development for incorporation into fracture fixation implants. (ledete@rpi.edu)
• Shreefal Mehta, Research Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Knowledge management, innovation, and entrepreneurial strategy: nanobiotechnology business models, radical innovation in market leading companies; evaluating economic development in the energy industry, competitive landscape and strategy for pharmaceutical and biotech industry. (mehtas@rpi.edu)
• Jonathan C. Newell, Research Professor; Ph.D., Albany Medical College; M.Eng., Rensselaer. Electrical impedance imaging: development of a series of noninvasive medical imaging devices, adaptive current tomographs (ACT), which create images of a patient based upon the naturally varying conductivity of the body. (newelj@rpi.edu)
• George Plopper, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Harvard. How cellular adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules elicits specific cellular responses, including growth, differentiation, and migration, using as model systems: human mesenchymal stem cells adhering to purified ECM proteins and human breast cancer cells interacting with bovine lung endothelial cells plated on purified ECM proteins. (ploppg@rpi.edu)
• Badrinath Roysam, Professor and Director, CenSSIS; Sc.D., Washington (St. Louis). Multidimensional image analysis, driven by applications in biology (characterization of complex systems such as neurovascular stem cell microenvironments, analyzing the dynamics of stem cell differentiation in vitro, and mapping embryonic development) and medicine (automated analysis of images of the human retina, with a recent emphasis on interpreting structural and functional changes over time). (roysam@ecse.rpi.edu)
• Robert L. Spilker, Professor; Sc.D., MIT. Developing computational formulations and algorithms, based on the finite-element method, for the 3-D analysis of soft hydrated tissues such as articular cartilage in the human musculoskeletal system; interdisciplinary and interinstitutional research to understand the mechanical response of diarthrodial joints. (spilker@rpi.edu)
• Deanna M. Thompson, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers. Investigating cellular mechanisms of peripheral nerve repair as a means of providing insight into new treatment strategies for both peripheral and central nerve injuries. (thompd4@rpi.edu)
• Deepak Vashishth, Associate Professor; Ph.D., London. Orthopedic biomechanics: using a combination of cellular- and tissue-level approaches to identify age-related changes in the biological and mechanical characteristics of skeletal tissues and to develop microenvironments conducive to regeneration of lost or damaged matrix. (vashid@rpi.edu)
• Wolf von Maltzahn, Professor; Ph.D., Hanover (Germany). Biomedical engineering, biomaterials, biofluids, bioengineering, biotechnology, fluids, physiological measurements and modeling. (WvonMaltzahn@rpi.edu)
• George Xu, Professor; Ph.D., Texas A&M. Understanding of scientific principles and development of biomedical applications related to delivery, measurement, and dosimetry of ionizing radiation: developed the whole-body radiation dosimetry model, VIP-Man, using extremely fine images from the famous Visible Human Project and several most widely used Monte Carlo simulation codes–this VIP-Man model allows the radiation dose to the human body to be more accurately studied for the purposes of radiation protection, imaging, and therapy. (xug2@rpi.edu)
• Birsen Yacizi, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Purdue. Inverse problems in biomedical imaging, tomography, diffuse optical tomography, biomedical optics, free space optical communications, utrasonics, statistical pattern recognition theory and application.
• Major Research Centers and Laboratories
• The Biofluids and Cell Mechanics Lab focuses on understanding the early stages of atherosclerosis and the role of blood flow.
• The Cellular/Tissue Engineering Laboratory focuses on the design and evaluation of biomaterials to modulate biological activity and the use of select biophysical stimuli to promote bone tissue engineering objectives, including the modification of material surfaces with immobilized bioactive compounds and novel material formulations with unique biocompatibility and/or improved mechanical and electrical properties.
• The Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) serves as a focal point for a broad range of industrially relevant research and development in both practical and theoretical aspects of automation. More than 30 faculty members in ten departments at Rensselaer participate in the research and educational programs of the center. Current focus areas include optomechatronic systems, fuel-cell manufacturing, distributed systems, biomedical systems, microsystems and nanosystems, and industrial automation.
• The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies is a 218,000-square-foot, $100-million facility on the Rensselaer campus. With its high-tech laboratories and expansive atrium, it provides a platform for collaboration among many diverse academic and research disciplines to enhance discovery and encourage innovation. The center’s faculty members and researchers are engaged in interdisciplinary research focused on the application of engineering and the physical and information sciences to the life sciences. The center is home to a new $22.5-million Gen*NY*sis Center for Bioengineering and Medicine funded by New York State. In addition, Rensselaer has received $750,000 in federal funding to support the creation of a new Center for Quantitative and Computational Bioscience to be housed in this facility. The core research facilities within the center contain laboratories for molecular biology, analytical biochemistry, microbiology, imaging, histology, tissue and cell culture, proteomics, and scientific computing, and visualization. The center contains both a 600- and an 800-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer and the computing and visualization infrastructure needed to model molecular structure at the atomic level.
• The Center for Image Processing Research (CIPR) was created in 1978 as a result of an original NSF award. Researchers at the center explore new and innovative technologies in image/video compression, image processing, and information theory.
• The Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging (CenSSIS) is a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (NSF-ERC) that conducts multidisciplinary research on common solutions to diverse problems for sensing and imaging objects that are hidden under a surface. This center is part of a larger center involving Northeastern University, Boston University, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, and several affiliate institutions, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Lawrence Livermore labs. Examples of applications include deep confocal laser-scanning microscopy of minute subcellular objects, electrical impedance tomography of the human body and underground waste sites, retinal imaging, surgical planning for radiation treatment, and inspection of hidden defects in roads and bridges. These diverse applications are addressed using advanced computer algorithms for tomographic image reconstruction, image analysis, and computer vision. Some projects involve design and fabrication of working prototypes using advanced electronics, processors, and embedded algorithms.
• The Computational Biomechanics Laboratory conducts research with a long-range goal of providing the computation/simulation tools and graphical user interfaces that allow the medical researcher, designer, and clinician to simulate patient-specific function of human tissues and organs and link that function to characteristics of the natural or synthetic material, including its cellular and genetic composition. These functional-tissue-engineering tools will allow the clinician and engineer to make decisions based on engineering analysis of tissue function in human systems, such as the musculoskeletal or cardiovascular system, and be an integral part of the design of patient-specific diagnosis and treatment.
• The Dental Biomechanics Lab developed strategies to optimize biomechanical conditions during dental implant case planning and is currently testing biomechanical predictions against reality. Future work will investigate the feasibility of providing case studies online to the dental community.
• The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) is focused on discovering and developing the means to assemble nanoscale building blocks with unique properties into functional structures under well-controlled, intentionally directed conditions. In September 2001, the National Science Foundation selected Rensselaer as one of the six original sites for a new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC). As part of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, the program is housed within the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center and forms a partnership between Rensselaer, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The mission of Rensselaer’s Center for Directed Assembly of Nanostructures is to integrate research, education, and technology dissemination and to serve as a national resource for fundamental knowledge in directed assembly of nanostructures.
• The Orthopedics Biomechanics Lab uses a combination of cellular and tissue approaches to study the mechanics of hard tissue, cellular control of tissue growth and development, and the mechanobiology of skeletal tissue regeneration. Close collaborations exist between Rensselaer, Albany Medical College, Henry Ford Hospital, the Bone and Joint Center, the New York State Department of Health, and the Wadsworth Center.
• The Rensselaer Radiation Measurement and Dosimetry Group (RRMDG) conducts research centered on radiation measurement and dosimetry. Projects cover radiation instrumentation, Monte Carlo simulation, organ dose calculations, and image-based anatomical modeling.
• The Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC) research focuses on high-performance computing strategies to improve understanding of physical phenomena, to provide new modeling and simulation techniques, and to support computational experimentation. Current projects include automated adaptive techniques for solving PDEs, parallel computation techniques, and procedures for critical applications. Computing facilities include a state-of-the-art IBM SP2 parallel computer and advanced workstations from Apple, IBM, Silicon Graphics, and Sun.

Correspondence and Information

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lorrie Citarella
Coordinator of Student Affairs
Jonsson Engineering Center
Department of Biomedical Engineering
110 8th Street
Troy, New York 12180
Telephone: 518-276-6547
Email: citarl@rpi.edu