Overview
UNC-Chapel Hill Offers Graduate Biomedical Engineering Joint Program with NC State University-Raleigh
Founded in 1794, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the oldest public university in the United States and is a key player in the state's world-renowned research triangle, an unprecedented concentration of the country's finest researchers, scientists, medical practitioners, and educators in the tri-city area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.
UNC-Chapel Hill's graduate-level biomedical engineering joint program is a research powerhouse and provides graduate students with a unique opportunity to prepare for a leadership role in one of the most challenging and innovative fields of 21st century medicine. Co-located at UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in nearby Raleigh, this collaborative program was established in 2003 and links the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill to NC State University's esteemed College of Engineering.
Nestled on its beautiful, wooded campus, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill enjoys a quintessential college town setting with approximately 55,000 residents. The downtown area is filled with bookstores, cafes, coffee shops, unique boutiques, and trendy restaurants that have earned Chapel Hill a reputation as a hot spot for pop American cuisine. The music scene at the clubs and bars in Chapel Hill and neighboring Carborro features regional and international acts in all genres, and UNC-Chapel Hill's championship Tar Heels sports teams provide plenty of NCAA action throughout the school year. The social calendar of the larger Chapel Hill-Raleigh-Durham area overflows with arts, entertainment, and cultural activities year-round.
Strong Faculty Research Programs and Superior Research Facilities Empower UNC-Chapel Hill's Graduate BME Joint Program
The joint program in biomedical engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill combines UNC's world-class medical school with NC State University's top-ranked engineering school so that graduate students can take advantage of the best expertise, faculty, and courses on both campuses.
As a leading public research institution, UNC-Chapel Hill has a rich research-based culture that permeates the curriculum of the biomedical engineering joint program. Graduate students work with the country's leading BME faculty of researchers and educators in various state-of-the-art laboratories and research facilities on campus.
Internationally recognized research facilities on the UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University campuses include well-equipped laboratories devoted to: bioinformatics and functional genomics, biomechanics/biofluids/tissue engineering, biomedical imaging, biosystems analysis, medical devices, and rehabilitation. Ongoing funded faculty research studies at the joint program's research facilities include: high-sensitivity molecular imaging with ultrasound, microfluidics systems for formulation of contrast agents for molecular imaging, and testing BMP-2 and BMP-12 proteins in human tenocyte bioartificial tendon cultures (BATs) for increase in ultimate tensile strength (UTS).
Two UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members made headlines with seminal research that led to a breakthrough development concerning an optical imaging technique. Their technique looks two-and-a-half times deeper into heart tissue than previous techniques could. The researchers plan to apply this technique to the study of cardiac fibrillation, a trigger for deadly arrhythmias.
UNC-Chapel Hill's Joint Program in Biomedical Engineering Leads to M.S., Ph.D., and Combined M.D./Ph.D. Degrees
Students with an undergraduate degree in engineering or in the physical or life sciences are eligible for graduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill's biomedical engineering (BME) joint program. UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduates can prepare for the graduate-level joint program by earning a B.S. in Applied Sciences with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering.
Graduate students pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees have the opportunity to attend classes at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University in Raleigh, and Duke University in Durham, with some courses offered via long distance education. A combined M.D./Ph.D. program is available to students who gain admission to UNC's School of Medicine. Because the biomedical engineering joint program is co-located at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University in Raleigh and connects the faculty, courses, and research facilities of both institutions, graduates of the program will receive diplomas showing both university seals.
Spurred on, in part, by an aging baby boomer population, a focus on health issues, and the steady emergence of biomedical engineering breakthroughs, career opportunities in biomedical engineering have enjoyed steady growth over the past 50 years. Today biomaterials are regularly used for heart valves, blood vessel prostheses, joint replacements, bone plates, bone cement, artificial ligaments and tendons, dental implants, contact lenses, skin repair devices, and cochlear replacements. The Department of Labor identifies computer-assisted surgery, cellular and tissue engineering, rehabilitation, and orthopedic engineering as specific growth areas within the field.
