The current senior design program provides undergraduate Biomedical Engineering (BME) students a comprehensive, hands-on design experience that aims to equip them with relevant skills for future careers in industry, research and professional/graduate education. To further enhance and optimize the senior design experience, the proposed research education program consists of integrating principles and practices of engineering design throughout the curriculum. One motivation for introducing design earlier into the curriculum is to provide opportunities for students to gain specific skills that may be used in their senior design project, but ultimately in their careers. This will be accomplished through the development of nine skills-building modules that were identified based on both informal and formal feedback from students, enhancements to incorporate additional design components to current lower division core curriculum courses, and a 6-week summer innovation internship for selected students to be actively engaged in the innovation process. The proposed research education program provides an opportunity for faculty and students to engage in cross-campus, multidisciplinary efforts. Our ongoing collaborations with the UC Davis Medical Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Management will be further strengthened, as we seek to build upon the successes and lessons learned from our previous award.
The proposed research education program seeks to provide an enhanced design experience for all undergraduate students in the UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Department. Successes and lessons learned from the development of a comprehensive senior design program will be utilized to integrate technical skills-building modules, curricular enhancements to lower division courses, professional development and entrepreneurship modules, and a summer innovation internship into the undergraduate curriculum. As a result, students will be further equipped with relevant skills for future careers in industry, research and professional/graduate education
| Mittal, Vaishali; Thompson, Megan; Altman, Stuart M et al. (2013) Clinical needs finding: developing the virtual experience-a case study. Ann Biomed Eng 41:1899-912 |
