This project will support the 3rd Biomedical Engineering Summit Meeting will be held in June 15-17, 2008 and will be the first conference focusing on biomedical engineering education since 2005. The Whitaker Foundation, which funded the first two summits, is no longer available to carry on this work. The Council of Chairs of Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering (CoC) and the Biomedical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE BED) are cosponsoring this third summit.
Biomedical engineering continues to develop as an undergraduate major. This conference will bring together a diverse group for an extended discussion of best practices. The 3rd Biomedical Engineering Summit Meeting is designed as a working meeting to foster progress in biomedical engineering education. Attendance will be limited, but will be open to all current and emerging biomedical engineering and bioengineering academic programs in the US (about 100 programs; two individuals per institution), and will include representatives from industry and the field of learning science. Minority serving institutions will be particularly encouraged to attend, and selected international universities will also be invited. The conference objectives are to 1) share best practices in curriculum and pedagogy, 2) nurture and expand a community in which relevant individuals across the country and around the world know each other and their educational work, 3) exchange ideas about curriculum in a setting where biomedical engineering education rather than research takes center stage, 4) assist newer programs using knowledge gained by more mature programs, and refresh the ideas of established programs, 5) enhance the likelihood that minority serving institutions will adopt biomedical engineering as a major, and 6) discuss the core curricula and areas of specialization that will enable biomedical engineering students to best prepare for industry, medicine, or graduate study.
