Broward Community College (BCC) will lead a consortium composed of the U. of Miami, Broward County Schools, N. Broward Hospital District, Hewlett Packard, Advantage Medical Electronics, Motorola, ABC Computers, Asea Brown Boveri Corp., and the Biomedical Engineering Technology (BMET) Advisory Board in developing a program in BMET. BCC offers a well-established Electronics Engineering Technology program, in existence for more than 28 years, supported by industry, and very highly recognized throughout the state of Florida and nationally. BCC's electronics program is accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, and received the Secretary of Education's Award for the best technical program in the southeastern U. S. in 1992 The target audience will be students from public and private high schools, employees of Biomedical Engineering companies, and other persons seeking technical training/retraining. The goal of the project is to produce qualified Biomedical Engineering technicians who will provide a critical link between the clinical application and the electronic technology of today's medical equipment. Laboratories and laboratory practices will be developed to give the students state-of-the-art experiences with a wide range of biomedical equipment. The female principal investigator will serve as a role model as she promotes the program in the high schools and in industry. A `2+2+2` model will be created that could be replicated on a nationwide basis. The first two years will prepare the students at the high school level for a smooth transition to the community college program. The second two years will provide students with Associate of Science degree components with the necessary skills to enter the workplace. In addition, interested students will have access to a parallel track with higher levels of mathematics and science for a bridge to the final two years of a bachelor's degree program at the U. of Miami.
