This proposal seeks support for the 2003 Annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). BMES is the full service professional society for biomedical engineers and biomedical engineering. The meeting will be held from October 1 to 4, 2003 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel and Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, TN. Estimated number of participants at the meeting is 1300. Based on previous annual meetings, 55% of attendees hold doctorates and 50% are students. Approximately 90% of the participants are from academic institutions and 10% are from industry. About 15% of attendees are international. The goal of the meeting is to present the latest research and development advances in the field of biomedical engineering and to serve as focal point for discussions about the future of the field. The field is growing rapidly and there is a need for annual meetings of the Society to provide an opportunity for exchange of scientific and engineering ideas. Efforts will be made at this meeting to increase participation by industry. The meeting is divided into the following thirteen tracks: (1) Biosensors, Bioinstrumentation, and Medical Devices, (2) Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, (3) Biomedical Engineering Education, (4) Cardiovascular Engineering, (5) Pulmonary Engineering, (6) Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, (7) Neural Engineering, (8) Medical Imaging and Technology Guided Therapy, (9) Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, (10) Rehabilitation Engineering, (11) Orthopaedic Bioengineering, (12) BioMEMS, New Frontiers and Emerging Technologies, and (13) Biomedical Optics. The meeting will consist of approximately 1000 presentations, of which 60% are oral presentations and 40% are poster presentations. Graduate student participation is encouraged. Graduate student research awards are presented for outstanding research projects. A young investigator award is presented to stimulate careers in biomedical engineering. Biomedical engineering continues to be a dynamic and growing field that plays an important role in the improvement of human health. The Annual Fall Meeting of the BME Society serves an important function in the advancement of knowledge in biomedical engineering and bioengineering.
