The 2010 AIMBE Annual Event is the only meeting in the medical and biological engineering community with the specific goal to unite promising trends in science and engineering with public policy. Because AIMBE is comprised of the highest level of engineers and organizations, the membership has an enormous potential to improve society through engineering and science by influencing the direction of medical and biological engineering innovation. While the Annual Event attracts high-level professionals and engineers, attendance by students is often minimal. AIMBE's leadership would like to see a reversal of this trend.
INTELLECTUAL MERIT
In accordance with the National Science Foundation's goals to improve science and education initiatives, AIMBE's Annual Event holds a great amount of intellectual merit, as the speakers and programming are at the cutting edge of research and feature high-level discussions on the innovation and engineering concepts that are driving education and future research initiatives. With sufficient funding, students will be able to interact with and learn from engineering leaders about the future of innovation and how to manage the ethical considerations they need to take into account as they progress from students to researchers and innovators. Further, they will be exposed to leading organizations and some of the most dynamic individuals influencing medical and biological engineering research today.
BROADER IMPACT
The broader impact of attending this event is that students will gain a greater view of the possibilities that come with a career in engineering and science, and hopefully be inspired to become future leaders in the field. They will gain an understanding of how policy impacts research and the ethical questions that all engineers should address. Students will have an intensive look at the direction of modern research and the many ways medical and biological engineering impacts society, through healthcare, food and water safety, technology, and a myriad of other areas.
Graduate and Post-Doctoral students were invited to apply for a stipend to attend the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering's (AIMBE) 20th Annual Event in Washington, D.C. Announcements were posted on AIMBE's website, as well as in AIMBE Newsletters and were disseminated to the 91 university departments on AIMBE's Academic Council. Students were asked to submit a paper and present a poster outlining a way that medical and biological engineering will address major societal challenges in the next 20 years. This directly aligned with the theme of AIMBE's 20th Annual Event, 'Medical and Biological Engineering in the Next 20 Years: The Promise and the Challenges.' Engineering solutions have great promise for providing healthier lives, but there are political, economic, and technical challenges to be met in each arena, as well as broad issues of health care disparities and workforce diversity. Students were asked to address these problems, specifically citing ways their engineering research could alleviate them. Specifically, students were asked to address one of the following topics: Engineering Food Safety and Sustainability Engineering Solutions to Chronic Disease Engineering Personalized Medicine Engineering the 21st Economy Students were also invited to submit an additional paper on working with a mentor while at the meeting. Sponsored by AIMBE's Committee on Underrepresented Minorities, students were invited to write a paper on how they would benefit from partnering with an AIMBE Fellow during the meeting. The student would have an opportunity to gain specific attention from the Fellow, build a relationship, and gain a deeper understanding of the meeting theme and its effect on the medical and biological engineering field. Findings AIMBE received and reviewed nine applications for students to attend the Annual Event in February 2011. Based on the relevancy of their research topics, six individuals were offered a stipend to attend the meeting. The stipend included registration fees, travel expenses, a room at the conference hotel for the duration of the meeting (four nights), breakfast and lunch every day as provided to attendees, two networking receptions, and a ticket to the conference banquet. All six students attended the meeting. One student was accepted as a protégé, and spent the duration of the meeting with an AIMBE Fellow. All six students set up posters, and presented their research to attendees during breaks. Training and Development Given that AIMBE is an honorific association, meeting themes and session talks are typically aimed at a high level audience. Students were able to benefit from the presentations from experts and the session's discussions. Each session delivered new information about engineering technology, the importance of innovation, and the future of the medical and biological engineering field. Students were educated about the career path of an engineer, and the modern discoveries of the field. Additionally, sessions touched on the role of the government in applying engineering research and technology to real life. Students also heard from patient advocates, whose lives have been impacted by engineering technologies. Students were able to see the results of health care technologies and the ways they are used to improve the health care of Americans.
