MyBME BME Graduate Program Curriculum | Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

BME Graduate Program Curriculum

Total minimum number of required hours: 34
NOTE: All courses (except JPE 610) should be completed prior to your thesis proposal.

Curriculum Overview Table

The below table provides an overview of the Biomedical Engineering curriculum by category and hours required.

Description	Requirement
Integrative Engineering-Biomedical Science BME Problem-Based Course (3 options)	One, 3-hour course
Bioscience, Data Science, Engineering, and Elective Courses	5-7 courses (21 hours total) 1 bioscience course 1 data science course 1 engineering course 2-4 research-specific electives
Advanced Graduate Seminar Course	One, 3-hour topical discussion-format course
Ethics, Teaching and Professional Developing Training Course	Three, 1-hour courses
Seminar Attendance	7 seminars per semester; four semesters

Integrative Engineering-Biomedical Science Course

BMED 7011, 7012, 7013
Time taken: typically the Fall and Spring of Year 1
Hours: Students enrolling in Fall 2016 or beyond must take one Integrative Core Course. Students enrolling before Fall 2016 must take two such courses.
Purpose: The courses are designed to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills essential to the integration of engineering and bioscience. The course will also include discussion involving ethical questions in science and engineering. By the end of this series, students should be able to:
- Critically read and evaluate journal articles
- Pose well-developed research questions
- Propose relevant research methodologies to address such questions
- Communicate this information effectively both orally and in writing

Bioscience, Data Science, Engineering, and Elective Courses

Time taken: typically the Fall and Spring of Year 1
Course requirements:
- 5-7 courses (21 hours total)
- All courses must be proposed on the Program of Study and approved by the graduate program committee.
- Students may transfer up to 9 credit hours from another institution, pending graduate program committee approval.
- Student must take 9 credit hours in a declared area for a required minor. The Request for Approval of Doctoral Minor form must be completed and submitted to the Graduate Program Manager.
- Students may select from the following courses for each category. Courses not listed require graduate program committee petition.
Course List: Click here to view.
Purpose: Courses focus on learning fundamental concepts in engineering, bioscience, data science, and the application of the three.

Advanced Graduate Seminar Course

Course numbers vary
Time taken: typically in Year 2
Hours: 3 hours each (only one required)
Purpose: Provides an in-depth study into a research area, building upon skills developed in the Integrative Core courses. Classes typically include journal article reviews, presentations, and scientific writing. Choice of course depends on course schedules, research interests, and discussions with advisor. The course will also include discussion involving ethical questions in science and engineering. While the only prerequisite for any Advanced Seminar course is that the student must be in their second year or later, students will be more successful in and get more out of each Advanced Seminar course if they have or obtain the suggested pre-course content listed here. This content is highly recommended by the course instructors.
Currently offered Advanced Seminars topics:
- Biomaterials & Regenerative Medicine
- Cardiovascular Biology & Biomechanics
- Cellular & Biomolecular Engineering
- Integrative Biosystems
- Biomedical Imaging & Optics
- Neuroengineering

Ethics, Teaching, and Professional Development Training Courses

Ethics Training

For GT/Emory BME PhD Students:

In addition to the ethical training a student receives within the BME curriculum (1.5 hours in Integrative Core, 1.5 hours in Advanced Seminar, and 6 hours in the Teaching & Research Practica), a student must also take JPE 600 and JPE 610 through Emory University (register via OPUS). This schedule applies to GT/Emory PhD students enrolling in Fall 2016 or later. Click here for requirements of earlier cohorts.

JPE 600:
- Time taken: typically the Fall semester of Year 1
- Design: This is a one-day course that introduces students to the foundations of ethical reflection (includes six hours of course content)
JPE 610:
- Time taken: taken: prior to graduation
- Design: Students must attend a minimum of four workshops/seminars sponsored by the Laney Graduate School Center for Ethics. A schedule of qualified sessions can be found here.

For PKU-Beijing BME PhD Students:

PKU-Beijing students must use the PKU Ethics Training Completion Form to document all ethics training completion. This schedule applies to PKU PhD students in ATL in Summer 2017 or later. Click here for requirements of earlier cohorts.

JPE 600
JPE 610
BMED 7004
Ethics-specific sessions in one Integrative Core and one Advanced Seminar course.

Teaching Assistantship

Fall and Spring semesters of Year 2

Purpose: Teaching is considered an integral part of the educational experience and is a requirement of the program. PhD students serve as Teaching Assistants for two BME undergraduate courses. Note: students must take BMED 7004 and BMED 7005 during their first and second semesters of TAing, respectively.

Assignments: The Director of Graduate Training makes the final course assignments, based primarily on student preference.

TA Orientation (TATT 600):
- Students must register for this day and a half orientation through OPUS at the beginning of their first semester as a TA.
- Held at Laney Graduate School at Emory.
- Designed to introduce students to common issues associated with being a TA.

BME Teaching Assistant Expectations:
- TAs should not be expected to devote more than an average of ten hours per week to TA duties.
  - To ensure that students are given reasonable responsibilities and an accurate expectation of their roles throughout the semester, all TAs are required to complete a BME Teaching Assistant Expectations Form.
  - This form facilitates a guided discussion between the TA and the Instructor at the beginning of the course semester.
  - Both the TA and the Instructor must sign the form, and the form must be uploaded to the appropriate T-Square site (BMED 7004 or BMED 7005) by the second Friday of the semester.

BME Teaching Assistant Evaluations:
- All Instructors will complete the BME Teaching Assistant Evaluation Form at the end of each semester.
  - This form includes a performance rubric. All TAs must perform an average of 3 on each criterion for successful completion of his/her Assistantship. Failure to reach this level of performance will result in required attendance of one-on-one teaching training at the Center for Enhanced Teaching & Learning, and an additional semester of TA responsibilities.
  - Both the TA and the Instructor must sign this form to encourage feedback and mentorship.

Teaching & Research Practica

BMED 7004, 7005
Time taken: Fall and Spring, respectively, of Year 2
Purpose: This series of courses are required to coincide with the student’s time as a TA. It is designed to provide students with the practical frameworks for understanding challenges faced during teaching, research, and academic life. These courses provide instructional and hands-on training in up-to-date pedagogical practices, responsible conduct of research, and professional development.

Seminar Attendance

BMED 7001
Time taken: Fall and Spring semesters of both Year 1 and Year 2
Hours: 1 hour each (four hours total)
Form needed: A Seminar Participation Form documenting seminars attended MUST be completed and signed by each student, and uploaded to the semester-specific BMED 7001 T-Square site by 5 pm on the last day of the semester.
Purpose: To provide students with exposure to a variety of research and professional development subjects and a diverse pool of speakers from academia, industry, and government. Attendance is also a great opportunity for students to interact with other faculty and students within BME and from other programs.
This course requires the attendance of five research seminars and two professional/career development seminars each semester that meet the guidelines below.
- Must be hosted by Georgia Tech, Emory University, or Georgia State University.
- Three of the five research seminars must be sponsored by BME or IBB/BIOE.
- These requirements of five research seminars and two professional/career development seminars apply for all students enrolling in BMED 7001 starting Fall 2016.
Failure to attend seven seminars and/or failure to submit the form on time will result in an Unsatisfactory (U) for the course.

Global Perspective Course (for PKU students only)

Time taken: while PKU Beijing students are in Atlanta.
PKU Beijing students may elect to take one Global Perspective course while in Atlanta. Courses that fill this requirement include:

MGT 4030: International Accounting
MGT 4055: International IT Issues
MGT 4070: International Finance
MGT 4117: Global Workforce Management
MGT 4335: International Marketing
MGT 4360: Global Operations
MOT 6126: International Issues in MOT
MOT 6129: International Business & Finance

Thesis Hours

BMED 9XXX (course is Advisor-specific)
Time taken: throughout time as a graduate student
Purpose: each student takes the 9000 course specifically assigned to his/her advisor. These hours should reflect time spent doing research and will makeup the remainder of your hours after coursework each semester to reach your total required (21 hours in Fall and Spring, and 16 hours in Summer)

Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

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