Distance Education-Wichita State University

PROPOSED BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BIOENGINEERING

I. Basic Program Information

1. Proposing institution

Wichita State University College of Engineering

2. Title of proposed program

Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering

3. Degree offered

Bachelor of Science

4. Anticipated date of implementation

Fall 2008

5. Responsible department

College of Engineering

6. The following Center of Education Statistics (CIP) codes and definitions are associated with the proposed new program

14.0501 Biomedical/Medical Engineering. A program that prepares individuals to apply mathematical and scientific principles to the design, development, and operational evaluation of biological and health systems and products such as integrated biological systems, instrumentation, medical information systems, artificial organs and prostheses, and health management and care delivery systems.

II. Program Description

A. Program Proposal Narrative

The undergraduate program in Bioengineering is based upon engineering fundamentals, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Students in the program will have the choice of graduating with a degree in general bioengineering or with a concentration in one of three areas:

Biomedical Device/Instrumentation Engineering. Biomedical Device/Instrumentation Engineering is a concentration within Bioengineering that applies mathematical, scientific, and engineering principles to designing and developing biomedical tools, devices, and systems to examine, measure, and improve human function. The Biomedical Devices/Instrumentation concentration will prepare Bioengineering graduates for employment in facilities and organizations within the broad healthcare industry, developing devices and technologies that assist medical/health care providers, medical device manufacturers, the pharmaceutical industry and other agencies.

Lifestyle Engineering. Lifestyle Engineering is a concentration within Bioengineering that goes beyond traditional Rehabilitation Engineering by preparing students to habituate, maintain, and rehabilitate individuals’ function over their life span. It does this by applying mathematical, scientific, and engineering principles to design systems that maintain, enhance, and improve the quality of life for individuals. Lifestyle Engineers use engineering principles and systems to address life span changes in the following human domains: cognitive, psychological, physical, communicative, and social. Lifestyle Engineers will be prepared for employment in facilities and organizations related to the aging population, medical/health care, assistive technologies, and rehabilitation among other institutions.
Bioenergy. Bioenergy is a concentration within Bioengineering that prepares students to design, operate, manufacture, and manage systems that support the bioenergy and related biotechnology industries. Students in this concentration area use engineering, math, and scientific principles to address issues such as bioreactors, bioprocessing, and process optimization. Graduates with an emphasis in Bioenergy will be prepared for employment in biorefineries, businesses that design and manufacture equipment for bioenergy related industries, and consulting.

The criteria used in the design of these three areas of concentrations were first to serve the intellectual and economic development needs of the surrounding metropolitan area, the state of Kansas and the Nation; and second to offer a unique and truly interdisciplinary bioengineering program that takes advantage of the expertise in three of the six colleges (Engineering, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Health Professions) within Wichita State University (WSU). All three areas of concentration will fulfill national and new local and state wide workforce demands in the fields of healthcare technology and bioenergy.

The proposed academic program will contribute directly to the fulfillment of WSU’s mission by providing educational opportunities in an area of need in the urban setting it serves. In addition, this program will equip students with the “tools they need to thrive in a complex world.”

Bioengineering has had a significant impact on health care in the United States. The field has made possible technologies such as prosthetics devices, advanced imaging systems like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and pacemakers. Nation wide, the U.S. healthcare technology industries and manufacturers currently hold a 49% share of the worldwide market. According to Frost and Sullivan (2004), U.S. industry exports have given rise to a $4.6 billion trade surplus.

The aging U.S. population offers numerous challenges. The U.S. Census Bureau anticipates a dramatic shift in U.S. demographics within the next 20 years. In that time the number of elderly individuals in the U.S will expand by 75% to 74.6 million people (US Aging, 2004). This population will require a wide variety of bioengineering technology much like those explored in the Biomedical Device/Instrumentation Engineering and Lifestyle engineering concentrations.

The number of ethanol (a biofuel) refineries in the U.S. today totals 115 with a capacity of 5,750.4 million

gallons per year. Eight of those refineries are located in Kansas with a capacity of over 215 million gallons per year (http://www.ksgrains.com/ethanol/kseth.html). There are four refineries under construction in Kansas that will double current state-wide production; another eight refineries are in the planning stages. Biofuels production is expected to get a large boost under the President Bush’s proposal “Twenty In Ten: Strengthening America's Energy Security” http://www.doe.gov/media/20in10FactSheet.pdf). Under this proposal the President will call for 35 billion gallons per year of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017. In response to this request the Department of Energy will award $200 million in funding to support “demonstration projects that test key refining processes and provide operational data needed to lower the technical hurdles sometimes associated with financing a full-size commercial plant” (http://www.doe.gov/news/5031.htm).

Clearly, the above projections demonstrate the need for a skilled and knowledgeable workforce in both healthcare technologies and bioenergy engineering. The three proposed areas of concentration address this need. The Biomedical Device/Instrumentation Engineering concentration will directly support new bioscience businesses and the many existing medical related businesses in Wichita. The recommended electives consist of courses that will provide necessary background for graduates to design, test, and develop devices and instruments useful in medical and pharmacologic applications. The students will be taking a 12 credit-sequence of technical electives on tissue engineering, imaging systems, design of medical systems, and orthopedic mechanics. Also, the course on Biosensors is available as an elective to students in other tracks as well. Emphasis on medical systems and device design will encompass the engineering relationship to medicine and biology, while building on the strength of current WSU engineering programs and regional industry strength. The Lifestyle Engineering concentration goes beyond traditional rehabilitation engineering, which focuses on rehabilitation of system functions damaged by trauma, disease or aging, by applying bioengineering systems to improve and maintain a quality of life over the entire human lifespan. Two new courses focusing on human sensory systems are included as recommended electives. Emphasis is on human function data and quality of life issues, developments in human sensory processing and prosthetic devices, and in augmentation, regeneration or