If you want to use your mechanical skills to improve the health and lives of millions of people, biomedical engineering could be the right field for you. Biomedical engineering combines human physiology and engineering to create an entirely new field. There is one Utah school that has this program: the University of Utah. The average cost of tuition is $7,750 per semester, which makes a biomedical engineering education affordable for most students. The average class at the University of Utah has 14 students, which is small enough to let you interact one-on-one with your professors.
Your biomedical engineering career starts with a thorough education in engineering, human biology, and biomedical concepts. You can get the education you need with a Bachelor’s degree. You need to complete 120 credits to get this degree, and you may graduate in as little as four years.
By the time you graduate, you should be able to create technology that helps with the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of medical issues. Some of the classes you may take to that end include Biomedical Nanotechnology, Transport in Biological Systems, Biomechanics, and Quantitative Physiology.
There’s more to biomedical engineering than theory, so your curriculum will also take you into your school’s engineering lab. During lab courses, you learn the properties of different engineering materials and how they work under certain conditions. From there, you can learn how to create medical technology.
Depending on what your focus is as a student, you may be able to work on biomedical research. At the University of Utah, you can focus on one of several fields. Their research subjects include biomedical imaging, biodesign, neural engineering, and cardiovascular engineering.
Tuition in Utah is typically very affordable, since the only biomedical engineering school in Utah is a public college. The tuition rate for residents at the University of Utah is $3,728 per semester. Non-residents can plan on paying $11,867 per semester.
There are many scholarship programs in Utah—some are offered to all Utah engineering students, while others are just for University of Utah students. The Utah Engineers Council awards scholarships of varying amounts to local student. At the University of Utah, you can apply for a wide range of engineering scholarships by filling out one application.
Getting your biomedical engineering degree is the most demanding part of starting your career. In fact, after you graduate, there are only a few steps left to take. You have to apply for licensure through the Utah Division of Occupational & Professional Licensing. You must pay a $110 application fee and then take the Engineering Principles and Practice exam. Passing this exam allows you to get your engineering license.
Joining a local group like the Utah Society for Healthcare Engineering can have numerous benefits for your career. When you join this group, you can attend regular continuing education events and seminars that keep you up-to-date on technological advances in the biomedical engineering industry. This group also offers networking events that can connect you with prospective employers.