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Undergrads.Special Study Opportunities
Independent study research projects are an integral and immensely popular component of undergraduate BME education at Duke. In any given semester, about one-third of the majors are taking an independent study course. Up to two such courses may be counted as BME electives.
A faculty member serves as the sponsor for the research project. Examples of biomedical engineering research in our laboratories include biomechanics and prosthesis, cardiac electrophysiology, biomolecular and tissue engineering, drug and gene delivery, biophotonics, medical imaging, biofluids, genomic technology, and biosensors.
CECT Undergraduate Fellowship Program
Duke's Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies also offers research opportunities for selected students through its Undergraduate Fellowship Program. Selection criteria for these fellows include research interest, academic record, intellectual ability, and maturity . Visit the CECT Web site for details.
Pratt Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Program
The prestigious Pratt Research Fellows Program gives Engineering juniors an opportunity to do intensive research in their major fields of study. Fellows with BME related major or dual major receive two course credits of independent study over their junior and senior years and a summer of paid work in their research areas between the junior and senior years. Recent Pratt Fellows in BME have undertaken studies such as "Double Matching Layers for Improvement of Acoustical Properties in 2-Dimensional Catheter Arrays" with Dr. Stephen Smith, "Modeling, Compression, and Recognition of Neural Data and the Design of the Analog Front End of a Neural Data Acquisition System" with Dr. Patrick Wolf, and "Engineering Skeletal Muscle Myoblasts: Role of Electrical Stimulation" with Dr. Laura Niklason. All engineering students with GPA of 3.0 or above may apply for a Pratt Research Fellowship in fall of their junior year. For more information, contact Martha Absher, in the School of Engineering (telephone 919 660-5139).
With advance preparation, undergraduate BME majors can take advantage of Duke's study abroad opportunities and still complete their degree on time. For more information, talk with your advisor and visit the Duke Study Abroad Web site.