The presentations were the culmination of the Biomedical Product Realization Practicum course, which is a design-build-test sequence in which student teams work with a clinical mentor to solve a current clinical problem.
Students in the Advanced Medical Product Engineering and Development (AMPED) MEng program presented their product concepts on April 17 to classmates and invited family members and friends. All of the students will be earning Master’s of Engineering (MEng) degrees.
The presentations were the culmination of the Biomedical Product Realization Practicum course (BME651/652), which is a design-build-test sequence in which student teams work with a clinical mentor to solve a current clinical problem. By working with clinicians, the students identified clinical problems and formed into teams around those that interested them the most. The teams worked over the course of two academic terms to cover a wide range of topics, including clinical need finding; definition of user needs; development of design inputs; creation of device design, testing and verification; human factors engineering; risk management; intellectual property; regulatory strategy; manufacturing, and monetization. The experiential component was augmented by courses covering quality systems, risk management, regulatory structures, and professional development.
“It is always exciting and impressive to see the students’ work,” said Jan Stegemann, Professor, Biomedical Engineering and BME MEng Program Director. “One of the guests commented that as good as the presentations were, the way the students answered questions was even more impressive, since it showed how deeply the students understood the clinical problems and their concept for solving them. I agree, and it was great to watch the students demonstrate their expertise in the field of medical technology.”
The projects spanned a wide range of clinical areas including screening mammography, breast reconstruction, orthopaedic surgery, thoracic surgery, nursing, and pediatric cardiology. Eight clinicians from U-M-Ann Arbor and U-M-Flint served as mentors this year.
The AMPED program has 25 MEng students and four instructors: Jonathan Fay, Kathleen Panagis, and Jan Stegemann, and Deepthi Suresh (student instructor). Three external evaluators from industry provided professional feedback on the final product concept presentations. All of the evaluators were also alumni from the program: