History & Mission

A Legacy of Innovation

Michigan BME provides leadership in education, training, and innovative research by translating science and engineering to solve important challenges in medicine and life sciences for the benefit of humanity.

Ours is one of the oldest programs in the country, with a history that includes early work with lifesaving clinical devices like the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) heart-lung bypass machine and implantable electrodes that stimulate or stabilize brain function.
The department has expanded its breadth and depth- from designing devices to engineering at fundamental biological levels, including tissue engineering, changing genes, and engineering artificial organs.

Department Mission

BME provides leadership in education, training, and innovative research by translating science and engineering to solve important challenges in medicine and life sciences for the benefit of humanity.

BME Timeline

1962: Biomedical Engineering Graduate program established
1996: Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department Founded
1997: Combined B.S.E./M.S.E. program established
2000: Undergraduate program established
2003: Carl A. Gerstacker Building opens
2005: Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partnership
2006: ABET accreditation
2006: Lurie Biomedical Engineering Building opens
2012: BME becomes a joint department in the College of Engineering and the Medical School
2021: LBME 1st floor renovated adding BME commons, ideation, hands-on lab, and fabrication spaces
2022: Inaugural Glenn V. Edmonson lecture and BME Symposium established