Biomedical Engineering is the newest department in Wichita State University’s College of Engineering, a change approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in September. The regents also approved a renaming of the bachelor's degree in bioengineering degree to biomedical engineering.

Royce Bowden, dean of the College of Engineering, said the addition of the new department is another example of innovation by the WSU College of Engineering.

“Given the health care needs of the state, the size and needs of the local healthcare industry, and the emphasis the state has placed on developing healthcare industries, the program is on track to become a nationally ranked program,” Bowden said. “The name change better defines the program to stakeholders and potential students.

The College of Engineering first began offering a bachelor's degree in bioengineering in 2009. The degree soon became one of the college’s fastest-growing programs, with a particular appeal to female students, who are generally underrepresented in the field of engineering. About 54 percent of students in the Biomedical Engineering program are female.

The program also has appeal to undergraduates planning to pursue studies in medicine, with one in four students in the program identifying as pre-med students, said Biomedical Engineering Program Coordinator Michael Jorgensen.

“Changing our program name from bioengineering to biomedical engineering more accurately reflects the curriculum content of our program,” Jorgensen said. “And gaining department status is extremely exciting and significant, as it is the first new department in the College of Engineering in many decades, and officially gives our rapidly expanding program and our outstanding students and faculty an identity and a place to call home.”

The Biomedical Engineering Department continues to expand capacity with the recent hire of Gary Brooking as an engineering educator. Brooking joins five other full-time biomedical engineering faculty, Jorgensen, Anil Mahapatro, Nils Hakansson, Kim Cluff and Marlon Thomas.

The Biomedical Engineering faculty will soon occupy a stand-alone office suite in the Engineering Building, expected to be completed this semester.

WSU’s Biomedical Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.