Bioengineering is a rapidly growing field at the intersection of engineering, biology, and medicine. Founded on the principle that training in all three will equip students and researchers with unique skills, bioengineering is positioned to make the world a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable place.
History
The Department of Bioengineering (BioE) at The University of California, Berkeley, was founded in 1998, the first new department to be established in our College of Engineering in over 40 years. It was conceived to support and expand the successful UC Berkeley – UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering, which was established in 1983 and continues to the present as our PhD program. The department serves as the sole administrative home for our Bachelor of Science (BS) and Master of Engineering (MEng) degrees, as well as the UC Berkeley administrative home (along with the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences) of the Master of Translational Medicine (MTM) and the joint PhD program with UCSF.
Our strategic plan
In the next five years we aim to increase our international recognition and impact to become one of the top three U.S. Departments of Bioengineering.
We plan to accomplish this by pursuing research and educational programs that open new areas of scientific inquiry, drive transformational technologies, and create a community that trains and motivates the next generation of bioengineers.
Research: Building on current research strengths, we will play an international leadership role in two key areas—cellular engineering for human and environmental health, and technology development for personal and precision medicine—that harness our faculty’s expertise in synthetic biology, biomaterials, stem cell engineering, computational biology, imaging, and instrumentation.
Teaching: To support the unique educational mission of bioengineering and educate future leaders, we plan to expand our faculty and courses to create a curriculum that redefines the intellectual core of our field, a process that has already begun with the launch of the “Engineering Biology” series of courses.
Community: Central to the Department of Bioengineering is a dynamic and inclusive student body working with pioneering faculty and staff to achieve positive societal impact—a hallmark of UC Berkeley’s role as the leading public university, that we will honor and advance as our department grows. By engaging our private sector and clinical colleagues worldwide through academic and industry partnerships, we will also expand our ecosystem of innovation, one that has already launched many startup companies addressing problems in health, energy, and the environment.
Excellence
The BioE graduate and undergraduate programs are continually ranked in the Top 10 according to US News & World Report.
The PhD program also ranked highly in the 2010 National Research Council rankings, which are tabulated every 10-15 years and heavily data-driven (number of graduates, publications, research expenditures, etc.), in the #2 to #8 range by their Regression method, and the #1 to #6 range by their Survey method.
The bioengineering department is part of the College of Engineering, a world-renowned program consistently ranked in the top three overall engineering schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report. UC Berkeley as a whole has been ranked as the top public university in the world.
Growth
Our student population continues to grow in response to demand. Our Fall 2017 population includes roughly 400 undergraduates, 45 MEng, 33 MTM, and 187 PhD students.
Thank you for your interest in bioengineering at Berkeley. Please continue to explore our website for more information, or contact us.