The Bioengineering major provides a strong foundation in engineering design and in the natural and biological sciences. We offer several concentrations: Biomedical Devices, Biomedical Imaging, Cell & Tissue Engineering, or Synthetic & Computational Biology.
For each concentration there is a sample program that students should use as a guide. All of the concentrations share the same first Fall semester, which includes:
- BioE 10: Introduction to Biomedicine for Engineers
- BioE 26: Introduction to Bioengineering (or BioE 24 prior to Fall 17)
- Math 1A: Calculus
- Chem 1A: General Chemistry
- Humanities elective
After the first semester, different concentrations consist of a unique selection of courses designed to prepare students for advanced work in that subject area. The BioE 10 and BioE 26 courses are designed to help students choose their concentration.
General degree requirements
Generally, the requirements for the Bioengineering Bachelor’s Degree is a minimum of 120 semester units, as detailed below. All courses applied to the following list of requirements must be taken for a letter grade.
- A minimum of 24 total1 upper-division bioengineering course units (including at least two bioengineering fundamentals courses, a bioengineering design course, and a bioengineering laboratory course)
- A minimum of 36 total2 upper-division units in technical topics courses
- A minimum of 48 total units in engineering courses
- Six courses (of at least 3 units each) selected to meet the college’s current humanities and social studies requirements
- One course with a substantial ethics component
- BioE 103 and 11
- Math 1A, 1B, 53, and 54
- Physics 7A and 7B
- Chem 1A, 1AL, 3A, 3AL
- E7 or CS 61A
Additionally, students must complete the Pass/Fail seminar courses BioE 25 and BioE 26, preferably in their first year.
- Not including BioE 100, 198, 199, or any other seminar-style courses or group meetings. Up to 4 research units (e.g., BioE 196) can be included in this total.
- Not including BioE 100, 198, 199, or any other seminar-style courses or group meetings. Up to 8 research units can be included in this total.
- Juniors transfers are exempted from taking BioE 10.
The bioengineering curriculum has been designed to meet defined learning goals.