2023-24 Academic Catalog

Biomedical Engineering

Department Head: Dr. J. Alex Thomasson
Graduate Coordinator: Dr. Steven Elder
100 Ag and Bio Engineering Building
Box 9632
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Telephone: (662) 325-3282
E-mail: selder@abe.msstate.edu
Website: http://www.abe.msstate.edu

An Interdisciplinary Curriculum

The interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering program is administered through Agricultural and Biological Engineering for the College of Engineering. Programs of study and research leading to both the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Biomedical Engineering are available. Biomedical Engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering principles to study and finds solutions for problems associated with the human body, medicine, and the health care field. At MSU, students can concentrate on research in areas such as injury biomechanics and bio-inspired design, computational modeling, vascular calcification, hemodynamics and sickle cell disease, bone fracture healing, and cartilage regeneration. 

Admission Criteria

Regular admission into the M.S. or Ph.D. programs requires the student meet the following criteria:

  • Meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School
  • Have earned a bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
  • Submit GRE scores
  • Receive a positive recommendation by the coordinating committee of the biomedical engineering graduate program
  • Be accepted as a student by a member of the biomedical engineering graduate faculty

The student must have a 3.00 grade point average or higher and, if applicable, a TOEFL score of 600 PBT (96 iBT) or IELTS score of 7.5 or greater. A student entering the Ph.D. program should have an M.S. in an engineering discipline. Special consideration may be given to exceptional students with a B.S. degree in engineering who may wish to bypass the M.S. in completing the requirements for the doctoral degree.

Provisional Admission

An applicant who has not fully met the GPA requirement stipulated by the University may be admitted on a provisional basis. The provisionally-admitted student is eligible for a change to regular status after receiving a 3.00 GPA on the first 9 hours of graduate courses at Mississippi State University (with no grade lower than a C). The first 9 hours of graduate courses must be within the student's program of study. Courses with an S grade, transfer credits, or credits earned while in Unclassified status cannot be used to satisfy this requirement. If a 3.00 is not attained, the provisional student shall be dismissed from the graduate program. Academic departments may set higher standards for students to fulfill provisional requirements; a student admitted with provisional status should contact the graduate coordinator for the program’s specific requirements. While in the provisional status, a student is not eligible to hold a graduate assistantship.

Contingent Admission

If a student applying to the M.S. program does not have an undergraduate degree in engineering or an approved C.S. degree, the student will be required to complete approximately 45-48 hours of prerequisite coursework in mathematics, the sciences, or engineering. The student will be granted contingent admission until the course requirement has been satisfied. If a student applying to the Ph.D. program does not have a B.S. or M.S. in engineering or C.S., the same set of 45-48 hours of courses will be required before the student is fully admitted.

Graduate Committees

The graduate committee for each M.S. and Ph.D. student will be composed of a minimum of four and five faculty members, respectively.

The following requirements for an M.S. graduate committee will apply:

  • Chair must be an MSU engineering faculty member
  • One member must be a clinician (CVM faculty, UMC faculty, or practicing clinician)
  • Two or more members must be engineers
  • Two or more members must be MSU faculty members

The following requirements for a Ph.D. graduate committee will apply:

  • Chair must be an MSU engineering faculty member
  • One member must be a clinician (CVM faculty, UMC faculty, or practicing clinician)
  • Three or more members must be engineers
  • Three or more members must be MSU faculty members

Academic Performance

Unsatisfactory performance in the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering is defined as any of the following:

  • Failure to maintain a B average in attempted graduate courses after admission to the program
  • A grade of D or F in any course
  • More than two grades below a B
  • Failure of the qualifying or preliminary exam (Ph.D. students only)
  • Failure of the thesis/dissertation defense
  • Unsatisfactory evaluation of a thesis or dissertation
  • Receiving a second grade of U in ABE 8000 Research/Thesis or ABE 9000 Research/Dissertation (A student who receives a grade of U will be placed on academic probation the following semester. A second grade of U in ABE 8000/9000 in the probationary semester or any thereafter will result in dismissal from the program.)

Any one of these or a combination of these will constitute the basis for review for possible dismissal. The graduate coordinator will review the record along with the student’s graduate committee and take a final course of action which will be recommendation for immediate dismissal or the establishment of a probationary period in which corrective action must take place. Appeal of dismissal can be made by submitting a written appeal statement to the department head. If the dismissal is upheld by the department head upon the student’s appeal, the student can then submit a written appeal to the dean of the College of Engineering.

For more information, contact the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program Coordinating Committee, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Box 9632, Mississippi State, MS  39762 or by e-mail at abe-head@abe.msstate.edu. Information is also available at http://www.abe.msstate.edu.

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering

ABE 8621Methods of Biomedical Engineering Research1
ABE 8801Clinical Experience for Biomedical Engineering1
BIO 6514Animal Physiology4
or BIO 6114 Cellular Physiology
ST 8114Statistical Methods4
8000-level or higher coursework6
Additional graduate-level coursework8
Research/thesis6
Total Hours30

An oral comprehensive examination and a thesis are also required. The M.S. degree requires 24 semester hours of coursework above the baccalaureate degree .In addition, 6 or more thesis research credit hours are required.

Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering

ABE 8621Methods of Biomedical Engineering Research1
ABE 8801Clinical Experience for Biomedical Engineering1
BIO 6514Animal Physiology4
or BIO 6114 Cellular Physiology
ST 8114Statistical Methods4
8000-level or higher coursework6
MA XXXXGraduate-level mathematics course 13
Additional graduate-level coursework29
Dissertation research/dissertation20-32
Total Hours80
1

Or approved substitute, such as an additional graduate level statistics course. 

The Ph.D. degree requires that the student pass a qualifying exam, a preliminary exam, a dissertation defense, and a minimum of 48 coursework hours beyond the B.S., and 20-32 dissertation research 

ABE 6423 Bioinstrumentation II: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: ABE 3413 or graduate standing). Two hours lecture. Two hours laboratory. Theory; application of automated measuring and control systems in biological sciences. Includes design/use of transducer interfaces; electronic signal conditioning; data logging; microprocessor based systems

ABE 6523 Biomedical Materials: 3 hours.

(Prerequisites: One of the following: ABE 3813, CHE 3413, or ME 3403). Three hours lecture. Emphasis is on applications, composition, testing, and biocompatibility of biomedical materials used in implant devices. This course may be used for honors credit

ABE 6624 Experimental Methods in Materials Research: 4 hours.

(Prerequisites:CHE 3413 or ABE 3813 or ME 3403 or permission of instructors).Three hours lecture. Three hours laboratory. An introduction to research methodologies commonly used in the evaluation of treatments, and mechanical testing. ( Same as CHE 4624/6624 and ME 4624/6624)

ABE 6613 Biomechanics: 3 hours.

(Prerequisites: EM 2413 and EM 2433). Three hours lecture. Force, motion, and deformation analysis of organisms and biological structures. Mechanical modeling techniques unique to biological materials

ABE 6803 Biosystems Simulation: 3 hours.

Three hours lecture. Spring semester. Application of engineering analysis, modeling and simulation to biological systems

ABE 6990 Special Topics in Agricultural and Biological Engineering: 1-9 hours.

Credit and title to be arranged. This course is to be used on a limited basis to offer developing subject matter areas not covered in existing courses. (Courses limited to two offerings under one title within two academic years)

ABE 7000 Directed Individual Study in Agricultural and Biological Engineering: 1-6 hours.

Hours and credits to be arranged

ABE 8990 Special Topics in Agricultural and Biological Engineering: 1-9 hours.

Credit and title to be arranged. This course is to be used on a limited basis to offer developing subject matter areas not covered in existing courses. (Courses limited to two offerings under one title within two academic years)

ABE 9000 Research in Agricultural and Biological Engineering: 1-13 hours.

Hours and credits to be arranged

ABE 8801 Clinical Experience for Biomedical Engineering: 1 hour.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in the Biomedical Program and permission of the instructor. Three hours experiential learning. This course will provide graduate students with exposure, understanding, and insight into the clinical environment and/or treatment modalities of clinical (human and/or animal) patients

ABE 8911 Agricultural and Biological Engineering Seminar I: 1 hour.

One hour lecture. Discussion of research needs, review of literature, and development of research work plans

BIO 6514 Animal Physiology: 4 hours.

(Prerequisites: Ten hours of biological science and organic chemistry). Three hours lecture. Three hours laboratory. Functions and interrelationship of the systems of the body. (Same as PHY 4514/6514)

BIO 6114 Cellular Physiology: 4 hours.

(Prerequisites: Seven hours of biological science and two semesters of organic chemistry). Three hours lecture. Three hours laboratory. A study of the morphology and function of the cell. (Same as PHY 4114/6114)

CSE 6613 Bio-computing: 3 hours.

Three hours lecture. Essential programming skills for computational biology. Problem-solving and use of specialized bio-computing libraries. (Credit will not be given to students matriculating in Computer Science, Computer Engineering , or Software Engineering degree programs)

CME 8113 Computational Geometry: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: consent of instructor). Three hours lecture. Computer aided geometric design techniques and their applications in engineering and general computational field simulation

CSE 6633 Artificial Intelligence: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite:Grade of C or better in CSE 2383 and CSE 2813) Three hours lecture. Study of the computer in context with human thought processes. Heuristic programming;search programming; search strategies; knowledge representation; natural language understanding; perception; learning

EM 6213 Advanced Mechanics of Materials: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: EM 3213). Three hours lecture. Stress, strain, stress-strain relationships, strain energy, failure theories, curved beams, unsymmetrical bending, shear center, torsion of noncircular sections, energy principles, Castigliano's theorem, inelastic behavior

EPP 8223 Scanning Electron Microscopy: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: Graduate Student, consent of instructor). Two hours lecture. Three hours laboratory . Fall semester. Introduction to scanning electron microscopy and associated techniques

IE 6113 Human Factors Engineering: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: Junior standing in engineering). Two hours lecture. Three hours laboratory. Human capabilities and limitations affecting communications and responses in man-machine systems. Emphasis on physiological and psychological fundamentals

MA 8203 Foundations of Applied Mathematics I: 3 hours.

(Prerequisites: MA 3113, MA 3253 or consent of instructor.) Three hours lecture. Principles of applied mathematics including topics from perturbation theory, calculus of variations, and partial differential equations. Emphasis of applications from heat transfer, mechanics, fluids

MA 8213 Foundations of Applied Mathematics II: 3 hours.

(Prerequisite: MA 8203). Three hours lecture. A continuation of MA 8203 including topics from wave propagation, stability, and similarity methods

ST 8214 Design and Analysis of Experiments: 4 hours.

(Prerequisite: ST 8114) Three hours lecture. Three hours laboratory. Offered spring semester. Procedures in planning and analyzing experiments; simple, multiple, and curvilinear regression; factorial arrangement of treatments; confounding; fractional replication; block designs; lattices; split-plots