Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering

To grow our undergraduate major into a top-10 program while improving our already strong MEng and PhD programs Adding a BS degree in 2015 fully aligned the BME educational portfolio with the rest of the units in COE and filled an important need. To establish Cornell BME into the top-10 of BS programs will require the development of distinctive programs and experiential learning opportunities, paralleling those of other engineering majors. Besides co-op and international experiences, we envision a unique clinical immersion program for BME undergraduates, building on the positive experience with our summer clinical immersion program for first-year BME PhD students at WCM/MSKCC/HSS. Experiential learning and teaching opportunities will require adequate infrastructure, particularly dedicated teaching space, ideally located within the footprint of the COE.

The BME Master of Engineering (MEng) program was one of the first of its kind nationally but is now facing increasing competition. Continued success requires attracting a strong diverse applicant pool and fostering a healthy pipeline of excellent design projects that serv industry, medicine and research (connects to SG2 & SG4). The proposed changes to the BS program also should be beneficial to the MEng program and may create opportunities such as a joint BS-MEng degree. The BME PhD program has a strong national reputation and must continue to thrive as the School grows and expands its degree offerings.

The final piece of educational excellence is scholarship to elevate the student experience and maximize faculty teaching performance. The BME faculty are interested in modern pedagogy and has a strong record of creating and disseminating materials from engaged activities. Working with COE and the McCormick Teaching Excellence Institute BME proposes to recruit expert faculty with engineering education scholarship, either from within the BME community or with training in the social sciences.

To create programmatic connections to Weill Cornell Medicine to enhance the impact of our programs on human health Building and expanding on successful individual and nascent programmatic interactions in education and research with Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) is critical to the future success of the human health 5 aspect of our mission. Successful partnerships also will benefit the medical community. Starting with creating joint degree programs (MD-PhD, MD-MEng), BME next envisions developing collaborative research centers (connects to SG3), ultimately creating a permanent structural presence, including BME faculty based at WCM, that benefits the biomedical enterprise across Cornell. Immediate opportunities for cooperative research centers exist in engineering solutions to cancer, immuno-engineering, and biomaterials for therapeutic applications. These areas address key clinical needs, build on strengths in BME, COE and Cornell more broadly, and leverage investments in other strategic initiatives. We believe that these partnerships also will facilitate engineering technology transfer and industrial connections in the biomedical space (connects to SG4). Logistical challenges such as short- and medium-term housing that have existed for decades need to be resolved.

To increase our national research presence through center leadership Cornell BME has developed an outstanding cohort of intellectual leaders who are well positioned to lead “big science” initiatives that address national priorities and grand challenges and that align with institutional initiatives including the Provost’s Radical Collaborations. For example, heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of mortality in the US. Cornell BME has a strong research presence in both areas, complemented by strong broad-based COE, life science and clinical research for cancer. A center effort focused on “Engineering Solutions to Cancer” could build on prior NIH-funded cancer centers in COE and span bench to preclinical models to clinical treatment (connects to SG2). Similar efforts are envisioned for the neuroscience and musculoskeletal focus areas within BME/COE and aligned across engineering, life sciences, and clinical animal/human health. These centers would be ideally situated to support training and community service programs, such as the current Cornell Cancer Partnership, Science Policy or Research Experience for Teachers programs. To foster center ecosystems, infrastructure commitments must include enabling relationships and services such as grant submission and administrative support, industrial affiliates, outreach programs, minority pipelines, and matching funds.

To develop industry relationships for our education and research programs BME is strong in traditional biomedical areas that correspond with mature and evolving industry partners. Individual BME faculty have successful entrepreneurial and technology transfer activities. In addition, the BME MEng program has established strong, enduring industry engagements through design projects. BME seeks to: (a) develop better connections to Cornell’s biomedical alumni network who are leaders in industry; (b) facilitate industrial partnerships with pre-negotiated industrial agreements; and, (c) increase industry interactions through School seminars, teaching laboratory projects, and alumni outreach. To truly foster the growth of entrepreneurship, Cornell/COE will need to establish progressive models of financial return to the school, college and university.

To attract outstanding diverse faculty, staff & students The BME community has a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion that is evident in our educational programs. Nearly a decade ago Cornell BME became the first department to receive the annual Diversity Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society for our national leadership in URM PhD recruitment and degrees awarded. More recently, the undergraduate major has exceeded expectations with 80% female enrollment, serve as driver of increased diversity in the COE. In addition, our graduate program was among the national leaders to eliminate the GRE requirement in 2019, and with >25% URM students is a leader in graduate student diversity in the COE. BME seeks to have all students and our faculty and staff similarly reflect this diversity over the next decade, with the goal of achieving population parity in the next decade for graduate students and faculty. BME also intends to grow international educational, exchange and outreach programs and increase our research presence 6 in global and health disparities research.

To effectively communicate our successes with the community beyond Cornell BME faculty are world leaders in their research areas, yet as an institution Cornell is “humble” and often silent about significant accomplishments. In our strategic vision, we seek to (a) develop a shared responsibility within our community to advance recognition of Cornell’s strengths; (b) educate ourselves on research and program promotion; (c) increase communication of novel research findings and community accomplishments; and, (d) form a multimedia communications strategy and action plan to promote BME.