Two is better than one

ASEE Prism, Feb 2002 by Horrigan, Marie

Virginia Tech didn't have a medical school facility-- except for its veterinary program-and Wake Forest University lacked an engineering school. And both schools saw the future of medical and engineering technology in biomedical engineering-a discipline that seeks to improve human health through the crossdisciplinary integration of engineering, biology and biomedical sciences.

This problem was solved this past October by an agreement between the two schools that paves the way for the creation of a jointly-run Virginia TechWake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. The new school, which Wake Forest associate professor of medical engineering Peter Santago says he hopes will have a "national impact," plans to focus first on the areas of biomechanics, tissue and cell engineering, and bioimaging and signal processing. Later the school intends to expand its research into the areas of nanobioengineering, microelectrical machines, bioinfomatics, and biomaterials.

Students enrolled in the program can study at either campus, depending on their adviser's location, and will have access to biomedical engineering courses at both universities via distance learning. The new school will be run jointly by Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, its Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Faculty members from each university will be granted adjunct appointments on the other campus.

The University School plans to offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biomedical engineering and aims to become the focus of collaborative research. The school hopes to jointly admit the first students in the fall of 2002 and expects between 80 to 100 students within five years.