The Role of Biomechanics in the Modern Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Curriculum

During the Summer and Fall of 2000, the Whitaker Foundation engaged the biomedical engineering community in a curriculum assessment and vision exercise that included: collection and posting (www.Whitaker.org) of a curriculum database from departments and programs in bioengineering (note that within this document, bioengineering is understood to be synonymous with biomedical engineering); identification of key curricular topic areas and facilitators for each of these areas; posting of white papers by the facilitators; and a period of community comment. This activity culminated in the Whitaker Educational Summit, held in December 2000, at which representatives of virtually all US bioengineering departments and programs, numerous international participants, and those interested in establishing programs, gathered for a series of lectures and discussions on general topics in the undergraduate bioengineering curriculum, and for focused group discussions in each of the topic areas. Summary comments were prepared at that meeting by professional science writers and published at the Whitaker web site, and a period of comment followed. As facilitators for the area of biomechanics, and representatives of the US National Committee on Biomechanics, we offer a vision of biomechanics in the undergraduate bioengineering curriculum, and a set of recommendations that result from the. Whitaker process.