Biomedical Engineering
Advance human health and shape the future of medicine.
Biomedical engineering, a new and rapidly growing field, combines engineering with biology and medicine to create diagnostic and therapeutic tools, improve health care, and detect, repair, and treat diseases.
While career paths vary, biomedical engineers share one essential trait—a passion for shaping the future of human health and medicine.
Students in biomedical engineering learn skills in:
- Biomaterials and tissue engineering
- Implementation and ethics of new solutions to biomedical challenges
- Computational tools to investigate models of cellular phenomena
Exciting electives to fine-tune your degree include:
- Immunology
- Gene Therapy
- Biotransport
- Orthopedic Biomechanics
- Biorobotics
- Bioinstrumentation
Graduates of the UMass Amherst biomedical engineering program are prepared for a variety of careers, including medical equipment design and manufacturing, scientific research and development services, and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing.
Explore our programs
Alumni spotlight
In the spotlight
Louisthelmy’s research focuses on how brain cells are affected by glioblastoma, the most aggressive and deadly brain cancer. She created a new way to isolate matrix proteins made by the cancer cells. If researchers can target the responsible proteins, they may be able to use them to fortify the brain against cancer spread.
Featured faculty
Sam Wojda
Lecturer, BME. Undergraduate Program Director. Focused on bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Seth Donahue
Bioinspired Material Design; Bone Tissue Engineering; Comparative Biomechanics; Hibernation Physiology; Paleo-engineering and Biomechanics
S. Thai Thayumanavan
Distinguished Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Distinguished Professor, Chemistry
Director, Center for Bioactive Delivery
Polymer self-assembly, responsive materials and their use in diverse applications including therapeutic delivery, sensing, and diagnostics
X. Frank Zhang
Focuses on using single-molecule detection techniques to study the mechanosensing and activation mechanisms in blood clotting, viral infection, tissue repair.
In the news
BME’s Dmitry Kireev Receives NSF Grant to Create Electronic “Tattoos” for Monitoring Sweat Biomarkers
Kireev’s monitoring devices will target the cortisol in sweat, a biomarker for such conditions as stress, stroke, Cushing's syndrome, and Addison's disease.
College of Engineering Students Win All Four Prizes in the UMass Tech Challenge
The competition, focused on technology innovation, is open to all UMass students; competitors pitch their ideas to a panel of judges for $15,000 in prize money.
BME’s Joyita Dutta and Colleague Obtain NIH Award for Pioneering Research to Predict Alzheimer’s Disease
By the end of this study, the UMass researchers will create a forecasting framework capable of predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s years before symptoms arise.
Biomedical Engineering
From biomechanics to health care delivery, biomedical engineering students at UMass Amherst are revolutionizing the future of human health—and you can, too.