Biomedical engineering graduate program comes to UTRGV for fall 2023

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — UTRGV has announced plans to offer a new graduate program in the fall of 2023.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley plans to offer a master of science degree in Biomedical Engineering as part of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has given its approval but approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is pending.

Biomedical engineering is a multidisciplinary field. It combines engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and statistics to improve human health, said the university’s news release.

The new program will contain three subjects of study such as biomechanics, biomaterials, biomedical manufacturing and instrumentation.

Dumitru Caruntu, professor of mechanical engineering and the graduate program coordinator, said about 15 students will be admitted in the first semester, with more added over time.

“At the end of five years, we expect there will be about 60 students in the program,” Caruntu said. 

A strong candidate for the Biomedical Engineering program should have a solid science, technology, engineering and mathematics background, added Caruntu.

Students with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, and health profession-related majors already have many of the prerequisites for admission to the new program, stated the news release.

“We are not necessarily looking for students with an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering,” said Dr. Robert Freeman, professor and chair of the UTRGV Department of Mechanical Engineering. “The program curriculum is set to be so that students from different disciplines can participate in the program.”

Freeman said the faculty is excited about the new degree and the new research opportunities it will create at the university.