Biomedical engineering continues to grow as an educational, research, and professional field, advancing human health care through medical devices. The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program pursues inclusion and innovation in medical devices through multidisciplinary approaches that integrate physics, chemistry and engineering to tackle medical problems, including diversity and inclusion considerations into universal technology designs.
- The program will enhance the ability of students to undertake interdisciplinary research through cutting-edge projects that focus on the innovative engineering of medical devices and solutions to healthcare problems.
- Students will learn how human factors engineering can address diversity and inclusion, preventing bias in medical products and ensuring equitable access to healthcare.
- Students will be able to network with startup companies in a biotech incubator and realize the path of innovations from lab research to commercialization and helping patients.
- Students will present their scientific results at conferences.
This program can significantly impact students' future career paths by providing a positive experience in cutting-edge research, a sense of accomplishment and the joy of scientifically interacting with peers and professionals.
Students will participate in innovative lab research focused on solving health problems and, thus, experience creating tangible benefits to the society we live in today. In addition, they will learn about unintended bias in medicine, microaggressions, and racism in science, including strategies for universal designs in medicine and how to identify and interrupt microaggressions and racism. This experience will help students gain a broader and deeper perspective on research and may further motivate them to pursue a future in science and engineering.
Interactions with mentors provide role models to the students while helping them evaluate their career paths. Therefore, the REU site is well-positioned to become a national model for inclusive, highly interdisciplinary, and intense summer research experiences for undergraduates.