A summer research experience for undergraduates in biomedical engineering at Purdue University

It has been predicted that the highest demand for engineers through the year 2008 will be in the biomedical sector. To meet these needs, the objective of the present study was to increase undergraduate exposure and interest in BME through a research experiences for undergraduates (REU, sponsored by the National Science Foundation) site at Purdue University (https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/REU/). In achieving these goals, 11 undergraduate student participants conducted BME-related research on the Purdue campus during the summer of 2004. Of these students, 9 were females or underrepresented minorities and 7 had not had hands-on BME experiences prior to the REU program. Each REU student visited 3 BME industries, observed the operating room/clinic, and partook in a bioethics series. In addition, research progress was conveyed through weekly lab meetings and presentation of both a research poster and a formal, 30-minute long, research seminar. To date, cutting-edge research conducted over this and previous summers (2001-2004 in total) has resulted in over 20 manuscripts and over 35 abstracts presented at national BME-related conferences. Finally, survey results provided evidence that REU participants were extremely pleased with the experience and were more likely to enroll in BME graduate programs at the conclusion of the REU program.