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Program Description
The primary goal of the PhD in Biomedical Engineering (BME) is to provide students with an indepth, advanced education that will give them the tools needed to perform fundamental and applied independent research in biomedical engineering. In addition, students will gain the requisite technical knowledge that they may wish to apply to management, marketing, sales, and entrepreneurial activities related to biomedical engineering.
The PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering is awarded to a student upon successful completion of 75 credits and the defense of a comprehensive dissertation research project. The credits are broken down as minimums of 27 course credits – 12 core courses plus 15 electives – and 27 doctoral dissertation research credits, with flexible choices in coursework and/or research for the remaining credits. A maximum of 30 course credits may be transferred from previous graduate course work. Doctoral dissertation credits can only be taken upon passing the qualifying exam. Students should be able to complete the doctoral program within four to six years.
Admissions
A BS degree in biomedical engineering or a related field of science or engineering is generally required for admission to the BME PhD program. Applicants with degrees in other fields or from other colleges may be admitted with undergraduate or graduate deficiencies as evaluated by the Graduate Admissions Committee. Students entering at the BME PhD program with an MS degree are expected to have an MS degree in biomedical engineering or a related field of science, medicine, or engineering. In addition to the degree requirement, acceptance to the program will depend on (1) academic excellence, (2) research interests congruent with those of program faculty, and (3) positive recommendations (e.g., from former research advisors). GRE scores are optional. Admissions committee members or faculty members whose research interests match those of the candidate, either in person or by a conference call, will interview viable candidates. Enrollment in the NYU Global Fellows program is available to those who choose a research advisor at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.
Program Requirements
The program requires the completion of 75 credits, comprised of the following:
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| 1 | 3 |
| Probability and Stochastic Processes | |
| APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING | |
| APPLIED MATHEMATICS IN ENGINEERING | |
| 1 | 3 |
| ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, & BIOPHYSICS I | |
| ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, & BIOPHYSICS II | |
| 1 | 3 |
| BIOMEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION | |
| BIOMEDICAL DEVICE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT | |
| BIOMECHANICS FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS | |
| BE-GY 9753 | BIOETHICS SEMINAR 1,2 | 3 |
| 1,3 | 15-36 |
| RE-GY 9990 | PHD QUALIFYING EXAM | 0 |
| BE-GY 999X | PHD DISSERTATION IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 4 | 27 |
| BE-GY 9730 | Colloquium in Biomedical Engineering 5 | 0 |
| BE-GY 9740 | Seminar in Biomedical Engineering 5 | 0 |
| Total Credits | 75 |
Note: The Ph.D. degree requires a total of 75 credits to graduate. The minimum credit requirements for the core, electives, and the dissertation total to 54 credits. This design is intentional so that students are afforded the flexibility to structure the remaining 21 credits in the way that best suits their interests and goals. Students have the option of either electing to take more courses or more dissertation credits or a combination of both for these 21 credits.
Qualifying Exam and Dissertation
Passing a doctoral qualifying examination is required in order to begin taking dissertation research credits. The qualifying exam will be based on assigned thematically focused publications. This exam may be taken as early as the end of the first year, and not later than the middle of the second year. In the case of failure, the right to a second examination within six months is at the discretion of the examination committee in consultation with the Biomedical Engineering program committee. The qualifying examination must be passed by the end of the second year.
Once students have passed the qualifying exam, they may then enroll in dissertation research. A minimum of 27 credits of dissertation are required for this Ph.D. degree. Once dissertation research begins, students must enroll in at least 3 credits of dissertation each fall and spring term (the summer term is optional) until graduation.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:
- Provide students with an indepth, advanced education that will give them the tools needed to perform fundamental and applied independent research in biomedical engineering.
- Provide requisite technical knowledge that students may wish to apply to management, marketing, and sales activities related to biomedical engineering.
- Provide knowledge for entrepreneurial activities related to biomedical engineering.
Policies
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University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.
Tandon Policies
Additional academic policies can be found on the Tandon academic policy page.