Request for Action
By the Engineering Curriculum Committee
Instructions
Use this form to request a modification to the curriculum in the School of Engineering. Submit both a
signed hard copy and an electronic version of the document to the chair of the School of Engineering
Curriculum Committee (SOECC) at least two weeks before a regularly scheduled meeting. In addition,
send electronic copies to the engineering reference librarian and to the engineering and science
bibliographer at Tisch Library.
If credit is desired in either the natural science or mathematical science distribution area in liberal arts,
separate approval is required from the Academic Review Board (ARB). Please forward the course
description to the ARB chair.
Role
SOECC Chair
Distribution List, 2011–2012
Person and Link to
Format
Directory Listing
Alva Couch
Print (signed) and electronic
Engineering Reference Librarian
Engineering and Science
Bibliographer
Karen Vagts
Electronic
Miriam Allman
Electronic
Academic Review Board Chair
Joseph Auner
Electronic course description (if
seeking distribution credit)
Department
Current Course Number
(if applicable):
Current Course or Program Title
(if applicable):
Proposed Course Number
(if applicable)
Proposed Course or Program Title
(if applicable)
Name of Faculty Contact
Telephone Number
Email Address
Date
Request Summary
Biomedical Engineering
Second major in biomedical engineering (BED)
No change in program title
Sergio Fantini
7-4356
sergio.fantini@tufts.edu
3/8/12
This request has been approved by the faculty of the department.
Department: Biomedical Engineering
David Kaplan
3/8/12
Signature of Department Chair
Date
Academic year 2011–2012.
Request for Action
By the Engineering Curriculum Committee, p. 2
Indicate requested action(s). Check all boxes that apply.
Offer New Course
Offer New Program
Change Course Number
Change Course Title
Change Course Description
X
Change Program Description
Other:
Course/Program Designation and Description. For new courses, please provide the department
designation, course number, course title, and proposed Bulletin description. The description should be
about four printed lines and written in Bulletin language. For course changes, please provide the
current designation, course number, course title, and course description, followed by the proposed
changes. For programs, please include both existing (if applicable) and proposed Bulletin language.
Proposed Course Number
(if applicable)
Proposed Course or
Program Title
Second major in biomedical engineering (BED) [no change with
respect to current program title]
Current Bulletin
Description (if applicable)
SECOND MAJOR IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
The second major in biomedical engineering is offered to
engineering students. Students must enroll in conjunction with
another engineering undergraduate departmental major. For the
second major in biomedical engineering, students are required to
complete ten courses. No more than five of these courses may
be used to fulfill the concentration requirement of the first major.
All ten courses must be taken for a letter grade. The ten credits
required for the second major in biomedical engineering as
follows:
1. Biology 13
2. Biomedical Engineering 50
3. Biomedical Engineering 62
4. Biomedical Engineering 100
5. Biomedical Engineering 131 or Biomedical Engineering 51
6. Biomedical Engineering 164
7. One Biomedical Engineering elective course
8. Two concentration elective courses from a list available from
the department
9. One elective course approved by the BME Second Major
Advisor.
Proposed Bulletin
Description
SECOND MAJOR IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
The second major in biomedical engineering is offered to
engineering students. Students must enroll in conjunction with
another engineering undergraduate departmental major. For the
Academic year 2011–2012.
Request for Action
By the Engineering Curriculum Committee, p. 3
second major in biomedical engineering, students are required to
complete ten courses. No more than five of these courses may
be used to fulfill the concentration requirement of the first major.
All ten courses must be taken for a letter grade. The ten credits
required for the second major in biomedical engineering are as
follows:
1. Biology 13 or Engineering Science 11
2. Physics 12 or Chemistry 2
3. Probability and Statistics elective
4. Engineering Science 3 or Engineering Science 5
5. Engineering elective
6. Biomedical Engineering 50
7. Biomedical Engineering 62 or Biomedical Engineering 100
8. Biomedical Engineering 164 or Biomedical Engineering 131
9. Biomedical Engineering elective
10. Biomedical Engineering elective
A list of appropriate elective courses in probability and statistics,
engineering, and biomedical engineering is available from the
department.
Rationale and Impact. Please describe the rationale and impact of the proposed changes and/or for
offering the new course or program. Indicate ways in which proposed changes affect existing or
proposed programs of study both within and outside your department. When appropriate, indicate
relationships between changes and practices at peer institutions, as well as relevance to department
mission and School of Engineering mission and strategic plans.
The reason to propose this change to the second major in biomedical engineering is to make it more
accessible to engineering students, while retaining a significant biomedical engineering focus. The
current second major is completed by 1-3 students per year. This goal is particularly important because
the first major in biomedical engineering has an enrollment cap (currently 15 students per year, to be
increased to 20 students per year in AY 2012-2013), and we want to make sure that students who
apply but are not admitted into the BME first major have a real opportunity to enroll in the second major
program. Currently, the second major in BME has a requirement of 6 out of 10 courses, and it is difficult
for engineering students to coordinate these requirements with those of their primary engineering
major. The proposed second major program has 5 BME courses, and includes a more structured set of
foundation courses in natural science, probability/statistics, and engineering. As a result, we only
propose to decrease the number of BME course requirements by one, and we structure the overall
program more rigorously (as opposed to the current program that includes soft and highly flexible
elective courses (one that simply needs to be approved by the second-major advisor, and one from a
broad list of courses available from the department which includes a large number of biology, chemistry
and physics courses). The rationale for this revised second major program is to take as a starting point
the set of 12 BME course credits that make up the concentration requirements for the BME first major.
Four of these course credits are associated with the research cluster that is exclusively available to first
majors and is not included in the second major program. The remaining 8 courses that make up the
BME concentration requirements are as follows:
-
One course is a broad introduction to BME (BME 50) and it is also required in the proposed
Academic year 2011–2012.
Request for Action
By the Engineering Curriculum Committee, p. 4
second major;
-
five courses are either biomedical instrumentation courses, or
biotechnology/biomaterials/tissue engineering courses and we have divided four of them into
alternative options in the proposed second major program (BME 62 or BME 100; BME 164 or
BME 131 – one option in the area of biomedical instrumentation and one option in tissue
engineering) to accommodate students whose interests may fall into either instrumentation or
tissue engineering areas;
-
One course is a BME elective course, and we have retained it in the second major program;
-
One course is an elective course that may be in BME or may be a biology or chemistry course
(from a specified list). In the second major, we require this second elective course to be in
BME.
As a result, we think that the proposed second major does not lack rigor or in-depth coverage of
the field of biomedical engineering. What it lacks with respect to the BME first major is the research
component and breadth of coverage of the field (because the first major covers both
instrumentation and biotechnology issues, while the second major is designed to emphasize one of
the two areas).
Resource Requirements and Curricular Adjustments. Please describe the resources required to
implement the proposed changes, including plans for how these resources will be obtained. Include
expected enrollments, class sizes, expected numbers of sections, and frequency of offering for each
class. Describe modifications required in your department’s curriculum or instructor’s regular course
offerings to make the proposed changes possible. Identify whether required funding for resources is
pending and/or dependent upon external grants. Indicate any additions to the Tisch Library collections
that may be required. Where possible, compare resource requirements to existing requirements before
the proposed changes.
No additional resources are required to implement the proposed changes, as enrollments in the
courses indicated in the second major program are not expected to change significantly.
Additional Resources. If additional resources are required, please attach a statement from the Dean of
Engineering (or a designee) concerning the resources and how they will be provided.
N/A
Tufts University Arts and Sciences Library
Library Impact Statement for Undergraduate Courses
Please furnish the information requested below and return this form to: Collection Management Librarian,
Arts and Sciences Library, Tisch. (The Arts and Sciences Librarian is an ex officio member of the
Committee on Curricula.)

Department or Program

Title of course

Suggested department course number

Course will first be offered
Academic year 2011–2012.
Request for Action
By the Engineering Curriculum Committee, p. 5

Instructor(s)

Campus telephone number

Anticipated enrollment

Open to undergraduates
graduates

This course is primarily dependent on:
Text
Library resources

Brief description of topics to be covered

Description of any additional library resources needed to support this course.
Academic year 2011–2012.