125:402 - BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (BME) SENIOR DESIGN II
PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS
REGISTRATION INDEX 67373, SPRING SEMESTER 2008
http://coewww.rutgers.edu/classes/bme/bme402/
(NOTE: This syllabus is very similar to that for Senior Design I, since this is a two-semester course sequence)
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Professor Thomas Papathomas
Psychology Building Room A127; Office Hours: Fridays 12:00 - 1:30 pm and by appointment.
Telephone: 732-445-6533; e-mail: papathom@rci.rutgers.edu
TEACHING ASSISTANT: Anshul Jain
Psychology Building Room A116; Office Hours: Fridays 1:00 – 3:00 pm and by appointment.
Telephone: 732-445-6155; e-mail: anshuljjain@gmail.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course has two components: I. A two-semester mentored senior design project; II. A series of lectures and
assignments for developing communications skills, attending to professional growth and consulting on career development.
I. Design Project. The design project is the main component of the course. Seniors are expected to meet with their
mentor once a week, and are required to spend at least 15 hours per week in their mentor’s facilities, working on their
projects, as they did in the previous semester. Students are required to record their activities, experiments, results, ideas,
and related material in a bound laboratory notebook; notebook entries must be dated and recorded in pen.
Spring Semester: Students are expected to submit an updated Project Deliverables Form in the beginning of the spring
semester. This form must be signed by themselves and their mentor. Requiring the Project Deliverables Form ensures that
they will meet with their mentor, set priorities, and go over the goals of the design project. Students are required to submit
a detailed Final Report that summarizes the progress they made in the design project throughout the year. The Final
Reports are graded independently by the instructor of the course, by the Teaching Assistant, and by the students’ mentor.
The culmination of the course occurs near the end of the spring semester, when seniors give a brief oral presentation on
their project in an all-day Biomedical Engineering Department Conference, which is centered around the Senior Design
presentations. This is an annual event, designed to celebrate the achievements of our Department's students. The
Conference is composed of three parts: 1) Oral presentations by the graduating seniors. 2) A poster session covering two
types of research contributions: by our program's graduate students and by the undergraduate students in our Honors
Academy; and 3) An informal job fair, now in its third year, where representatives from the industry will be able to talk to
the students during the breaks, lunch, and at the reception following the conference. This is a major event, to which we
invite • the Deans of both the School of Engineering (SoE) at Rutgers and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at
UMDNJ (University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ), as well as all the • students, • alumni/ae, and • members of faculty,
• mentors, • seniors’ families, • members of the BME Department Industrial Advisory Board, and • guest lecturers who
gave Senior Design talks throughout the year. Each year, we publish approximately 250 copies of the Proceedings of the
Biomedical Engineering Department Conference for all participants.
II. Lectures - Assignments. This is the second component of the course. We recognize the opportunity that the
course offers to have regular contact with the BME Department’s seniors, and we take advantage of it to cover topics that
are useful for their professional growth and career development. Lectures are offered every other week, on average, by
experts from within the BME Department, or from appropriate units in the University. Occasionally, we invite speakers
from the industry. This semester, after the first week’s introductory lecture by the instructor, the first lecture offers a tutorial
on how to prepare and deliver effective oral presentations. Another lecture by the instructor gives the students an overview
of experimental design, statistics, and hypothesis testing. Mr. A. Chiappetta, Assistant Director of Rutgers’s Career
Services, will instruct students on how to prepare for a job interview, as well as what is involved in starting your own
business. Two members of the BME faculty, who were both recruited from Corporate Research Laboratories (Prof. Chabal,
from Agere Research Laboratories, and Prof. Androulakis, from Exxon Corporate Research Science Laboratories), will tell
the seniors what to expect in the workplace, while Prof. Nackman, M.D., of UMDNJ will try to give them a flavor of
biomedical engineering research at a medical school such as UMDNJ. Finally, Prof. Leibowitz, Associate Dean of the
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMDNJ, will cover issues of biomedical ethics.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The main purpose of this course is to give senior BME students experience in the area of designing biomedical
devices and systems, under the guidance of a mentor in the university or in the industry. This course will be an integration
of the engineering and life sciences backgrounds that will culminate in the application of design principles for biomedical
devices and systems. The secondary objective is to provide students information on professional growth and career
development. During the course of the fall semester, students were exposed to current practices in biomedical product
design, prototyping, modeling, testing, evaluating, and protecting intellectual property; they were also instructed on
professional growth and career development. During the spring semester students will attend similar lectures, complete
their design projects, and deliver final oral and written presentations. To assess the course effectiveness, students fill the
same questionnaire at the beginning of the fall semester (“Entry” Questionnaire), and again at the end of the spring
semester (“Exit” Questionnaire). A comparison of their responses provides us with a measure of improvement.
COURSE PREREQUISITES
The course is open only to BME Seniors. Prerequisite courses are:
14:125:303 – Biomedical Transfer Phenomena
14:125:305 – Numerical Modeling In Biomedical Systems
14:125:306 – Biomedical Kinetics & Thermodynamics
14:125:308 – Introduction to Biomechanics
14:125:315 – BME Measurement/Analytical Lab
14:125:401 – BME Senior Design I
TEXTBOOK
There is no textbook for the course. Material and announcements for the course are in the course web site:
http://coewww.rutgers.edu/classes/bme/bme401/. Special announcements are broadcasted to all students by e-mail.
ATTENDANCE
All students are required to attend classes on time. Attendance counts for 10% of the class grade. A late penalty will be
assessed for any student who misses class or comes to class late. Any expected absences, religious or otherwise, must be
brought to the attention of the course instructor and TA at least 3 days in advance. If the student must leave class early, he
or she is expected to inform the instructor or TA before class.
HOMEWORK AND PROJECTS
Homework in Senior Design will be assigned in the form of various documents that must be completed according to the
instructions provided. These forms include • the Project Deliverables Form, • an outline of the term report, • a personal
resume and • an executive summary of the project (both to be included in the Conference Proceedings). Major projects for
this semester the Oral Presentation and the Final Report. Assignments are to be turned in at the beginning of class on the
day they are due. All students are expected to adhere to the University’s Academic Integrity policies with regards to their
work.
GRADING
- Attendance
10%
- Advisor Evaluation of Lab Performance 10%
- Outline of Final Report
5%
- Resume and Deliverables Form
5%
- Lab Notebook
- Final Project Report
- Executive Summary
10%
50%
10%
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Students are supposed to turn in homework assignments that are their own ideas, thoughts, experiments, data, and analysis.
If they use someone else’s material, they are expected to give credit to the source by proper references and citations.
Students are expected to abide by the Policy on Academic Integrity, which is described in the Undergraduate Catalogue.
Students are reminded to review this policy. A specific lecture on Ethics is offered in the spring semester.
PROFESSIONALISM
Seniors are asked to come to class, as well as to their appointments with their mentors, on time. Students are expected to be
attentive during class and have a professional attitude. This includes, but is not limited to, refraining from disruptive
conversation, not eating or drinking, and turning cell phones off during class. They are encouraged to ask relevant questions
and engage in constructive dialogue with the lecturers.
CONTRIBUTION OF COURSE TO MEETING THE PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT OF ABET
Senior Design is a required BME course. The ABET content is
Engineering Science
0%
0 hours
Engineering Design
100%
3 hours
This course contributes to the ABET criteria in the following ways:
ABET Criterion:
Student will be able to
A. Apply math, science, engineering
B. Design, conduct experiments, analyze, interpret
data
C. Design system component, process to meet
desired needs
D. Function on multidisciplinary teams
E. Identify, formulate and solve engineering
problems
F. Understand professional and ethical problems
G. Communicate effectively
H. Understand the impact of engineering on society
and the world
I. Recognize need for and engage in life-long
learning
J. Know contemporary issues
K. Use modern techniques, skills, and tools for
engineering practice
125:401:
Students will
Devise solutions to design issues using techniques and
procedures in math, science, and engineering that they
learned over the course of their undergraduate education
Develop logical experiments to ensure that their design
performs according to specifications, and analyze test data
scientifically to determine the strength of their design
Evaluate an engineering problem and design a device,
process, and/or program that meets the design requirements
and specifications
Work with mentors and student/teammates to solve their
design problem; we provide a wide variety of design projects
and we encourage multidisciplinary approaches
Search literature to find current engineering problems and
work with groups and advisors to address the issue
Be exposed to professional and ethical problems through a
series of lectures from professors and industrial
representatives
Submit written progress reports, final project reports, as well
as give oral presentations on their design issue. We lecture
them on how to communicate effectively both in writing and
orally.
Be exposed to real-world engineering problems through the
series of lectures. We ask lecturers to emphasize issues of
impact, especially the lecture on ethics.
Instructor emphasizes this need in his lectures. Additionally,
the lectures on graduate education and the one on the
workplace are designed to point to the need for life-long
learning
We take advantage of the lecture series that offers the
opportunity to expose students with contemporary issues
Use modern techniques, skills and tools that are relevant to
their design project in their mentor’s facilities
RELATIONSHIP OF COURSE TO PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers
University will produce Bachelor of Science graduates who:
Are able to apply the fundamental principles of mathematics and
the sciences to solve biomedical engineering problems
Have the background in engineering design and product
The course 125:402 provides the experience to:
Use the basic engineering sciences and biomedical
engineering background to design a device or system.
Design a device or system as part of a group as well as
realization to meet the needs of government and industry as well
as the breadth to make transitions into other professional areas
such as medicine, law or biomedical engineering management.
Consider the broad social, ethical, economic and environmental
consequences of their work
Have an understanding of the importance of life-long learning
and professional development, and a background that allows and
encourages those who are qualified to pursue advanced degrees.
Are effective working individually and in teams and can
communicate effectively.
attend required lectures on engineering design. We
encourage mentors to offer design projects that involve
interdisciplinary approaches.
The lectures on graduate education and the workplace
emphasize the importance of life-long learning, and
encourage students to pursue advanced degrees.
Work in a team on project of system design and
development. Students are also required to keep a
complete laboratory notebook as well as make an oral
presentation of their design proposal.
STUDENT INPUT AND INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE TO TEACHING EXCELLENCE SURVEYS (TEC) IN THE
PRIOR YEAR – (All comments listed were taken from the recent TEC surveys)
• Comment: Offer projects at the end of the junior year to allow for more time to start working on them.
Response: This was an excellent suggestion, and the instructor had been working on this idea, anyway. This year (2005-2006)
is the very first time that projects were distributed for selection to rising seniors in May of 2005 (in previous years projects
were offered for selection in September). This allowed some students to start working on their projects over the summer. We
plan to follow this schedule in the future.
• Comment: Have a “practice round” for speaking to an audience.
Response: We followed this suggestion and now offer a special session for students who would like to have a rehearsal of their
talk. The instructor and T.A. are both present in this session and offer feedback to the speakers on how to improve the talk.
• Comment: More details for assignments should be given.
Response: We responded by revising the specifications for all assignments and posting downloadable versions on the course
web site.
• Comment: Make only a few lectures mandatory, otherwise it’s a waste for those not interested.
Response: There is a good reason not to honor this request by students: We selected the lecture topics and speakers so as to
benefit the overwhelming majority of the graduating seniors. Thus, we strongly feel that all students will benefit form all the
lectures. For example, some students may not be interested in graduate studies presently, and they may wish not to attend the
corresponding lecture; however, the speaker talks about many topics that all seniors must be aware of (the value of continuing
education and life-long learning, alternative career plans, selecting employers that encourage, even pay for, graduate education,
etc.)
• Comment (related to above comment): Make the course meet every 3 weeks (it now meets every 2 weeks).
Response: We feel that all the lectures serve a good purpose, and we did not honor this suggestion (just like the previous
comment). In addition to the value of each lecture, meeting every 2 weeks gives us the opportunity to meet the seniors face to
face more often, thus enabling us to address concerns, to make special announcements, to monitor their progress, etc.
COURSE SCHEDULE
All lectures are in BME Auditorium during 2nd period (10:20-11:40 a.m.) on the following Fridays. However, please note
that some events are on different days and/or locations.
Date
Title
Speaker
1/25/08
Introduction to 125:402; Course overview - Oral
presentations and final report guidelines
Dr. Papathomas
2/08/08
Preparing for a Job Interview
2/22/08
What to expect in the workplace
Mr. Scott,
RU Career Services
Dr. Androulakis,
Assignments Due*
Deliverables Form due (TEAM)
Resume due (IND.)
3/7/08
Experimental Design, Statistics & Hypothesis Testing
3/14/08
Biomedical Ethics
Dr. Leibowitz
3/15-22
3/28/08
SPRING RECESS
How to give an oral presentation
Dr. Papathomas
Final Report Outline (IND.)
4/11/08
Biomedical Engineering Research at UMDNJ
Oral Presentation Rehearsal (optional)
FIRM DEADLINE 4:00 PM (see 5/7 below)
Dr. Gary Nackman
Executive Summary (TEAM)
Students
Power Point Slides (TEAM)
Students
Exit questionnaire
4/18/08
5/02/08
SENIOR DESIGN CONFERENCE
8 AM – 6 PM, BME Building
FIRM DEADLINE 4:00 PM
If report is handed in anytime from 4:01 PM 5/7/08 to
5/07/08
4:00 PM on 5/8/08, it is late by ONE DAY, and so
on.
*
IND.: Individual assignments; TEAM: Team assignments
Dr. Papathomas
Final Reports Due (IND.)
Notice this is a WEDNESDAY.
GUEST SPEAKERS
• Mr. Joe Scott is Associate Director of Career Services at Rutgers University.
• Prof. Y. J. Chabal is a member of the BME faculty at Rutgers; he was formerly at Agere Research Laboratories.
• Prof. Y. Androulakis is a member of the BME faculty at Rutgers; he was formerly at Exxon Corporate Research Science
Laboratories.
• Prof. G. Nackman, M.D., is a member of the Surgery faculty at UMDNJ.
• Prof. M. Leibowitz is Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMDNJ.