The Graduate Program in Bioengineering
Degree Options
The Fischell Department of Bioengineering offers a Graduate Program in Bioengineering and a special combined M.D./M.S. program for students enrolled in the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine.
We rarely admit students who only wish to pursue a terminal master's degree in bioengineering. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply to the Ph.D. program. You may contact the Graduate Program Academic Coordinator (bioe-grad@umd.edu) with any questions about our admissions policies.
Prospective students interested in a master's degree in bioengineering may wish to consider the Master of Science/Doctor of Medicine (M.S./M.D.) dual degree program we offer with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The Graduate Program in Bioengineering
The Graduate Program in Bioengineering offers research and educational opportunities leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree and to the M.S./M.D. Masters of Science as a dual degree program with the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The Graduate Program in Bioengineering is housed in and administered by the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. Its faculty includes all faculty holding a tenured or tenure-track appointment in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, as well as faculty holding Affiliate and Adjunct appointments with the Department.
The program's objective is to combine the principles and applications embedded within engineering with the sciences of biology, medicine, and health. It is our belief that developments at the interface of biology and engineering will advance the efficacy of health care by developing new paradigms for the diagnosis of disease, and the development and delivery of new therapeutics. Our bioengineering students will gain the knowledge base and skill sets to quantitatively measure, and rationally manipulate cells, tissues, and integrated systems. Bioengineers must bring problem solving skills and design methodologies to the study of biology in an effort to translate the biological sciences into medical practice in an analogous manner to the transformation of chemistry into industrial practice that occurred in the 20th century.
Our program provides a basic understanding of bioengineering at the molecular and cellular level, focusing on:
- biomolecular and cellular rate processes
- cellular and tissue biomechanics
- electrophysiology of the cell
- cellular and physiological transport phenomena
In addition, we stress the application of this fundamental understanding to the development of:
- medical diagnostics systems
- bio-devices
- vaccines
Students in the Graduate Program in Bioengineering are students in the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, and are subject to the Graduate School's requirements for the conferral of graduate degrees, in addition to the Graduate Program in Bioengineering's degree requirements. Prospective and current students are urged to refer to our BIOE Graduate Program Student Handbook (PDF) and the Graduate School's publications and web page for additional information.
The Master of Science/Doctor of Medicine (M.S./M.D.) Program
The Master of Science/Doctor of Medicine (M.S./M.D.) Program is a dual degree program offered with the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMB-SOM). Students applying to the M.S./M.D. Program must first be admitted to the M.D. program at the School of Medicine, and should indicate their interest in the dual-degree program when applying to UMB.
The objective of this program is to broaden the educational and research scope of medical doctors in significant fields of bioengineering. The program should be attractive to those clinicians interested in areas including clinical research, biomaterials, biomedical imaging, medical device innovation, medical device development, and drug development. Graduates of the combined program will receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine as well as a Master of Science degree from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.
To learn more about the dual degree program, please visit:
- the Master of Science/Doctor of Medicine (M.S./M.D.) Requirements page »
- the School of Medicine's Combined MD/Masters and Year-Off Fellowship Programs overview (external site) »
The Sloan Ph.D. Network in Materials Science & Engineering and Bioengineering
The Sloan Ph.D. Network in Materials Science & Engineering and Bioengineering, managed by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, offers substantial scholarship support, mentoring and guidance to underrepresented minority students beginning their doctoral work in engineering, natural science, and mathematics, especially those interested in an academic career. Learn more about our Sloan Program »
Facilities and Special Resources
Students in both programs have access to well-equipped bioengineering research laboratories and the associated departmental facilities of the department's faculty. Core, shared facilities—including Bioprocess Scale-up Facility, DNA sequencing, DNA microarray, GC/MS, animal facilities, and Microscopy (TEM, SEM, AFM)—are also available to bioengineering students. See our Laboratories page for a selection of facilities.
Related Graduate Programs of Interest
Students interested in bioengineering may also wish to explore the following graduate programs offered by the University of Maryland in which professors from the Fischell Department of Bioengineering are joint or affiliate faculty members. Please note that these programs are not offered or administered by the Fischell Department of Bioengineering.
The Maryland Biophysics Program: The post genomic era demands that expertise from a number of disciplines be used to solve some of the outstanding problems in biology, biomedicine, and bioengineering. The unique feature of the Maryland Biophysics Program is to train graduate students to use theoretical and computational methods in combination with cutting edge experimental techniques to solve important problems in biology. (Director: Dave Thirumalai.) (Download a flyer [PDF] »)
Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science: This Ph.D. program offers research and training opportunities in neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience and computational neuroscience with internationally-renowned faculty who interact among three campuses: in Baltimore City, at Baltimore County and at College Park. (Director: Robert J. Dooling.)
The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy: Founded in 1841, the School of Pharmacy is the fourth oldest in the nation. It is comprised of three departments: The Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science advances the practice of pharmacy and generating and disseminating new knowledge related to pharmacy practice and drug use; the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences conducts state-of-the-art research and discovery in the areas of cellular and chemical biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, biopharmaceutics and drug delivery; and the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Department provides teaching, service, and scholarly activities related the behavioral sciences, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoepidemiology, and regulatory issues.
