“It’s exciting to be in a field that is really up-and-coming,” says Ava C. Carter ’13. “Instead of throwing information at us, there is a lot of creative thinking.”

Carter says she has also likes the sense that much of her course work covers scientific issues that are not yet very well understood.

“It’s nice [that] there is no definite answer,” she says.

Theresa G. Feng ’13 says she was interested in the field because stem cell research has “the potential [to] help a lot of people.”

Feng adds that it is “cool to have teachers reference papers that came out yesterday.”

Despite the discrepancy in concentrator numbers, Henriques says that Biomedical Engineering is also a field which is generating excitement among both students and teachers.

Henriques said that taking Life Sci. 1a: Introduction to Life Sciences as a freshman rekindled his interest in the biological sciences, though he had previously planned on studying mechanical engineering.

The nearly simultaneous introduction of the BME concentration offered Henriques a unique opportunity to study a field which melds both of his interests.

For Tunc C. Kiymaz ‘13, another BME concentrator, the new concentration allowed him to pursue all of his academic passions at the same time.

“My two favorite subjects were math and science. They’re combined in Biomedical Engineering,” he said.

GETTING OFF THE GROUND

While Biomedical Engineering may have attracted fewer students than anticipated—and is certainly much smaller than HDRB—professors involved within the concentration say they are not worried about size.

Addressing the similarity to the Biomedical Sciences and Engineering track of the Engineering Sciences concentration, SEAS Area Dean for Biomedical Engineering Robert D. Howe notes that BME offers students “a more focused education” in a unique field.

He adds that administrators “certainly don’t view [the concentration’s size] as a problem.”

Many students in the concentration say they actually see the small size as a beneficial aspect of their experience, rather than a burden.