Academics / Graduate StudySpecial Programs
Graduate students at McCormick have additional opportunities to engage in courses and field experiences that complement their study in biomedical engineering.
Master's Students
The following programs are open to all master's students:
MS Concentration in Translational Biomedical Engineering
The Concentration in Translational Biomedical Engineering provides an opportunity to develop and practice skills including project management, clinical trial design, and medical device regulation. In addition to coursework, the concentration includes an industry mentorship. Through this mentorship, we strive to provide experiences that expose students to the many different areas where biomedical engineers can work after graduation.
MS Concentration in Data Science
The Biomedical Engineering MS Concentration in Data Science provides an opportunity to develop a general foundation in data science and the opportunity to build skills in subfields of the discipline. Students complete the Data Science concentration better equipped to develop comprehensive data science pipelines, using computational data analysis for the estimation, prediction, design, and control of engineering systems.
Graduate Minor in Entrepreneurship
For those interested in an entrepreneurial path in research, this minor will prepare you for a time when traditional funding sources may no longer exist and commercialization is the next logical step.
Minor in Engineering Management
One particularly popular combination is a major in any engineering field with a three-course minor in engineering management, or EM Minor, offered through the Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Program within the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences.
Minor in Scientific Computing
The minor in scientific computing offers a substantive programming and algorithmic knowledge base to science students. The minor certifies that a student has the programming and algorithmic skills to develop codes to solve modern engineering problems. Additionally, students gain a better understanding of the algorithms used in packaged software and their limitations so that using packaged software can be done in a judicious way without blindly accepting package output.
Industry Mentoring Program
Our mentoring program for master's students connects current students with NU BME alumni. Students will get the opportunity to learn about various careers, gain insight about graduate pathways, build their resources and network, and create meaningful connections.
PhD Students
T32 Training Grant Programs
Northwestern BME faculty direct five institutional T32 training programs funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These prestigious programs embed students in a small community of scholars conducting similar research, providing unique, domain-specific training opportunities that complement the core elements of our PhD program.
DPT/PHD (ENG) Program
The DPT-PhD (Eng) program seeks to combine advanced training in Biomedical Engineering and Physical Therapy for one clear benefit: improved rehabilitation therapies and technologies for patients with movement disorders.
Graduate Training Program for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
The Northwestern Graduate Training Program for Magnetic Resonance Imaging trains graduate students in magnetic resonance physics and engineering principles, new techniques, and a wide range of magnetic resonance applications. It is funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and directed by Dr. Markl.
Pathophysiology and Rehabilitation of Neural Dysfunction (PRND) Training Grant
The mission of the Pathophysiology and Rehabilitation of Neural Dysfunction (PRND) training program is to develop researchers who are able to work on the fundamental mechanisms underlying disabling neurological illness, to guide the development of clinically relevant tools for quantifying and relieving the severity and impact of neurologic illness, and to pursue research on the effects of rehabilitation interventions on such disabling illnesses. The program is open to students enrolled in the PhD program and to postdoctoral fellows.
Physical Genomics Training Program
The Physical Genomics Training Program (PGTP), the first physical genomics-based training program in the United States, seeks to build a diverse workforce to address the complex, transdisciplinary questions of the emerging new discipline of physical genomics and its application, chromatin engineering.
Regenerative Engineering Training Program
The regenerative engineering training program is a two-year convergence research predoctoral program designed to educate the next generation of regenerative engineers using a three-member mentor team and relevant exposure to both clinical and industrial experiences.
Other Training Programs
Biotechnology Training Program
The biotechnology training program is an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental program that provides select graduate students with greater research and training opportunities than those available through individual departments.
Chemistry of Life Processes Training Program
The Chemistry of Life Processes Predoctoral Training Program, a Chemistry: Biology Interface Program of the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), integrates biology and chemistry through a common set of course requirements, a hands-on team based approach to laboratory training, a unique preceptor arrangement, and a strong communal training environment. The training program educates the next generation of transdisciplinary scientists that will be capable of extending and integrating the perspectives and approaches of the life sciences and chemistry to complex scientific problems in the field of biomedical research. The training program prepares students for a broad range of careers that span academic, industry, government and private sectors.
General Motor Control Mechanisms and Disease Training Program
The Motor Control Training Program (MCTP) offers a broad range of interdisciplinary research and training opportunities in the neuroscience of motor control. The research of participating preceptors spans molecular neuroscience and gene therapy, cellular neuroscience, signal transduction, system neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, brain imaging, computational neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience and applied mathematics and engineering.
Interdisciplinary Biological Science Graduate Program
IBiS provides the resources and training environment necessary to promote the development of Ph.D. students into independent, creative research scientists and teachers. The program includes approximately 60 training faculty from diverse science and engineering departments on Northwestern's main campus, who are linked by common interests in addressing fundamental questions in the biological and biomedical sciences.
Molecular Biophysics Training Program
The Molecular Biophysics Training Program serves as a hub for all research and training activities in biophysics at Northwestern, preparing predoctoral students for productive scientific careers in academia.
Synthesizing Biology Across Scales (SynBAS) NRT Program
Synthesizing Biology Across Scales (SynBAS) is a National Research Traineeship (NRT) program, focused on convergent synthetic biology training for graduate students. Through the NRT program components, students will learn the principles of living systems across scales - from molecules, to cells, to organisms, to communities.
TGS Diversity Peer Mentor Program
The Graduate School's Diversity Peer Mentor Program is designed to help first-year, diverse PhD students become acclimated to Northwestern. TGS Diversity Peer Mentors will serve as an additional resource to incoming PhD students and provide support, encouragement, and information as our new students embark on this new academic journey.