Bioinstrumentation is an interdisciplinary field requiring a knowledge of the basic principles in several areas including digital electronic systems, control systems, detection systems, and material biocompatibility. In addition to the basic principles, Ph.D’s trained in the area of bioinstrumentation need an understanding of how to integrate the concepts and principles within the above areas to realize complete instrumentation systems with a variety of individual components. Ph.D. students in the Bioinstrumentation Track are given the training to perform research and development to a wide variety of component level and system level issues.

Masters Students

M.S. students within the bioinstrumentation track are required to successfully complete of one of the core bioinstrumentation courses as well as at least one additional elective bioinstrumentation course. The acceptable elective courses are listed below (bioinstrumentation core and/or advanced courses).

Ph.D. Students

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam: Ph.D. students in the bioinstrumentation track are expected to have general knowledge in the field. General knowledge includes sensor systems, control systems, digital systems, medical imaging techniques and optical systems as applied to biomedical instrumentation. The purpose of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam is to encourage students to revisit the fundamental principles in bioinstrumentation and synthesize the material. Students should take the exam in the second or third year of study. Although the specific content of the exam changes each year, approximately 25% of the exam covers material from the M.S. level biomedical engineering core curriculum and 75% of the exam covers topics specific to the field of bioinstrumentation. Although specific courses are not required, the following set of courses serve as a basis for the bioinstrumentation qualifying exam. Additional information on the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam can be found in the

Department of Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Requirements

.

Bioinstrumentation Courses

Core Courses

  • BME 5480 – Ultrasound
  • BME 6410 – Bioinstrumentation: Biosignals and Biosensors
  • BME 6421 – Fundamentals of Micromachining
  • BME 6450 – Biomedical Engineering Control Systems

Advanced Courses and the Program of Study

The

Program of Study in Biomedical Engineering

is a list of all courses to be completed by the student as part of the requirements for the Ph.D. The plan must be approved by the advisor and by the research supervisory committee, and submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies prior to taking the Qualifying Exam. For the students in the Bioinstrumentation Track, the Program of Study in Biomedical Engineering should include a hierarchy of courses selected to develop expertise in a focus area. Although there are no specific requirements, knowledge in fundamental areas noted above will be required to pass the Qualifying Exam. Additional expertise in a focus area will be required to perform well on the research proposal.

Additional courses must be completed to meet the minimum course credit hour requirements for the Ph.D. A typical plan of study would include approximately five specialized courses in addition to the Bioinstrumentation Track core courses to reach the course credit requirement. A limited set of example courses are given below. The specific set of courses, over and above the Bioinstrumentation Track core courses, should be selected on an individual basis to maximize expertise in the area most closely related to the student’s area of research.

Sensors and Integrated Devices

  • BME 5480 Ultrasound
  • BME 6410 Bioinstrumentation: Biosignals and Biosensors
  • BME 6421 Fundamentals of Micromachining
  • BME 6422 Biomedical Applicationsof Micromachining
  • BME 6440 Applied Neurophysiology
  • BME 7120 Biocompatibility
  • BME 7150 Introduction to Biomimetic Engineering
  • BME 7410 Advanced Bioinstrumentation
  • ELEN 5201 Semiconductor Device Physics I
  • ELEN 5202 Semiconductor Device Physics II
  • ELEN 5211 Semiconductor Device Physics Laboratory I
  • ELEN 5212 Semiconductor Device Physics Laboratory II
  • ELEN 6450 Quantum Electronics

Controls and Signal Processing

  • BME 6450 Biomedical Engineering Control Systems
  • ELEN 5540 Digital Signal Processing
  • ELEN 5570 Control of Electric Motors
  • ELEN 5520 Digital Communication Systems
  • ELEN 5540 Digital Signal Processing
  • ELEN 6510 Statistical Communication Theory
  • ELEN 6570 Adaptive Control
  • ELEN 6550 Adaptive Filters
  • ELEN 6640 Advanced Digital Signal Processing I
  • ELEN 6641 Advanced Digital Signal Processing II

Optical Systems

  • ELEN 5410 Lasers and Their Applications
  • ELEN 5411 Fiberoptics Systems
  • ELEN 6340 Numerical Techniques in Electromagnetics
  • ELEN 6430 Statistical Optics, Interferometry, and Detection
  • ELEN 6440 Integrated Optics and Optical Sensors
  • ELEN 6450 Quantum Electronics
  • ELEN 6451 Nonlinear Optics and Spectroscopy
  • PHYS Modern Optics
  • CHEM Spectroscopy

Imaging Elective Courses

  • BME 5510 Image Processing
  • ELEN 5550 Function Approximation Methods
  • ELEN 5551 Survey Optimization Methods
  • CPSC 6900 Inverse Methods
  • BME 7410 Advanced Bioinstrumentation
  • BME 6310 X-ray and Ultrasound
  • BME 6320 Nuclear Med, MR Physics
  • CPSC 6210 Advanced Scientific Computing I
  • CPSC 6220 Advanced Scientific Computing II
  • CPSC 5630 Scientific Visualization
  • ELEN 6420 Fourier Optics
  • BME xxxx Electrical and magnetic Inverse problems
  • BME 6471 Advanced Ultrasound Imaging & Waves

Bioinstrumentation Textbooks

Textbooks and lecture materials from the above courses are appropriate study guides for the qualifying exam. In addition, the following textbooks contain relevant material for the qualifying exam and may be used as supplemental study guides.

  • John G. Webster, Medical Instrumentation, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 0-471-15368-0, 1998.
  • S.M. Sze, Semiconductor Sensors, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 0-471-54609-7, 1994.
  • Richard A. Normann, Principles of Bioinstrumentation, ISBN: 0-471-60514-x, 1988.
  • Slaney, M. and Kak, A, Principles of Computerized Tomographic Imaging, IEEE Press, NY, NY
  • Morse and Ingard, Theoretical Acoustics, Princeton.

Questions?

Questions regarding the Bioinstrumentation track should be directed to Dr. (801-581-7645).