The University of Wyoming recently approved a new minor in hopes that it will attract new recruits and provide graduates with more opportunities for employment.
Starting in the fall of 2022 UW students will be able to enroll in a biomedical engineering minor program.
“It is applying engineering principles to the medical field, in terms of everything from drug delivery to medical devices, to different treatments.” Patrick Johnson, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, said.
“It’s pretty wide open”
The University of Wyoming has long offered a concentration in biomedical engineering, but recently the Office of the registrar approved a new minor in the field.
The new minor will formalize coursework within multiple engineering tracks into a cross-disciplinary program.
“This allows students to have something formal on their diplomas and their transcripts,” Johnson said. “It empowers them, it provides students with an acknowledgment of their biomedical training.”
This boosts students’ resumes when they are applying for jobs or graduate school after they finish their undergraduate studies, Johnson says.
“It’s to indicate to potential employers that they have the requisite training to work for companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, companies that make medical devices.”
The minor will comprise 18 credits, with the exact coursework having the ability to be specifically tailored to the students’ major degree program.
“For Chemical Engineers this doesn’t require any extra coursework beyond what they would have had to take for their normal credits,” Johnson said. “We have six technical electives they must take, and this fits right into those.”
The first graduate of UW with a biomedical engineer could be as soon as just over a year away, Johnson said.
“We anticipate that we may have some in spring of 2023 if the student has already started taking some of these classes. So, possibly 2023 but definitely 2024.”
The new minor will also offer the opportunity to recruit new students who otherwise may not have considered attending UW.
“I definitely think this will enhance recruitment from students to the university,” Johnson said. “At the very least we will get more into our program.”
“I think it definitely has the potential to expand the medical research at UW, and hopefully create more medical research throughout the state of Wyoming,” Junior, Nicholas Gindulis, a chemical engineering major, said.
However, Gindulis does not intend to pursue the minor themselves.
“No, I don’t think I would be interested in a biomedical engineering minor,” Gindulis said. “My interests are more in purely chemical science, rather than biological or medical sciences.”
Besides increasing possible enrollment going forward, current students have already been expressing interest in the biomedical field according to Johnson.
A recent poll of chemical engineering majors showed that 57% of undergraduates were interested in the new Biomedical engineering minor.
