Biomedical Engineering Society
As the professional organization for Biomedical Engineering students, the Louisiana Tech Chapter of Biomedical Engineering Society plays an important role in preparing undergraduate students for their career objectives beyond the bachelor degree. The organization sponsors speakers, field trips, social events, and participates in activities at the college and university levels. Speakers have included practicing biomedical engineers and physicians, faculty and professional staff from the Department, undergraduate students, and graduate students. Recent field trips were taken to Houston, TX (NASA, McDonnell-Douglas, General Electric, AstroWorld), Jackson, MS(Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center), San Antonio, TX (Southwest Research Institute). The Tech Chapter received its fourth Meritorious Award at the 1995 BMES Annual Conference.
Biomedical Engineering at Louisiana Tech University
The Biomedical Engineering Program at Louisiana Tech University was established in 1972. Its first chair, Dr. Daniel D. Reneau, is now the President of the University. As the seventh ABET-accredited undergraduate biomedical engineering program in the country (in 1978), it has played a continuous leadership role in defining the nascent field of biomedical engineering. The program was one of the first in the country to award a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. The Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science (CyBERS) has been identified as a Center of Excellence at Louisiana Tech University, first by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1985 when it was established, and recently by the University of Louisiana System in a review of all its colleges and universities. The Center coordinates all biomedical engineering research on the campus, such that strong ties are in place with academic programs in Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences, Tech’s Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM) - another Center of Excellence, and Tech’s Center for Numerical Simulation and Modeling. CyBERS and its closely affiliated Biomedical Engineering academic program have long had international acclaim for its physiological research and its rehabilitation engineering and science research and service. Through partnership with the world-class facilities and researchers in the If M, CyBERS has developed expertise in the growing BioMEMS field. The last 10 years has seen a blossoming of interest by other universities towards Biomedical or Bio-Engineering, such that now over 25 undergraduate and 65 graduate programs exist in the U.S. alone.