Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering
Department Leadership:
Interim Department Chair: Shikha Nangia (snangia@syr.edu)
Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program Director: Shikha Nangia (snangia@syr.edu)
Chemical Engineering Graduate Program Director: Jesse Bond (jqbond@syr.edu)
Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Program Director: Pun To (Douglas) Yung (ptyung@syr.edu)
Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Program Director: Katie Cadwell (kdcadwel@syr.edu)
Department Office:
329 Link Hall
Business Hours: 8:30 am-5:00 pm (academic year)
8:00 am-4:30 pm (summer)
Department Staff:
BMCE promotes flexible work policies for staff, please check below for more information:
Works remotely on Thursday and Friday typically (skreding@syr.edu)
Job primary responsibilities:
Manage the financial resources for BMCE including department operating funds, restricted funds, and startup funds.
Process and maintain faculty, staff, and student payroll appointments.
Review and approve all requests for orders relating to BMCE.
Review and approve all requests for reimbursement of expenses or travel related to BMCE.
Assist faculty with all aspects of proposal budget preparation and submission of required documents to the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Interpret both agency and university policies and procedures.
Manage the sponsored portfolio for faculty in BMCE, manage fiscal reports, account receivables, and assist the faculty in determining funds available and timing of Human Resources payroll appointments to ensure continued support for grant employees.
Works remotely on Monday and Wednesday typically (emstojan@syr.edu)
Job primary responsibilities:
Responsible for graduate student processes, faculty and post doc hiring, and curricula support/scheduling for the department.
Manage the processing of graduate student forms including petitions, independent study proposals, degree certifications and OPT/CPT recommendations.
Handle the graduate admissions process for the department, research/teaching assistantship appointments, as well as the 4+1 program application and admission process.
Works remotely on Wednesday and Friday typically (aforbes@syr.edu)
Job primary responsibilities:
Place orders for the department and departmental labs and courses.
Reconcile the faculty procards.
Maintain the department’s key log and processing key requests.
Request BMCE student, faculty, and staff card access to ECS spaces.
Help BMCE students and faculty with reserving space as needed.
Assist with the planning and coordination of departmental seminar and speaker visits.
Assist with the planning and coordination of faculty candidates interviews and campus visits.
Email: dstablei@syr.edu
Job primary responsibilities:
Program coordinator for ESTEEMED LEADERS.
Manage the day-to-day operations of the program:
Serve as the primary contact for ESTEEMED LEADERS students.
Hold one-on-one meetings with students.
Schedule program meetings.
Schedule and develop the Summer Bridge program for ESTEEMED LEADERS, communicate information, track student development.
Manage purchases for the program.
Support the recruitment of ESTEEMED LEADERS:
Schedule informational events with high schools.
Prepare advertisements, promote the program via social media.
Compile student applications and provide information to prospective students and their families.
Perform routine office work for the department such as maintaining office supplies, processing orders and maintaining public spaces within the department suite.
Manage the department's social media.
Links:
Commonly Used forms:
Course Lists:
Introduction to cell types and structure, nucleic acids, proteins and enzyme kinetics. Gene expression including transcription, translation and post-translational modification. Introduction to genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. Genetic engineering and tissue engineering. Applications to biotechnology.
Introduction to material, energy, charge, and momentum balances in biological systems. Overview of the field of bioengineering. Technological bases for established and emerging subfields.
Fluid statics. Shear stress and viscosity. Energy and momentum balances for flow systems. Dimensional analysis. Friction and drag coefficients. Turbulent flow of compressible and incompressible fluids. Non-Newtonian fluids.
PREREQ MAT 397 AND (PHY 212 OR PHY 216)
Students will analyze the human health impact of exposure to toxic chemicals in air, water, and soil according to USEPA Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund. Additional work required of graduate students.
Basics of imaging techniques useful for biological and medical applications. Microscopy, electron microscopy, acoustic microscopy, atomic force microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging. Discussion of images and literature. MRI laboratory exercises.
Students learn the governing principles of conventional and advanced manufacturing techniques, which are adapted/modified to engineer living tissues/organs, biomedical products and test-platforms for investigating fundamental cell biology. Additional work required for grad students.
Measurement and analysis of biological signals in the time and frequency domain. Operational amplifiers, analog, and digital signal processing; sensors and sources of biopotentials; biopotential electrodes. Matlab, Labview and C programming.
PREREQ ELE 231 AND ELE 251
Measurement and analysis of biological signals in the time and frequency domain. Operational amplifiers, analog, and digital signal processing; sensors and sources of biopotentials; biopotential electrodes.
COREQ BEN 465 AND BEN 481
Bioengineering design experience. Lecture, discussion, active learning components. Team design of biomedical system, device, or process from concept through prototype production. Includes design strategy, reliability, FDA regulations, patents, oral, and written presentations.
Covers wide-ranging topics related to stem cell and regenerative biology, including: introduction of cell and developmental biology, stem cell biology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and the political and ethical issues surrounding the stem cell debate.
Polymer structure, physical properties, and applications of polymers. Polymer synthesis, characterization of molecular structure, and copolymerization and blending. Unique physical properties of polymeric materials. Processing and applications of polymers.
Functions and mechanical properties of cells and tissues, how those cells and tissues combine to form structures, the properties and behaviors of those structures, and biomechanical techniques to analyze the structures and individual components.
PREREQ ECS 221 AND MAT 485 AND BEN 364
Bioengineering solution development experience. Team development of a bioengineering innovation. Brainstorm, design, iterate and test hypotheses. Lecture and experiential learning. Hands on concept development and evaluation, bioengineering industry exposure, visual management, oral, and poster presentations.
Material balances for single units and multistage processes. Recycle and bypass streams. Introduction to phase equilibrium. Energy balances including latent and sensible heat effects, heats of reaction.
Thermodynamics of homogeneous mixtures and mixing processes. Phase equilibrium for nonideal solutions. Equilibrium stage separations with applications including distillation and extraction. Chemical reaction equilibria.
PREREQ CEN 252
Report writing and laboratory safety. Statistical analysis and experimental design. Experiments on distillation, diffusion, and convective mass transfer. Engineering reports, summary reports, and oral presentations required. One four-hour laboratory a week.
PREREQ CEN 341 and CEN 311
Establish working knowledge of experimental tools to characterize solid materials (catalysts, metals, semiconductors). Theory for each technique, information provided for various research topics, experimental parameters, and data interpretation will be discussed. Additional work required of graduate students.
Selected topics in heat and mass transfer. Application of transport principles to analysis & design of unit operations.
PREREQ CEN 341
Conversion and reactor sizing, isothermal reactor design for flow and batch systems, rate laws and stoichiometry, analysis of rate data, multiple reactions, introduction to heterogeneous reactor design.
PREREQ CEN 341
Use of fundamental physical, chemical and mathematical principles involving chemical engineering problems. Problems associated with transport theory and chemical kinetics requiring the solution of partial differential equations using orthogonal function expansions. Duhammel's theorem and other techniques.
Statistical analysis and presentation of experimental data. Parameter estimation. Design of experiments. Hardware and software for computer interfacing. Collection, analysis, and reporting of laboratory data.
PREREQ MAT 296 AND ECS 104
Principles of heat and mass transfer. Conduction, convection, and radiation. Thermal properties of materials. Solutions of steady state and transient heat and mass transfer problems. Diffusion with chemical reaction. Convective mass transfer.
PREREQ CEN 333 OR BEN 333
Introduction to mammalian physiology from an engineering perspective. Each of the major systems of the body will be addressed, with an emphasis on electrical, mechanical, and thermodynamic principles Lecture and laboratory. Additional work required of graduate students.
PREREQ BEN 201
Basic analysis and design techniques for signals and linear systems in bioengineering. Laplace and Fourier Transforms, time-frequency analysis. PID and fuzzy to optimal control. Applications include signals and noise, ECG processing, mathematics of imaging.
Practical experience in the design, execution and analysis of experiments related to biomechanics and bioinstrumentation. Technical writing skills will also be emphasized.
COREQ BEN 364
Study of engineering principles involved in sports: body systems in human motion, analysis of gait, basic performance patterns in athletic movements, performance improvements, and design of sports equipment. Additional work required of graduate students.
An introduction to Global Regulatory Affairs. Providing a foundational understanding of how regulatory and health authorities regulate products to bring safe and effective solutions to patients and consumers. Additional work required of graduate students.
Strategies and technologies to modulate and deconvolute the immune process for therapeutic purposes. Fundamentals of immunology, tools and methods, engineering strategies for vaccination, immunotherapy, and immunomodulation.
Integration of biology, chemistry, and engineering to understand how pharmaceuticals are delivered to, and behave within, the body. Includes drug formulation, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, controlled release, and targeted delivery. Additional work is required of graduate students.
Discussion of the complex issues related to biomedical-device infections. Investigation of the impact of biomaterials, microbiology, detection, and device regulation to reduce biomedical-device infections.
Materials science and biological issues associated with medical devices and biomaterials are discussed. Bulk and surface materials science, tissue engineering, degradation and biocompatibility are addressed and related to medical device design and regulatory issues.
Introductory medical image processing and analysis. An open source software that has been developed for this purpose will be used. Additional work required of graduate students.
Bioengineering design experience. Lecture, discussion, active learning components. Team design of biomedical system, device, or process from concept through prototype production. Includes design strategy, reliability, FDA regulations, patents, oral, and written presentations.
Cellular and biomaterials principles relevant to tissue engineering, focusing on cellular and tissue organization; regulation of cell behavior; biomaterials for tissue regenerations; tissue engineering applications in cardiovascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal and other organ systems.
Review of first law. Second law and thermodynamic analysis of processes. Power and refrigeration cycles. Thermodynamic properties of pure substances and homogeneous mixtures. Phase behavior of ideal solutions.
PREREQ CEN 231
Introduction to report writing and laboratory safety. Experiments on fluid mechanics, heat conduction, and convective heat transfer. Analysis of experimental data. Engineering reports, summary reports, and oral presentations required. One three-hour laboratory each week.
COREQ CEN 341
Classical and molecular thermodynamics in chemical equilibrium, with applications. Emphasis on concepts of statistical mechanics and correlation with properties of gases and condensed matter. Additional work required of graduate students.
PREREQ CEN 353CEN 474
Modeling and linearization of process dynamics. Transfer functions. Performance and stability of feedback control loops. Introduction to multivariable and digital controls.
PREREQ MAT 485
Tensor analysis. Reynold’s transport theorem. Constitutive equations for stress. Momentum transport equations. Creeping flow, nonviscous flow, boundary layer flow. Flow through porous media. Turbulence. Energy transport equation. Conduction, natural and forced convection solutions. Boundary layer heat transfer.
PREREQ CEN 542, CEN 671
Homogenous reactions: tubular and stirred reactors, axial and radial transport. Residence time distribution. Heterogenous reactions-catalytic: rates, pores, transport, in fixed and fluid beds, non-catalytic reaction and growth of new phases.
PREREQ CEN 587, CEN 651, CEN 671
Elementary numerical techniques for root finding, sets of equations, curve fitting, differentiation, integration. Programming concepts: conditional branching, loops, etc. Examples of engineering calculations. Use of spreadsheets and interpreted programming languages.
COREQ MAT 295
Explores the application of professional norms to ethical decision making in engineering and scientific research. Includes examination of cases in light of the requirements of the Responsible Conduct of Research.
Introduction to cell types and structure, nucleic acids, proteins and enzyme kinetics. Gene expression including transcription, translation and post-translational modification. Introduction to genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. Genetic engineering and tissue engineering. Applications to biotechnology.
Introduction to material, energy, charge, and momentum balances in biological systems. Overview of the field of bioengineering. Technological bases for established and emerging subfields.
Fluid statics. Shear stress and viscosity. Energy and momentum balances for flow systems. Dimensional analysis. Friction and drag coefficients. Turbulent flow of compressible and incompressible fluids. Non-Newtonian fluids.
PREREQ MAT 397 AND (PHY 212 OR PHY 216)
Students will analyze the human health impact of exposure to toxic chemicals in air, water, and soil according to USEPA Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund. Additional work required of graduate students.
Basics of imaging techniques useful for biological and medical applications. Microscopy, electron microscopy, acoustic microscopy, atomic force microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging. Discussion of images and literature. MRI laboratory exercises.
Functions and mechanical properties of cells and tissues, how those cells and tissues combine to form structures, the properties and behaviors of those structures, and biomechanical techniques to analyze the structures and individual components.
PREREQ ECS 221 AND MAT 485 AND BEN 364
Students learn the governing principles of conventional and advanced manufacturing techniques, which are adapted/modified to engineer living tissues/organs, biomedical products and test-platforms for investigating fundamental cell biology. Additional work required for grad students.
Measurement and analysis of biological signals in the time and frequency domain. Operational amplifiers, analog, and digital signal processing; sensors and sources of biopotentials; biopotential electrodes. Matlab, Labview and C programming.
PREREQ ELE 231 AND ELE 251
Measurement and analysis of biological signals in the time and frequency domain. Operational amplifiers, analog, and digital signal processing; sensors and sources of biopotentials; biopotential electrodes.
COREQ BEN 465 AND BEN 481
Bioengineering design experience. Lecture, discussion, active learning components. Team design of biomedical system, device, or process from concept through prototype production. Includes design strategy, reliability, FDA regulations, patents, oral, and written presentations.
Covers wide-ranging topics related to stem cell and regenerative biology, including: introduction of cell and developmental biology, stem cell biology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and the political and ethical issues surrounding the stem cell debate.
Polymer structure, physical properties, and applications of polymers. Polymer synthesis, characterization of molecular structure, and copolymerization and blending. Unique physical properties of polymeric materials. Processing and applications of polymers.
Bioengineering solution development experience. Team development of a bioengineering innovation. Brainstorm, design, iterate and test hypotheses. Lecture and experiential learning. Hands on concept development and evaluation, bioengineering industry exposure, visual management, oral, and poster presentations.
Material balances for single units and multistage processes. Recycle and bypass streams. Introduction to phase equilibrium. Energy balances including latent and sensible heat effects, heats of reaction.
Thermodynamics of homogeneous mixtures and mixing processes. Phase equilibrium for nonideal solutions. Equilibrium stage separations with applications including distillation and extraction. Chemical reaction equilibria.
PREREQ CEN 252
Report writing and laboratory safety. Statistical analysis and experimental design. Experiments on distillation, diffusion, and convective mass transfer. Engineering reports, summary reports, and oral presentations required. One four-hour laboratory a week.
PREREQ CEN 341 and CEN 311
Selected topics in heat and mass transfer. Application of transport principles to analysis & design of unit operations.
PREREQ CEN 341
Conversion and reactor sizing, isothermal reactor design for flow and batch systems, rate laws and stoichiometry, analysis of rate data, multiple reactions, introduction to heterogeneous reactor design.
PREREQ CEN 341
Use of fundamental physical, chemical and mathematical principles involving chemical engineering problems. Problems associated with transport theory and chemical kinetics requiring the solution of partial differential equations using orthogonal function expansions. Duhammel's theorem and other techniques.
Gateway course: Discussion of disciplines within the college, technical communication, presentation of technical results, professional behavior, ethics, problem solving, modeling, and data analysis. Laboratory topics: computers, computer language, and software packages.
Introduction to the properties and applications of engineering materials with emphasis on structure-property-processing relationships; fundamentals of structure, properties, and processing; materials selection for design; case studies of specific engineering applications.
BMCE Graduate Programs:
The Master of Science is a flexible and individually-structured program, planned by the student and their advisor to help students develop careers in their chosen field. The MS can be a terminal degree or an introduction to research before pursuing the PhD. All plans are designed to be completed within three to four semesters.
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a research-based degree program involving a high level of advanced training in the chosen field. A dissertation consisting of original research in a specialty area within the field is required.
A minimum of 42 credit hours of coursework are required. No dissertation credits are required. A student entering the program with a prior MS degree may petition to transfer in a maximum of 30 graduate-level credits as approved by the program director. Up to 6 of the transfer credits may come from a prior MS thesis, and those credits will transfer as approved electives.
The Master of Science is a flexible and individually-structured program, planned by the student and their advisor to help students develop careers in their chosen field. The MS can be a terminal degree or an introduction to research before pursuing the PhD. All plans are designed to be completed within three to four semesters.
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a research-based degree program involving a high level of advanced training in the chosen field. A dissertation consisting of original research in a specialty area within the field is required.
A minimum of 42 credit hours of coursework are required. No dissertation credits are required. A student entering the program with a prior MS degree may petition to transfer in a maximum of 30 graduate-level credits as approved by the program director. Up to 6 of the transfer credits may come from a prior MS thesis, and those credits will transfer as approved electives.
The following policies apply to all graduate students, both international and domestic, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact the department’s administrative assistant with any questions.
All graduate students are required to maintain a satisfactory level of academic performance which includes but is not limited to:
maintaining status as a registered student;
maintaining the minimum required grade point averages (GPA); and
maintaining continuous progress toward the completion of
The department will provide the student with written notice should a student’s performance
become unsatisfactory.
The department may cancel matriculation if these requirements are not met.
All graduate students are expected to attend the graduate research seminars. The seminar scheduling information will be announced through email.
PhD students may use independent study credits taken at Syracuse University to satisfy coursework requirements up to the following maximums:
A student’s dissertation advisor may not supervise independent study credits used to satisfy coursework requirements.
Graduate students must achieve a minimum 3.000 GPA in all coursework used toward the completion of degree requirements.
Graduate students must maintain a minimum 2.800 GPA, cumulative for all coursework.
Some courses are double-numbered and have both undergraduate- and graduate-level sections available (typically as 400-/600-level courses). This allows both undergraduate and graduate students to take the same course, with additional coursework required of graduate students.
Students are prohibited from taking both levels of a double-numbered course. A student that completes the undergraduate-level section may not later complete the graduate-level section.
If you have a tuition discount as a MS student it will not automatically apply to Winterlude courses. You must notify the department in order to have the discount reflect in your bill.
Graduate students must register for at least 0 credits of coursework each semester that they attend Syracuse University. Students who do not register in a timely manner will lose access to buildings and labs.
A student who is not taking at least 1 credit of coursework in a semester must register for 0 credits of Degree in Progress (GRD 998).
Any graduate student receiving income from an assistantship, fellowship, hourly lab work, or other on-campus source during the summer should register for 0 credits of GRD 998 (Degree in Progress).
Students who are not registered for at least 0 credits of coursework during the summer may have FICA taxes withheld from their paycheck during that period.
Please contact the department’s budget manager if you believe FICA taxes are being withheld from your paycheck in error.
The following policies apply to all international graduate students.
Please contact the department’s administrative assistant with any questions.
International students with an F-1 visa who would like to pursue an internship (paid or otherwise) may file for CPT through the Slutzker Center.
The Slutzker Center offers Curricular Practical Training seminars multiple times per month. Any student interested in CPT should speak with an advisor at the Slutzker Center for International Services.
To be eligible for CPT, a student in this department must:
Be in good academic standing with the department;
Have a minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 800;
Have completed no fewer than 15 credits towards their degree; and
Have been a full-time student for at least one full academic
The department will allow one semester of CPT per student. A second semester may be granted by petition, at the discretion of the department chair.
The department’s administrative assistant will provide a recommendation letter upon request. All requests must include a copy of the job offer letter.
International students with an F-1 visa may be eligible for a 12-month temporary employment authorization.
The department’s administrative assistant will provide a recommendation letter upon request. For details, please contact the Center for International Services.