<p>i go to a school (Ohio State) where our bme program is not officially accredited, if I graduate with a degree from there and we are not accredited what will happen or what does that mean.</p>
<p>yeah itll be fairly significant, especially if you want to be a PE</p>
<p>that said, there arent that many accredited BME programs…</p>
<p>Accreditation in BME means significantly less than in other fields like CivilE, EE, and ME.</p>
<p>Without ABET accreditation, it will be more difficult (or impossible) to qualify for a state Professional Engineer’s license.</p>
<p>However, since no state currently licenses biomedical engineers, this is not generally regarded as a significant drawback. Many prominent universities have never bothered to seek ABET accreditation for their bme programs for this reason.</p>
<p>Looking at the abet site. They are ~65 accredited BME programs.</p>
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<p>There are two things you can do: first you can get accredited in a state that allows you to be accredited without an ABET accredited degree, then transfer your license. As long as you were licensed by exam, it shouldn’t be a problem. Another option is to earn an accredited MS. But as mentioned, there’s not really much of a need for a PE if you’re a BME.</p>
<p>which states do not require an ABET degree to get a license?</p>
<p>In New York, you can get licensed, but you need 6 years of work experience instead of 4 before you can site for the PE exam (assuming you have an engineering degree, but only that it’s not ABET accredited).</p>
<p>I believe you need an accredited engineering degree for patent law…</p>
<p>I’m surprised. I’m not familiar with patent law, but I thought you can do that with any science-related degree and don’t even need to do engineering.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.abet.org/why_choose.shtml]ABET[/url”>http://www.abet.org/why_choose.shtml]ABET[/url</a>] makes the claim…</p>
<p>I just did some research on this… for whatever reason, the ABET accreditation requirement only applies to applicants with computer science degrees.</p>
<p>See page 6 of <a href=“http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the sight</p>
<p>
There is currently zero need, because there is no such thing as a licensed biomedical engineer in any state. The only reason (that I can see) for a BME to seek a PE license would be if the BME decided to switch careers, and work in a different engineering field where licensure was important (e.g. civil engineering). In that case, the lack of an ABET degree might become an issue. </p>
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Probably most states. However, such states typically require more years of work experience if you don’t have an ABET degree, and/or a graduate degree. At least some states (e.g. Kentucky) strictly demand ABET degrees for licensure, but they are probably a minority.</p>
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No, this won’t work. PE licenses don’t automatically “transfer” from state to state. If you are licensed in State A, and want a license in State B, then you still have to prove that you meet all of State B’s requirements for licensure, including (1) education, (2) experience, and (3) examination. If you fall short in any of these respects, then State B won’t issue a license to you – even if you have previously earned a valid license from State A.</p>
<p>It’s true that examination results routinely “transfer” from state to state, because licensing examinations are (generally) uniform nationwide. But education and experience requirements are definitely not uniform, and they do not automatically transfer. If State B strictly requires an ABET degree, and you don’t have one, then State B will reject you for licensure – even if you hold a valid license from State A, where the education requirements are looser.</p>
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In practice, that may not work either, because there are few ABET-accredited MS degree programs. Traditionally, ABET gave schools a choice: they would accredit either BS programs or MS programs, but not both. The vast majority of schools chose to accredit their BS programs (the principal exceptions were graduate-only institutions). ABET recently changed this policy, but accredited MS programs are still quite rare.</p>
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That’s my understanding as well. You can meet USPTO education requirements with certain types of science and engineering degrees, including computer science degrees. However, computer science degrees are only acceptable if they have ABET accreditation. For whatever reason, USPTO does not require ABET accreditation for engineering degrees.</p>
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<p>Yes, it will. Many states now offer your PE through reciprocity with another state. Those that do not always offer comity through a PE license in another state. Comity usually doesn’t exempt you from having taken the P&P, but I’ve never seen a case where the academic degree wasn’t recognized through comity as sufficient. Maybe you know of some specific examples?</p>
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<p>It’s not going to be as easy as going to your local engineering university, but there are still accredited MS programs.</p>
<p>Arkansas has its MS BME program accredited, and many schools (Arkansas, UMass, UT-Austin, and Cincinnati off the top of my head) have their EnvE MS programs accredited (and you can easily connect BME and EnvE). That makes it possible. I also know that at least some of those schools offer their MS engineering degrees online. </p>
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<p>I wouldn’t go so far to say that there’s “zero need”. Consider the case of someone hired to work as a government regulator monitoring biomedical projects, treatments, or research studies. That person would almost certainly need either a Ph.D. or a PE (or both). </p>
<p>As far as no state accredited BME degrees, most states award unspecialized PE licenses. So if you’re a PE, you’re a PE, regardless of your area of specialization.</p>
<p>In New York State, the law is as follows regarding licensing engineers from out-of-state:
</p>
<p>[NYS</a> Professional Engineering & Land Surveying:Laws, Rules & Regulations:Part 68](<a href=“http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/pels/part68.htm#sect687]NYS”>http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/pels/part68.htm#sect687)</p>
<p>Actually, here’s a better link: [NSPE</a> Licensure: Licensure by Comity](<a href=“http://www.nspe.org/Licensure/Resources/LicComity/index.html]NSPE”>Licensure by Comity)</p>
<p>It appears to support Corbett’s argument.</p>
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True reciprocity means that if you have a valid license from State A, then you automatically qualify for a second license from State B. I don’t believe that any two US states have such a relationship for PE licenses; if you believe otherwise, you’ll have to show me. It can only happen if States A and B have licensing laws that are essentially identical.
Comity means that State B may accept previous education, experience, or examinations from State A as meeting the requirements for licensure in State B. Every state does this. However, such acceptance is not automatic; the out-of-state education, experience, or examinations still has to meet in-state requirements.</p>
<p>In California, for example, it is legally possible to qualify for a PE license without any engineering degree at all (ABET or non-ABET). This is uncommon, but I know a PhD scientist who earned a California PE license without ever studying engineering. He will readily acknowledge that he cannot get a license in most other states by comity, because he cannot meet the education requirements of those states.</p>
<p>Conversely, while California has unusually loose education requirements, they also have unusually tough exam requirements. California is well known for requiring all Civil PE candidates to take supplemental exams in surveying and seismic principles. Even if you have a valid Civil PE license by examination from another state, you can’t qualify for a license in California until you’ve met the in-state exam requirements.
That sort of biomedical research would typically be funded or overseen at the Federal level, by an agency such as NSF or NIH. Engineers and scientists working for federal agencies are completely exempt from state licensing laws. A Federal agency may see a state PE license as a desirable qualification, because it shows a certain level of professional competence, but a Federal employee can legally practice engineering in any US state without one.</p>
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This is true; most states have “generic” PE licensing. However, there are two significant practical obstacles to BMEs who seek PE licensure, even if they have ABET degrees.</p>
<p>First, states typically require several years of work experience under a licensed PE. And they typically require reference forms from multiple PEs, to document the type and quality of work that was performed. Since PEs are rare to non-existent in the BME field, it would likely be difficult for a BME to find licensed supervisors to document work experience.</p>
<p>Second, while most states do have “generic” PE licenses, they do not have “generic” PE exams. PE exams are specialized, and there is no such thing as a PE exam in the BME specialty. So in order to become a PE, a BME would have to pass the exam in a different engineering discipline, e.g. mechanical. This is not impossible, but it is obviously more difficult.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what happens when a school loses their accreditation? If you graduated from the school while it was accredited, is your degree still ABET approved and accredited?</p>