Hello, I would like some advice. I am interested in doing one of these two fields, unfortunately I still don’t quite understand the difference. I emailed one of the faculty at UC Irvine of their Biomedical engineering department and this was the answer they gave
“The answer to question is two fold. Bioengineering is a newer term. “Biomedical Engineering” is considered the classical term. However, there are some fundamental differences between the two. Bioengineering is most affiliated with basic science research (understanding mechanosensing systems, genetic engineering, optical imaging (microscopy) and some microfuidics research is also characterized with this term). Whereas Biomedical Engineering is affiliated with medical devices such as cardiovascular systems, brain sensing, hardware development for medical systems and even computational fluidic dynamics. As far as I know UCI modeled our department after UCSD’s program and selected “biomedical engineering” for the fact that the founding faculty had strong research interests in medical devices and hardware (the Beckman laser institute is here as well as the The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology). In addition Orange County has the highest concentration of biomedical/pharma companies in the area compared to the rest of California. The faculty here have research interests in both areas (biomedical and bioengineering). I’m sure you will see the same in other schools.”
unfortunately I still don’t quite understand since she is using language that I am not familiar with. but also I wanted to clarify that I a m specifically interested in genetics research in the field of Bioengineering, especially towards gerontology, neurology or physiology. It seems like to me that I am more suited to Bioengineering (I really have little interest in the medical field, and much more interest in tech start ups and entrepreneurialism) However UCI only offers Biomedical engineering. I want to find out if it is suitable for me to attend UCI’s program, or if I need to go somewhere else for Bioengineering specifically. Any input, thoughts and advice would be tremendously appreciated!