Biomedical Engineering with a CS Degree?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I'm currently a Computer Science major going into my sophomore year at USC. Since I live in Silicon Valley I always intended to be a Computer Science guy. However, lately I've been thinking it would be a lot more interesting to pursue Biomedical Engineering or Biotechnology. I think the life sciences are exciting, they use new technology, and I can help better the world, plus CS can get boring behind a desk all day. </p>

<p>As a result, I've been contemplating changing my major to something more applicable. However, I've heard that the BME major is supposedly useless at an undergrad level because it's like a survey course and won't help me specialize. Then I heard that I should do ME/EE/ChemE and do BME master's. This plan sounds most realistic to me. Chemical Engineering sounds like fun to me, except I don't really want to work with petroleum or designing efficient chemical plants. This leads me full circle back to Computer Science which I've always been really good at, but taking up a useful minor (Biotechnology) and doing grad studies with BME.</p>

<p>The Biotechnology minor at my school pretty much gives you 4 business classes, then a smattering of all the science I would need, including 4 Bio classes (cell biology, MoBio, BioChem, and Biotechnology) plus 3 Chem classes (2 GeneralChem, 1 OChem). This seems like a good option assuming there are jobs in the Biotech world that desire CS majors.</p>

<p>Anyway would I be able to break into the Biomedical/Biotechnology world a CS major/Biotech minor w/ a Master's in BME? If so I think this is the best option, given the ones below:
- CS major, Biotech minor w/ BME masters - (boring CS now, versatility later)
- Chem major (biochem specialization) - (interesting now, don't want to work in a chemical plant later)
- BME major/ BME (biochem specialization) - (potentially too basic, limiting fields)</p>

<p>I'm sorry I made that post so long, I just sort of start spitting out words when my brain gets going. Thanks a lot for any help you can give me!</p>

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<p>I’m planning to do the opposite of that first option - BME undergrad, then a focus on CS (well, computational bio) in grad school. I can see undergrad CS and grad BME being a really exciting combination. Bioinformatics, etc. is a growing field with, hopefully, plenty of opportunity in the upcoming years. I’m in my third year, so this is in no way an evaluation of potential job opportunities.</p>

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<p>okay cool thanks. anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?</p>

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<p>being a CS student prepares you well for medical industry because like every other industry it needs someone to write software. Computer Integrated Surgery, for example, can’t happen if someone doesn’t write the software. Look here: [url=<a href=“http://www.cisst.org/]ERC”>http://www.cisst.org/]ERC</a> CISST - Computer Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology<a href=“it’s%20mainly%20part%20of%20JHU’s%20CS%20department,%20also%20the%20computer%20integrated%20surgery%20courses%20are%20taught%20in%20the%20CS%20department”>/url</a></p>

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<p>But as for major choice, I think Chemical Engineering (or at least the biochem stuff) sounds most interesting, but for job prospects later, I don’t really want the jobs that I’ve seen described for this major (plant design, efficiency, oil rigs, etc.). That’s why I’m thinking about sticking with CS major/Biotech minor, because that way, I’d have the massive versatility the CS degree offers, plus the bio/chemical side of biotech so I can work at biotech/biomed engineering companies later. Plus if I were to get a BME or maybe even Biochem masters, I’d be even far better set up to work at these firms. Does my logic make sense or am I deluding myself?</p>

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<p>Son is planning to major in BME at Marquette. They and other schools have subprograms for you to specialize in what field of BME you want to go into: biocomputing, bioelectronics, biomechanics.</p>

<p>Since you’re at USC, which is an excellent school, you should go ahead and finish there, but perhaps minor in engineering, maybe computer engineering if it’s offered, so you can get some engineering courses in there, if you don’t have them already.</p>

<p>When looking at UWash, which is not that far from you, relatively speaking, I found that they have a program called MME, Masters in Medical Engineering. Since son wants to settle perhaps in the Pacific NW, thought this would be worth looking into, although still a ways off for us. He’s a junior in HS.</p>

<p>Since you’re in college already, it might be worth a trip up there to meet with the department and see if they can give you any guidance as to undergrad work to do. At least a call worth be worth your time.</p>

<p>I think your idea is great. My son is very gifted with computers, and I really wish he would take the track you’re taking, although he’s determined to get that engineering degree. He doesn’t want to do just MechE and then specialize, as everyone is suggesting, but he does intend to get a masters, perhaps through a BS/MS program offered at his prospective college.</p>

<p>Good luck to you and please keep us posted!</p>

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<p>somebody needs to write the code to translate all electrical signals recorded by instruments into, say, an image of an organ.</p>

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<p>Yes, you are so right, Steevee! MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasounds. All those medical devices that use computer imaging. It seems that computer knowledge would be a must for the biomedical engineering field. I’m surprised at how few computer courses are required in many BME programs.</p>

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<p>That’s because you can easily get CS people to do the coding portions of any project. It’s not like BMEs need to know how to do every single thing, and a few CS classes won’t really give you the ability to design medical software.</p>

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<p>Agree, Ray. I’m urging son to minor in computers because it will make him more marketable in a down economy. But because he wants to go into BME, I don’t feel comfortable just sending him to a general CS or even ENG school, and just hope he can get an internship in BME to get his foot in the door. </p>

<p>Even though many say BMEs need a grad degree, and son does intend to get one, it would seem that he would be more marketable on the job market if he had both his BS and MS, or MEng, in BME.</p>

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<p>Okay but honestly, I’d rather not be coding forever. Like, learning about the human body and technologies related to that get me far more excited than how I can write a program for that. The main reason I’m sticking with CS though is more for the analytic way of thinking it teaches, plus the fact that it’s incredibly versatile and doesn’t pigeon-hole me into one set field. Like I said, I think the biochem interests me the most, but ChemE doesn’t leave any interesting jobs to fall back on. Thats why I have the Biotech minor, which at my school is as big course-wise as some majors. Does my logic make sense or am I confusing myself? Would the Biotech minor and BME master’s be enough for me to get into the biotech/biomed field?</p>

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<p>Deadmonkey, do you mind my asking what school you go to?</p>

<p>I think you have great ideas. Computer science does not seem to pigeon hole you, as I’ve watched my husband’s career progress.</p>

<p>While we were worried he’d never got out of the oil field industry, since 2000, he’s been able to work on various projects for a large company that does contract work for the government. </p>

<p>As one project ends, he’s been able to move into another project because of his knowledge and work ethic. </p>

<p>I agree with you on the Chem Eng. I notice some schools have biological and chemical engineering as the BME major, and I know that my son would not want to fall back on a chem eng job, either. </p>

<p>Son and you are on the same track. He “finds the human body fascinating”, to quote him, and I’m pushing him to get a computer background because, number one, he’s a natural with it, and number two, when times are tough, one can usually find a computer job to put food on the table. Like you, not many people want to code or data entry for the rest of their lives, but I have had many friends that have been out of work in the oil industry that were able to pay their rent doing temp work between jobs because of their computer expertise.</p>

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<p>Thank you Montegut, that was very helpful. What major/field does your husband work in?
And I’m going to be a sophomore at USC next year. And I know the biotech minor encompasses 44 units of classes, including 4 business, 4 biology, and 3 chemistry classes (detailed in my first post at the top), so it looks like a fairly strong base of the sciences, covering as much as the BME major and almost as much as ChemE.</p>

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<p>Is that U of Southern California or U of South Carolina?</p>

<p>Are you liking your business classes? I saw some schools with that curriculum, and don’t know if son would enjoy that or not.</p>

<p>As for husband’s job, down here in New Orleans, back before the big oil crunch in the early 80s, the oil industry was the major industry. Husband’s first job was with a company that built oil rigs, drilling platforms, and he was a programmer/analyst.</p>

<p>He left that company near 2000 when he was offered layoff or relocation, and started working in a very different field. He worked on financial computer programs for people that work for the government in preparation for the Y2K scare. Ask your parents about it. Because the programs were written in a language that he learned at Tulane back in the late 70s, he was qualified for that job. It got his foot in the door working for contractors for the government.</p>

<p>Although he’s moved from that initial smaller company to a national company because of “rebadging” as he’s moved from one project to another, he is still a contractor for the government. He has to have a security clearance, so not everybody can get this job, and when one project ends, it is scary as to whether you will be “picked up” by another project. However, he’s earned a reputation as a knowledgeable, hardworking person, so he’s been able to keep his job, while others haven’t.</p>

<p>One thing that opened a lot of doors for him is learning something called People Soft. My sister works for the same company, and does very well, and she learned this system a lot earlier than my husband and was able to capitalize on it greatly. </p>

<p>When a former coworker came to interview for husband’s project, the boss tested him on his knowledge of People Soft, offering different scenarios and problems for him to solve. So still at 50 years old, you can still be tested.</p>

<p>If you ever have an opportunity to learn People Soft, or whatever the latest and greatest thing out there is, do it. If you can fit it into your schedule, great, especially if it won’t cost you any extra in tuition. </p>

<p>Good luck to you and thanks for the info on your major!</p>

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<p>It’s University of Southern California. I haven’t done any business classes yet, and I’m just starting general chemistry this coming fall semester. I figure once I start taking these classes I can start to get the gist of what I enjoy doing before it becomes TOO late in the college process.</p>

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<p>I have posted what’s below under another topic
“What can I do with biomedical engineering bs degree”</p>

<p>However I hope to obtain opinions from different people, from different background and differnet point of view.</p>

<hr>

<p>I hold a BS in Computer Science.</p>

<p>I have been in the workforce for about 6 years, and have worked on several different positions, project management, softtware development, etc. </p>

<p>Never plan on going back to school to seek higher education until recently.
From research, I really want to get involved with many of the Biomed researches that are going on now, musculoskeletal mechanics, tissue regeneration, nanotech, etc.</p>

<p>Seriously consider to go for MS in Biomedical engineering, but since I came from a non-engineering field, I pretty much do not fulfill any of the the “make sure you have them” prerequisites. </p>

<p>On a part-time 2 courses per semester pace, it will take 6 semesters to take the courses to become “eligible” to apply to MS Biomed, provided I pass all classes along the way.</p>

<p>Research topics are interesting, I am always ready to do whatever it takes to get there, but I am really concern about job opportunities (from reading all previous posts)…
Just like “I am really interested in building rockets, but heck will I ever have a chance to get involved in building one?”</p>

<p>It’s so frustrating, my salary now is at the OK level doing software coding, changing career usually lead to building up the income level from the low again; for that, I am struggling, I love all that researches involved with BME; but shall I go for something like bioinformatics, just in case if I do not do health-care/research data related software development, I can always fall back to work as a software guy for non-health-care-related companies.</p>

<p>I have communicated with a few professors from a couple of grad school, while different people have different opinions, but they all asked one common question, “Are you sure?” and advised to rethink something that I can leverage my undergrad degree such as Bioinformatics, systems/computational biology, etc.</p>

<p>Frustrated. Confused.
What do you guys think?</p>

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<p>DeadMonkey321, if possible could you please post an update about where you are now? I’ve also messaged your account.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>