Institute for Biology, Engineering and Medicine (I-BEAM)
Ph.D. Program Overview
Ph.D. Program Requirements
The following list is an overview of the requirements for a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. For more specific details, please refer to the Graduate Program Guidelines.
- University requires 3 years of full time study (24 tuition units).
- Students must complete an approved sequence of six structured upper-level courses, at least two of which must be in engineering (with ENGN course listing), two of which must be in biology (with BIOL course listing), two of which must be 2000-level courses, and one statistics course.
- Must receive a grade of B or better, courses must be taken for a grade rather than credit/no credit.
- A maximum of 8 tuition units (2 courses) can be transferred from post-baccalaureate work.
- Must attend a Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) in the first year (and refresher at a later time).
- Must attend departmental seminars
- Take BIOL2230/40 where students learn practical presentation and communication skills.
- By July 31st, prior to start of semester 5, students will take an oral and written research-based Qualifying Exam.
- Students will have annual meetings and provide progress reports to the Thesis Committee.
- Students will submit a written thesis to Thesis Committee at least 2 weeks in advance of their thesis presentation.
- Students will present their thesis to the public and defend their thesis to the Thesis Committee.
Jointly-Selected Committees
The following Committees are jointly selected by the student and the advisor:
- Thesis advisor
- Three other Brown faculty (1 from Engineering and 1 from Biology/Medicine)
- The Qualifying Examination Committee should have a designated Qualifying Examination Chair whose role is to conduct the examination in a manner that is consistent across the program.
- The Qualifying Exam Committee and the Qualifying Exam Chair need not be the same as the Thesis Committee and Thesis Committee Chair
- Approved Qualifying Examination Chairs include current or previous members of the Graduate Program Committee, current or previous Directors of Graduate Studies for the BME PhD Program, and other research-active academic leaders who are active and intimately familiar with the BME Ph.D. program.
- Outside expert (optional)
- Thesis advisor
- Three other Brown faculty members (one with primary appointment Engineering and one with primary appointment in the Division of Biology and Medicine)
- One other member beyond the thesis advisor must be a BME Graduate Program Trainer
- A senior faculty member (not the thesis advisor) must serve as chair
- Outside expert (optional, but strongly recommended)