The Masters of Science in Biomedical Engineering prepares students to conduct research involving the application of engineering to biological systems. Examples of research projects are sensors to detect specific biological molecules or pathogens in food or water, understanding cell membranes in terms of signaling and transport of molecules, imaging of cells or proteins, conformation of biological molecules at membrane surfaces, controlling the interaction of bacteria and cells with surfaces as well as environmental risk assessment modeling. Alliances with several governmental agencies and other organizations, such as the Institute of Medicine, the Jackson Laboratory, and Maine Medical Center Research Institute, increase research opportunities related to genetics and biomedical issues in engineering. Cooperation with the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies gives access to tools related to surface analysis.

Research Facilities

Standard equipment for cell growth and characterization, near IR, confocal microscope, a two-photon microscope, mechanical testing of biological materials, and other tools are available. Specialized equipment is also available related to individual projects.

Requirements

The M.S. degree requires 30 semester hours of graduate work which must include two seminars and 18 credits of courses in addition to the thesis. Required core courses are BEN 502 (Advanced Materials in Bioinspired Engineering),  BEN 503 (Advanced Instrumentation in Biomedical Engineering) and BEN 580 ( Computational Methods in Biomedical Engineering).  Three technical electives courses are required of which at least one needs to be 500 level or above.  

Financial Aid

Graduate Research Assistantships are available on a competitive basis for externally funded research projects.

Applying

Applications for entry into the program for either the fall or spring semesters must be received at least three months prior to the start of the semester.  For fall semester, it is recommended that applications be received by January of that year.  Applications are available online at the Graduate School.

Correspondence:

The Graduate School
5775 Stodder Hall, Room 42
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5755
207-581-3291
graduate@maine.edu

Dept. of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
117 Jenness Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5737
207-581-2277

 thomas.schwartz@maine.edu

 

Graduate Faculty
 

Douglas W. Bousfield, Ph.D. (California at Berkeley, 1986), Calder  Professor. Fluid mechanics, rheology, numerical methods, coating processes, modeling of coating and absorption processes.

William J. DeSisto, Ph.D., (Brown, 1989),  Professor. Applied electrochemistry.

Caitlin Howell, Ph.D. (University of Heidelberg, Germany, 2011) Associate Professor. Biological interfaces, bacterial biofilm growth and control, surface-mediated tissue engineering, dynamic materials design.

Andre Khalil, Ph.D. (Universite Laval, Canada, 2004).  Associate Professor. Computational biomedicine, cancer microenvironment, breast cancer, multiscale analyses. 

Michael D. Mason, Ph.D. (California at Santa Barbara, 2000), Professor.  Photophysics of nanoparticles and molecular nanoprobes, single molecule imaging, time-resolved single photon spectroscopic imaging techniques.

David J. Neivandt, Ph.D. (Melbourne, 1998), Professor. Conformation of interfacial species, surface spectroscopies/microscopies, binary polymer/surfactant solutions and lipid membrane structures.

Yonghao Ni, Ph.D. (McGill, 1992), Professor and J. Larcom Ober Chair.  Pulp and paper manufacturing, lignocellulose materials, nanocellulose, value-added lignocellulosic products.

Thomas J Schwartz, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, 2015), Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator.  Heterogeneous catalysis, reaction kinetics, in situ spectroscopy, biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals.

Karissa Tillbury, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, 2015), Associate Professor. Extracellular matrix remodeling, cellular metabolism, non-linear microscopy techniques: second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, STEM education.

G. Peter van Walsum, Ph.D. (Dartmouth College, 1998), Professor and Interim Chair. Biomass processing, biorefining, renewable energy, fuels and chemicals, process engineering.

M. Clayton Wheeler, Ph.D., P.E. (Texas at Austin, 1997), Professor. Biofuels, catalysis.

Evan K. Wujcik, Ph.D. (University of Akron, 2013), Assistant Professor. Polymers, composites, advanced materials, stretchable electronics, conductive polymers, organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors, self-healing polymers, electrospinning, electrohydrodynamics, green engineering, environmental engineering, water quality.