Curriculum and Degree Requirements
A total of 45 credit hours are required for graduation, including course work and thesis.  The course portion of the M.S. BME curriculum is divided into four groups: (A) two life science core courses, (B) two biomedical engineering focus courses, (C) a set of common experience courses that will enhance the student’s professional development and broaden his or her background in BME, and (D) a set of technical electives in the student’s focus area.

A. Life Science Core Courses.  Students must complete two courses selected from the following:

◦BIOS 501a (3 credits) – Human Anatomy
◦PBIO 531 (3 credits) – Cell Biology
◦BIOS 542 (3 credits) – Principles of Physiology I 
◦BIOS 527 (3 credits) – Gene Regulation
◦PBIO 550 (4 credits) – Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
◦PBIO 527 (3 credits) - Molecular Genetics OR BIOS 526 (3 credits) - Molecular Genetics

B. Biomedical Engineering Focus Courses.  Students must complete two biomedical engineering focus courses. The current focus areas are: Biomechanics, Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering, and Biomedical Information Processing.

◦BME 504 (3 credits) – Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology
◦CS 516 (4 credits)  – Bioinformatics Tools
◦BME 517 (4 credits) – Programming for Bioinformatics
◦BME 567 (4 credits) – Biomechanics
◦CHE 581 (3 credits) - Biochemical Engineering
◦BME 641 (4 credits) – Medical Image Analysis
◦BME 642 (4 credits) – Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
◦BME 690 (3 credits) - Topics in Cellular Engineering

C. Common Experience Courses.  Students must complete the following courses.  Students will receive five credits total toward graduation for BME 501, BME 506, and ET 602.  Although students will receive credit for seminar (BME 698), these credits will not count toward graduation.

◦BME 501 (1 credit) – Introduction to Biomedical Engineering at Ohio University
◦BME 506 (3 credits) – Biomedical Engineering Professional Development
◦BME 698 (1 credit) – Seminars in Biomedical Engineering.  This course will be taken by all students at every offering.  These credits will not count toward the 45 credits needed for graduation.  All students are required to make at least one seminar presentation. Student’s research advisor must give approval prior to the presentation.
◦ET 602 (1 credit) – Technical Writing Seminar

D. Electives. Students will complete an additional six hours of electives. Students will choose elective courses in consultation with their thesis committees. The courses can come from any approved graduate level engineering or life sciences elective.  BME focus courses not used to meet requirement B above can be used to fulfill the electives requirement.  Approved electives are listed on this site. Other relevant courses may be taken subject to approval by the student’s thesis committee.

E. Research and Thesis.  Research will be an integral component of the graduate program.  Students will complete at least 21 credit hours of thesis (BME 695).  Research work conducted by each student will culminate in a master’s thesis that will be a required formal written document.  Each student will be required to successfully defend his or her thesis. The thesis defense will be an oral examination based on the student’s written thesis and program of study.