Formal Education Opportunities
Several courses are taught regularly as part of the undergraduate program in Biomedical Engineering. These include Introduction to Medical Imaging, Biological Basis of Imaging, and Quantitative and Functional Imaging. In addition, VUIIS faculty with appointments in the School of Engineering sometimes define senior design projects.
Research Experiences
Undergraduate students can obtain research experience at the VUIIS through a variety of mechanisms. Regardless of the mechanism, an interested student would be best served by reviewing the VUIIS faculty research interests, identifying projects that sound interesting, and then approaching the appropriate faculty member. An email inquiry or telephone call to arrange an appointment is the first step in this process.
After meeting with a VUIIS faculty member and agreeing upon a suitable project, students interested in obtaining course credit may do so by registering for an appropriate independent study course through their home department. For example, BME students can register for BME 240a-240b (Undergraduate Research in BME). Ideally, this would be arranged in the early-to-middle part of the semester preceding that in which the student wishes to obtain credit.
There are also several mechanisms through which students can be paid for their work. First, faculty members who hold a research project grant may have funds available to pay a student directly from that grant. Also, there are both University-wide and School-specific summer research programs that provide opportunities for full-time summer research experiences and a stipend. These include the Vanderbilt University Summer Research Program and, for Engineering students, the VUSE Summer Undergraduate Research Program. Applications for these competitive programs are typically due in February of each year; however, interested students are advised to contact potential VUIIS faculty advisors well before the application deadline in order to allow sufficient time to prepare the application, and because faculty are limited in the number of students whom they are allowed to sponsor.
Courses
- BME 4400 (Introduction to Medical Imaging)
- BME 4420 (Quantitative and Functional Imaging)