Biomedical Engineering

Is it for me?

Revolutionary recent advances in new technologies for better disease diagnosis and monitoring have enabled clinicians to significantly advance human health leading to vastly improved quality of life. A visit to the clinic reveals a host of advanced technologies used routinely, and specialized hospital units, surgical rooms and imaging facilities are further equipped with a dazzling array of engineered devices. The basic scientific and operating principles behind these technologies and devices are the focus of the Biomedical Engineering curriculum. A Biomedical Engineer has the unique opportunity of combining knowledge and skills from mathematics, physics and engineering with biology, human anatomy and physiology with the ultimate goal of designing technologies for improving human health.

At SFU Engineering Science, our Biomedical Engineering program strives to create, first and foremost, a strong foundation in electrical and systems engineering. Additional specialized courses are offered in biomechanics, biochemistry, biomedical physiology, biomedical instrumentation, biomedical image acquisition and biosignal and image processing, clinical imaging, optics and biophotonics, and assistive devices. Our faculty are involved in leading edge research in a wide range of areas such as design of biomedical instrumentation, microsensors, microfluidics, optical coherence tomography imaging, photonics, signal and image processing, dementia diagnostics, traumatic brain injury imaging, rehabilitation and assistive devices, prosthetics, cellular and embryo imaging, computational models, and simulation. These provide exceptional students challenging research opportunities to increase their analytical, quantitative and communication skills.

Biomedical Engineering is a highly competitive interdisciplinary program aimed at top students. For more information on the curriculum and academic requirements for this option, click here.

What will I learn?

Biomedical Engineering is jointly-offered with the School of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology. Highly interdisciplinary and taught by faculty from both schools, you will gain a strong foundation of engineering skills plus rich biomedical-related expertise in chemistry, biology, human physiology, biomechanics, biomedical instrumentation and biomedical signal processing.

Careers

This fast-growing field provides students with a wide range of employment opportunities. In British Columbia alone, there are dozens of medical device companies, ranging from Boreal Genomics Inc. to Raven Biotech Inc. and from Ultrasonix to LifeScan Canada Ltd. In addition, there are multiple career opportunities in biomedical engineering departments in hospitals as well as research opportunities within industry or via graduate university programs.

Contact Us

Need assistance? If you have questions about the Biomedical Engineering option, please contact:

For information on how to apply or how to transfer into Biomedical Engineering, please also cc your email to the FAS advisors at asadvise@sfu.ca.

For information on specific courses, please contact the Undergraduate Program Assistant in Engineering Science.