Question for BME majors on tracks

[Vesh]

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So I am a second year BME student and after next semester I'm going to have to start thinking about what concentrations/tracks I want to go into. Before college, I was very much interested in the application of technology in medicine, loved math, and decided that despite its difficulty, a BME major into med school was the route for me. Now despite it seeming like some of my engineering professor's are just trying to drive the average down as low as possible, I've done fairly well so I am pretty optimistic about my chances at med school. We have six different tracks to choose from (Medical Imaging, Tissue Engineering, Healthcare System and Medical Informatics, Biomechanics, Bioinstrumentation). Now through my design classes I have loved working with the Medical Physics department on the imaging machines (CT, MRI) and have also loved working with the rad onc team. The only thing is that I would prefer working with patients as opposed to working on the design and engineering aspects of imaging, something I think solidifies my decision to go to med school. The question I have is, should I pursue the medical imaging, or would it be more beneficial to go to another track, such as tissue engineering, which has a more traditional biology aspect to it and would possibly be more beneficial in med school prep. I know that everyone tells you not to decide on a specialty before medical school, and I'm sure many things could change before then, but after having worked with the Medical Physics department and shadowing a rad onc for a month, I would love to continue to work in radiation oncology or radiology. Although both a little different, I love the integration of technology in medicine.

So after that nice long ramble, are there any other BMEs out there who have advice or have gone through this process? Any recommended tracks or experiences?

 

[therunner12]

Honestly, none of the tracks are really going to be more so related to the medical field.

The imaging track will most likely be your hardest while the informatics will probably be your easiest.

I'm in the materials/tissues track at my school and I love it.

 

[Whatyousay]

Well, if you don't like the idea of working on the design and engineering aspects of imaging, I would avoid that track.

Personally, I would go with the Tissue Engineering route, and then take a few electives in Imaging that you find particularly interesting (I'm not sure how electives are set up in your program, but you should generally have that option).

 

[CopaceticOne]

As a BME that finished my degree a while ago and worked in industry I highly suggest you do the track that you are the most interested in. Upper division engineering work can be very dry and if you aren't interested then it will show in your grades/attitude.

That being said, of the tracks you mentioned, the imaging track will be the most math intensive (MRI and ultrasound modalities in the mainstream). The informatics will likely be a parallel to computer science (with less depth). If you need to touch/feel what you work on then the biomechanics & tissue options would be a good fit. If you like mostly conceptual work with a "tinkering" feel, then the instrumentation option might be a good fit.

Choose what interests you right now and the future will sort itself out on its own.

 

[PMPMD]

As a BME that finished my degree a while ago and worked in industry I highly suggest you do the track that you the most interested in. Upper division engineering work can be very dry and if you aren't interested then it will so in your grades/attitude.

That being said, of the tracks you mentioned, the imaging track will be the most math intensive (MRI and ultrasound modalities in the mainstream). The informatics will likely be a parallel to computer science (with less depth). If you need to touch/feel what you work on then the biomechanics & tissue options would be a good fit. If you like mostly conceptual work with a "tinkering" feel, then the instrumentation option might be a good fit.

Choose what interests you right now and the future will sort itself out on its own.

👍👍

As a former BME major myself, I 100% agree with this. If you are interested in something, you will get better grades in it. I loved instrumentation, but a lot of that was the awesome prof that taught it. Imaging (esp MRI) involved a lot of Fourier, which makes my head hurt.

 

[therunner12]

👍👍

As a former BME major myself, I 100% agree with this. If you are interested in something, you will get better grades in it. I loved instrumentation, but a lot of that was the awesome prof that taught it. Imaging (esp MRI) involved a lot of Fourier, which makes my head hurt.

Dealing with Fourier and Radon Transforms right now. Not fun.

 

[txlover]

I'm currently in the Tissue track and there is minimal bio involved. As you have probably realized BME is significantly more focused on the math than the bio. If you are more interested in bio you can always take some bio electives. My program actually allowed biochem to count for the tissue track.

I completely agree with everyone above - pick the track you are most interested in. Good luck

 

[IMSingular]

Dealing with Fourier and Radon Transforms right now. Not fun.

Do they still use Fourier Transforms? I would have thought they might be using Wavelet Transforms. What is Radon transform?

 

[Kickback]

As a BME that finished my degree a while ago and worked in industry I highly suggest you do the track that you are the most interested in. Upper division engineering work can be very dry and if you aren't interested then it will show in your grades/attitude.

That being said, of the tracks you mentioned, the imaging track will be the most math intensive (MRI and ultrasound modalities in the mainstream). The informatics will likely be a parallel to computer science (with less depth). If you need to touch/feel what you work on then the biomechanics & tissue options would be a good fit. If you like mostly conceptual work with a "tinkering" feel, then the instrumentation option might be a good fit.

Choose what interests you right now and the future will sort itself out on its own.

x3, as a former BME (now ChemE). Also, are you proficient at programming and like it? Imaging and informatics sound like they will both be programming intensive, compared to tissue and biomechanics.

 

[therunner12]

Do they still use Fourier Transforms? I would have thought they might be using Wavelet Transforms. What is Radon transform?

We learned it. Radon is just tomographic reconstruction.

I should be able to explain it better after this weekend. We have a midterm on Monday so I'll be spending the weekend figuring out what is going on in that class.

 

[CopaceticOne]

We learned it. Radon is just tomographic reconstruction.

I should be able to explain it better after this weekend. We have a midterm on Monday so I'll be spending the weekend figuring out what is going on in that class.

Matlab is the key to doing imaging stuff. I still remember the various commands to quickly go between k-space and to do radon reconstructions. Three cheers for the FFT!

 

[IMSingular]

Matlab is the key to doing imaging stuff. I still remember the various commands to quickly go between k-space and to do radon reconstructions. Three cheers for the FFT!

We learned it. Radon is just tomographic reconstruction.

I should be able to explain it better after this weekend. We have a midterm on Monday so I'll be spending the weekend figuring out what is going on in that class.

I thought Radon had some thing to do with Radon gas. There was a mathematician named Radon. Radon transformation in n dimension is, it seems, projection/filtration on n-1 dimensional superplane/supersurface that reduces n dimensional fourier transformation to 1 dimensional fourier transformation. Cooley and Tukey's invention/discovery of FFT has such great serendipity effect. One of the most important discovery/invention of the 20th century; though Gauss had invented FFT no one was aware of that until Cooley and Tukey re-invented it. More than three cheers! Would have got Field Medal if it did exit at the time.

 

[CopaceticOne]

And now this is officially a nerdy thread!😎

 

[Whatyousay]

Nice to see all the BMEs come out of the woodwork.

 

[therunner12]

Matlab is the key to doing imaging stuff. I still remember the various commands to quickly go between k-space and to do radon reconstructions. Three cheers for the FFT!

Don't remind me. I think I'm finished with all of the matlab stuff for the class...hopefully.

 

[IMSingular]

Nice to see all the BMEs come out of the woodwork.

I am not a BME. I am just a scientist.😉🙂😀

 

[CopaceticOne]

I am not a BME. I am just a scientist.😉🙂😀

Then get out!!!! 😀

 

[BenzylAcetate]

Honestly, none of the tracks are really going to be more so related to the medical field.

The imaging track will most likely be your hardest while the informatics will probably be your easiest.

I'm in the materials/tissues track at my school and I love it.

Exactly what I was going to say. The only track that might be somewhat related to med school material would be the imaging, but realistically it will be more depth than you need and geared towards instrumentation and design rather than reading films. Definitely go with whichever track you find the most interesting as opposed to the one which might somewhat-kind-of-sort-of be covered briefly in passing for a few minutes during that one lecture in MS-2.

Also 👍 for matse/tissues track, I'm so excited for artificial organs next semester.

 

[Scilencer]

BME grad here...I was always interested in imaging tech and signal processing so I chose the imaging track. MRI is like the coolest method but also the most relatively difficult to conceptualize. So many damn coils and magnetic fields going everywhere! The horror! lol

But yea BME is pretty awesome 🙂

 

[JoshuaGuit]

I'm a biomaterials concentration and I'm a junior. Doesn't involve too too much math so it is a good compromise for me