Six are Brown’s first graduates in new concentration of biomedical engineering

Graduate program and center for the discipline gain approval

by Scott J. Turner

A great academic program might be one that allows students to study a cutting-edge discipline, work on attention-grabbing science and get to know the faculty, staff and graduate students who teach and conduct research.

These are the traits of the new undergraduate concentration in biomedical engineering, say members of its first graduating class, who received their diplomas May 27. (Below, from left, Amanda Lease, Jahi Gist, Ian Kaplan, Professor Lysaght, Nick Marcantonio, Meera Shah and Even Scott)

The concentration, which weds biology, engineering and medicine, evolved three years ago out of the former bioengineering concentration.

Senior Ian Kaplan said he was in the right place at the right time when the program began in 1998. He started freshman year as an engineering student. When it wasn’t exactly what he wanted, Kaplan considered switching to biology. His adviser told him about biomedical engineering.

“It was the perfect balance between biology and engineering,” Kaplan said. “This field is booming. It is important to have Brown folks coming into it.”

After graduation, Kaplan will work for a year in the lab of faculty member Jeffrey Morgan, M.D. Kaplan will study tissue-engineered skin grafts to treat burn victims and diabetics with skin ulcers. Then he hopes to enter graduate school.

Biomedical engineering builds upon five decades of Brown accomplishment and leadership in the field, said professor and program head Michael Lysaght. Important areas of strength at Brown include biomaterials, quantitative physiology, drug and gene delivery, orthopedic implants, organ replacement, neuroengineering and tissue engineering, he said.

The coming half-century is likely to be identified as the “age of biotechnology,” according to Lysaght. “Newer and better ways of doing things with biology and in medicine will impact our lives as much in the coming decades as did digital technology in the previous 50 years and the period of industrialization for 150 years before that. From vaccines to prevent epidemics, drugs to lower the risk of heart attack, and the widespread availability of replacement body parts, the fruits of biomedical engineering are all around us.”

Last semester, all six graduating students took Biology 108, which is an organ replacement course taught by Lysaght.

“That class brings everything together,” said senior Nicholas Marcantonio, who will begin a doctoral program in biological engineering at MIT. “We looked at dealing with biological problems from an engineering standpoint, but within the framework of ethics, economics, politics, societal impacts and other issues.”

Brown offers a special benefit of being able to teach sound engineering fundamentals in the broader context of a liberal education, Lysaght said. In the future, “leadership positions in this field will go to strong engineers who can also think clearly, decide fairly and communicate effectively,” he said.

Senior Meera Shah was attracted to the “immediate social benefit” of biomedical engineering. “You conduct research where you can ultimately see the fruits of your labors in someone’s good health,” she said.

Biomedical engineering is one of the most attractive concentrations for undergraduates in the Division of Engineering, said Dean Rodney J. Clifton. “Combining engineering sciences and life sciences opens up many career opportunities, appeals to idealistic goals of many of our students, and is intellectually satisfying for students with interest and aptitude in mathematics and science.”