Biomedical Engineering

	Objectives Objectives of the Phd program																										Admission Admission to the Graduate School .
	Assignment Assignment of Advisors .																										Qualifying Examination The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination .
	Plan of Study Plan of Study for the Phd program .																										Language No foreign language .......
	Comprehensive Comprehensive Examination .																										Dissertation Dissertation Research
	Defense Dissertation Defense .																										Publications Publication of Research Findings

Objectives of the Phd program

The broad objective of the program is to provide graduate students with the skills necessary for employment and to conduct independent study and research in an area of Biomedical Engineering.
Three outcomes are expected for each graduate of the Ph.D. programs:
a. Graduates will have a strong foundation in advanced engineering, mathematics, and biomedical engineering principles.
b. Graduates will be capable of organizing and conducting independent study and research.
c. Graduates will achieve their initial post-graduation goal.

Admission to the Graduate School

Application to the Graduate School is made by the student and submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School. When the student specifies a preference of admission to the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering, the application is forwarded to the program for review and recommendation from the program chair of the Biomedical Engineering and the Dean of the Graduate School. For students desiring to major in Biomedical Engineering, a baccalaureate degree with a major in an engineering discipline from an ABET accredited institution is the best preparation. Students who do not possess this background are not discouraged from applying, but, in general, must expect some amount of undergraduate remedial courses stressing engineering analysis and synthesis. Any student entering the program will be required to remove any deficiencies in mathematics, science, engineering, and communication. Other remedial work may be required depending upon the specialization selected by the graduate student. Applicants are required to submit scores on the general portions of the Graduate Record Examination, the names and complete addresses of three academic or professional references, and a personal statement of purpose. A GRE score of 1170 or higher (Verbal plus Quantitative) is required for admission to the Ph.D. Program after completion of the M.S. Students may enter the Ph.D. directly after the B.S. with a GRE (Verbal plus Quantitative) of 1270 or higher and an overall GPA of 3.25 for unconditional admission. Pending receipt of the GRE scores and letters of reference, the applicant may be accepted as a non-degree, unclassified student by recommendation of the program chair. See the Louisiana Tech University Bulletin (catalog) for additional admission information.

Assignment of Advisors

Upon admission to the Graduate School, the graduate student is assigned to the Biomedical Engineering Program. A faculty member in the program will be assigned by the program chair as the interim advisor based on interests expressed by students in their applications and by faculty during review of applications. A preliminary course of study (first quarter) is developed by the student and the interim faculty advisor. The interim faculty advisor will assist the new graduate student to determine first quarter courses and to advise the student regarding research opportunities and faculty interests, plan of study, and advisory committee requirements. In the fall of each year, the program chair provides the new graduate students with an orientation to the program. During the first quarter in the Graduate Program, the new graduate student should meet with all of the Biomedical Engineering faculty members to discuss matters that relate to research projects, study plans, and resources. It is the student's responsibility to contact and select a Committee chairperson and Committee members who agree to accept this role. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee will serve as permanent faculty advisor. All doctoral committees shall consist of a minimum of five tenured/tenure-track faculty members who are members of the graduate faculty. On all committees, at least fifty percent (50%) of the members shall be tenured/tenure-track faculty members in the Biomedical Engineering program. Adjunct Faculty members in the Biomedical Engineering program who are members of the graduate faculty may serve as members of committees. The Chairperson of the committee must be a tenured/tenure-track faculty member in the Biomedical Engineering program. An Adjunct Faculty member may serve as Co-Chairperson of the student's dissertation. The Advisory Committee must be formed and a Plan of Study constructed prior to pre-registration (sixth) week of the second quarter at Louisiana Tech University. A graduate student will not be allowed to pre-register for the third quarter without Advisory Committee and program chair approval of the Plan of Study. Blank forms are attached to these guidelines.

Qualifying Examination

The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination will be offered in October of each year. The faculty members will submit questions for the exam and will be responsible for grading the questions. Each question will be evaluated numerically on a 0-10 scale and assigned a letter score: P - Pass; M - Marginal; and F - Fail. The program's faculty will be responsible for evaluating each students entire exam. The committees options will be Pass or Fail (no retest after second attempt). Part I will cover topics from the programs's core courses which are:
a) Systems Physiology for Biomedical Engineers (BME 500);
b) Physiological Modeling (BME 550);
c) Bioinstrumentation (BME 510);
d) Biometry or Biostatistics.
Part II will cover topics from traditional undergraduate courses. The student must select 4 different areas from the list below with one of the areas consisting of a mathematics topic.

The testing procedures are as follows:
1) The exam must be taken within the department area;
2) The exam will be open book (no notebooks);
3) The exam will consist of two parts; the two parts may be taken at different times.

Plan of Study

The program consists of a minimum of 60 hours credit in formal course work, exclusive of research and dissertation, beyond the baccalaureate. Choice of acceptable graduate level courses will be established by the Advisory Committee and subject to approval as part of the Plan of Study. Individual interests, need, and the demand of the engineering profession, both present and anticipated, will guide these decisions with flexibility as the keynote. BME 651 may be taken for credit as a research course prior to the Comprehensive Examination. A minimum of 15 hours must be earned in Engineering 651, Research and Dissertation (taken only after completion of the Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination). In addition to the qualifying examination, the Comprehensive Examination is taken at or near the end of completion of formal course work, and a defense of the dissertation is presented after the doctoral research has been completed. Core courses, required of all Ph.D. students, are:
BME 500: Systems Physiology for Engineers (4 sch)
BME 501: Physiological Modeling (4 sch)
BME 510: Bioinstrumentation (4 sch)
Statistics (To be determined by Committee) (3 sch)
It is expected the graduate student will follow the approved Plan of Study. Minor deviation from the Plan of Study must be approved by the Advisory Committee Chairperson acting on the behalf of the Committee. Substantial deviation must be approved by the Advisory Committee and reflected in an approved revision of the Plan of Study. See the Louisiana Tech University Bulletin (catalog) for additional information regarding grade requirements, grading system, student loads, transfer credits, residence requirements, and time limits.

Language Requirements

Comprehensive Examination

This examination is required and is administered near the end of the course work period. Satisfactory completion of this examination is necessary before the graduate student is admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering. The examination will be prepared by the members of the student's Advisory Committee. The Chairman will take responsibility for requesting members of the committee to prepare questions for subject areas based on the Plan of Study. It is the student's responsibility to schedule the exact date for each part of the exam with the individual committee members. Each part of the exam may be written or oral (depending on the committee member preparing the exam). An oral examination will be conducted before the entire committee after completion of all parts of the examination. The purpose of this oral exam is to enable the student to clarify or amplify answers to individual test sections and to allow the committee to evaluate synthesis and integration skills. Each part of the exam will be scored as 'Pass', 'Marginal', or 'Fail' by the responsible Committee Members. The successful candidate must receive a 'Pass' grade over 60% of the subject areas with no more than 20% 'Fail'. This examination cannot be taken more than two times. The program faculty recommends that Ph.D. students devote a minimum of six weeks in preparation for the comprehensive examination.

Dissertation Research

Graduate education in Biomedical Engineering at Louisiana Tech University enables the student to add depth to his/her abilities and to broaden the ability to understand and address scientific problems. At the doctoral level, the student should be able to understand the true significance of the work, while focusing on a set of problems or a larger problem than previously possible. The research is expected to produce a significant, original contribution to a specific problem. This education prepares the student for a successful career in research or technical development within a topic area. The student will register for BME 651 or Engineering 651 during each quarter in which work is done toward completion of the dissertation, including preparation of the proposal. BME 651 will be taken prior to satisfactorily completing his/her general Comprehensive Examination. The student will prepare and submit a dissertation proposal no later than the first quarter after successfully completing the Comprehensive Examination. This proposal must be approved by the Advisory Committee and the program chair prior to submission to the Graduate School. Subsequent to the preparation, submission, and approval of the dissertation proposal, the student is expected to proceed with the implementation and completion of the research project. See the Louisiana Tech University Graduate School "Guideline for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations" for details regarding student responsibilities, Advisor responsibilities, style of the thesis/dissertation, typing instructions, and time table.

Dissertation Defense

After the dissertation research has been completed, the graduate student is required to prepare a scholarly written dissertation for approval by the Advisory Committee and subsequent submission to the Graduate School. This will be done under the direction and supervision of the Advisory Committee with the Chairperson acting as the Committee's representative. The dissertation will be defended orally before the Advisory Committee and interested faculty and students. The oral defense must occur not less than five weeks prior to Commencement exercises for the quarter in which the student plans to graduate. If the dissertation is defended satisfactorily, an appropriate recommendation is prepared from the Advisory Committee written and oral, to the program chair and to the Dean of the Graduate School.

Publication of Research Findings

The program of Biomedical Engineering requires that at least one publication describing research leading to the dissertation be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Presentation at professional conferences in appropriate fields prior to graduation is strongly encouraged. The publication process is an important means of disseminating research findings to the engineering and scientific community. The faculty views the publication process as a professional responsibility of the recipient of the Ph.D. degree and one that should be sustained.

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