Sample Biomedical Projects Carried Out by Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

As reported by the ASME Center for Education Task Force [1], human health will be one of the major areas in which mechanical engineers will take the leadership position to develop innovative technologies in the future. To adapt to the transforming role of the mechanical engineering profession, undergraduate education of mechanical engineering needs to guide students to apply engineering principles in this area. In this paper, the development of an undergraduate biomedical course in a mechanical engineering major is introduced. Several course projects developed by mechanical engineering undergraduate students are described. These projects focused on the study of biomedical problems using engineering problem solving skills. The projects were started with the analysis of injuries or diseases of patients. Then, injuries and/or possible treatments were analyzed from the viewpoint of a mechanical engineer. All of these students’ projects are summarized in this paper and a few projects discussed in detail. Among these projects, the flow and pressure distributions of different types of heart valves were calculated using computational fluid dynamics; the consequence of injuries of joint cartilage was analyzed with bearing design theory; the treatment of a muscle hernia was calculated using the finite element method. These projects encouraged students to appreciate engineering applications in fields other than traditional fields such as automobile and aircraft design. The results of the projects are also useful in practice. The course model is applicable for engineering programs in other small teaching universities.