BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BIOENGINEERING (BSB)

Curriculum

Of the 134 total credits required for the non-thesis Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering (BSB), 95 credits are in general math and science courses, bioengineering core and technical elective courses. The below list of courses is for students matriculating in 2017 and following.

Current Rice students who have declared or plan to declare as bioengineering majors: Timetables and checklists are available to all Rice bioengineering students and can be found on the Student Forms page.

Curriculum

General Math & Science Courses

To provide students with a fundamental understanding of mathematics and the natural, life and medical sciences, all freshmen students considering a B.S.B. take the following foundation courses:

  • Biosciences
    • BIOC 201: Introductory Biology
    • BIOC 341: Cell Biology
  • Computational and Applied Mathematics
    • CAAM 210: Introduction to Engineering Computation
  • Chemistry
    • CHEM 121: General Chemistry I with CHEM 123 General Chemistry Laboratory I
    • CHEM 122: General Chemistry II with CHEM 124 General Chemistry Laboratory II
    • CHEM 211: Organic Chemistry
  • Math
    • MATH 101: Single Variable Calculus I
    • MATH 102: Single Variable Calculus II
    • MATH 211: ODEs and Linear Algebra
    • MATH 212: Multivariable Calculus
  • Electrical Engineering
    • ELEC 243: Electronic Measurement Systems
  • Mechanical Engineering
    • MECH 211: Engineering Mechanics
  • Physics
    • PHYS 101, PHYS 111, or PHYS 125: Mechanics with Laboratory
    • PHYS 102, or PHYS 112 or PHYS 126: Electricity and Magnetism with Laboratory
Major Core Courses

Bioengineering students are required to take two advanced laboratory courses (bolded below) and must complete the following core courses:

BIOE 252: Bioengineering Fundamentals
BIOE 320: Systems Physiology Laboratory Module
BIOE 322: Fundamentals of Systems Physiology
BIOE 330: Bioreaction Engineering
BIOE 332: Thermodynamics
BIOE 342: Laboratory Module in Tissue Culture
BIOE 370: Biomaterials
BIOE 372: Biomechanics
BIOE 383: Biomedical Engineering Instrumentation
BIOE 385: Biomedical Instrumentation Laboratory Module
BIOE 391: Numerical Methods
BIOE 420: Transport Phenomena in Bioengineering
BIOE 440: Statistics for Bioengineering
BIOE 442: Tissue Engineering Laboratory Module
BIOE 443: Bioprocessing Laboratory Module
BIOE 444: Mechanical Testing Laboratory Module
BIOE 445: Advanced Instrumentation Laboratory Module
BIOE 447: Digital Design and Visualization
BIOE 449: Medical Bioengineering Workshop
BIOE 451: Bioengineering Design I
BIOE 452: Bioengineering Design II

For a detailed description of core, bioengineering courses visit the undergraduate Course Schedules.

Major Technical Elective Courses

Students select three approved technical elective courses that are consistent with their career interests. The technical electives must total nine or more credit hours.

Each technical elective is assigned between zero and three engineering points. Students are required to take courses that total six or more engineering points. The list of approved technical elective courses and the number of engineering points assigned to each course is available in the General Announcements.

Undergraduate Minors

Rice Bioengineering and its faculty members collaborate with a number of departments to offer minors, interdisciplinary, and pre-professional programs that complement our comprehensive curriculum. To complement their future career goals, many bioengineering students minor in the following: