Richard Jendrucko

Biomedical Engineering Education: Enrollment, Courses, Degrees, and Employment

During the 1979-1980 academic year a two-page questionnaire on biomedical engineering education was sent to 251 engineering schools. 71 schools indicated that they had degree programs and an additional 35 indicated that they had official minor or option programs, 107 did not have a program, and 38 did not respond. For schools offering degrees in biomedical engineering, there were 2859 students enrolled in 37 B.S. programs, 830 students in 48 M.S. programs, and 469 students in 41 Ph.D. programs. Options or minors in biomedical engineering with a degree in another engineering discipline were available at the B.S. level at 41 schools, at the M.S. level at 42 schools, and at the Ph.D. level at 34 schools. Over the past two years, schools offered 109 courses in biomedical instrumentation, 74 in computers in medicine, 162 in physiological systems/modeling, 60 in biomechanics, 47 in biomaterials, 33 in hospital internship, 23 in clinical engineering, 9 in biomedical engineering lab, and 67 in other areas. During the academic year 1978-1979, schools awarded 464 B.S. degrees, 249 M.S. degrees, and 107 Ph.D. degrees in biomedical engineering. Of these graduates, 253 found jobs in industry, 23 in government, 35 in academia, and 66 in hospitals or clinics; 100 went to medical school, 96 to biomedical engineering graduate schools, and 57 to other graduate or professional schools.

Results From the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) Steam Tool Benchmarking Support Project

ABSTRACT The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Office of Industrial Technology (OIT) BestPractices effort is developing a number of software tools to assist industrial energy users to improve the efficiency of their operations. One of the software tools developed is the “steam system scoping tool.” In the summer of 2001, six of the DOE Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) completed a project to provide data on the usefulness of the steam system scoping tool. These six IACs performed eighteen plant steam system assessments; as part of these assessments the steam system scoping tool was used and evaluated. This article presents the results from these steam system assessments, and the results of the evaluations of the steam system scoping tool.

Steam Turbine Versus Pressure Reducing Valve Operation

A question arising frequently in steam system design relates to the benefits and drawbacks associated with passing steam through a pressure reducing valve or a steam turbine to supply a low pressur...

Technology enhanced cooperative learning

The University of Tennessee has initiated a yearlong set of projects related to Wireless Instructional Initiatives. The project has provided a set of wireless laptops for student use in several classes. The courses for this paper have been organized into structured groups for both in class and out of class projects. During class, the groups may be required to develop approaches to problems, answer and present solutions, and assess the work of other groups. The use of wireless laptops combined with a Blackboard course web site provides an opportunity to have an available documented group solution for discussions. The initial applications were with junior - senior course, where the students provide approaches to realistic problems, which were available to all groups. The students reported that they gained significant insight from reading other groups. The next course will be a sophomore course with over 9-10 student groups and a more general application.