Preparing Freshmen And Sophomores For Biomedical Engineering: The Experience At Northwestern University

At Northwestern we believe that we are pioneers in the field of undergraduate education for biomedical engineers. Consequently, we are forever looking for ways to improve what we are doing in both small and large ways. In this paper I intend to describe some of the initiatives we have taken and are taking to open the field of biomedical engineering to underclassmen at Northwestern. I hope that our experience will be useful to colleagues at other institutions. Before I get into the details, however, I feel that I should provide some background about engineering undergraduates and the Biomedical Engineering Department at Northwestern, since what is possible for us may be impractical elsewhere.