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Biomechanics Concentration

Updated April 9, 2012

About the Concentration

A student may specialize in Biomechanics once a solid background in the fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering has been developed through the core Mechanical Enginering or Engineering Mechanics courses. The essence of mechanics is the interplay between forces and motion. In biology, mechanics is important at the macroscopic, cellular, and subcellular levels. 

At the macroscopic length scale biomechanics of both soft and hard tissues plays an important role in computer-integrated surgical systems and technologies, e.g., medical robotics. At the cellular level, issues such as cell motility and chemotaxis can be modeled as mechanical phenomena. At the subcellular level, conformational transitions in biological macromolecules can be modeled using molecular dynamics simulation, which is nothing more than computational Newtonian mechanics; statistical mechanics, or using coarse-grained techniques that rely on principles from the mechanics of materials. 

In addition, much of structural biology can be viewed from the perspective of Kinematics, e.g., finding spatial relationships in data from the Protein Data Bank.

Each student who pursues the Biomechanics concentration will, in consultation with his or her academic advisor, choose the set of Technical and Mechanical Engnieering course electives that best matches the student's interests. Upon completion of the concentration, notification of this achievement is placed on the student's academic record and transcript.

Requirements and Courses

A student may specialize in Biomechanics once a solid background in the fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering has been developed through the basic ME courses. Students pursuing the Biomechanics Concentration within Mechanical Engineering are required to take at least four of the following courses. Two among the four should be chosen from the biomechanics-oriented courses, indicated by an asterisk (*).


NOTE:  Some courses that from time to time may be counted toward the Biomechanics Concentration may require 030.205 Organic Chemistry as a prerequisite.

At this time, the courses listed above do not require this pre-requisite, but requirements may change from time to time, or new courses may be added to the list that require this pre-requisite.

030.205 Organic Chemistry will count as a Technical Elective when taken to allow enrollment in the appropriate Biomechanics Concentration courses.  Note that 030.205 has several prerequisites:  030.101/.102 Intro to Chemistry and 030.105/.106 Chemistry labs.

Details about these courses are available in the University's Arts and Sciences and Engnieering Course Catalog. For additional information about the concentration, contact Professor Jeff Wang.

Biomechanics Faculty in Mechanical Engineering