Over the past 10 years, biomedical engineering has grown from a scattered and loosely defined multidiscipline into a mainstream academic pursuit.

During this time, the foundation has made a major investment in three main areas: career development, student support, and institutional development.

Last year’s annual report examined the foundation’s investment in career development of faculty members and its impact on biomedical engineering. This year, the report reviews foundation programs that have supported biomedical engineering students. Next year, the annual report will follow up on its major institutional awards. In 2005 this series of annual reports will conclude with a retrospective on The Whitaker Foundation and a look at the future of biomedical engineering.

Graduate Fellowships in Biomedical Engineering

Since the start of the program in 1992, a total of 414 fellowships have been awarded. This represents a total of more than $53 million. The program was initiated to help especially talented individuals develop the skills required for a successful career in biomedical engineering. The fellowships were intended to support one stage in the development of a biomedical engineering career.

In the fall of 2003, the foundation surveyed all past and current fellows for a sense of how the fellowship had enhanced their education. Of the 419 surveys sent, 248 responded, split evenly between current and former fellows.

The survey showed that nearly all fellows, 96 percent, had earned or were seeking a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering. Of those, 71 percent came from departments of bioengineering or biomedical engineering. (See chart 1.) Thirty-five percent said that the fellowship helped them to attend a school that they might not have been able to attend other-wise. Nearly 80 percent said that they would have gone to graduate school without the fellowship, and just as many said they would have pursued biomedical engineering with or without the support.

Survey responses made it clear that the largest single benefit of the fellowship was that it allowed fellows to choose the research project and path that suited them best. Words like “freedom,” “independence,” and “flexibility” appeared throughout the responses. “The difference in intellectual freedom and choice has really shaped my path!” wrote one respondent. Freedom included not only one’s research direction, but also the freedom to choose which schools and professors would best help along the path. “The fellowship meant I could study in a lab that could not otherwise support me,” wrote another respondent. “I could study what I was most passionate about. This has made all the difference.”

Few responses indicated an unexpected feature of the fellowship program. Some mentioned concern about advisors who pushed fellows to pursue “high-risk” or undefined research projects. Another fellow mentioned the pressure of producing results on his own rather than having an advisor who was more “invested” in the supported research.

Fellows cited the benefit of the travel allowance to present papers at professional conferences. Nearly 90 percent said that this provided the opportunity to learn more about their own interests and broader issues in biomedical engineering, as well as to get acquainted with others in the field. Many cited purchasing equipment, like a personal computer, and other, less tangible benefits: “Being awarded a fellowship provided me a sense of accomplishment and pride”; and “It has helped develop in me the mindset and confidence needed to pursue extramural funding after graduation.”

The majority of graduate fellows plan to continue a career in biomedical engineering. Fellows who chose or were planning to stay in academia slightly outnumbered those who moved to or were considering private industry, government, hospitals or nonprofits. (See chart 2.) Eleven graduate fellows went on to earn research grants from the foundation. Four of them are featured in this annual report.

Industrial Internships

The Industrial Internship Program began in 1996 as a way to bridge colleges and universities with the corporate world by supporting internship programs for biomedical engineering students. The goal was to introduce medical-device, pharmaceutical, and other biomedical companies to the talents and capabilities of biomedical engineering students, while giving corporate-bound students valuable hands-on experience leading to job placement.

If successful, it is a win-win-win situation. Students gain professional experience, learn business insights, practice applying their knowledge to real problems, and bring their career possibilities into clearer focus. Companies can draw on the imagination and energy of students, lower their training costs, establish relationships with potential academic collaborators, and evaluate potential hires. Universities gain a new dimension of student training, hone their education programs, establish collaborations, and provide job placement for graduates.

A total of 41 grants were made from 1996 through 2002 to 33 universities across the United States. A recent survey of these recipients showed that half of the 11 respondents used their grants to start a new internship program and half enhanced an existing program. Most of the grantee institutions hired someone whose primary responsibility is to run the program. More often than not, this was a full-time staff position.

The grantees noted the importance of staffing to the success of their programs. “A sustained internship program requires commitment from an individual,” one respondent commented. Another wrote that, to be successful, “Hire someone full-time; house the position in the department.”

Respondents also noted the importance of institutional support through an industrial advisory board, a panel of representatives from the industrial sector who offer connections to local industry. Advisory board members give suggestions about the academic curriculum and issues related to the internship program, organize workshops, serve as department speakers, and provide guidance on strategic issues.

One measure of the grant program’s success might be the number of students placed in jobs. This increased in virtually all cases. Or the program could be valued on the basis of the number of new industrial contacts made by grantee institutions. This also increased across the board.

But the Industrial Internship Program has produced more than numbers. It produced a collective experience that all institutions with biomedical engineering programs can use as a model for replicating success.

From survey results and a paper by Lisa Waples and Kristina Ropella of Marquette University, published in the summer 2003 issue of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, has been drawn the following summary of elements necessary for successful partnerships between university departments and programs in biomedical engineering and the industrial sector.

The first element is commitment. Waples and Ropella call for a “considerable investment of personnel, time and money as well as the desire to educate students in novel ways.” One survey respondent echoed, “There has to be a critical mass of interested students and interested companies.”

The ingredients to growing a successful internship program include: effort, focus, involvement, persistence, follow-up, communication, strong faculty support, strong industrial connections, a commitment to professional development, and an infrastructure to sustain the program and provide for its evolution.

Establishing industry contacts is a major challenge. Waples and Ropella said personal contact is critical. They cited multiple phone calls, personal visits, and written and verbal follow-ups to presidents, vice presidents, directors, managers, engineers, and human resource personnel, seeking not only internship opportunities but any number of partnerships that could open the door to future internships. They invite companies to suggest senior design projects, give talks or class lectures, join the industrial advisory board, and comment on the curriculum or specific courses.

One survey respondent wrote, “We learned that industry is very interested in bioengineering students once they get to know them.” But once an industrial contact is made, follow-up is required. Not all companies are interested in hiring an intern at the outset. “One must be very persistent in seeking those companies that are willing to extend an opportunity to a qualified student. In turn, your program should provide dedicated students—students who are willing to learn, understand and contribute.”

It helps to have professional development as a part of the curriculum. Students should learn job placement skills, such as interviewing and preparing a resume. Another good idea is to provide industrial contacts with a collection of the resumes of graduating students.

Follow-up is important for assessing the value of the program for both companies and students. A feedback mechanism can lead to more than fine-tuning of the internship program. Feedback can lead to the creation of new undergraduate courses or concentrations.

A success of the foundation’s Industrial Internship Program has been simply to open doors. One grantee noted: “There are more employment opportunities for bioengineering students than we thought.”