Bioengineering, PhD
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
The Department of Bioengineering offers both a traditional doctoral program (for students with a previous master's degree) and a direct doctoral program (for students with only a bachelor's degree). Students in both programs are required to have a research advisor and applicants are encouraged to contact department faculty in their areas of interest to inquire about possible research opportunities.
Opportunity exists for specializing in i) computational science and engineering via the Computational Science & Engineering optional graduate concentration, and iv) data science and engineering via the Data Science & Engineering optional graduate concentration.
Department Research
Bioengineering faculty perform research in the areas of Bioimaging at Multi-Scale; Bio-Micro and Nanotechnology; Synthetic Bioengineering; Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering; Computational and Systems Biology; Research in BME Education. In addition to Bioengineering faculty, the Department of Bioengineering has more than 50 affiliate faculty.
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
For additional details and requirements for all degrees, please refer to the department's Graduate Studies website and the Graduate College Handbook.
Entering with approved M.S. degree
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Development | 4 | |
| BIOE 500 | Graduate Seminar (two semesters) | 2 |
| BIOE 502 | Bioengineering Professionalism | 2 |
| Thesis Research | 52 | |
| BIOE 599 | Thesis Research (min-max applied toward degree) | 52 |
| Technical Elective Courses | 8 | |
| Selected in consultation with advisor | 8 | |
| Total Hours | 64 | |
Other Requirements and Conditions
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Other Requirements and Conditions may overlap | |
| Minimum program GPA: | 3.0 |
| A Masters degree is required for admission to the Ph.D. program. | |
| Qualifying exam | |
| Preliminary exam | |
| Final exam and dissertation defense | |
| Dissertation deposit |
Entering with B.S. degree
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Development | 6 | |
| BIOE 500 | Graduate Seminar (four semesters) | 4 |
| BIOE 502 | Bioengineering Professionalism | 2 |
| Thesis Research | 66 | |
| BIOE 599 | Thesis Research (min-max applied toward degree) | 66 |
| Technical Elective Courses | 12 | |
| Selected in consultation with advisor | 12 | |
| Fundamental Courses | 12 | |
| Students must select one course from each of the three categories below | 12 | |
Statistics and Data Science | ||
| BIOE 484 | Statistical Analysis of Biomedical Images | 4 |
| BIOE 505 | Computational Bioengineering | 4 |
| IB 501 | Programming for Genomics | 4 |
| STAT 510 | Mathematical Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 511 | Advanced Mathematical Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 525 | Topics in Computational Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 527 | Advanced Regression Analysis | 4 |
| STAT 528 | Advanced Regression Analysis II | 4 |
| STAT 530 | Bioinformatics | 4 |
| STAT 533 | Advanced Stochastic Processes | 4 |
| STAT 534 | Advanced Survival Analysis | 4 |
| STAT 541 | Advanced Predictive Analytics | 4 |
| STAT 542 | Statistical Learning | 4 |
| STAT 543 | Appl. Multivariate Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 545 | Spatial Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 546 | Machine Learning in Data Science | 4 |
| STAT 551 | Theory of Probability I | 4 |
| STAT 552 | Theory of Probability II | 4 |
| STAT 553 | Probability and Measure I | 4 |
| STAT 554 | Probability and Measure II | 4 |
| STAT 555 | Applied Stochastic Processes | 4 |
| STAT 556 | Advanced Time Series Analysis | 4 |
| STAT 558 | Risk Modeling and Analysis | 4 |
| STAT 571 | Multivariate Analysis | 4 |
| STAT 575 | Large Sample Theory | 4 |
| STAT 576 | Empirical Process Theory and Weak Convergence | 4 |
| STAT 578 | Topics in Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 587 | Hierarchical Linear Models | 4 |
| STAT 588 | Covar Struct and Factor Models | 4 |
Engineering Math | ||
| BIOE 432 | Systems Biology: Uncovering Design Principles of Biological Networks | 3 or 4 |
| BIOE 450 | Introduction to Quantitative Pharmacology | 3 or 4 |
| BIOE 485 | Computational Mathematics for Machine Learning and Imaging | 4 |
| BIOE 504 | Analytical Methods in Bioeng | 4 |
Life Sciences | ||
| BIOE 430 | Intro Synthetic Biology | 4 |
| BIOE 434 | Immunoengineering | 3 or 4 |
| BIOE 487 | Stem Cell Bioengineering | 4 |
| BIOE 526 | Advances in Biotechnology | 4 |
| Total Hours | 96 | |
Other Requirements and Conditions
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Other Requirements and Conditions may overlap | |
| 12 total hours from the Fundamental Courses and/or Technical Elective Courses categories must be BIOE-rubric courses. | |
| Minimum program GPA: | 3.0 |
| Qualifying exam | |
| Preliminary exam | |
| Final exam and dissertation defense | |
| Dissertation deposit |
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
- Ability to apply quantitative skills and engineering principles to propose novel and practical solutions to medical/human health problems
- Understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities
- Ability to communicate scientific problems and solutions, as well as their impact, effectively to a diverse audience and stakeholders, both orally and in writing
- Demonstrate moderate technical mastery in chosen research area, shown by the ability to identify an important scientific problem, formulate a hypothesis, and design experiments to conduct research and data analysis to test the hypothesis. The student should also be able to formulate alternatives.
- Develop effective leadership skills in order to foster the ability to conduct collaborative research and work with a diverse team
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
Admission Requirements
Applicants should have an undergraduate or graduate degree in a natural science, computer science, or engineering. A minimum grade point average of 3.00 (A = 4.00) for the last two years of undergraduate study is required. Applicants should show evidence of strong quantitative skills and of serious interest in the life sciences. GRE scores are optional.
Financial Aid
Qualified students may apply for financial aid in the form of fellowships, teaching and research assistantships, and waivers of tuition and service fees. Starting in Fall 2020, Grainger Engineering PhD students in their first five years of enrollment who meet the minimum eligibility requirements are guaranteed a funded appointment for fall and spring that includes a full tuition waiver, a partial fee waiver, and a stipend.
All applicants, regardless of US citizenship, whose native language is not English and who wish to be considered for teaching assistantships must demonstrate spoken English language proficiency by achieving a minimum score of 24 on the speaking subsection of the TOEFL iBT or 8 on the speaking subsection of the IELTS. For students who are unable to take the TOEFL iBT or IELTS, a minimum score of 3CP is required on the OEAI test, offered on campus. All new teaching assistants are required to participate in the Graduate Academy for College Teaching conducted prior to the start of the semester.
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
Department of Bioengineering
Department Head: Mark Anastasio
Director of Graduate Studies: Wawrzyniec Dobrucki
Bioengineering website
Program website
1240 Everitt Laboratory, 1406 W Green St, Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 300-8066
Bioengineering email
Grainger College of Engineering
Grainger College of Engineering website
Admissions
Graduate Contact: Karin Readel
Department Admissions & Requirements
Graduate College Admissions & Requirements