Neural Engineering, BS
for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering
The Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering provides training at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering fundamentals. The program focuses on skill development in electrical and imaging systems, molecular and cellular engineering, biological interfacing, and computational data sciences. The first two years of the program provide foundational knowledge in applied formal sciences, physical sciences, and life sciences. Years three and four provide focused training in neural engineering fundamentals and applications through core courses, neuroscience courses, and neural engineering electives. Students will be prepared for employment as engineers in growing healthcare industry sectors related to neurological devices, brain-computer interfaces, neurological disease treatments, and brain imaging technologies. Graduates will also be positioned to pursue professional degrees in medicine and graduate studies in clinical, life, and behavioral sciences.
for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering
Minimum Hours for Graduation: 128
To graduate, students must satisfy all University requirements as to residency, scholarship, and fees and must complete the University's general education requirements.
Highest honors/departmental distinction: Students completing a Bachelor’s thesis with a minimum GPA of 3.8 will be eligible for highest honors.
Graduation Requirements
Minimum hours required for graduation: 128 hours.
Minimum Overall GPA: 2.0
University Requirements
Minimum of 40 hours of upper-division coursework, generally at the 300- or 400-level. These hours can be drawn from all elements of the degree. Students should consult their academic advisor for additional guidance in fulfilling this requirement.
The university and residency requirements can be found in the Student Code (§ 3-801) and in the Academic Catalog.
General Education Requirements
Follows the campus General Education (Gen Ed) requirements. Some Gen Ed requirements may be met by courses required and/or electives in the program.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Composition I | 4-6 | |
| Advanced Composition | 3 | |
| Humanities & the Arts (6 hours) | 6 | |
| Natural Sciences & Technology (6 hours) | 6 | |
| Social & Behavioral Sciences (6 hours) | 6 | |
fulfilled by PSYC 100 and other any other course approved as Social & Behavioral Sciences | ||
| Cultural Studies: Non-Western Cultures (1 course) | 3 | |
| Cultural Studies: US Minority Cultures (1 course) | 3 | |
| Cultural Studies: Western/Comparative Cultures (1 course) | 3 | |
| Quantitative Reasoning (2 courses, at least one course must be Quantitative Reasoning I) | 6-10 | |
| Language Requirement (Completion of the third semester or equivalent of a language other than English is required) | 0-15 | |
Major Requirements
Orientation and Professional Development
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ENG 100 | Grainger Engineering Orientation Seminar (External transfer students take ENG 300.) | 1 |
| Total Hours | 1 | |
Foundational Mathematics and Science
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CHEM 102 | General Chemistry I | 3 |
| CHEM 103 | General Chemistry Lab I | 1 |
| CHEM 104 | General Chemistry II | 3 |
| CHEM 105 | General Chemistry Lab II | 1 |
| CHEM 232 | Elementary Organic Chemistry I (May be taken for 3 or 4 credit hours; the extra hour may be used to help meet free elective requirements.) | 4 |
| MATH 221 | Calculus I (MATH 220 may be substituted, with four of the five credit hours applying toward the degree. MATH 220 is appropriate for students with no background in calculus.) | 4 |
| MATH 231 | Calculus II | 3 |
| MATH 241 | Calculus III | 4 |
| MATH 285 | Intro Differential Equations | 3 |
| PHYS 211 | University Physics: Mechanics | 4 |
| PHYS 212 | University Physics: Elec & Mag | 4 |
| Total Hours | 34 | |
Neural Engineering Technical Core
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| BIOE 205 | Signals & Systems in Bioengrg | 3 |
| BIOE 210 | Linear Algebra for Biomedical Data Science | 3 |
| BIOE 310 | Computational Tools for Biological Data | 3 |
| NE 100 | Introduction to Neural Engineering | 2 |
| NE 330 | Neuroscience for Engineers | 3 |
| NE 402 | Neural Engineering Senior Design | 4 |
| NE 412 | Neural Data Analysis | 3 |
| NE 422 | Introduction to Neuroimaging | 3 |
| NE 430 | Neural Cell and Tissue Engineering | 3 |
| NE 431 | Neural Cell & Tissue Engineering Lab | 4 |
| ECE/NE 410 | Neural Circuits and Systems | 3 |
| ECE 421/NE 420 | Neural Interface Engineering | 3 |
| CS 101 | Intro Computing: Engrg & Sci (CS 124 may be taken instead of CS 101.) | 3 |
| MCB 150 | Molecular & Cellular Basis of Life | 4 |
| MCB 250 | Molecular Genetics | 3 |
| MCB 252 | Cells, Tissues & Development | 3 |
| PSYC 100 | Intro Psych | 4 |
| Total Hours | 54 | |
Technical Electives
(List of Pre-Approved Neural Engineering Electives)
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Must choose 12 hours from the following: | 12 | |
| Bioengineering: | ||
| Intro Bio Control Systems | ||
| Intro Synthetic Biology | ||
| Immunoengineering | ||
| Introduction to Quantitative Pharmacology | ||
| Gene Editing Lab | ||
| Tissue Engineering | ||
| Biomedical Computed Imaging Systems | ||
| Statistical Analysis of Biomedical Images | ||
| Computational Mathematics for Machine Learning and Imaging | ||
| Applied Deep Learning for Biomedical Imaging | ||
| Stem Cell Bioengineering | ||
| Applied High-Performance Computing for Imaging Science | ||
| Regulations, Ethics and Logistics in Biomedical Applications of Machine Learning | ||
| Special Topics (Soft Robotics) | ||
| Electrical and Computer Engineering | ||
| Biosensors | ||
| Silicon Photonics | ||
| Communications Systems | ||
| Optical Imaging | ||
| Digital Communications | ||
| Biophotonics | ||
| Introduction to Robotics | ||
| Magnetic Resonance Imaging | ||
| Mechanical Engineering | ||
| Mechanobiology | ||
| Psychology | ||
| Behavioral Neuroscience | ||
| Cognitive Neuroscience | ||
| Physics | ||
| Introduction to Biophysics | ||
Free Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Additional coursework, subject to the Grainger College of Engineering restrictions to Free Electives, so that there are at least 128 credit hours earned toward the degree. | 12 | |
| Total Hours of Curriculum to Graduate | 128 | |
for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering
Sample Sequence
This sample sequence is intended to be used only as a guide for degree completion. All students should work individually with their academic advisors to decide the actual course selection and sequence that works best for them based on their academic preparation and goals. Enrichment programming such as study abroad, minors, internships, and so on may impact the structure of this four-year plan. Course availability is not guaranteed during the semester indicated in the sample sequence.
Students must fulfill their Language Other Than English requirement by successfully completing a third level of a language other than English. See the corresponding section on the Degree and General Education Requirements.
Free Electives: Additional course work, subject to the Grainger College of Engineering restrictions to Free Electives, so that there are at least 128 credit hours earned toward the degree.
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Semester | Hours | Second Semester | Hours |
| ENG 100 | 1 | MATH 231 | 3 |
| MATH 221 (MATH 220 may be substituted) | 4 | PHYS 211 | 4 |
| NE 100 | 2 | CS 101 | 3 |
| CHEM 102 | 3 | MCB 150 (or Composition I course) | 4 |
| CHEM 103 | 1 | CHEM 104 | 3 |
| Composition I or MCB 150 | 4 | CHEM 105 | 1 |
| General Education course (choose a Humanities or Social/Behavioral Science course with Cultural Studies designation) | 3 | ||
| 18 | 18 | ||
| Total Hours 36 | |||
| Second Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Semester | Hours | Second Semester | Hours |
| MATH 241 | 4 | MATH 285 | 3 |
| PHYS 212 | 4 | CHEM 232 | 4 |
| MCB 250 | 3 | MCB 252 | 3 |
| BIOE 210 | 3 | BIOE 310 | 3 |
| PSYC 100 | 4 | BIOE 205 | 3 |
| 18 | 16 | ||
| Total Hours 34 | |||
| Third Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Semester | Hours | Second Semester | Hours |
| NE 330 | 3 | NE 420 or ECE 421 | 3 |
| NE 410 or ECE 410 | 3 | NE 422 | 3 |
| Neural Engineering Technical Elective course | 3 | Neural Engineering Technical Elective course | 3 |
| General Education course (choose a Humanities or Social/Behavioral Science course with Cultural Studies designation) | 3 | Language Other than English (3rd level) | 4 |
| General Education course (choose a Humanities or Social/Behavioral Science course with Cultural Studies designation) | 3 | ||
| 12 | 16 | ||
| Total Hours 28 | |||
| Fourth Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Semester | Hours | Second Semester | Hours |
| NE 412 | 3 | NE 402 | 4 |
| NE 430 | 3 | General Education course (choose a Humanities or Social/Behavioral Science course that is also Advanced Composition) | 3 |
| NE 431 | 4 | Neural Engineering Technical Elective course | 3 |
| Neural Engineering Tecnical Elective course | 3 | Free Elective course | 4 |
| Free Elective course | 3 | ||
| 16 | 14 | ||
| Total Hours 30 | |||
Total Hours: 128
for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering
The Neural Engineering program prepares graduates to achieve the following seven outcomes by the time of graduation:
- An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
- An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
- An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
- An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of computational bioengineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
- An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
- An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analysis and interpretation of data, and to use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.
- An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.
for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering
B.S. in Neural Engineering
Bioengineering Faculty
The Grainger College of Engineering Admissions
The Grainger College of Engineering