The Biomedical Engineering Minor is open to undergraduate students who are interested in an exciting, multidisciplinary field that lies at the interface of medicine, biology and engineering.  Students rostered outside of the College of Engineering and Applied Science may earn the minor as long as the meet the requirements below.

Biomedical engineers use engineering principles to analyze and solve problems in biology and medicine, providing an overall enhancement to healthcare. At the same time, biomedical engineers employ concepts learned from biology and medicine to generate new engineering designs.

Current research in biomedical engineering focuses on innovative areas such as biomechanics, biomaterials, medical devices and imaging.

Completion of 18 credit hours (typically 6 courses) is required for the minor, distributed as follows:
  • BMEN 2000 Biomedical Engineering Gateway (3 credit hours):
    • This course cannot apply towards your major degree requirements
    • Starting in Fall 2023, this course will require a pre or co-requisite course of Biology (CHEN 2810, EBIO 1210, or MCDB 1150) and Chemistry (CHEN 1201, CHEN 1211, CHEM 1113 or MCEN 1024).
    • This course utilizes Matlab.  Prior experience using Matlab is ideal. Students without Matlab experience may need to spend additional time learning Matlab to complete certain assignments.  Resources will be made available.
  • 15 elective credit hours (typically 5 courses)*

Requirements for the minor are met by completing the required gateway course and 15 elective credit hours identified below.  Here are additional guidelines regarding the requirements:

  • At least 12 credit hours must be upper-division (3000 or higher level)
  • 6 credit hours must be taken in engineering courses (including Computer Science). Here is a link to submit enrollment requests for department restricted courses. 
  • Up to 9 credit hours can be taken outside of engineering (i.e. IPHY, MCDB, PHIL)
  • Relevant Independent Study coursework can be petitioned
  • 5000-level courses are allowed where undergraduate students are eligible to enroll
  • Prior coursework may be transferred from other institutions with approval.
  • At least 9 credit hours need to be taken on the CU-Boulder campus- at least 6 credit hours of which must be at the upper-division level. 

Typical Timeline for Student Earning the Minor

Semester Task
Sophomore Fall Admission to Biomedical Engineering Minor
Sophomore Spring Biomedical Engineering Gateway Course
Junior-Senior years Technical Elective Courses

Selected admitted students are invited to participate in the minor.  Otherwise, admission to the minor is by application. Students must have a minimum CU cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 to apply. Students can apply at any time and will be notified of their admission status on a rolling basis.

Grade Requirements

A grade point average (GPA) of 2.000 or better is required in the courses that are used to satisfy the requirements for this minor. Each individual course that is counted towards these degree requirements must be passed with a D- or better. Note, however, that a C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses to move on to a subsequent course.

Completing the Biomedical Engineering Minor

The College of Engineering and Applied Science requires confirmation of Biomedical Engineering Minor completion. Please email biomed-minor@colorado.edu for final approval.

Questions or Degree Audit Updates?

Please email biomed-minor@colorado.edu.

This list may evolve over time as new courses are developed/offered. Some of the courses below have course prerequisites which students in the minor will need to fulfill prior to enrollment—consult the online University Course Catalog for guidance.

ENGINEERING ELECTIVES:

Aerospace Engineering Courses

Course Number Title
ASEN 3036 Intro to Human Spaceflight
ASEN 3046 Intro to Humans in Aviation
ASEN 4128 Human Factors in Engineering and Design               
ASEN 4519/5519 Medicine in Space and Surface Environments
ASEN 5016 Space Life Sciences

ATLAS Courses

Course Number Title
ATLS 4519/5519 Biodesign                                                     
ATLS 4519/5519 Human-Machine Interaction of the Future

Biomedical Engineering Courses

Course Number Title
BMEN 2010 Biomaterials              
BMEN 3010 Biotransport
BMEN 3030 Bioinstrumentation                                  
BMEN 4117/5117 Anatomy & Physiology for Biomedical Engineering

Chemical Engineering Courses

Course Number Title
CHEN 2810 Biology for Engineers
CHEN 4801 Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
CHEN 4802 Tissue Engineering & Medical Devices
CHEN 4803 Metabolic Engineering
CHEN 4804 Protein and Enzyme Engineering
CHEN 4805 Biomaterials
CHEN 4820 Biochemical Separations
CHEN 4830 Biokinetics
CHEN 4838 Protein and Enzyme Engineering
CHEN 4838 Immunoengineering

Computer Science Courses

Course Number Title
CSCI 2270 Data Structures
CSCI 3104 Algorithms
CSCI 3352 Biological Networks                             
CSCI 3702 Cognitive Science
CSCI 4118 Software Engineering for Scientists
CSCI 4314 Dynamic Models in Biology                                  

Electrical Engineering Courses

Course Number Title
ECEN 2010 Special Topics: Intro to Elect Eng in Biomed
ECEN 4003 Special Topics: Engineering Genetic Circuits
ECEN 4011 Design of Implantable Medical Devices
ECEN 4021   Engineering Applications in Biomed
ECEN 4120 Neural Network Design
ECEN 4005/5005 Special Topics: Organic Electronic Devices
ECEN 5005 Special Topics: Biophotonics
ECEN 5021 Special Topics: Engineering Applications in Biomed
ECEN 5022 Special Topics: Neuromodulation
ECEN 5341 Bioelectromagnetics

Mechanical Engineering Courses

Course Number Title
MCEN 4117/5117 Anatomy & Physiology for Engineers
MCEN 4127/5127 Biomedical Ultrasound
MCEN 4133/5133 Intro to Tissue Biomechanics
MCEN 4137 Anatomy & Physiology for Engineers 2
MCEN 4154 Biocolloids and Biomembranes
MCEN 4064/5064 Soft Machines
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Design of Coffee
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Materials and Devices in Medicine
MCEN 4228 Special Topics: MicroNanoBio
MCEN 4228 Special Topics: Surface Forces in Biology
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Mechanics of Soft Matter
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Intro to Microfluidics
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Modeling of Human Movement
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Mechanics of Cancer
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Biofluids at the Macro Scale
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Food & Alcohol in the Ancient World 
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Regenerative Bio/Tissue Repair
MCEN 4228/5228 Bioinspired Robotics
MCEN 4228/5228 Biofluids at the Macro Scale
MCEN 4228/5228 Regenerative Biology and Tissue Repair
MCEN 4228/5228 Thin Film Materials

MCEN 4228/5228

Food Engineering
MCEN 4228 Special Topics: Mechanical Devices in Medicine
MCEN 4228 Special Topics: Bioinspired Design
MCEN 5228 Special Topics: Medical Device Design
MCEN 5228 Special Topics: Medical Robotics
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Computational Fluid Dynamics
MCEN 4228/5228 Special Topics: Fluid Mechanics in the Human Body
MCEN 5147 Mechanobiology

*Most MCEN 4228 Special Topics that are approved for the Mechanical Engineering Biomed Option will count for this minor.

NON-ENGINEERING ELECTIVES:

Anthropology Courses

Course Number Title
ANTH 2070 Bones, Bodies, and Disease
ANTH 3010 The Human Animal                                      
ANTH 4070 Methods in Biological Anthropology
ANTH 4110 Human Evolutionary Biology
ANTH 4120 Advanced Biological Anthropology: History of Human Evolution

Applied Math Courses

Course Number Title
APPM 3050 Scientific Computing
APPM 4390 Modeling in Math Biology
APPM 4720 Mathematical Computational Biology                 
APPM 4370 Computational Neuroscience
APPM 4380 Modeling in Applied Mathematics

Biochemistry Courses

Course Number Title
BCHM 4400 Core Concepts in Physical Chemistry for Biochemists
BCHM 4611 Principles of Biochemistry                                        

Engineering, Ethics and Society Courses

Course Number Title
ENES 3430    Ethics of Genetic Engineering                           
ENES 3843 Humanities and Medicine

Integrative Physiology Courses

Course Number Title
IPHY 3410 Intro to Human Anatomy                                   
IPHY 3415 Human Anatomy Lab
IPHY 3430 Intro to Human Physiology                                
IPHY 3490 Introduction to Epidemiology
IPHY 3800 Forensic Biology
IPHY 4060 Cell Physiology
IPHY 4300 Pathophysiology of Disease
IPHY 4540 Biomechanics
IPHY 4580 Sleep Physiology

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Courses

Course Number Title
MCDB 1150 Intro to Cellular and Molecular Biology
MCDB 3000 Synthetic Biology: Engineering Biomolecular Systems in the Laboratory    
MCDB 3135 Molecular Biology                          
MCDB 3145 Cell Biology
MCDB 3150 Biology of the Cancer Cell 
MCDB 3160 Infectious Disease
MCDB 3300 Personalized Medicine - Recent Advances in Diagnostics and Therapeutics
MCDB 3333 Biomed Innovations and Discoveries                        
MCDB 3350 Fertility, Sterility and Early Mammalian Development
MCDB 3450 Biological Data Science
MCDB 3501 Structural Methods for Biological Macromolecules
MCDB 3650 The Brain - From Molecules to Behavior
MCDB 3700 Poisons in Cell Biology and Society
MCDB 4105 Function of Cellular and Nuclear, Assemblies, and Machines
MCDB 4150 Biology of Aging and Longevity
MCDB 4300 Immunology
MCDB 4312 Quantitative Optical Imaging
MCDB 4410 Human Molecular Genetics
MCDB 4420 Genetics of Brain and Behavior
MCDB 4422 Molecular Biology of Free Radicals: Role(s) in Oxidative Stress, Signaling, Disease, Aging
MCDB 4425 Topics in Membrane Biology: Cell Biology, Physiology and Disease
MCDB 4426 Cell Signaling and Developmental Regulation
MCDB 4427 Biology of the Visual System
MCDB 4444 Cellular Basis of Disease
MCDB 4520 Bioinformatics and Genomics
MCDB 4615 Biology of Stem Cells

Neuroscience Course

Course Number Title
NRSC 4062 The Neurobiology of Stress

Philosophy Courses

Course Number Title
PHIL 1160 Intro to Medical Ethics
PHIL 3160 Bioethics                                                                  

Additional Course Information

In addition to the courses listed above, there may be special topics courses offered which are suitable for the requirements of this minor. 

Please email biomed-minor@colorado.edu for information about whether a specific course can serve as a technical elective for the minor.