Biomedical Engineering Historical Timeline

With approval from the Coordinating Board and State of Texas, Texas A&M University launched the bioengineering program in 1972. The program has seen many milestones in the past 50 years, including the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2002. Take a trip down memory lane and check out some of our top milestones.

Biomedical Engineering Milestones

2022 Celebrating 50 Years

In fall 2022, the department marks its 50th anniversary as a program and 20th anniversary as a department.

2022 3,000th Graduate

Class photo of biomedical engineering students, May 2022

In May 2022, the 3000th biomedical engineering graduate walked the stage. This exponential increase was heavily influenced by the nationwide need for engineers, which spurred the 25x25 initiative at the College of Engineering. It took only eight years for the third crop of 1,000 graduates to ascend to the ranks of "former student."

2021 Research Expenditures Surpass $20M

Faculty research efforts reached an all-time high of more than $23 million in expenditures, marking five consecutive years of growth and a single year increase of nearly 70%. This increase was heavily influenced by funding agencies including the NSF, the FDA, the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas and several others.

2020 Undergraduate Design Studio Created

Tables and chairs inside the design studio

Newly acquired space within the Emerging Technologies Building was renovated to create the Biomedical Engineering Design Studio. The space includes capacity for 30 student teams to learn and work together, as well as a medical device library, prototyping tools, a virtual anatomy table and more. Thanks to the influence of former Professor of Practice, Jim Machek, a Design Studio endowment was crowdfunded in his memory in early 2022.

2019 Faculty Numbers Exceed 30

Two females and a male standing in front of lab equipment

For the first time, more than 30 primary faculty called biomedical engineering home in 2019. This included 23 tenured and tenure-track faculty and 10 professional track faculty, a record high for both categories. This expansion furthered the departmental efforts in research, student teaching and translational impact.

2019 Second Building Opens

A second building housing TAMU’s Engineering Research Center opened after an extensive renovation. This space supports the health technology initiatives of several BME faculty.

2019 Research Expenditures Exceed $10M

Faculty research efforts, fueled largely by the ERC grant and funding from the FDA to establish a pediatric device consortium, resulted in expenditures of more than $10 million. A second building supporting the ERC also opened, supporting the health technology initiatives of several BME faculty.

2018 Pediatric Device Consortium Grant Funded by FDA

Under the leadership of Dr. Bala Haridas (TAMU) and Dr. Chester Koh (Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor College of Medicine), Texas A&M was named the academic lead for a P50 grant from the Food & Drug Administration. This funding created the Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC), a virtual accelerator that supports pediatric device innovators nationwide.

2017 Engineering Research Center Funded by NSF

Under the leadership of Dr. Gerard Coté, Texas A&M was awarded an Engineering Research Center (ERC) grant from the National Science Foundation, which resulted in the formation of PATHS-UP, a multi-university effort to improve point of care health technologies for underserved populations.

2015 First Professorship Endowments Created

Thanks to the generosity of the late James J. Cain ’51, two endowed professorships were established to support the efforts of faculty researching chronic health conditions. The funding is used to support doctoral students, acquire lab equipment and participate in academic conferences to promote research advances and mentor future biomedical engineers. More details about this donation and research are at https://www.txamfoundation.com/News/Killer-Treatments.aspx.

2014 2,000th Graduate

Biomedical engineering surpassed 2000 former students in 2014. This growth in student population was heavily influenced by both the university faculty and student expansion efforts as well as the transition of biomedical engineering from program to department.

2012 Faculty Ranks Surpass 20

One female faculty member stands in lab with one male student and one female student

The department reached 20 core faculty in 2012, including seventeen tenured and tenure track faculty and three professional track faculty. This expansion allowed for continued growth of our student population, research expenditures and contributions to the field.

2012 Professor of Practice Positions Created

A male and female in lab coats standing in front of a table full of post-it notes

With support from the College of Engineering, the department recruited two senior level industry experts to serve in a new role termed the “Professor of Practice”. These faculty provide immense value to the department and especially the students, who benefit from the field experiences shared in the classroom. The department now has six professors of practice among the faculty ranks.

2011 Research Funding Exceeds $5M

As the faculty grew in numbers, reputation and expertise, the departmental research expenditures exceeded $5 million for the first time in program history.

2011 New Building Opens

Biomedical engineering moved all faculty and staff into the new ETB facility, which added 212,000 gross square feet of much-needed classroom, laboratory, student study areas and administrative space.

2008 New Building Groundbreaking

Construction of the Emerging Technologies building in 2002

In December 2008, the university broke ground on the new, state-of-the-art Emerging Technologies (ETB) building, the future home of Biomedical Engineering.

2004 Faculty Grows to Ten

After the creation of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the faculty ranks began to expand, hitting double digits for the first time in 2004. This included nine tenured and tenure-track faculty and one professional track faculty.

2003 Whitaker Grants Establish Expertise Areas

Man standing in front of red laser in lab

The Whitaker Foundation awarded two grants to the department, with which the department developed a new paradigm for graduate research and training in biomedical sciences & engineering. Dr. Jay Humphrey led the efforts in cardiovascular biomechanics. Dr. Gerard Coté spearheaded the focus on optical biosensing. Both research areas continue to flourish within the faculty and student ranks to this day.

2002 Biomedical Engineering Department Established

The Department of Biomedical Engineering was formally established in 2002. The administrative offices remained housed in the Zachry Engineering Building.

2000 The 1,000th Graduate

Hand holding a graduation certificate tube

Biomedical engineering graduated its 1,000th student after nearly 30 years as a degree-granting program.

1998 Degree Name Change

The degree and program changed its name from bioengineering to what we now know as biomedical engineering.

1980 First Endowed Scholarship

Row of graduation hats in audience with hand holding up graduation tube

In 1980, the first endowed scholarship recipient was named. Thomas J. Brosnan received the Peter Chaplinsky Scholarship in memory of a bioengineering junior. Chaplinsky's family endowed the scholarship in his honor.

1972 First bioengineering program in Texas established

With approval from the Coordinating Board and State of Texas, Texas A&M University launched the Bioengineering program in 1972, making it one of the five oldest programs in the country. It received its first ABET accreditation five years later.