Programs Administered through BPEC
BPEC has provided a focal point for biotechnology
research and education at MIT. Prominent examples include the NIH
Training Program in Biotechnology and the NIH Training Program
in Genomics; both of these are run through BPEC, and together they
sponsor close to 40 undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students
pursuing interdisciplinary studies at the interface of engineering with
modern molecular-to-genomic biology. Another example is the new DuPont-MIT
Alliance (DMA), focused on materials biotechnology and providing
support for research and education at the nexus of biology, engineering,
and materials, also run through BPEC.
BPEC has impacted the Institute through education,
research, multidisciplinary involvements through education and research
and university - industry involvements. BPEC has integrated with the
university system through its past actions and it is now accepted as
an integral part of MIT. Selected examples to illustrate the roles,
which the BPEC have played within the university, are presented below.
One of the major impacts the BPEC has had in proving
the importance and need for cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary
education and research. Perhaps the most significant of this outcome
is the creation of the Division of Bioengineering & Environmental
Health in the School of Engineering level. This Division takes as its
central focus the administration of educational programs, at both the
undergraduate and graduate level, combining engineering with modern
biology. Thus, it is truly the departmental structure that can be viewed
to have its initial origins directly in BPEC. Correspondingly, BPEC
is viewed to be one of the most crucial interdisciplinary research centers
connected to BE; a significant portion of the approximately 10-12 new
faculty expected to be added to BE in the coming decade are anticipated
to work in BPEC-related areas.
Another impact BPEC has had is in demonstrating the
value of adding an interdisciplinary aspect to undergraduate education
where the frontier of biomedical sciences will be of significant importance
to the careers of engineers in both industry and academia. The establishment
of the Biomedical Engineering Minor accessible to undergraduate students
from all disciplinary majors illustrates the formal process to integrate
biological sciences with other engineering studies. This theme has been
a major philosophy established by BPEC at its start in 1985.