Originally Published MDDI January 2002
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Biomedical Studies Top Choice of Female Engineering Students
Gregg Nighswonger
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Percentage
of biomedical engineering degrees awarded to women in 1999 and 2000.
(click to enlarge) |
Biomedical engineers
take an engineering approach toward solving medical problems. This relatively
nascent but fast-growing field is responsible for new medical instruments, diagnostic
equipment and imaging technologies of every kind, artificial organs, implants,
and prosthetics. New areas include tissue engineering, telemedicine and bioinformatics—the
technology of the genomic revolution.
Results of a recent
study conducted by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) suggest
that biomedical engineering again leads all engineering disciplines in the percentage
of degrees awarded to women at all levels—bachelor's, master's,
and doctoral. The figure below shows the percentage of women receiving such
degrees in 1999 and 2000. Although this year's survey responses are still
being gathered and verified, the results indicate so far that 38.0% of biomedical
engineering BS degrees were given to women, as were 36.5% of master's degrees,
and 29.9% of doctoral degrees.
According to Michael
Gibbons, project manager for surveys and statistics at ASEE, the data for 2001
numbers currently represent about 70% returns, "so it appears that the
numbers should show an increase over last year." He explains that the data
are based on responses from schools that have defined programs within the biomedical
engineering discipline. "We leave it up to the schools to determine whether
their programs should be included in this discipline," says Gibbons.
The involvement
of women in biomedical engineering programs is significant when compared with
enrollment in engineering programs as a whole, which is estimated to be about
20% nationwide. Though overall engineering enrollments slumped in the early
1990s, slight increases have been noted since 1996. At the same time, the number
of women entering engineering, including biomedical, has nearly doubled in the
last decade.
Commenting on the
increasing enrollment number for female students, Jay R. Goldberg, PhD, director
of the Marquette University healthcare technologies management program (Milwaukee),
recalls that when he was an undergraduate in engineering in the late 1970s,
"there were very few women in any engineering specialties." When he
later began doctoral studies at Northwestern University, women made up 40–45%
of the students. Herbert F. Voigt, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering
at Boston University College of Engineering adds, "I have been following
this for some time now and it is truly remarkable. For the past two years, 50%
of Boston University freshman declaring their major as biomedical engineering
have been women. This drops off somewhat with class standing for a variety of
reasons, but 40% of those we graduate with BME degrees are women."
Voigt adds, "What
is remarkable is that what has been happening at Boston University mirrors what
is happening across the country."
Why is biomedical
engineering an increasing draw for female students? Goldberg believes it involves
the clinical side of the job. "I think medicine is attracting more women,"
he says, adding that he believes it is "because biomedical engineering
has a more clinical and medical component to it that more females are attracted
to it." Goldberg suggests that it combines a nurturing aspect of clinical
practice with the technical side, which is attractive to students who are looking
for both.
Similarly, Voigt
suggests that biomedical engineering "offers young women—and men for
that part—with interests in mathematics, science, and humanity an opportunity
to explore these areas in college without having to consider working for the
military/industrial complex or consumer markets." He adds, "Options
in the medical field, including the medical products industry, are very real
and are seen to be expanding with the ending of the Human Genome Project, and
bioinformatics just starting."
Commenting on the
career paths being followed by biomedical engineers, Goldberg says some of the
students involved in the Marquette program are going into product design while
others are preparing for management. Some, he adds, are not interested in being
engineers with their engineering degrees but intend to go into sales or marketing
instead.
"Companies
are beginning to realize that some very smart people are becoming biomedical
engineers," says Voigt. "And these companies recognize that a good
number of the engineers are women."
Copyright ©2002 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry
