History

In the late 1990’s, UCLA joined the ranks of many other U.S. universities to offer a biomedical engineering degree. An embryonic Interdepartmental Program in Biomedical Engineering was formed in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1997, with support from faculty throughout the UCLA campus, and began recruiting graduate students in 1998. Around the same time, undergraduate student demand for bioengineering training was increasing, and a proposal to create an undergraduate Bioengineering Department at UCLA was approved in 2002. The undergraduate Bioengineering curriculum was approved in 2003, and the first freshmen class matriculated in 2004. In 2012, the Biomedical Engineering Interdepartmental Program was merged into the Department, creating a single, vibrant academic structure to better manage and integrate our undergraduate and graduate programs with other campus entities.

Over the past years, our Bioengineering Department has established a vibrant undergraduate degree program and has recruited excellent faculty with diverse backgrounds who are directing innovative research programs. Our Bioengineering faculty bring a diverse range of expertise to the Department, with specialties including bioengineering, chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, and medicine. This broad range of experience has proved to be extremely valuable in preparing and teaching our undergraduate curriculum. Our faculty have earned numerous prestigious awards, and our students are highly recruited by other top programs