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Biomedical Specialized Masters Programs: What are They and How do They Meet the Needs of Employers?

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Abstract

Undergraduate biomedical engineering programs are better preparing students to enter industry; however, some positions and sectors expect students to enter with a higher level degree. As an alternative to research-focused graduate programs, Specialized Master’s Programs (SMPs) cater to students with a variety of educational backgrounds and focus on applying translational science, business, and engineering approaches to creating sustainable healthcare and medical technology solutions. Despite specific industry calls for more professional programs, little has been written about how well existing programs meet the needs of industry. Representatives of three different SMPs came together to study how skills and topics covered in these programs align with the health technology industry and how the perspectives of alumni of SMPs align with the goals of these programs. Several workshops were held at academic conferences, and multiple surveys were distributed to program faculty, alumni, and representatives from industry. Responses to these surveys show that alumni and faculty of SMPs are in strong agreement about the purpose and value of these programs. Industry indicated that general skills such as communication and teamwork were more important than specialized topics, such as prototyping and regulatory environments. Presenting industry perspectives on the importance, scarcity, and training of skills provides a more detailed picture of what SMPs can offer. Students and SMP faculty would benefit from having a more direct perspective from industry employers who might hire SMP graduates. There may be opportunities for SMPs and other programs to highlight existing content that is well aligned with industry within their curricula without the need for additional curriculum development.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Biomedical Engineering Society for allowing us to host BMES Special Sessions, which formed the basis for much of the community discussions. We would also like to thank the Clinical and Industry Committee, especially Ben Noe, for helping to recruit participants from industry for the survey. We would like to thank another collaborator, Jeffrey S. Garanich, who was part of the original research team that formed the idea for the workshops and data collection. We thank The Grove Foundation for funding the workshops.

Funding

The Grove Foundation.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Michael J. O’Donnell

    Present address: Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering Department, The City College of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Sabriya Stukes

  2. Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Eliot Bethke & Jennifer R. Amos

  3. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Michael J. O’Donnell

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Contributions

SS: Sabriya was part of the original research team that formed the idea for the paper and data collection. Sabriya contributed to the background section and contributed to the discussion of results and editing of the manuscript. EB: Eliot performed data analysis and prepared figures for the results sections. Eliot also contributed to the literature review and writing of the manuscript. M particularly the results and discussion section. MJO: Michael was part of the original research team that formed the idea for the paper and data collection. Michael contributed to the background section and contributed to the discussion of results and editing of the manuscript. JRA: Jennifer was part of the original research team that formed the idea for the paper and data collection. Jennifer mentored the graduate student on the paper (Bethke) and led the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer R. Amos.

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Exempt Approval by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IRB# 14864.

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Stukes, S., Bethke, E., O’Donnell, M.J. et al. Biomedical Specialized Masters Programs: What are They and How do They Meet the Needs of Employers?. Biomed Eng Education 3, 291–301 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-023-00115-5

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