The Great Divide: Some worry of a gap between what is being taught in American university undergraduate BME programs and the job market

For decades, BME has been touted worldwide as the rising star in engineering disciplines. The number of technological advancements that can be credited to the field since the 1950s is staggering, ranging from new biomedical diagnostics and therapeutics to sensors, imaging technology, and orthopedics. In the United States, job numbers are on a steady rise and expected to grow by 27% within the next ten years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In those terms, ?there has never been a better, more exciting time to enter the field,? says Bruce Wheeler (Figure 1), former president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and a BME professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.