Research and Innovation

UNT is primed to deliver on its mission to create degrees that prepare graduates for the rapidly changing marketplace. And with its unique approach of combining research and business skills, UNT’s biomedical engineering program is supplying this growing workforce for industry, hospitals, research institutions and entrepreneurs.

The biomedical engineering field will become the fastest-growing engineering field over the next decade with job growth rates of more than 60%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“With our populations aging and our brave veterans returning from wars, there is an increasing need for qualified biomedical engineers who can alleviate problems by conceptualizing, designing, creating and validating state-of-the-art medical devices, processes and software,” says Vijay Vaidyanathan, founding chair who has guided the program to one of UNT’s fastest-growing after it started in 2014.

This fall, the program debuted its Ph.D. program where students can choose between a traditional research track or a health care startup track in collaboration with the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. And the department welcomed three new faculty members — bringing with them half a million dollars in grant money — to its staff of 11, who have won prestigious national awards and grants.

Teaching laboratories include the Bio-medical Instrumentation Laboratory, the Biomedical Modeling, Biomechanics and Biomaterials Laboratory, and the Senior Design Laboratory.

“For me, building this program has been like creating a startup,” says Vaidyanathan, who brought invaluable experience to the program as a researcher who has worked in business and academia.

“Our students — undergraduate and graduate — have the opportunity to work with outstanding faculty, who are experts in their fields, conducting innovative research in biomaterials, biomedical instrumentation, nanotechnology and biomechanics.”