Bioengineering vs Electrical Engineering

[jbrussell93]

I will be starting my second year in biological engineering in the fall, but I am beginning to question my decision of major. I chose bioengineering because I would love to solve biological problems but was unsure of whether I wanted to go into the more tissue/materials aspect of bioengineering or the electrical/optical/prosthetics aspect. After working in a neurobiology lab this summer doing computational neuroscience work, I have become increasingly interested in neuroscience. Although I am really enjoying the somewhat theoretical work that I'm doing, I would love to get into the more applied aspects of neural engineering like brain-computer interfacing and prosthetics. I am definitely planning on going to grad school so I'll be looking into neural engineering programs... The thing is, I don't know if I will be getting enough electrical engineering exposure in my current program as it seems to be more "mechanical" in nature. Sure I can take some EE tech electives but would it just be smarter to do EE and take bioengineering electives instead? I realize that I can get into neural engineering programs with either background but which would prepare me better? Also, how might neural engineering research differ for an electrical engineer as opposed to a biological engineer?--- I know they might work on the same interdisciplinary projects but what might each specifically do? What foundational EE classes should I take to prepare myself for grad work in neural engineering?

I appreciate any advice!

 

[R.Mesri]

The best way to prepare for grad work in neural engineering would be to take a range of courses in both electrical engineering and biological engineering. This will give you a better understanding of the fundamentals of both disciplines and allow you to develop a more comprehensive skillset. In terms of specific courses, some examples that could prove useful are circuits, signal processing, control systems, and linear systems. Additionally, bioengineering courses on topics such as tissue engineering, biomaterials, and biophysics could be beneficial for getting a better understanding of how biological systems work and how to apply engineering principles to them. In terms of research, an electrical engineer might focus more on creating models or algorithms to analyze neural data, while a biological engineer might focus on developing more novel technologies such as brain-computer interfaces or prosthetics. Both disciplines are highly interdisciplinary and often require knowledge from both sides, so having a well-rounded background in both EE and bioengineering could be beneficial for pursuing research in neural engineering. I hope this helps! Good luck with your studies!