Bioengineering
The human body is the most advanced machine we know, full of sensors, actuators, processors and self-healing materials. The ultimate goal of bioengineers is to understand that machine, its inner workings, and then improve it to enhance human health. Learn more about the Bioengineering department at Penn Engineering in this video featuring students and faculty.
Welcome to the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s oldest and most successful bioengineering programs, consistently ranked among the top undergraduate and graduate programs in the country.
What sets Bioengineering at Penn apart is its place at the intersection of engineering and health. With Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine sharing a single city block, our students and faculty draw daily on Penn’s health schools, including Nursing, Dental Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. This proximity fuels an innovative research culture, connecting laboratory discovery, clinical insight and patient care in ways few programs can match.
Here, our students thrive. More than 80% of undergraduates conduct independent research, and 20% publish their findings. Graduate students publish regularly in leading journals alongside faculty defining the frontiers of the field.
Our graduates carry this training into careers of remarkable range, from biotechnology and medtech R&D to startups, investment, academic research and medicine, supported by a powerful, engaged alumni network.
As one of the nation’s first bioengineering programs, we bring both a strong legacy and an appetite for what comes next. I invite you to visit us in Skirkanich Hall and see where the future of bioengineering is being built.
Ravi Radhakrishnan, PhD. Herman P. Schwan Chair of Bioengineering Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
US News & World Report 2026 ranks Penn Engineering’s graduate biomedical / bioengineering degrees 9th place. Our programs consistently rank within the top ten programs in the nation.
Centers and Institutes affiliated with Bioengineering span across the departments in Penn Engineering and foster collaborations across different schools throughout the university, such as Penn Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences.
Our research stretches across the disciplines of engineering, biology and medicine and uses not only the resources of Penn Engineering but also those of the University as a whole. Projects span the entire spectrum of Bioengineering, from tissue engineering to biomechanics.
