Bioengineering research is based upon two fundamental approaches: analysis and experimentation. Bioengineering fundamentals therefore include: knowledge of how to build, test, and validate analytical models of biological systems; knowledge of how to measure biological events and activities; knowledge of how to design experiments; and knowledge of how to process and analyze experimental data. These bioengineering fundamentals are covered in a sequence of three courses devoted to analytical methods and modeling and to experimental methods and data analysis.
Bioengineering research requires thorough knowledge of living systems and organisms. Besides study and coursework in the student’s particular research area, the student will obtain a broad biological background through two courses – one covering cell biology, and one covering systems physiology. Both emphasize the quantitative aspects of living systems.
Each Ph.D. student has particular needs for acquiring scientific and engineering background knowledge – background knowledge that depends on the student’s research area and previous experience. Therefore, science and engineering coursework will be tailored for the student’s specific needs.
Overviews and updates of research in different bioengineering fields are provided in the form of programmatic seminars. These intensive, research-focused seminars are organized by the different research programs within the Graduate Group in Bioengineering. The seminars are conducted by the faculty in those research groups, with assistance from other members of the graduate group. The content varies from year to year, reflecting research directions in the Graduate Group, needs of the students, and new developments in Bioengineering.
PhD students are involved in research from the very beginning of their academic program. The first person with whom a new student has contact is the Bioengineering Graduate Group Chair. The Bioengineering Graduate Group Chair arranges each new student’s laboratory rotations and will also assist each student to develop a program of study for the fall and spring semester of their first year.
Some new students will begin the fall semester of the first year with laboratory rotations. Rotations are designed to allow students the opportunity to select a lab in which to continue their dissertation research. Once a lab is chosen the student’s advisor will be responsible to assist with future course selection plans and guide the student’s dissertation research. Traditionally all PhD mentors are selected from the Bioengineering Graduate Group Faculty.
This course provides training in the practical aspects of teaching. The students will work with a faculty member to learn and develop teaching and communication skills. As part of the course, students will participate in a range of activities that may include: giving lectures, leading recitations, supervising laboratory experiments, developing instructional laboratories, developing instructional material, preparing and grading homework assignments and solution sets, and preparing examinations. Feedback on the recitations will be provided to the student by the faculty responsible for the course. The course is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. The evaluation will be based on comments of the students taking the course and the impressions of the faculty. Beginning fall 2026 all incoming PhD students are required to enroll in BE 8950 and complete a teaching practicum in their 3rd or 4th semester.
Penn’s Center for Teaching and Learning offers teaching workshops for interested students.
Information on the time limit and other Academic rules can be found on the Provost’s website.The University’s maximum time limit for completion is ten years after matriculation. Graduate students who have been dropped after 10 years may petition the graduate group to return as a student for a maximum of one year in order to achieve recertification and defend the dissertation. The faculty have no obligation to continue working with a student who has been dropped, nor is there any presumption that a graduate group will respond favorably to a petition for re-admission. If the Graduate Group wishes to recommend re-admission, it must present to the Graduate Dean a list of faculty members willing to serve as a dissertation committee and a detailed, realistic plan of how the student will, within one year of re-enrollment, achieve recertification, pass the dissertation examination, and submit the final copy of the dissertation. If re-enrollment is approved by the Graduate Dean, such a student must pay reduced rate tuition for two semesters, unless all requirements are completed within one semester.
Students who have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D., including the deposit of the dissertation, within 10 years of their initial matriculation face the ever increasing risk that their knowledge of the field is no longer at the frontier of current research in their field. A student who is re-enrolled after expiration of the time limit must therefore satisfy the recertification criteria designed by their Graduate Group and approved by the Graduate Council of the Faculties (or retake and pass the Candidacy Examination). The new deadline for completion of all requirements for the Ph.D. including recertification shall be within one year.
