RE: Recommended elimination of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the merger of the biomedical engineering degree with the Department of Chemical Engineering.

The APC met with Dr. David Nelson and Dr. Mark Plichta to discuss the proposed merger and offer the following insights.

1. Summer advising of new freshmen, existing students and graduate bound students will need to be supported within any merger. The current Department of Biomedical Engineering has unique issues that the Department of Chemical Engineering would need to become familiar with. It is a concern that high quality advising could become compromised without attention to this detail.

2. The APC finds that ABET accreditation should be possible with or without a merger provided that commitments to staff faculty are respected.

3. The APC finds no Biomedical Engineering EAC Accredited programs to be hosted within Chemical Engineering Departments (Based upon a review of the www.abet.org web site.). It is a concern that the students and funding agencies can identify the program if a merger were to take place.

4. The Biomedical Engineering program brings quality and diversity to the campus. Approximately 60% of the students are female, 15% go on to medical school and 40% go on to a graduate school.

5. The Biomedical Engineering program has about 160 students. A grduate MS and PhD program is in proposal form and it is estimated that these programs could bring an additional 30-40 students to the campus as well as expand research opportunities for all disciplines that collaborate with Biomedical Engineering Faculty.