Changes in BME Senior Design at Vanderbilt University

Paul King, Vanderbilt University

This presentation describes several changes to the capstone biomedical engineering design course at Vanderbilt University. These changes have been largely due to NCIIA and NSF funding and a new spirit
of collaboration among the design faculty in several departments at Vanderbilt. These collaborative changes include the development of a common senior design seminar (BME, ME, EE/CompE), the development
of interdisciplinary design teams, and the development of a common senior design day showing and judging. Collaboration was established with a marketing class and the design course, and an additional collaboration with a communications major awaits students. An NSF grant to study and improve BME education has allowed
the development of novel student (and course) assessment tools for the design sequence. These include the use of concept maps and design scenarios.