Electives

Taking into consideration the number of engineering content points conferred by the required courses of the BME curriculum, students are advised to complete the remainder of their engineering course work by taking technical electives that are clearly engineering in nature.

At least 15 points of these technical electives must have engineering content, while at least two of the five courses have to be from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The curriculum prepares students who wish to pursue careers in medicine by satisfying most requirements in the premedical programs with no more than three additional courses. Some of these additional courses may also be counted as nonengineering technical electives. Please see the course tables for schedules leading to a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

The following are considered technical elective courses with sufficient engineering content to count towards the 48 units of engineering courses required for ABET-accredited engineering degrees. Always confirm your selection of courses with your advisor before signing up.

1. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, except BMEN E4010, BMEN E4103, BMEN E4104, BMEN E4105, BMEN E4106, BMEN E4107, and BMEN E4108
2. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, except MECE E4007: Creative engineering and entrepreneurship
3. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Chemical Engineering, except CHEN E4020: Safeguarding intellectual and business property
4. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Department of Electrical Engineering, except EEHS E3900: History of telecommunications: from the telegraph to the Internet
5. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics program, except CIEN E4128, E4129, E4130, E4131, E4132, E4133, E4134, E4135, E4136, and E4138.
6. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Earth and Environmental Engineering program

Any course from the following departments is NOT ALLOWED to count towards the 48 units of engineering courses required for ABET-accredited engineering degrees.

1. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
2. Department of Computer Science
3. Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
4. All 3000-level or higher courses in the Materials Science program

Once 48 points of engineering content are satisfied, students may choose any course above the 3000 level in Columbia Engineering as well as biology, chemistry, biotechnology, and biochemistry as non-engineering technical electives.

If the ≥3000-level course course is cross-listed, its eligibility as an engineering content technical elective is determined by the call letters of the first (owning) department in the course name designation.  The  department owning the course must be ABET accredited to be considered engineering.

For example,  APBM E4560 Anatomy for Physicists & Engineers does not count an engineering content technical elective, since the course is owned by Applied Physics (and cross-listed with Biomedical Engineering). BMCH E4810 Artificial Organs is counted as an engineering content technical elective, as the course is owned by Biomedical Engineering (and cross-listed with Chemical Engineering).

BME Engineering Technical Electives

Based on the above for Engineering Technical Electives, a cross-listed course which is ≥3000-level and with BM as its starting call letters will qualify as BME Engineering Technical Electives.

Refer to the Columbia bulletin for details on individual courses.

Students engaged in independent research projects can sign up to receive up to 3 credit points toward their technical elective requirements. The research credit may be considered engineering content depending on the nature of the project. At no time can a student be both paid and receive credit for performing research. Learn more about BME undergraduate research.