BIOE Ranked among Top 30 by U.S. News & World Report

The University of Maryland (UMD) Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) ranks 30th among U.S. graduate school programs according to the U.S. News & World Report for 2021.

“Our jump into the top 30 bioengineering and biomedical engineering programs nationwide is thanks to our phenomenal students, faculty, staff, and UMD community,” said John P. Fisher, BIOE professor and chair. “Each day, our researchers work at the cutting edge of human health innovation - often in collaboration with government and industry leaders - to improve lives and to mentor the next generation of engineers. We are incredibly proud of our programs, and we look forward to seeing our successes reflected further in future rankings.”

BIOE’s latest U.S. News & World Report ranking ties the department’s historic best, at a time when the number of bioengineering and biomedical engineering programs nationwide is its highest.

In line with the department’s rise in graduate rankings, BIOE celebrated several new milestones this past year. According to American Society of Engineering Education survey data, BIOE ranks fifth in the country in the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women, and 10th in total bachelor’s degrees awarded. Sixty percent of BIOE students in the Class of 2022 are women, and nearly one-quarter of the department’s freshmen identify with an underrepresented minority group.

On the research front, BIOE ranks among the top 20 bioengineering and biomedical engineering programs in federal funding dollars awarded per faculty member. The department boasts numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, among others. In terms of total research funding dollars per faculty member, BIOE ranks among the top 25 programs nationally, having reached nearly $16 million in research expenditures in 2019.

BIOE faculty and staff work in a broad array of research areas including cancer and immunology, machine learning and computational modeling, mechanobiology and biomechanics, molecular and cellular therapeutics, and medical devices and biofabrication.

Published March 20, 2020