Biomedical engineering encompasses many different fields of study, including biology, chemistry, physics, technology science, and medicine. Biomedical engineers use skills gained from the studies of these fields to solve health-care problems.

There are three main types of biomedical engineers: Clinical engineers design machines to save lives, monitor patient health, or diagnose patient maladies. They design such things as defibrillators, heart-rate monitors, or small cameras used to explore previously unreachable body systems. Bioenvironmental engineers solve health problems that are related to the places people live and work. They might design better air filters or better protection against radiation in a nuclear power plant. Medical engineers design equipment, parts, or devices (such as a pacemaker or an artificial limb) that becomes an integral part of the patient.

To enter the field of biomedical engineering, one needs to pursue an undergraduate and often times a graduate degree in biomedical engineering, usually at an ABET accredited school. Once a bachelor's and a master's degree is obtained, one could also pursue a Ph.D. to enter a college-level teaching profession. If one pursues a practicing career, a biomedical engineer can be promoted through salary increases, or through promotion to management positions.

Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest growing fields in engineering. As people live longer lives and as doctors are able to prolong life by extraordinary means, there is a greater need for medical monitoring equipment and integrated medical devices to replace failing organs, limbs, etc. Also, the advances in technology-such as smaller microchips, longer lasting batteries, and stronger materials--have allowed much smaller, less cumbersome devices to be developed by biomedical engineers. Improved pacemakers, ocular implants, and artificial heart valves are just some of the newest advances in biomedical engineering. Researchers soon hope to be able to grow and engineer new tissue to replace diseased, damaged, or missing tissue in victims of diseases such as cancer or in victims of injuries caused by gunshot wounds or fire. Many schools, such as the UW, have recently added biomedical engineering departments, as the need for people who are trained in field has grown phenomenally.

The average starting salary of a biomedical engineer ranges from $36,300 a year to $42,300 a year in Wisconsin for people with bachelor's or master's degrees, or slightly higher for out of state. The starting salary for a teaching position (usually a Ph.D.) varies according to the prestige of the teacher and the type of college or university the biomedical engineer is teaching at.

Sources cited:
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, Occupational Handbook, 1998-1999
Tim Friend, Making High Repairs, USA Today, August 12th, 1997
http://www.ecse.monash.edu.au/centres/mucbe/AboutBioEng/bioeng2.html