Starting this fall, the College of Engineering will offer a new Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering degree.

The degree will be available for entering freshmen and transfer students with fewer than 24 credits.

Bioengineering department chairman Khosrow Behbehani said the degree was created because of the increase in demand and opportunities in the field.

For almost 38 years we had the graduate program at UTA, and throughout this time we have received a lot of interest and inquiry about having a bachelors degree, Behbehani said. Given the history we have in bioengineering for almost 40 years now, we are in a good position to do so.

Engineering associate dean Lynn Peterson said the number of applications is three times than expected, and the number is expected to double by the fall.

We were expecting to have about 50 students, but we received 160 applications so far, she said. Between now and the fall, the number of applications usually doubles, and at the end of the first year, 70 percent of the students stay back. We have to plan about that now.

Two degree plans are available one with emphasis on medical imaging and another on biomaterials and tissue, said Danielle Tucker, bioengineering department academic adviser. Medical imaging is a 119 credit-hour plan, and biomaterials and tissue is a 120 credit-hour plan.

Introduction to Engineering and Introduction to Bioengineering are the two bioengineering courses that will be available for freshmen in the fall. The college is still looking for faculty to teach the Introduction to Bioengineering class. Bonnie Boardman, industrial and manufacturing systems engineering senior lecturer, will be the faculty representative for the Introduction to Engineering class.

Faculty for other courses will be hired as students progress through the degree plan. Most of the 2000 and 3000 level undergraduate classes will be joined with graduate classes and be taught by the present graduate faculty, Peterson said.

Peterson said this new degree program is expected to attract more women to the field.

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UTA’s College of Engineering introduces Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering