Biomedical Engineering 402

Biomedical Engineering Design I

 

Winter 2004-2005

 

Instructor:             Dr. Steven A. Jones

Email:                    sajones@coes.latech.edu

Phone:                   257-2288

Office Hours:         M-F 2-4, Bogard 239

 

Course Description:

BME 402 and BME 404 represent the culmination of your undergraduate education in Biomedical Engineering.  You will devise and implement a design project that requires integration and synthesis of prior engineering, life science, design and analytical skills.  This will involve use of the engineering design process and consideration of biomaterial, biomechanics, human factors, ethical and legal concerns, and oral and written communication skills.  Teams of classmates work together to facilitate group processing skills and successful designs.  As you begin this course you should consider yourselves to be engineering professionals.  This means that you have obligations to your team members, to your potential clients and to others who will be involved in the design process.  It also means that you should be able to expect the same courtesies from your fellow workers.

 

Your first objective in BME 402 is to write a design proposal for a biomedical device or for biomedical research. You wish to convince your potential sponsor (in this case, your fellow students) that the plan you propose has a high probability of success.  This means that: (1) There is a clear need for the product or research that you propose. (2) The product or research has not yet been done by someone else. (3) The premises on which you base your work are likely to be correct. (4) You personally have enough expertise in the subject and access to the needed resources to accomplish the proposed work. (5) The cost of the work is not prohibitive. Of particular importance to your design are (1) the use of quantitative engineering principles in the design process and (2) the testing of your device/experiment (including appropriate statistical tests) to ensure its viability.  You are required to specify in your proposal the specific theoretical analysis you will use in the design process and the tests that you will perform.  At the end of the winter quarter, you will turn in a preliminary design report.

 

Your objective in BME 404 is to complete the design and prototype of your device or experiment and to evaluate that device for feasibility as a product. 

 

Textbooks:  Middendorf and Engelmann, “Design of Devices and Systems,” third edition, Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York.

 

                    Dictionary of Statistics

 

Supplemental Texts: Handout material and directed readings

 

Time:           TR 10-11:15 AM

 

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory and will be accounted for in your final grade. In-class exercises cannot be made up without a physician’s note or prior approval for absence. See also Louisiana Tech University Bulletin (catalog), page 21.

 

Grading:                A=90-100, B=80-90, C=70-80, D=60-70, F=0-60

 

Grading will be based on your homework assignments (25%), your final design proposal (20%), the quality and completeness of your log book (5%), your preliminary project report (20%), attendance (10%), and weekly progress reports indicating whether you attended group meetings and accomplished weekly goals (20%).

 

Quality of log book: There should be at least four things in your log book. 1) A record of daily activities on the project (both yours and your sophomore’s) 2) Summaries of important information you have learned through the literature, contacts, or other sources, 3) Your own ideas and thoughts, and 4) data that you have collected in testing your product.  Make liberal log entries.  You never know what information you will need to look up at a later time.  Use your log book as a tool.  Log books that are merely diary entries are not sufficient.

 

Sophomore Assistants: Students may be assigned one or more sophomore assistants.  Involve the sophomore as much as possible.  The student should have, at minimum, scheduled weekly meetings with the sophomore to give assignments and collect data.  Other less formal meetings are also expected.  Use your sophomore to look up literature, screen authorities for ideas, help with engineering calculations, brainstorm, supply critiques of your writing, etc.

 

Homework:  Homework will be graded from 0 to 3, with the following meanings:

 

3 – The student did a reasonably thorough job on the homework set.  All problems were attempted and executed to a conclusion commensurate with the problem (Equivalent to a score of 100%, High A).

2 – The student attempted nearly all of the homework, but one or more flaws in the execution prevent the granting of a “3” (Equivalent to a score of 80%, Low B)

1 – The student showed some effort to complete the assignment, but the execution is generally wrong (Equivalent to a score of 60%, Low D)

0 – The student did not turn in the assignment or put almost no thought into the answers (Equivalent to a score of 0%, low F)

 

Late Homework:

Homework will be counted off 1 point for each week late, but the minimum score for a reasonably executed homework set will be a 1.  All homework is considered to be due at the end of class on its stated due date and is considered 1 week late after that time.

 

Late Reports

Reports and proposals should be provided to me by email.  They must be received by midnight on the due date.  Late reports will be counted off by 5% for each day late.

 

Library Research:

Library research is necessary to a good design proposal and final report.  Ask me to order important papers by interlibrary loan.

 

Homework Turned in by Email:

Any homework turned in by email must have the following as a subject line:

 

Senior Design Assignment Due <date>

 

For example, “Senior Design Assignment Due 12-14-04” will be the required subject line for homework 3.

 

Any attachments must be named as follows:

 

SD <your last name> Due <date>

 

For example “SD Johnson Due 12-14-04” would be Maria Johnson’s attachment for homework 3.

 

These rules are to help me keep track of your homework.  I cannot be responsible for any homework turned in that is not properly named.