VOLUME 11, NO. 1     MAY 1997

WPI/UMass Med Center formalize partnership

WPI and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center have established a joint Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering. Graduates will receive a degree from both WPI and UMMC's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

With an expected enrollment of 10-20 students within the next five years, the program offers shared courses and options to do thesis work at either institution. It formally recognizes a collaboration that has existed since the medical center was established 25 years ago.

"We feel that the marriage between WPI and the UMass Medical Center represents an important step forward that neither institution could have achieved alone," says Thomas B. Miller Jr., M.D., dean of the UMass Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. "Training Ph.D.-level students to apply the principles of engineering to biomedical research and patient care is an important step forward in the process of prevention, treatment and cure of diseases."

"I believe they'll be among the best- educated graduates in the country - with a background in biomedical science and engineering that should enable them to contribute significantly to research and innovation in the field," says Robert A. Peura, head of the Biomedical Engineering Department.

"The program should further cement relations between our nationally prominent medical center and WPI, recognized as one of the best technological schools in the Northeast," says Aaron Lazare, M.D., UMMC chancellor and dean of the medical school. "Combining our expertise in medically related research with the excellence and expertise in engineering at WPI should result in a program that is highly attractive to both students and potential employers."

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