Bioengineering celebrates a decade of excellence

As of fall 2020, the Department of Bioengineering is officially 10 years old. 

Over the last decade, the program has grown from a small cohort of 10 graduate students to a robust department that has trained several hundred students through the bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD programs and on into successful bioengineering careers.

The department was founded in 2010 by Distinguished Professor and Department Chair Robin Shandas, who envisioned a biomedical engineering program at the world-class CU Anschutz Medical Campus as a hub for medical technology innovation. A large number of exceptional faculty joined and helped grow the department over the last 10 years.  Beginning as an integrated program within the CU School of Medicine, the Department of Bioengineering has secured one building devoted to teaching and academics, and another building to house its growing research and technology innovation efforts.  Faculty have secured over $33 million in grant funding through the Center for Bioengineering, started 12 companies with several exits, and have helped establish the program as one of the top choices in Colorado for undergraduate and graduate students interested in studying biomedical engineering on a medical campus.

 Alumni have gone on to careers in many different fields – many work in industry, including places like Medtronic, Stryker, Terumo BCT, Biosense Webster, Point Designs LLC, and more, in jobs ranging from R&D to Quality to Medical Sales. Others have pursued graduate degrees or landed engineering faculty positions. Others have successfully applied to medical school and other health professional training programs. Students in our graduate program have shown great success in securing grant funding for their research, including eight PhD students with independent grant funding in FY2019-2020 alone.

 As this first decade comes to an end for the department, we look forward to the next 10 years and beyond. The department will continue to provide unparalleled opportunities for learning and expanding biomedical innovation. 

“Our successes and growth over the last 10 years have validated the idea that an engineering program integrated into a medical campus can serve as a hub for innovation in education, research and entrepreneurship,” observed Shandas. “I anticipate the next 10 years will bring even more interesting and exciting opportunities for students, scientists, clinicians, and entrepreneurs to collaborate, learn and succeed.”

Due to constraints of COVID-19, the celebration for 10 years of the bioengineering program will be postponed. Stay tuned for more information on the celebration!

Major Milestones in the past decade of CU Denver | Anschutz bioengineering

• Colorado Department of Higher Education authorizes first standalone bioengineering degree in Colorado (spring 2010)
• First graduate cohort enrolls (fall 2010)
• Center for Bioengineering established (fall 2014)
• First MS student graduates (spring 2012)
• First PhD student graduates (fall 2013)
• First undergraduate cohort enrolls (fall 2013)
• Move to new space in Bioscience 2 building (summer 2014)
• BMES chapter established at University of Colorado Denver (fall 2015)
• First undergraduate cohort graduates (spring 2017)
• Undergraduate program initiates ABET accreditation process (summer 2017)
• Bioengineering Opportunities and Leadership Training (BOLT) camp launches (summer 2017)
• BIOE student team wins BMES Coulter College competition (summer 2018)
• Undergraduate program receives ABET accreditation (fall 2018)
• Women as Innovators event launches (spring 2019)
• First engineering global health course goes abroad to Guatemala (summer 2019)
• Founding Chair Robin Shandas named Distinguished Professor (fall 2019)
• Graduate Certificate in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship launches (spring 2020)
• Society for Biomaterials chapter launched (spring 2020)
• Department of Bioengineering enlisted into Colorado COVID-19 response (spring 2020)
• Bioengineering Empowering Program (BEEP) founded (summer 2020)
• Expansion to Bioscience 3 (fall 2020)