What is the difference between bioengineering and biomedical engineering?

Daniel Y asked:


OK so I am a senior in high school and I have always been interested in biology and I recently became very interested in engineering. So, I am looking to pursue a career that combines both. My question is what are the fundamental differences between bioengineering and biomedical engineering? What kind of work will I be doing with degrees in those fields? Which offers better job stability? Better salary? etc, etc.

Bioengineering Center

2 Responses to “What is the difference between bioengineering and biomedical engineering?”

1. bioengineering says:

   April 20, 2009 at 11:47 am

   bioengineering

   well from what i understand, the major difference is hinted by the word ‘medical’. in biomedical your base degree could be like electrical engneering but you work for a company that designs pacemakers. another example of medical; your base degree could be mechanical engineering and you work for a company that designs breathing machines and dialysis pumps. not all in bio is medical realated. in bioengineering you could be working with genetics and microbes to alter and change a fungus microbe to make it where it hates corn crops or something like that. bioengineering does not have to be medical related.
2. Bioengineering Center says:

   April 23, 2009 at 8:41 pm

   Bioengineering Center

   Biomedical engineering is an engineering that utilizes engineering concepts and principles into medical aspects. Biomedical engineers basically design, maintain and calibrate all the medical pieces of equipment that we see in the hospitals and medical centers. They do study biology but just for the sake of knowledge. The future is bright for this since the health industry is never down!
   Bio-engineering or bio-chemical engineers deal with operations “mass and heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics…” in live systems, so they apply chemical engineering principles toward designing a biological reactor or unit. They are very common in the food industry, drug industry, Army “biological weapons…” where enzymes and proteins are widely engineered by those types of engineers… They are in a high demand too, but depends on your location, like in the East Coast, it’s the medical that’s higher in demand, but in the Mid West, it’s the other. Nowadays, all engineers pretty much start the same, salary wise $(50,000-57,000) also depends where you live. Hope that helps.