BMEN- PhD

Biomedical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis-based program

Program overview

The Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program doctoral degree offers an in-depth focus on cutting-edge research that prepares graduates for work in industry, academia or government. Areas of application range from prevention and healthy aging to improved diagnostics, as well as technologies for better therapeutics. The degree is part of an interdisciplinary program aimed at students with backgrounds in areas such as engineering, kinesiology, physical sciences, medicine, or life sciences. Students gain hands-on experience at various active university and hospital-based research centres. Areas of study include biomechanics, medical imaging, cell and tissue engineering, as well as biomedical instrumentation.

Completing this program

  • BME Foundations Course: Students will study core concepts in biomedical engineering, selecting between a biology or engineering focus.
  • Additional Courses: May be chosen from across a wide range of faculties, in areas related to the student’s research topic, which may include medical imaging, biomechanics, cellular and molecular engineering, statistics, bioelectrical engineering, among others.
  • Research Project and Candidacy Requirements: Students prepare a written research proposal and must complete an oral Thesis Proposal Evaluation and an oral Field of Study Exam.
  • BME Core I and II Courses: Topics may include biomedical engineering research, ethics, careers paths, research skills, methodology or other areas.
  • Medical Imaging Specialization: Requires three courses in Medical Imaging in addition to core program requirements.
  • Thesis: Students will be required to submit and defend an original research thesis.

Specializations

Outcomes

Academia; research and development and leadership positions in industries such as medical devices and pharmaceuticals; patent law; governmental regulatory and healthcare agencies.

A PhD in biomedical engineering is usually considered a final degree.

Thesis-based program

Students are required to prepare a thesis and successfully defend in an open oral defense.

Courses

Two courses, and more for students without biomedical engineering MSc

Learn more about program requirements in the Academic Calendar

Classroom delivery

Time commitment

Four years full-time; six years maximum

Supervisor

A supervisor is required, and must agree to oversee the student's research and fund the student before the student will be granted admission

Fees and funding

See the Graduate Calendar for information on fees and fee regulations, and for information on awards and financial assistance.

Virtual Tour

Explore the University of Calgary (UCalgary) from anywhere. Experience all that UCalgary has to offer for your graduate student journey without physically being on campus. Discover the buildings, student services and available programs all from your preferred device.


Supervisors

Learn about faculty available to supervise this degree.
Please note: additional supervisors may be available. Contact the program for more information.


  1. MB

    Maryam Badv

    Accepting Inquiries
    Bioengineering Solutions for Health
  2. Placeholder Profile Image

    Philip Barber

    Seeking Students
    Stroke, Dementia, Cognition, MRI, CT, biomarkers
  3. Placeholder Profile Image

    John EA Bertram

    Accepting Inquiries
    Dynamics of locomotion
  4. Steven Boyd

    Steven Boyd

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biomedical engineering – bone and joint injuries
  5. Signe Bray

    Signe Bray

    Accepting Inquiries
  6. Colin Dalton

    Colin Dalton

    Unavailable
    Electrokinetic Microsystems, Microneedles, Brain-machine interfaces
  7. Placeholder Profile Image

    Jeroen De Buck

    Accepting Inquiries
  8. Placeholder Profile Image

    Hector De la Hoz Siegler

    Accepting Inquiries
  9. Elena Di Martino

    Elena Di Martino

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biomechanics of aneurysms, Image-based analysis of soft tissues, Computational simulation of cardiovascular mechanics, Novel grafts for skin repair, Mechanical tests and constitutive models of soft biological tissues
  10. Antoine Dufour

    Antoine Dufour

    Unavailable
    Proteomics, proteases, systems biology, inflammation, immunity
  11. Jeff F Dunn

    Jeff F. Dunn

    Accepting Inquiries
    Disease processes, Medical imaging
  12. W Brent Edwards

    W. Brent Edwards

    Accepting Inquiries
    Musculoskeletal Biomechanics
  13. Elise Fear

    Elise Fear

    Accepting Inquiries
    New approaches to imaging and sensing, Prototype systems, Imaging and sensing algorithms, Applications
  14. Salvatore Federico

    Salvatore Federico

    Accepting Inquiries
    Continuum Mechanics, Soft Tissue Biomechanics
  15. Nils Daniel Forkert

    Nils Daniel Forkert

    Seeking Students
    Medical Image Processing
  16. Richard Frayne

    Richard Frayne

    Accepting Inquiries
    Brain and Cerebrovascular Imaging
  17. Leigh Gabel

    Leigh Gabel

    Accepting Inquiries
    Growth and Development
  18. Julio Garcia Flores

    Julio Garcia Flores

    Seeking Students
    Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
  19. Mark Gillrie, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

    Mark Gillrie

    Accepting Inquiries
    Infectious Diseases, Tissue Engineering, Innate Immunology
  20. Bradley Goodyear

    Bradley Goodyear

    Accepting Inquiries
    Functional MRI
  21. Placeholder Profile Image

    Ashley Harris

    Accepting Inquiries
    Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy
  22. Walter Herzog

    Walter Herzog

    Accepting Inquiries
    Neuro-Biomechanics, Biomechanics
  23. Prof Yaoping Hu

    Prof. Yaoping Hu

    Seeking Students
    Human-Computer Interaction within Virtual Environments
  24. Michael Kallos

    Michael Kallos

    Accepting Inquiries
    Stem Cell Bioprocess Engineering, Suspension Bioreactor Shear Hydrodynamics, Biomaterials Development, Biomedical Engineering
  25. Dr. Keekyoung Kim

    Keekyoung Kim

    Accepting Inquiries
    3D bioprinting, Biofabrication, Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, BioMEMS, Biosensors
  26. Amin Komeili

    Amin Komeili

    Accepting Inquiries
    Joint Biomechanics, Human Assistive Devices, Disease Diagnosis using Biomedical Images
  27. Catherine Lebel

    Catherine Lebel

    Accepting Inquiries
    Medical Imaging, Pediatric Brain Development
  28. Joon Lee

    Joon Lee

    Unavailable
    Health Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Health
  29. Picture of Dr. Leung in the Robotics and Sensor Networks Lab

    Henry Leung

    Accepting Inquiries
    Signal and Image Processing, Autonomous Systems, Machine Learning, Internet of Things and Wireless Communications
  30. LePing Li

    LePing Li

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biomechanics of joints - Knee joint
  31. Justin MacCallum

    Justin MacCallum

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biophysical Chemistry, Integrative Structural Biology, Biomolecular Recognition and Design
  32. photo

    Ethan MacDonald

    Accepting Inquiries
    Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Big Data and Machine Learning, Next Generation Artificial Intelligence
  33. Headshot of Dr. Manocha / Une photographie du Dr Manocha

    Ranita Manocha

    Accepting Inquiries
    Assisted Gait Biomechanics / La biomécanique de la marche avec les aides à la marche, Joint Hypermobility / Conditions d'hypermobilité
  34. Sarah Manske

    Sarah Manske

    Seeking Students
    Musculoskeletal Imaging
  35. martin mintchev

    Martin Mintchev

    Accepting Inquiries
  36. Alim Mitha

    Alim Mitha

    Accepting Inquiries
  37. Kartikeya Murari

    Kartikeya Murari

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
  38. Giovanniantonio Natale

    Giovanniantonio Natale

    Accepting Inquiries
    Rheology and microrheology of complex fluids, Engineering of micro/nano particles, Anisotropic particles suspensions, Active colloids
  39. Dr. Richa Pandey

    Richa Pandey

    Accepting Inquiries
    Point of care molecular diagnostics, Wearable biosensors, Tissue engineering, Environmental sensing
  40. Bruce Pike

    Bruce Pike

    Accepting Inquiries
    Medical Imaging
  41. Dr. Marc Poulin

    Dr. Marc J. Poulin

    Accepting Inquiries
    human physiology, healthy brain aging and dementia, sleep, intermittent hypoxia & high altitude, industrial physiology
  42. Derrick Rancourt

    Derrick Rancourt

    Accepting Inquiries
    Stem Cell Biology
  43. Kristina Rinker

    Kristina Rinker

    Accepting Inquiries
    cell based models of health and disease, cancer detection and treatment, cardiovascular, cell adhesion, transcriptomics, cell signaling
  44. Headshot of Koren Roach

    Koren Roach

    Accepting Inquiries
    Joint Biomechanics, osteoarthritis, advanced medical imaging
  45. Dr. Rogers-Bradley

    Emily Rogers-Bradley

    Seeking Students
    Biomechanics, Medical Device Design, Prosthetics & Exoskeletons
  46. Janet Ronsky

    Janet Ronsky

    Accepting Inquiries
    Musculoskeletal biomechanics
  47. Placeholder Profile Image

    Arindom Sen

    Accepting Inquiries
    Biochemical Engineering
  48. Mike Smith

    Mike Smith

    Seeking Students
  49. Roberto Sotero Diaz

    Roberto Sotero Diaz

    Accepting Inquiries
    Computational Neuroscience, Neuroimaging, Complex brain networks
  50. Uttandaraman UT Sundararaj

    Uttandaraman (U.T.) Sundararaj

    Accepting Inquiries
    Polymer Nanotechnology, Polymer Processing
  51. Mark Ungrin

    Mark Ungrin

    Accepting Inquiries
    Microscale tissue engineering, Technology development
  52. Yingxu Wang

    Yingxu Wang

    Seeking Students
    Basic Studies in Emerging Sciences and Denotational Mathematics, Cognitive Robotics (CRs), Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computers, Deep Machine Learning and Cognitive Knowledge Learning, Denotational Mathematics for AI, Abstract Intelligence (aI), Computational Intelligence (CI), and Brain Informatics (BI), Big Data Algebra (BDA) for Data Science and Engineering Data Analytics, Brain Science: Formal Theories and Brain-Inspired Systems, Intelligence Science: Formal Theories and Cognitive Systems, Software Science: Theoretical Foundations of Software Engineering
  53. Profile Picture

    Danielle Whittier

    Seeking Students
    Musculoskeletal Imaging - Bone Growth and Development
  54. Picture of Matthias Wilms

    Matthias Wilms

    Seeking Students
    Medical Image Analysis and Machine Learning
  55. Svetlana Yanushkevich

    Svetlana Yanushkevich

    Accepting Inquiries
    biometric technologies, data analysis and pattern recognition, biometric system design, computational intelligence, image processing
  56. Yunyan Zhang

    Yunyan Zhang

    Seeking Students
    Improving Disease Outcome Measures, Advancing Image Analysis Technologies, Enhancing MRI-Pathology Correlation

Admission requirements


GPA

A minimum of 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 point system, over the past two years of full-time study (a minimum of 10 full-course equivalents or 60 units) of the undergraduate degree.

Minimum education

A four-year baccalaureate degree and a Master of Science (thesis) degree or equivalent in engineering, science, kinesiology or equivalent, from a recognized institution.

Work samples

None

Documents

  • None

Reference letters

Two

Test scores

None

Supervision and Funding

Students can only be accepted upon identification of one or more approved Biomedical Graduate Engineering Program supervisors who are willing to supervise and fund the applicant.


English language proficiency (ELP)

An applicant whose primary language is not English may fulfill the English language proficiency requirement in one of the following ways:

Deadlines

For admission on September 1:

  • Canadian and permanent resident (students with Canadian or U.S. transcripts)- apply by June 1 
  • International (students with international transcripts)- apply by March 1 

For admission on January 1:

  • Canadian and permanent resident (students with Canadian or U.S. transcripts)- apply by Oct. 1 
  • International (students with international transcripts)- apply by July 1

For admission on May 1:

  • Canadian and permanent resident (students with Canadian or U.S. transcripts)- apply by Feb. 1 
  • International (students with international transcripts)- apply by Nov. 1

If you're not a Canadian or permanent resident, or if you have international credentials, make sure to learn about international requirements

Learn more about this program

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Schulich School of Engineering, ENB 202
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, ABT2N 1N4
403.220.3835

Contact the Graduate Program Administrator

Visit the departmental website

Schulich School of Engineering

University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4

Visit the Schulich School of Engineering's website

Learn more about UCalgary by taking a virtual tour