Problem Based Learning: a new way to train to-day’s top Biomedical EngineersMonica Liou ’10

In the past and present, most college courses are taught using traditional methods: professors teach and give assignments to stu-dents, and students complete them before the deadline. However, the department of Biomedical Engi-neering is utilizing a new learning method that emerged not long ago: Problem-Based Learning (PBL).

The concept of PBL was cre-ated to teach BME students impor-tant reasoning skills. Instead of ordinary techniques, students are

grouped together as a team to work through Biomedical Engi-neering problems that are so com-plex that one could not solve them on his own. “The multidisciplinary nature of the [BME] field demands that students develop multidisciplinary skills and k n o w l-e d g e , ” said Dr. W e n d y Newstetter. “We felt that it was necessary for students very early in their careers to be able to solve very complicated problems, be-cause in solving problems is where you see the interaction of the engineering and the biology studies.” Using this method, professors and facilitators of BMED1300/2300 are able to challenge stu-dents to work cooperatively in a group and seek solutions to real world problems. Students find this method effective as well because it gives them a glimpse of what a

biomedical en-gineer truly is. “[The ap-proach] is very empowering,” Newstetter said, “because i t really feels like you’re doing biomedical en-gineering. Stu-

dents in these

courses get the sense of what it’s like to be a biomedical engineer.”

The PBL approach is not only original, but it steers students away from dependence on the fa-cilitator, and allows them to be-come self-directed learners. Ac-cording to Maricopa Center of

Learning, PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully

selected and designed problems that demand acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving pro-ficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills from the learner. The proc-ess replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career.

In order to excel in PBL, a student must not only be intelli-gent and driven, but (pg. 2)

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What’s InsideBMES: a history 3

BME classified 4

Inn-Inn Chen 4

Bost comes to BMES 5

April Events 6

The Boyan Lab 7

A BMES STUDENT PUBLICATION FOR THE COMMUNITY OF BME

“It really feels like you’re doing biomedical engineering”

Photo by: Patrick Shannon ‘10

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also passionate and cooperative. “The PBL rooms provide an excellent environment for the stu-dents to work together on the complex, open-ended problems they are challenged with,” said Dr. Joseph Le Doux. “The students [that excelled in my group] took leadership roles in their groups, fully engaged in each problem, delved into the problems, and used w h a t t h e y learned to help s o l v e the problem, teaching their group members what they learned.” Many students also feel that a big part of solving a problem is being able to put everybody’s knowledge and collaborate. “Teamwork goes hand in hand with engineering. You have to work as a team and build off of each other’s knowledge for it to work,” said Kellis Garrett, a first year. “I ask my group a lot of questions and that brings us for-ward as a group, because we all understand what’s going on.” “The collaboration of many different perspectives; while it may be time consuming, enhances the opportunities for growth and creativity. I think these two things are paramount to engineering,” agreed Lexi Torres, a second year. Both the direction the group takes and the solution that the group reaches are determined by the students in the group. While this course offers many benefits, it is not free of problems, one of which is its objectivity. “The challenge in this course is having any kind of standardiza-tion across the facilitators,” New-stetter said. “Some facilitators take it very seriously, who are very engaged in their groups, while others are not. My hope is that as we get a larger faculty so that we

will have an identified group of people who know this well and take it very seriously.”

Although there may be some cases of unfair grades, the major-ity of students are happy with the grades they receive.

“Since this class is based on improvement, I think that the grades I’ve been earning are where they need to be in order to

g e t a g o o d grade,” Garret t said.

As a result, PBL has posi-tively impacted students. The stu-dents are left with a feeling of in-dependence and confidence.

“Although this course is very demanding, I think that the stu-dents do have a sense of accom-plishment and achievement and I think that’s very positive for their desire to stay in the major,” New-stetter said.

“For me, the message that stu-dents should get from leaving this course is to use the classroom as a vehicle for growing your knowl-edge,” Newstetter said. “You have the responsibility individually as a learner to determine how are you going to learn and the depth of your learning.”

ISSUE ONE VOLUME ONE APRIL 2007

BMES Pioneer Editorial Board

Editor in ChiefAileen Li ‘10

Layout EditorsLexi Torres ‘09

Michael Zhang ‘10

Features EditorAlysia Rudis ‘09

Staff WritersInez Falcon ‘10

Rebekah Hamrick ‘10Melody Keith ‘09Monica Liou ‘10

Staff PhotographersChristopher Cooper ‘10Kiersten Petersen ‘10Patrick Shannon ’10

Development EditorsAlice Chan ‘10

Sharon Owino ‘08Rohan Trivedi ‘10

“You have the responsibility individually to determine how are you going to learn and the depth of your learning.”

Photo by: Patrick Shannon ‘10

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BMES: A HistoryInez Falcon ‘10

The Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) at Georgia Tech was founded in 1999, with its first president of the Georgia Tech chapter Stephanie Kladakis, and its first vice president Joe Ber-glund. In the fall of 2003, the BMES constitution was written.

The first election was held in the spring of the following year (2004), followed by the first pay-ing members that fall.

The objectives of BMES are to promote the biomedical engi-neering profession, and to famil-iarize students with the biomedical engineering major and all it en-tails, including its ideas and objec-tives.

At Georgia Tech, BME mainly focuses on cell and tissue engi-neering, biomolecular engineering and biomechanics. In addition, BMES works to create a network of social interaction for both un-dergraduates and graduates, and a

group of people to present and exchange ideas.

To achieve its objectives, BMES organizes monthly lectures from speakers from biomedical engineering industries, sends out-standing students to National BMES Conferences, and organizes social events and opportunities for members.

Furthermore, BMES publishes its monthly newsletter, the BME Pioneer, and provides students with the BMED Word Archive, which is comprised of assignments

and exams from BMED courses in the past years.

So far this year, industry speakers have included Mr. Jason White of CardioMEMS, Mr. John Davis of Medtronic, and Mr. Franklin Bost of Celonova Biosci-ences, just to name a few. In add-tion, many BMES members par-ticipated in judging at the State Science Fair at University of Georgia.

“The BME department is growing by leaps and bounds,” said Angela Gill, president of BMES. “And this means that we need you to take an active role in forming the best community pos-sible.”

The best way to get involved in BMES, according to Gill, is through joining a committee and/or participating in various BMES events.

There are nine positions in BMES. These positions include four officers (president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer), and five committee chairs, which head the committees of industry, fundraising, public relations, so-cial, and education. Officers and committee chairs are elected every year in late March or early April,

and all BMES members with good standing are encouraged to par-ticipate in the election to help im-prove the society.

To find out more about BMES, check out its website at www.gtbmed.com.

ISSUE ONE VOLUME ONE APRIL 2007

Join BMES today!

http: / /www.gtbmed.com

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Photo courtesy of BMES

In n In n C h e n Named to USA Today’s All-USA C o l l e g e Ac a-demic Teamr e d i r e c t e d f r o m : http://www.coe.gatech.edu/feature/feature2.php

We all know that Georgia Tech students are outstanding, but currently one College of Engineer-ing undergraduate, Inn-Inn Chen, a junior in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engi-neering, is standing out among the rest. 

Inn-Inn has been working as an undergraduate student re-searcher in the laboratory of Asso-ciate Professor Julia Babensee since the fall of 2005.  The chal-lenging project she is working on is in a novel area of biomaterials research for use in medical devices.   It is expected that Inn-Inn’s

studies will lead to the develop-ment of biomaterials with im-proved integration into the patient for better acceptance and function of medical devices.  This research is at the cutting edge of immunol-ogy, and Inn-Inn is in a position to make a unique contribution to the field of biomaterial, immunology and carbohydrate chemistry.   Not only is Inn-Inn an out-standing researcher, she is also a demonstrated leader.   As the founding president of Georgia Tech’s chapter of Engineering World Health (EWH), a student organization dedicated to helping third world countries improve their health care facilities, and as chair of President’s Council Gov-erning Board, and treasurer of Biomedical Engineering Society student chapter at Georgia Tech, Inn-Inn’s leadership skills are truly impressive. Inn-Inn was selected from among 600 students and named to the third team of USA Today's All-USA College Academic Team. Students were nominated by their home institutions and will receive trophies and monetary awards. Inn

Inn, the only Georgia Tech awar-dee, was recognized for her work in repairing donated medical equipment for use in the develop-ing world and for her role in the development of a solar-powered refrigerator to store vaccines. Students, like Inn-Inn, are the reason Georgia Tech’s is one of the nation’s leading educational institutions in engineering.

ISSUE ONE VOLUME ONE APRIL 2007

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Students must have completed 8 semes-ter hours of calculus and must have a GPA of 3.2 or above. The program in-volves faculty in Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, and Mechanical Engineering. Contact:Steven A. Jones sajones@latech.edu

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M r . F r a n k l i n Bost Comes to BMESRebekah Hamrick ‘10

Every month, an expert con-nected to the field of Biomedical Engineering is invited to speak with those preparing to seek out work of similar caliber in the near future. The Biomedical Engineer-ing Society (BMES) hosts these meetings for their members in hopes to inspire and educate.

On March 1st, Franklin Bost spoke to BMES spotlighting Porex Surgical, Inc., a company in which he worked for 28 years, eventually holding the positions of President and Corporate VP of Business De-velopment. His presentation touched on many aspects related to biomedical engineering includ-ing specific products developed by

Porex, the pathway from medical need to marketable product, and the role computers play in produc-tion.

Biomedical Engineers are al-ways assessing areas of improve-ment in the medical field.

Franklin Bost said: “The man-agement team, designers and en-gineers worked closely with sur-geons in the design of products. They often observed surgery [to] see how the products were used and discuss design improvements with surgeons.”

Porex has been focusing on improving implants and the im-plantation proc-ess for both t r a u m a a n d cosmetic pur-poses. Porex’s claim to fame is a unique bioma-terial MedPor®. It is made from the traditional lin-ear high-density polyethylene that has been used for years, but Med-Por® allows for tissue in-growth by its large porosity. While main-taining a pore volume of approxi-mately 50%, it still remains firm enough to allow for carving with surgical instruments, allowing for modification of implants in the operating room.

These products can be custom ordered to fit a particular patient with a particular need. According to Bost, the use of advanced com-puter modeling has “vastly in-creased the speed of design and ability to create very sophisticated custom implant designs.” Sur-geons can send CT scans to Porex, and then log into a secure database to view a 3D model of the implant, approve, and order the implant all without the various shuffling of papers during regular office hours.

Franklin Bost focused on the business side of MedPor® and the company. As Erica Oden, a fourth

year at the meeting, shared, “Mr. Bost’s presentation emphasized the impact a career can have on another individual’s quality of life without the need for a medical degree.”

Students come to the BMES meetings for many reasons, one of which is definitely the delicious pizza offered at every meeting, but another is for future career prepa-ration. “I was not familiar with Porex before attending this presen-tation, but I was introduced to a new company that I may pursue for employment in the future.” said Oden.

First year Rafeed Chaud-h u r y a l s o agreed, “The free pizza never hurts, but I think the expo-sure to the dif-

ferent fields that one can pursue after a degree in biomedical engi-neering opens the door to think outside of the box and enables us to explore different areas.”

As a successful leader in the industry, Bost has many advices to offer to Tech BME students.

“Get experience with medical products; maybe volunteer in the hospital or get certified as an Emergency Medical Technician,” said Bost. “We hired a gent just out of SCAD design school be-cause he was also an EMT and had experience with patients, doc-tors and medical products. This made it easy for him to interact with surgeons on design projects.”

These meetings allow all BMES members, and those who pay a small fee, the opportunity to hear from leaders in the field that they themselves will soon be en-tering.

“These meetings are for those who want to make a difference, learning all about these companies

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“ Advanced computer modeling has vastly increased... the ability to create sophisticated designs.”

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Photo by: Chris Cooper ‘10

unleashes a wealth of opportuni-ties to either work with the com-pany, identify alternatives to cur-rently used methods and materials, or learn techniques for beginning a new company,” commented Oden.

To keep track of upcoming industry speakers, visit BMES’s website at www.gtbmed.com.

ISSUE ONE VOLUME ONE APRIL 2007

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Photo courtesy of BMESApril

Students D i s c u s s t h e Boyan LabMelody Keith ‘09

Doing research in Dr. Barbara Boyan's undergraduate lab is a heavily coveted position by many BME students. Hopefully, this petite editorial will give you a brief look at the inner-workings of the lab, the students, and the good Doctor.

Let us introduce first the woman behind it all, Dr. Barbara D. Boyan. Dr. Boyan joined the faculty of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tech in May of 2002 as the Price Gilbert, Jr. Chair of Tissue and is an adjunct professor in the Departments of Orthopaedics and Cell Biology at Emory University. She is also deputy director of research for the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Dr. Boyan received her Ph.D. in calcium metabolism from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1974. She came to Atlanta from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she served as vice chair for research in the Department of Orthopaedics. She is also the founder of the Biomedical D e v e l o p m e n t C o r p . a n d OsteoBiologics, Inc.

Boyan has long been highly respected in the area of bone

mineralization and the cartilage cellular mechanism. As a recognized authority on bone biology and mineralization, she is among the leading researchers working in the fields of orthopaedics and oral health.

According to GTEC, Dr. Boyan’s research interests revolve around three main areas. Her lab is among the first to study how membrane receptors for steroid hormones signal and how this interfaces with traditional steroid hormone receptors in the nucleus. The wider applications of this area of research are to investigate these receptors as new drug targets and to determine the role of these receptors in the metastasis of breast and bone cancers.

Dr. Boyan’s second area of interest is orthopaedics and dental t h e r a p e u t i c s . H e r g r o u p investigates normal and pathologic calcification, bone grafts, orthopaedic tissue engineering, osteoarthritis and possible treatments to resolve arthritis.

In addition, Dr. Boyan has a long-s tanding in teres t in understanding how cells respond to biomaterials in-vitro and in-

vivo. She hypothesizes a biomaterial’s design must be optimized for desired cell function, which includes various aspects of material composition and surface micro-topography and nano-topography.

Many undergraduate students in the lab have expressed that doing research with Dr. Boyan has given them many important tools to succeed in life. Angela Gill, an undergraduate research scientist in the Boyan Lab, says her lab experience has allowed her to “hone [her] 'thinking' skills. My mentor [Boyan] encouraged me to figure things out on my own and this improved my ability to work and think independently.”

In addition, Gill says that this atmosphere has allowed her to work on different aspects of one large research effort and has provided plenty of experience with teamwork.

However, Gill recommends that undergraduates who are just starting out in research, “should try to rotate into a few top labs and

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“ My mentor encouraged me to figure things out on my own and this improved my ability to work and think independently.”

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Photo courtesy of GaTech

then try to select one in which they feel they will succeed.” Gill believes that students need more than just textbook experience—research is a great way to get hands-on experience.

Kiersten Petersen, an Honors Program freshman interested in a future in orthopaedic surgery, speaks about why she chose Boyan's Lab: “I wanted to get my foot in the door for doing research early so that I could spend all four (or five) years here hopefully doing research in this lab so that I can become very knowledgeable about the future goals in orthopedics.”

Gill and Petersen both agree that to get into a lab, it is important to research the lab in detail. “Read some of the articles published by the professor. Talk to people in the lab. Then, and only then, contact the professor and let them know how much they want [you] to work in their lab,” Gill sagely advises BME pre-labbers.

Hours researching cartilage regeneration has paid off for Gill; she has been chosen as the most outstanding engineering woman in her class, among other prestigious awards. Upon graduating, she will be working for Medtronic as a clinical specialist.

Petersen, currently working under the supervision of an upper classman, Michael Chervonski, on cell surface factors that affect osteoblast regulations, aspires to be involved “in a research experiment that makes a significant impact on the future of orthopedics” by doing research with Boyan.

For more information on the Boyan lab, check out Dr. Barbara Boyan’s website at http://www.mse.gatech.edu/FacultyStaff/MSE_Facul ty_researchbios /Boyan/boyan.html.

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Photo by: Kiersten Petersen ‘10

Be humble. Guess what…you do not know everything and those who have been doing re-search before you have a lot to teach you.Commit. Research takes time and energy, so it is best to commit to more than one se-mester.Have passion. Try to pick a lab doing research in an area of interest to you.Be responsible. Make and keep commitments. Clean up after yourself. Keep your note-book up-to-date for your bene-fit and those whose research will follow yours.Persevere. Science rarely, if ever, works the way you want it to the first time. You will have to be creative and determined in order to be successful in any lab.

Be resourceful. Prepare to read scientific journal article. Talk to students and faculty in other labs doing similar re-search and learn from them.M i s t a ke s … e v e r y o n e makes them. Be honest about your mistakes. Honesty is the best character trait you have to offer.Learn to be a team mem-ber. Success comes from listen-ing and learning from other members of your team.Build communication skills. Biomedical engineers need to be able to communicate with other engineers, medical professionals, and researchers.Network. Make friends with the graduate students.

Undergraduate Research Success GuideAngela Gill ‘07