Biomedical engineering is a field of engineering that involves researching and developing solutions to biological and medical problems. Biomedical engineers use their curiosity, research and engineering principles to design medical devices and equipment to help others.

"I’ve always been curious about the world around me," Erin Lavik says. Science was a natural outgrowth of this curiosity, but her interest in biomedical engineering didn’t come until a quarter-life crisis halfway through graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As she was studying the electrical properties of nanocrystalline oxides, she came to the devastating conclusion that the work didn’t have much of an impact outside of science.

Lavik wanted to do science that mattered.

Through a serendipitous series of events, she ended up having a midnight phone conversation with MIT professor Martha Gray. At the end of that hourlong chat, Lavik was convinced she should pursue a career in the biomedical field.

During her time at MIT, Lavik designed implants aimed at repairing the spinal cord with the hope that one day, those insights may help lead to treatments. Since then, her career has included time as an associate professor at Yale University and Case Western Reserve University, where she oversaw a team of engineering students who researched nanoparticles that could stop internal bleeding, among other biomedical research areas.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 5.1% employment growth for biomedical engineers between 2022 and 2032. In that period, an estimated 1,000 jobs should open up.

Those wanting a job in biomedical engineering should have a strong background in math and science, including taking courses in calculus, biology and physics. These engineers need at least a bachelor’s degree from a biomedical engineering program or alternatively, they can earn an undergraduate degree in a different type of engineering and a graduate degree in biomedical engineering. Undergraduate biomedical engineering programs typically comprise classroom and lab-based courses, and students may study topics like biomechanics – the study of how living things move and are structured – and biomaterials, the things that can be used to make artificial organs or for other medical purposes.

Ph.D. programs and postdoctoral appointments can also help engineers land good positions with an employer. Lavik earned undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from MIT in materials science and engineering, and the additional education served her career well. "Co-ops and internships in industry and research experiences in labs at the undergraduate level make a huge difference in both understanding the work and in finding jobs and deciding on whether to pursue graduate work," she says.