# Clinical Immersion Program to Enhance Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering Senior Capstone Design

> **NIH NIH R25** · COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $27,702

## Abstract

Project Summary
Biomedical Engineering (BME) undergraduate students at Colorado State University (CSU)
complete two B.S. degrees, in BME and a partner major of either Mechanical Engineering,
Chemical and Biological Engineering, or Electrical Engineering. Throughout the five year
curriculum, these students become proficient in math, biomedical science, and their chosen
engineering specialization. Much of CSU's two-semester BME Senior Capstone Design course
focuses on medical device design, and it is important for young biomedical engineers to spend
time in the clinic to truly understand the environment and constraints that must be considered
for successful design of medical devices. However, as a university that is not affiliated with a
medical school, there are very few opportunities for CSU's BME students to gain significant
exposure to clinical settings. The overall goal of this proposal is to enhance the existing
interdisciplinary team-based BME Senior Capstone Design course at CSU by providing a
summer clinical immersion program at University of Colorado Health Medical Center of the
Rockies, a Level II Trauma Center. The recurring seven week full-time clinical immersion
experience during the summer before senior year will be comprised of one week rotations
through specific specialty areas: Anesthesia, Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Orthopedic
Surgery, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Surgery, Pulmonary Medicine, Neonatology and
Interventional Radiology. Addition of the clinical immersion program during the summer before
the BME Senior Capstone Design course will allow for the students in this program to participate
in needs assessment and project identification as they work with clinicians to co-develop ideas
that can be incorporated into open-ended senior design projects for that academic year. Such
projects will be co-advised by a clinician and an industry partner, so students working on the
project can benefit from expertise in both practical use of the device/technology of interest as
well as the design and regulatory processes required for development of the device/technology.
These experiences will better prepare students for competitive careers in medical device
development and technologies, and the resulting senior design projects will contribute to
advances in medicine and improved patient care.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10236256
- **Project number:** 5R25EB025791-04
- **Recipient organization:** COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ellen Brennan-Pierce
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $27,702
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-05-15 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10236256

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10236256, Clinical Immersion Program to Enhance Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering Senior Capstone Design (5R25EB025791-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10236256. Licensed CC0.

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