Nation's First Bachelor's Degree in neural engineering

As the incidence of stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders, and other neural-related diseases has increased, industry has responded with major advances in brain-machine interfaces, noninvasive functional neuroimaging, high-resolution brain mapping, and artificial intelligence.

To keep the advances rolling, industry needs highly trained and educated engineers to further develop and implement these technologies on a grand scale. And when those training and education programs don’t exist, they must be created.

Illinois Bioengineering has established the first bachelor of science degree in neural engineering in the country. This ground-breaking field of study will give undergraduate students an introduction to and an immersion in the fundamentals of neuroscience, as well as the chance to integrate skill development in electrical and imaging systems, molecular and cellular engineering, biological interfacing, and computational data sciences.

As the incidence of stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders, and other neural-related diseases has increased, industry has responded with major advances in brain-machine interfaces, noninvasive functional neuroimaging, high-resolution brain mapping, and artificial intelligence.

 

“We are excited to be at the forefront of neural engineering education. Our new program will train the next generation of neural engineers with a high level of rigor that will enable them to integrate fundamental principles of bioengineering, neuroscience, imaging and data science.” 

Mark Anastasio
Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering Head, Department of Bioengineering