Areas of Study - Biomedical Engineering PhD Program (UTSA-UTHSCSA)

The Dean of the College of Engineering at UTSA and The Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UTHSCSA have overall responsibility for the Joint Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering. The graduate faculty of the Biomedical Engineering program, along with the Program Director and Associate Director, are responsible for curriculum development and ongoing review.

The Program Director and Associate Director advise all graduate students, maintain records, and represent the program. The day-to-day administrative operation of the BME Program is the responsibility of the Program Director and Associate Director. The Chair of the Admissions Committee, the Chair of the Committee on Graduate Studies (COGS)/Graduate Studies Committee (GSC), and the Chair of the Curriculum Committee report, advise, and make recommendations to the Program Director and Associate Director.

The Program is supervised by a COGS/GSC composed of all BME Program faculty (both Core and Associated) who are also on the Graduate Faculty at either UTSA or UTHSCSA or both. From this group, subcommittee Chairs are elected to perform various activities for which the COGS/GSC is responsible such as recommending admission of applicants to the program, overseeing academic curricula, monitoring the academic progress of students in didactic and research activities, attesting eligibility for admission to candidacy for a degree, and verifying to the Graduate Faculty Council (GFC) [=Graduate Council at UTSA] that students have fulfilled all requirements for the awarding of the degree. Recommendations are made by this committee to the Program Director and Associate Director for implementation and, if warranted, forwarded to the Graduate Deans for approval. The initial Program Director was appointed from the Core faculty by the two Graduate Deans, with the assistance of a committee composed of equal numbers of faculty from the two institutions. The term of the first Program Director was three years. Since the expiration of his term, the Biomedical Engineering Program faculty elect a new Program Director and Associate Director every three years. After each election, the credentials of both newly elected Directors are forwarded to the Deans for final approval.