What is exactly Biomedical Engineering?

EE: Electrical engineering => focuses on studying complex electrical systems (such as high power towers and electric machines and drives) especially on construction sites, electronics and electromagnetism.

CCE: Computer communication engineering => focuses on the study of computer networks and the communication processes between them (exchanging data via three types of networks: internet - intranet - extranet, studying various forms of networks such as LANs and WLANS, studying different media of communication such as coaxial cables, optical fibers and power lines, etc...)

BME: Biomedical engineering => details above

EE and CCE are majors on their own, so both the BS and Masters MS degree must be completed in either one of the fields. For a minor in BME, your major electives during your persuit of a BS degree would have to be related to BME such as bioinstrumentation and medical imaging. They are not as detailed as the courses taken with a BS major in BME, but they are enough if you wanted to start a career in BME (later on you would have to take extra courses to complement what you know).

Having a minor in BME is actually not a requirement on the level of BS to continue a Masters (MS) degree in BME. You can have a BS in pure EE or pure CCE (i.e. without minor in BME) and still continue your MS in BME. I did my BS in pure electrical engineering which provided an even stronger base for my persuit of an MS in BME. On the other hand, if you plan on continuing your Masters MS in EE or CCE, and you plan on working in the BME field, then it is obligatory to complete you elective courses in BME. The minor in BME during the BS level introduces somewhat the same topic courses of a minor in BME during the MS level, but those in the MS would be much more elaborated and thorough than in the BS level.

As for the salaries, yes they dropped quite much this year after the depression in Wallstreet. The monthly salary range abroad for a senior engineer was between 4,000$ and 6,000$ (in addition to commissions, healthcare, transportation, and more perks). This range is expected to rise again over the next 3 years, and may even exceed last year's ranges.

If you plan on getting rich, then your ultimite choice would be having a software engineering degree (CCE as BS degree and software engineering as a focus in MS degree in CCE) and then working for companies that design software solutions for hospitals such as Euclidea Medical (local company, find out more here). You have a chance of raising your mothly salary up to 7,000$ or even 10,000$ (according to how skilled you are and of course which company you work for). If you plan on becoming a multi-millionare, then there is only one solution for you: open your own medical service company with as much focus on selling MRI and CT machines because these babies cost around 200,000$ to 3 million a scanner. Plus the hospitals have to pay overhead for maintenance contracts (they are mostly obligatory since the companies that produce the machines are meticulous about whose performing the maintenance => they certify only the engineers who work for the companies that affiliate with them and sell their equipment to the hospitals).

Your best plan is to start your BS in pure EE and then choose between computer engineering, biomedical and industrial engineering since Balamand university, which is as I can see the closest to your house, has also an MS program in CCE and general option (i.e. industrial engineering) for students who complete their BS in pure EE.

A recent request for employment at Euclidea medical went as follows:

Euclidia Medical is looking for IT engineers to work on Hospital Software development and installation. Applicants must be experienced in one of the following: server side backup and recovery for PACS systems or experienced in oracle-based software development. salary depends on experience. if you are interested, please send your resume-CV to sales@beirutsoft.com or call us at 05-559710

This can also indictae that you can complete you degree in CS (Computer Science) and become an IT member. However, the salary would not exceed 1500$ per month.

download the major guide for "Electrical and Computer Engineering" at the following AUB website for more information about the minor in BME at AUB.

Ok, so I took a look at the courses that AUB has to offer to complete a minor in BME at BE (Bachelor of Enginering) level.

It is expected to complete a minimum of 18 credits where the courses must meet the following requirements:

• EECE 401 [1 cr.]
• BIOL 201 [4 cr.]
• BIOL 202 or PHYL 246 [4 cr.]
• One core course [3 cr.] chosen from EECE 601, EECE 603, or MECH 633
• One elective course from list A below [3 cr.]
• One elective course from list A, B, or C below [3 cr.]

After checking with the course titles, the closest curriculum to that offered at Balamand is:

• EECE 401: Biomedical Engineering Seminar [1 cr.]
• BIOL 201: General Biology I [4 cr.]
• PHYL 246: Human Physiology for Paramedical and Undergraduate Students [4 cr.]
• EECE 601: Biomedical Engineering I i.e. Biomedical Instrumentation I (core course) [3 cr.]
• EECE 602: Biomedical Engineering II i.e. Biomedical Instruemtnation II (elective course from list A) [3 cr.]
• EECE 603: Biomedical Signal and Image Processing (another elective course from list A) [3 cr.]

Unfortunately, this is not enough; you have to compliment them with the following courses (additional 7 credits):
• EECE 693: Neural Networks (ok, I admit it, it's not offered at UOB but it's a crucial course... besides the material is a thrill!!)
• EECE 694: Digital Image Processing (extremely important)
• EECE 694L: Lab for course EECE 694

There you go 25 credits from AUB to have a good minor in BME. The ranking for AUB remains 3rd because of the credit cost (tuition) and the fact that there are some courses missing like optimization theory, linear systems, stochastic, etc... The missing number of credits is 21 (MS program needs 46 credits to complete), but if you complete your MS or ME that should be taken care of. Note that the remaining courses are actually common courses for all EE students at the Masters level.

rahmu, do you mean ESIB-USJ?

if so, what do you know about it?

jadf24 wroteSure this plan technically works and is acceptable in colleges?

Yep, no problem what so ever, and the union accepts the BE degree from AUB as a 5 year study (pre-requisite to join it).

jadf24 wroteWhat if I double major and work my a** off and get a degree in both computer and BME ?

Your funeral :P But yeah, if you got the funds and the aptitude, go for it although a BE in CCE and a minor in BME is a more reasonable alternative.

jadf24 wrote

mesa177 wrote

jadf24 wroteSure this plan technically works and is acceptable in colleges?

Yep, no problem what so ever, and the union accepts the BE degree from AUB as a 5 year study (pre-requisite to join it).

I think you understood me wrong .. What I meant was are you sure it is possible that I can continue my masters in for example industrial or biomedical despite I have a minor BE degree in EE or CCE?

No I didn't get you wrong, the answer is yes you can complete your masters in industrial or biomedical engineering even with a BE degree in EE or CCE (the BE is not a minor degree, minor simply means additional specialty like biomedical engineering in addition to the major specialty EE or CCE; you cannot complete a minor specialty without completing at least 60 credits from the main program, being of at least sophomore standing, and having a minimum average of 70). There are other minor specialties, but they're too many to count.

@rahmu: thank you for the information :)

basam.D wrotehi... thanks for the very nice and useful information u gave... :D
but i want to ask u some questions..!
so it is an essential thing to continue masters in engineering and do not stop at Bachelor of science in biomedical engineering... and u advise me not to have masters in LIU uni!! as i stood.
another question is: if i want to open that medical company u told about in the future... how much it will cost?!!! knowing that as u said that these machines are expensive(200000 $ to 3 million $)
thank u.

Almost all students who have completed their Bachelor of Sciences in any field of engineering and worked for a couple of months have found that it was necessary to complete their Masters degree in order to get ahead at work.

I didn't state that LIU is a bad choice to complete your Masters degree there (I've even ranked it second for a reason). I merely stated that due to the fact that financial support is hard to get and because of some negative feedbacks from the students currently studying there, it is not the ultimite choice. I'm not 100% sure if Dr. Diab is still teaching there, but if he is then you'll be in safe hands. On the other hand, there are other professors whom students have a hard time understanding their explanations. But you should be aware that each university has its sare of "staff problems" (even the glorious AUB). I personally found Balamand to be better because of their course offerings and financial aids permitted to graduate students. Plus, I had the chance to study with professors from various departments, and most of the staff has great academic background and is capable of conveying the message clearly (i.e. their explanation is exquisite).

As for starting your own medical company, you should not only consider the capital (which should be a minimum of 85,000,000 L.L if affiliating with a main foreign medical company or 100,000,000 L.L if you'll be another medical supplier) but also consider the other existing 35 to 40 medical companies who'll be your rivals in the industry. They have already established their names in the field and have their clients. If your starting up, you should either bring in equipment that no other company has selling rights for or you'll have to buy the exclusive selling rights from an already existing brand (just like two engineers who worked at Tamer Freres did with Karl Storz). You should also pay attention that some medical companies already have exclusive selling rights like GE Healthcare at Sad El-Bouchrieh and Fresenius Medical Care - Lebanon in Hamra.

If in the end you do gather the capital and your potential affiliates (exclusive or not), you then have your potential clients. You have to convince hospitals who have worked with other medical suppliers for probably over 10 years to switch services to your company: What do you have to offer that they don't?

My advice is to gain some experience in the work field, and then at an older age, say 45 to 50, when you have gathered capital, technical and business experience and business partners (not just the affiliating medical company but shareholders at your company: what if your comapny went bankrupt? you don't want to be responsible for all the losses cause you'll have to liquidate, i.e. sell in a public auction, your personal assests like your house and car to cover the expenses), as well as your personal list of clients, then you open your own company.

@sikander: the rate you gave only applies to the states and Europe. The interest in the field is rising, true, even in the middle east (especially in the gulf region), but mostly regarding sales. That's where the money is actually. As for the salary ranges mentioned, don't even dream about it (not even abroad, we joke about such figures in BME groups like on LinkedIn and embe forum).