Bioengineering
Why Study Bioengineering?
The Bachelor of Science (BS) in Bioengineering degree program at Caltech investigates an emerging field where engineering meets life sciences, positioning you as an innovative researcher who impacts the world, our lives, and our health. As a bioengineering major, you'll learn skills to shape the future of medicine, sustainability, and biotechnology, from reprogramming bacteria to clean up oil spills to designing molecular solutions for chronic health issues.
Why Bioengineering at Caltech?
At Caltech, you'll join a bachelor's in bioengineering program that allows you to write the rulebook in a field that is still defining its boundaries. Our bioengineering major is built on two distinct approaches: engineering entirely new biological functions and using engineering principles to decode biology itself.
When your coursework takes you to the edge of current knowledge, your next step is often into a research lab where you'll help push that boundary further. Many bioengineering majors combine their studies with research lab credits and can even substitute research aligned with coursework for certain class requirements. The flexibility of our bioengineering option allows you to pursue your scientific interests while building a strong foundation in this novel field.
What You'll Learn
Bioengineering majors build a toolset for tackling tomorrow's challenges, including foundational chemical and biological principles, data analysis, molecular engineering, experimentation design, and advanced scientific and engineering lab research (which can replace classroom learning if desired later in the program). You'll design tools with and for living systems, combining multiple scientific disciplines to find groundbreaking answers to life's most complex and creative questions.
The bioengineering program requirements build on our interdisciplinary first-year core curriculum, ensuring you have the mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology foundation needed to succeed across disciplines. Select courses on biological process-inspired engineering design and experimental and industrial perspectives on synthesizing DNA genomes, or pursue independent research with faculty mentors.
View the Caltech catalog for degree requirements and curriculum information.
Who You'll Learn From
Bioengineering majors work directly with scientists and engineers who actively discover new approaches to biology and bioengineering, from designing molecular tools to building new cellular functions. Our 30+ professors in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering incorporate cutting-edge research into their undergraduate courses and are eager to welcome students into their laboratories. This well-connected faculty fosters relationships with brilliant minds nationally and globally, providing more opportunities for students to earn research experience earlier in their careers.
For mechanical engineers, their building materials are things like steel. A chemical engineer's starting points for creating chemicals are petroleum and other starting agents. For bioengineers, we build stuff, but our building materials are the living world. It's biomolecules, it's cells, it's tissues. If you really get to the fringes, it may even be ecosystems.
Career Possibilities
Graduates of Caltech's bachelor's degree in bioengineering contribute to practical and theoretical advancements across various industries and research fields. Students receive a solid academic foundation and establish networking connections through faculty guidance and research opportunities that pave the way for careers in both academic research and industry, including:
- Biomedical engineering
- Biotechnology research and development
- Environmental engineering
- Healthcare technology
- Pharmaceutical development
One pathway for our students to enter advanced research or academia is by pursuing graduate degrees at the master's and doctoral levels, specializing in interdisciplinary and emerging fields ranging from medicine to sustainable technology.
Curriculum Components and Prerequisites
After the first-year core curriculum, bioengineering majors and those pursuing double majors with bioengineering begin to complete required courses, from choosing foundational courses to laboratory classes highly connected to our faculty's current research. Curriculum components include:
- Additional preparation in biology, chemistry, physics, and scientific communication
- Experimental lab method courses
- Mathematics and computational methods courses
- Bioengineering electives
- Flexible to a heavy research emphasis; research can substitute for required courses
Pursue a Bachelor's in Bioengineering at Caltech
In Caltech's Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering degree program, position yourself to combine engineering principles with biological research and cutting-edge theory, learning from experts who are originating this budding field and pushing the boundaries of how to create new solutions in health, medicine, technology, environmental science, and other areas using the natural building blocks of biological material.