Seminars

ME/IE 8773-8774
Design and Manufacturing Division Seminar
Medical Device Design
Host: Arthur G. Erdman

Role of Medical Device Innovation in the Future of Mechanical Engineering Education
by

Edward S. Grood
Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Cincinnati

Wednesday, February 11, 2004
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Room 1130 ME
Coffee and cookies will be available at 3:15 p.m. before the seminar in Room 1130 ME

Abstract: There is an increasing trend in the offshore outsourcing of engineering jobs that threatens the engineering profession in the United States. Highly technical and narrow jobs like computer programming and computational engineering are particularly at risk. The faculty of engineering colleges and departments need to understand these trends and implement curricular changes that will better prepare their graduates for the future. Medical devices provide a particularly good platform for enhancing student skills in the product innovation process. Medical device innovation is a good place to begin discussions about implementing curricular changes. Medical device innovation is a highly multidisciplinary activity, requiring formal design controls, involving the voice of the customer (VOC), consideration of strong regulatory constraints, and risk management issues. Students trained in medical device innovation will be better prepared to participate in the product innovation process upon graduation and are more likely to attain positions that are less likely to be outsourced because of their strategic importance to new product development. The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati is currently in the process of establishing an undergraduate track in Medical Device Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The core courses in this track bring together students in engineering, industrial design and business to work in interdisciplinary teams on problems identified by physicians in the College of Medicine. Curricular issues faced in implementing this program will be discussed.

Bio: Edward S. Grood, Ph.D. received his B.S. degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Grood joined the University of Cincinnati in 1975 and is currently Director of Undergraduate Studies in a recently formed Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has received numerous awards for his research on knee ligament reconstruction and is a co-recipient, with Dr. Frank Noyes, of this year’s Clinical Investigator Award sponsored jointly by the Orthopaedic Research & Education Foundation, The Orthopaedic Research Society and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Grood has been active within the Bioengineering Division of ASME where he served as Chairman of the Executive Committee and the Honors Committee. He is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a former Fulbright Scholar. In the late 1980’s Dr. Grood founded a small medical device company, Brace Technologies, which became profitable within 3-years and was sold. His current interests, as Director of Undergraduate Studies, include the creation of a curricular track in Medical Device Innovation and Entrepreneurship and preparing for ABET accreditation.

Informal Faculty Luncheon: Wednesday, February 11, 2004, 12:00 noon. Meet in 1100 ME and walk to lunch with other faculty. Prof. Grood will be able to attend.