(76d) Introduction of a Biomedical Engineering Module At Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Tribal College

Of the tribal colleges in the United States that offer engineering programs, none include a bioengineering focus or module. Thus, we have developed a 1 - month module to introduce students enrolled in our ENGR 105 course, Introduction to Engineering and Design at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), to the fundamental concepts of biomedical engineering with a specific focus on diseases that have a significant impact on Native American communities (i.e., diabetes, heart disease, cancer, alcoholism). Over the past two trimesters, we have also created a biomedical engineering project for the course in which students seek to further understand the role that biotechnology plays in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes in Native Americans while raising awareness within their own tribes. So far, the students have researched the causes, spread and increase in diabetes diagnoses in the Navajo Nation, and the history of biotechnology advances in diabetes diagnoses and treatment (e.g., blood glucose monitors, insulin pumps). The students have proposed to understand, from an engineering point of view, how blood glucose monitors interface and plan to improve their operation by constructing their own prototype. Here we will present our module and how it has been implemented in the course and the feedback from current students.