The face of innovation
Real innovation starts with individuals who can think creatively about solving problems. The Center for Medical and Engineering Innovation (CMEI) recognizes students as an important driving force of our initiatives because of the immense time and effort they give to invest themselves in projects. Knowing that students require training, CMEI facilitates development of students into innovators by providing guidance from faculty mentors as well as access to practical settings in which they can apply knowledge to actual clinical problems.
We support our mission in higher education through the establishment and implementation of several unique programs, including cross-college courses for undergraduate and graduate students as well as opportunities for people at varying levels of training to serve as consultants for groups outside of their discipline.
Getting intel from the source
The CMEI seminar series brings inspiring guest speakers to campus to discuss topics interweaving medicine and engineering. Our goal is to bring students, faculty and staff from multiple Ohio State colleges together to open a dialogue in which they can consider issues in science and healthcare from different perspectives. We offer to help underwrite these events in collaboration with Ohio State colleges, departments, centers and institutes to expand the realm of topics that can be discussed. The possibilities are limitless.
CMEI has, for example, hosted veterinary and medical students as they learned about the future of 3D printing in medicine. The event was held at the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, where students received a tour, lecture and even had some opportunity for hands-on experience.
Announcing the 2023-2024 CMEI-VISIT Scholars Program
The OSU Center for Medical and Engineering Innovation (CMEI) announces its Visiting Interdisciplinary Science in Translation (VISIT) Scholars Program for the 2023-2024 academic year. The CMEI-VISIT Scholars program supports a short visit to the OSU Columbus campus by a faculty scholar from another academic institution whose research in the medicine-engineering space is both translational and impactful. The faculty scholar must hold a tenured or tenure-eligible position or must hold the rank of Associate Professor or Full Professor at their home institution and must be implementing an engineering-based solution to an important clinical problem. The invitation to visit must be a combined/coordinated invitation from a faculty member in one of the Health Sciences colleges and a faculty member in the College of Engineering. The visit must take place during either the Autumn or Spring Semester. In addition, during the short campus stay the visiting scholar will be required to:
- Present a Grand Rounds or equivalent lecture in a clinical department in one of the Health Sciences colleges.
- Present a Research Seminar or equivalent lecture in a department, center or institute in the College of Engineering.
- Meet with faculty members and departmental leaders from the host departments.
- Meet with research fellows and graduate students from the host departments.
- Meet with the CMEI Director.
CMEI anticipates it will support up to 10 CMEI-VISIT Scholars during the 2023-2024 academic year. In partnering with host departments, CMEI will provide up to $2,500 toward each scholar visit. Eligible expenses include domestic coach (economy) airfare, 2 nights hotel stay, local transportation to/from airport, meals, and honorarium at prevailing rates for faculty rank.
Applications to host a CMEI-VISIT Scholar should include: 1) name and academic affiliation of the proposed visiting scholar; 2) translational science topic area to be addressed and qualifications of the proposed visiting scholar to address the topic; 3) the names, departments, and colleges affiliations of the two hosting faculty; and 4) proposed dates of visit. Applications should be send to CMEI@osumc.edu. For more information, contact For additional information, contact Dr. David Eckmann at david.eckmann@osumc.edu, phone 614-685-8274.
In and beyond the classroom
Our student-focused education efforts are centered on connecting learners to the engineering-patient care axis by expanding their scholarly experience beyond the confines of a lecture hall. Beginning with the Spring Semester, 2021, CMEI has organized a new course in the Biomedical Engineering curriculum: BE4194 –Bioengineering Clinical Preceptorships. The first component of the course consists of lectures provided by clinicians / clinician-scientist faculty whose work intersects with bioengineering. Topics include Medical Informatics, Neurology, Physiatry and Rehabilitation Medicine, Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Cardiology, Otorhinolaryngology, and Medical Imaging, all of which are involved in “bench to bedside” integration of engineering solutions into clinical practice.
Students are also provided opportunities to visit clinical facilities across the Ohio State campus to see how engineering knowledge is applied in to patient care and practitioner training. A trip to our medical simulation center demonstrates to students firsthand that resources such as a programmable resuscitation simulator are only possible with the integration of engineering capabilities with medical need. Our courses even offer students hands-on opportunities to work as consultants aiming to solve real problems in healthcare delivery. Students first learn about clinical problems that have engineering-based solutions, and they then utilize their engineering skills to provide those solutions as they work directly with clinician preceptors. For example, students could work on creating a tracking system to monitor patient movements or design a new component for the da Vinci Surgical System. Placing students into clinical environments enables them to appreciate clinical applications of engineering principles in ways that can only achieved outside the traditional classroom walls.
CMEI/MPDC 2024 Summer Associate Engineering Into Medicine Program
CMEI and the Midwest Pediatric Device Consortium (MPDC) announce their Summer Associates in the Engineering Into Medicine Program. This program will provide technical, educational and research support to assist MPDC and CMEI in the fulfillment of team objectives to develop, produce and commercialize pediatric medical devices by supporting OSU undergraduate and graduate engineering students in a paid summer work program focusing on advancing scientific, engineering and entrepreneurial concepts into medical applications. Summer Associates will engage in a full-time summer position from approximately May 1, 2024 to August 15, 2024 working on projects directly integral to activities of the Midwest Pediatric Device Consortium (MPDC) and the Center for Medical and Engineering Innovation (CMEI). This program is intended to enhance, and synergize with, the student education experience by providing real-world working opportunities in "engineering into medicine" applications via interactions with, and exposure to, laboratory, corporate, regulatory and intellectual property concerns. A complete description of the program and information on how to apply is available for downloading.
Creating pathways
Another unique CMEI opportunity involves embedding individuals in cross-cutting environments to facilitate interactions between people having expertise in different disciplines but having common goals in improving healthcare.
CMEI works to recruit, train and place engineering students and postdoctoral researchers into clinical settings to engage with clinicians, as well as to place medical and nursing students, residents and clinical fellows into engineering environments to engage with engineers. These efforts promote and enrich scholarly interactions across the domains of medicine and engineering as well as have the potential to advance collaboration, drive innovation, increase research activity, lead to intellectual property and foster career development.
In the future, CMEI also plans to engage faculty, staff and industrial partners in similar activities. We know that professionals from different disciplines speak very different scientific and medical languages, however, enabling their direct interactions can result in advances in patient care that may not otherwise be achieved. Tremendous advances in medicine and healthcare addressing complex problems are expected to result from interactions between physicians, engineers and industry partners, CMEI is dedicated to facilitating these important interactions.