The Master’s Degree Program each in
Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Engineering
present a new certificate program
Global and Ecological Health Engineering
Global and Ecological Health Engineering knows no geographical boundaries, and appropriate health solutions to new emerging challenges depend upon competent design and ecologically sustainable integration into local community, national and global health systems. Global and ecologically competent engineering is at the core of any successful health technological system. Learning to understand the client needs in culturally diverse settings, designing diagnostic tools and therapeutic delivery devices, providing safe drinking water and sanitation, improving training and information delivery systems, understanding the ecological impact, and assessing and measuring the sustainability of appropriate technology are valuable skills which are increasingly in demand. Programs which manage chronic diseases such as obesity/diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular problems and trauma can benefit from engineers who understand environmental triggers, patient behaviors, and global health trends, and being able to identify, control and eliminate infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and emerging bacterial and viral pathogens requires engineers who understand disease vectors, community and public health systems.
To meet these challenges, the master’s program in engineering offers a Certificate in Global and Ecological Health Engineering. This four-quarter program trains engineers to become globally competent in either biomedical or environmental engineering and sustainability. This certificate program is run concurrently with the existing biomedical and environmental engineering master’s programs with one additional quarter, and includes a summer research project in Cape Town, South Africa, Chicago, Illinois or other locations.
The purpose of the Certificate in Global and Ecological Health Engineering is to expand areas of expertise and broaden career opportunities for graduate students who want to work in positions beyond the borders of the United States and beyond the traditional borders of industry in the fields of biomedical or environmental engineering. Graduates may expect to seek employment with consulting companies, industrial firms, civil society organizations, government service delivery programs and intergovernmental organizations. The flexibility of this program encourages the students to tailor their studies and open new horizons to address global health engineering.
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Format Full time or Part time |
Class Days |
Length of Program |
Work Background |
Location of Classes |
Contact for More Information |
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Master's in Engineering |
FT* |
Weekdays |
3 Quarters |
Research Experience |
Evanston |
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Certificate in Global and Ecological Health Engineering |
FT* |
Weekdays |
4 Quarters |
No requirement |
Evanston |
m-glucksberg@northwestern.edu |
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Certificate in Global and Ecological Health Technology |
FT* |
Weekdays |
4 Quarters |
No requirement |
Evanston |
|
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Summer Research Project |
FT |
Weekdays |
8 weeks |
|
South Africa, Chicago, or other locations |
m-glucksberg@northwestern.edu |
|
Quarter 1 |
Quarter 2 |
Quarter 3 |
Summer Project |
Quarter 4 |
|
NU Coursework |
UCT or Northwestern Coursework |
UCT or Chicago |
NU Coursework | |
Faculty
- Matthew Glucksberg, chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Kimberly Gray, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Sarang Deo, assistant professor, Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management
- Michael Diamond, lecturer, Global Health, Department of Anthropology
- Jean-François Gaillard, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- David Kelso, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Luisa Marcelino, research assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Aaron Packman, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Karen Smilowitz, Junior William A. Patterson Chair in Transportation, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
- Zev Rymer, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Elmer Lewis, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Mladen Poluta, senior lecturer, University of Cape Town
Curriculum Four courses: one course to be taken each quarter (in conjunction with three engineering courses)
Two core courses:
A) GBL HLTH 390: Global and Ecological Health Challenges
B) CIV ENV 395: Sustainability: Issues and Actions, Near and Far
Two electives:
(Biomedical Engineering students to take electives from Environmental Engineering)
(Environmental Engineering students to take electives from Biomedical Engineering)
BIO MED 317: Biochemical sensors
BIO MED 343 and 344: Biomaterials
BIO MED 401- Advanced Systems Physiology – Neuroscience
BIO MED 402- Advanced Systems Physiology – Cardiovascular and Respiratory
BIO MED 403- Advanced Systems Physiology – Endocrinal and Metabolism
BIO MED 495: Biointerfaces – medical devices
CIV ENV 361: Environmental Microbiology and Public Health
CIV ENV 361-2 Public and Ecological Health
CIV ENV 363 Environmental Applications I: Air and Land
CIV ENV 364 Environmental Applications II: Water
CIV ENV 365 Environmental Laboratory
CIV ENV 398-1,2: Community Based Design
GBL HLTH 390: Global Health: Achieving Global Impact Through Local Engagement
Health Technology Management (offered at UCT, South Africa)
Case Study (ask Sarang Deo for the course number)
BIO MED 512: Weekly Seminar
CIV ENV 512: Weekly Seminar
Recommended Program of Study
September - December: Evanston. Three core biomedical/environmental engineering courses (as appropriate); one global and ecological health engineering course. Select research topic for summer and fall quarters with adviser and plan program for winter quarter.
January - March: Evanston. Three core biomedical/environmental engineering courses (as appropriate); one global and ecological health course. Plan program for summer research and fall quarter with adviser.
April – June: Evanston or Cape Town, South Africa. Three core biomedical/environmental engineering courses (as appropriate); one global and ecological health course.
July – September: Cape Town, South Africa, Chicago, or other location, Research study.
September – December: Evanston. Three core biomedical/environmental engineering courses; one global and ecological health course.
Tuition
Graduate tuition for the 2009-10 school year is $12,693/quarter. Limited financial aid in the form of teaching assistantships may be available, but can rarely be guaranteed before matriculation. For more information, visit: http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/financialaid/moreinfo/
Examples of Research Projects
Tuberculosis tracking system
The project involves monitoring diagnostic and treatment regiments in the Site B clinic, which serves the people of the largest of Cape Town's townships. Because patient tracking is largely unavailable in these clinics, patients diagnosed with TB are often lost as a result of inefficient filing and communications systems. The problem is exacerbated by patient behavior and systematic disincentives that discourage patients from follow-up visits. This ambitious project employes the ideas of both industrial engineering and organizational behavior.
Pelvic exam simulator for educating midwives in rural Africa
The training of health professionals in US medical schools relies increasingly on sophisticated simulators. Low-cost versions of these devices are needed in poor rural settings where midwives deliver the bulk of pre-natal and post-natal care. Northwestern is working with the African Midwife Research Network in Lusaka Zambia to design and build an appropriate simulator for use across southern Africa.
Arsenic removal from drinking water in the Atacama Desert, Chile
The little water available in northern Chile is contaminated by natural inputs of arsenic from hydrothermal discharges generated by the Puna-Altiplano volcanic complex. As a result, public health in this area has historically been impacted by chronic arsenic exposure in drinking water. Rural mountain villages typically have only limited and often poorly functioning arsenic removal systems. A collaborative effort between NU and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile seeks to design and implement arsenic treatment solutions that are readily maintainable by small communities and tailored to local water chemistry.
Apnea Monitor for premature infants Cape Town, South Africa
Responding to a high incidence of infant mortality in South Africa, Northwestern engineering students learned about the Kangaroo Mother Care, in which newly born premature infants are swaddled against their mothers’ chests for a period of several months while they gain weight and develop. The biofeedback mechanisms in the mother react to changes in the infant’s temperature and either lower or raise their body heat to the needs of their baby. However, the infants sometime stop breathing and need to be stimulated. The students have designed a light adhesive LED monitor which sets off an alarm to wake the mother when the infant’s breathing stops. The students have applied for a patent for this device.
Phototherapy for premature infants in Kangaroo Mother Care
This project involves providing inexpensive apnea monitoring for premature infants in poor environments where neonatal care is provided primarily by the mother and immediate family. It also involves providing inexpensive phototherapy for jaundice in premature infants in poor environments where neonatal care is provided primarily by the mother and immediate family.
Digital radiology in Cape Town, South Africa
In the summer of 2008, five Northwestern Biomedical Engineering master’s degree students, working in cooperation with the University of Cape Town and the Department of Health, Provincial Government of Western Cape, designed and deployed a digital radiography system in a Township Community Health Center in Cape Town, which serves 300 to 400 patients daily. The primary concerns are: tuberculosis; cardiac complications/ failure; asthma; trauma/fractures; and arthritis. After spending several weeks assessing the site, evaluating patient flows, evaluating the needs and resources of the center, and talking with the stakeholders, they designed, purchased and installed a digital radiography system and engineered the software and hardware to ensure appropriate functionality and interoperability. This system is now serving as a prototype for the World Health Imaging Alliance.
Other projects:
- Conversion of contaminated brownfield to recreational park in an underserved, Latino neighborhood – Chicago
- Zoonotic disease transmission - California; New Zealand
- Ecological impacts of invasive species - New Zealand; Great Lakes
