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The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is updating one of its undergraduate majors to offer students greater flexibility in exploring biological engineering-focused courses.

Starting in August and effective for incoming students, the Bachelor of Science degree in chemical and biological engineering (CBEN)�� will be renamed biological engineering (BIEN).��

Students currently enrolled in the CBEN program will complete the CBEN curriculum and receive a CBEN degree. There will be no changes to the chemical engineering major.

Changing the major’s name from CBEN to BIEN was prompted by years of feedback from students, alumni and employers, said Teaching Professor Wendy Young, the department’s associate chair for undergraduate education.��

“For years, students and alumni have requested more and earlier biological engineering-focused courses in the CBEN curriculum,” she said.��

The new degree will have a pre-med track for those who want to pursue medical school. It will also allow students to work in fields such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, tissue engineering, sustainable biofuels, vaccine development and more.

Leaving “chemical” in the degree name resulted in more accreditation requirements, limiting students’ flexibility in upper-level engineering courses.​

The BIEN curriculum will keep core classes such as Material and Energy Balances, Fluids, Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermodynamics, Biokinetics, Biomaterials, Lab and Biodesign, Young noted.

"All of those courses are highly valued by employers," she said. “However, BIEN students will have more flexibility to choose high-level technical engineering electives of most interest to them."