Biomedical engineering wins diversity award

Cornell’s Department of Biomedical Engineering has received the 2013 Biomedical Engineering Society’s (BMES) diversity award. It is the first time the award has been given to a group or organization.

The BMES Diversity Award, in its fifth year, honors an individual, project, organization or institution for outstanding contributions to improving gender and racial diversity in biomedical engineering. The award is given for a broad range of activities, including research, education and services that improve diversity in biomedical engineering industry and/or academia.

Cornell’s success in recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented minority students through its inclusive programming, faculty-student engagement, cross-institutional partnerships and outreach were cited for the award.

Of 135 Ph.D. students who have matriculated since the founding of Cornell biomedical engineering in 2004, 30 are underrepresented minority students (22 percent) and 54 are female (40 percent). Of the 30 underrepresented minority students, 13 have won prestigious external fellowships (43 percent), such as NSF Graduate Fellowships.

Of the first eight underrepresented minority students, seven have graduated with Ph.D. degrees, and the remaining student has defended his thesis.

University officials will accept the award at the BMES Annual Meeting in Seattle, Sept. 25-28.

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John Carberry