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Upon its founding in 1880, the Case School of Applied Science was one of the only academic institutions of its kind in the world. Throughout the subsequent 125 years, Case has continued to evolve to meet the changing needs of its students and to better address the challenges of society. The decade of the 1960s alone spawned not one, but two landmark departments at Case: biomedical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering.
Distinct endeavors in biomedical engineering can be traced back to 1961. Bioengineering, conducted in the Systems Research Center, emphasized physiological systems analysis and control of circulatory, respiratory, neuromuscular and endocrine systems. In contrast, medical engineering, conducted in the Engineering Design Center, emphasized hardware design and development associated with clinical applications.
Both grew rapidly. In 1968, shortly after the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University merged to form Case Western Reserve University, the new institution's Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Engineering - among the first of its kind in the world - with all faculty dually appointed in both the schools of engineering and medicine.
According to department chair Patrick E. Crago, it is this medical school alliance and proximity that has allowed biomedical engineering to thrive at Case.
"Our position within both schools has opened up countless doors," says Crago, who is also Allen H. and Constance T. Ford Professor of Biomedical Engineering. "It allowed easy access to all the major medical centers serving Cleveland, and it has provided our students and faculty with the clinical collaborators and resources to expand their research into areas such as biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, neural engineering and neural prostheses, biomedical imaging and metabolic systems engineering."
Biomedical engineering at Case has remained strong even as it continues to grow. By all measures, the department ranks among the best in the nation in both research (2nd in the nation in funding from the National Institutes of Health) and education (4th in undergraduate and 9th in graduate).
While biomedical engineering at Case began with the fusion of two small research groups, macromolecular science and engineering may trace its roots to just one man.
"It really started with Eric Baer," says department chair Alex Jamieson. "He recognized that there was a burgeoning worldwide polymer industry that provided partnership opportunities in research and academics."
Baer, a former Dupont researcher and University of Illinois professor, came to Case in 1962 and - with three other chemistry faculty members - established one of the first polymer programs in the country.
"Polymers had already been identified as a major opportunity in the industrial world and was just beginning to emerge as a discipline on college campuses," explains Baer, now the Leonard Case Jr. Professor of Engineering in macromolecular science and engineering. "The only other schools with a significant emphasis in polymer research and education at that time were University of Akron and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute."
While most major chemistry, physics, chemical engineering and materials science departments have individual faculty members who specialize in polymers, the Case program was unique in that it attracted many researchers, from a variety of existing disciplines, focusing on polymers. Today, the department boasts 13 full-time faculty members and affiliated faculty members from industry and six other university units.
Alex Jamieson believes the very nature of the work coming out of his department - in areas that include biopolymers, materials development and design, mechanical behavior and analysis, physical characterization, processing, rheology and chemical synthesis - makes it very conducive to collaboration.
"Fundamentally, we are an interdisciplinary department," Jamieson says. "Faculty here are recruited from both science and engineering disciplines and form diverse research partnerships, reflecting the importance of polymers in the fields of medicine, energy, information technology and the environment."
While both the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering have relatively short histories, both have made a huge impact on their respective industries and have bright futures.
In the last eight years, biomedical engineering has tripled its research program, quadrupled its undergraduate cooperative education program and doubled its enrollment. It is Case's leading department in invention disclosures, and attracts the largest number of new students to the school. Macromolecular science and engineering has experienced many of its own successes and is poised at the final stage of a large national funding opportunity with the National Science Foundation.
"Biomedical engineering and polymers and advanced materials are important parts of my strategic plan for the school," says Dean Robert F. Savinell. "We will continue to purposefully advance research and education in these Case strongholds."
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