Explore Research in BME
Our department deeply values undergraduate research and the value it brings to students, no matter what career interests they have. Over 80% of our students have completed at least one semester of undergraduate research before they graduate; and employers, graduate schools, and medical schools look for this experiential learning experience on student's applications.
What is research?
Research is the collection of methods we use to help answer a question or solve a problem. Research is at the heart of what we do as engineers and scientists.
What is the value of doing research as an undergraduate student?
Taking part in research as an undergraduate has many benefits, no matter what career interests you might have. Employers of our graduates, representing a wide diversity of career sectors, all look for students who have demonstrated problem-solving and critical thinking skills; and undergraduate research is an impactful way to gain these skills and highlight them on your resumes and applications.
Check out the benefits of undergraduate research below and notice how each might help you in reaching your own career development goals:
- Contribute knowledge and have an impact in a field of interest
- See how concepts and mechanisms you are learning in class are applied to real-world problems.
- Polish up your critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
- Develop a strong relationship with a research mentor who can provide meaningful letters of recommendation for skills not captured in a classroom-only context
- Make a big campus feel smaller by finding your niche in a research lab
- Learn to work in a team and collaborate effectively
- Improve your communication skills
- Find opportunities to present your work at conferences or in publications
- Learn that “not knowing everything” and failure are not personal shortcomings but opportunities to ask questions and try new approaches. This is central to scholarly inquiry.
- Possibly continue your research for Capstone
Discover if undergraduate research is right for you!
BME Open Lab Fridays:
Check out the schedule below - no reservation necessary! On the 3rd Friday of each month from 1-2 pm, several BME labs will be open to undergraduate students. These open labs will have activities and demonstrations with the aim of exposing students to the everyday work that happens in a lab. Attending these events will make the laboratory environment less foreign and more approachable, and is a great opportunity to meet other undergraduate and graduate researchers.
Attend a BME Lab Meeting:
You can also sign up to attend a lab meeting with a BME faculty member and their team. This is a great way to see what kinds of research is being done in a BME lab and what the lab culture is like. 2025-2026 dates coming soon!
Attend a BME research talk:
Click here to learn more about research seminars and other events happening at UVA BME.
Entering the BME Building (if you are not yet a BME student)
Type MR5 Building, UVA School of Medicine in Google maps. Enter the BME building (called MR5) between the Claude Moore Medical Education Building and McLeod Hall. Look for the covered sidewalk behind McLeod Hall, turn left and open the MR5 door with your standard UVA ID badge. All other doors to MR5 are locked. Turn right inside the doors to the elevator and stairs. Our department is on the second floor of MR5, room 2010. Look for signs for our Open BME events. Lost? Stop by the department office by the 2nd floor elevator for directions.
Contact Karen Sleezer, undergraduate program manager in BME, with any questions.
Finding undergraduate research opportunities in BME
BME Lab Ambassadors:
Click here to contact the 2025-2026 Lab Ambassadors. A BME Lab Ambassador is a representative in a BME lab who has volunteered to be the contact person for undergraduate students for undergraduate research positions. These points of contact are mostly graduate students, but also include faculty. We recommend taking some time and exploring the websites of BME faculty and seeing what research excites you. You can then reach out to the Lab Ambassador of that lab and start a conversation. The Lab Ambassador will know if their lab can accommodate an undergraduate researcher, and they can discuss your larger goals and help you make connections to other labs to ultimately find a position that works for you.
When reaching out to Lab Ambassadors, include the following in your email: your name and class year, your goals for pursuing undergraduate research, and why their lab interests you. Lab Ambassadors are quite busy but are passionate about supporting undergraduates, so be sure and give them some time to respond and perhaps send a reminder email. Click here to view the 2025-2026 Lab Ambassadors and their email addresses.
BME students do research all over Grounds!
Many of our BME students conduct research in labs outside of BME, including the below locations:
School of Medicine departments
The School of Engineering departments
and elsewhere.
UVA Engineering has an undergraduate research page that includes tips to reaching out to labs, a database of open positions in Engineering labs, and links to other opportunities.
Additionally, the BME Undergraduate Student Support Canvas site has a folder titled Undergraduate Research which includes other opportunities.
Research-for-Credit
Three credits of BME 4995 (Research-for-Credit) can be used toward one of your BME electives (and an additional 3 credits can be used toward an unrestricted elective). This course consists of the design, execution and analysis of lab work, computational modeling, or theoretical analysis in a biomedical engineering subject area. Work must follow the below learning objectives, sign up procedures, and deliverables.
Course learning objectives: Student must have achieved learning in at least three objectives
- Apply knowledge in cell or human physiology and math, computation, or engineering foundations to solve a biomedical engineering problem
- Critically evaluate the literature that supports a stated hypothesis.
- Formulate a well-written, compelling, and novel hypothesis
- Design experiments that test a novel hypothesis
- Analyze generated data, assumptions, and caveats and argue for or against the given hypothesis.
To learn more about Research-for-Credit, click here. In order to use Research-for-Credit toward a degree requirement, you must complete the BME 4995 form and attach a project proposal and expectations. The BME 4995 form can be found on the B.S. BME Curriculum site.
The Milton Adams Research Fellowship: Celebrating our current undergraduate researchers and their graduate student mentors:
BME would also like to support our undergraduate students and their graduate student mentors who are already doing great research. The Milton Adams Research Fellowship is awarded to highly productive teams of undergraduate and graduate students to cover the costs of manuscript submissions to journals or presentations at conferences.
To apply, complete an application. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will ask for names, email addresses, the title of the project, the form of work that will be presented (journal submission or conference presentation), a brief summary of the work, and a line-item budget of expected costs.