• Engineering research can be used for BME depth or breadth elective credit, not both. Up to six hours research credit can be used for depth. A maximum of six credit hours of research may be registered in one semester.
• Students graduating on the 2024-2025 catalog year, and years beyond, need 128 hours to graduate with a BME degree, and nine hours of BME depth elective credit. These students can use as little as three hours of research credit towards their nine hours of BME depth elective credit, which they can do in one semester if they choose.
• Students graduating on a catalog year earlier than 2024-2025 need 131 hours to graduate with a BME degree, and 12 hours of BME depth elective credit. These students can use up to six hours of research credit towards their 12 hours of BME depth elective credit, and will have to register research for credit in the same lab twice to count research towards depth. The research does not have to be consecutive semesters.
• Students with a catalog year prior to the 2024-2025 catalog year can update to the 2024-2025 catalog year, they will need to speak about this with their BME academic advisor.
• Volunteer research, where students do not register the research for credit or pay, does not count as one of the two semesters.
• VIP research can be used for depth elective credit, however students must do at least six hours to be counted as depth.

• Go to the Research tab on the BME website, look at the lab areas of focus and the BME primary or program faculty members.
• Contact a few professors (primary investigators, PI), by email, be persistent and patient. 
• Once the student and the PI or lab research advisor have come to an agreement, apply for a permit by using THIS FORM. Students will register for BMED 4699 once they receive the permit. The BME department no longer uses BMED 2699.
• Students will work with the PI or research advisor to determine the total credit hours for the semester. In most cases, every three hours per week of research in fall and spring semesters equals one credit. The ratio is 4:1 for summer.
• **IMPORTANT**. Research credit defaults to one hour, students may need to manually change the number of credit hours after registering. Here is the process:

Updating Variable-Credit-Hour Course

1. Add the research course to your schedule.
2. Click on “Schedule and Options.”
3. Courses with Variable-credit-hours should have the credit hours underlined in the “Hours” column.
4. Click on the underlined number and update to appropriate credit hours.

• A final report, typically 4-8 pages, is required. This provides a detailed description of the work completed by the student to verify that the work is consistent with that originally proposed. Submit the report using THIS FORM, and to the PI or research advisor if requested.

• Students receiving pay from their labs register for BMED 4698, use THIS FORM to apply for a permit. There is no credit for paid research.
• Students register the research to have it on their transcript.
• There are two GT programs where students can receive a research stipend. The President's Undergraduate Research Award (PURA), and the Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.

• Students register for research through the other department.
• The non-BME form students fill out is to have the research assessed for possible BME depth elective credit.
• Research in the ME or NRE departments must be requested via the on-line database. All ME and NRE research requests must be submitted by Thursday of the first week of school. Submissions after this time will not be processed.

• VIP research can be used for depth elective credit, however students must do at least six hours in order for it to be counted as depth.
• VIP research is better for students who might be interested in industry, or the entrepreneurial life. Students pursuing engineering graduate programs should do research in traditional labs.

• Research through the Research Option can be anything, it does not have to be engineering. The Research Option satisfies the required 15 hours of BME breadth electives.
• Students do at least nine hours of research for the RO, credit or pay, and also take two thesis writing courses, LMC 4701 and LMC 4702. Students completing the RO by doing less than the 15 hours required for breadth electives can use any elective credit hours to complete the 15.
• Students cannot use research for both breadth elective and depth elective credit.

• Students can use three hours of research as one of their three electives with the new Minor in Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning