Guide to Graduate Study in Area VII:
Advice on Curriculum Planning
Related Activities at MIT
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST):
The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) was established by Harvard University in 1970 to bring engineering, science, technology, and medicine to the solution of problems in biology and human health. HST is the oldest collaboration between MIT, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, and Boston area teaching hospitals and research centers. HST offers a number of graduate degree programs; the largest PhD programs are described below.
Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP):
The Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP) program provides students with comprehensive training in engineering or physical sciences, complemented by in-depth training in the biomedical sciences and intensive clinical experiences. The MEMP program traditionally has required prior or concurrent admission in a collaborating engineering or science department and completing of that department's pre-doctoral qualification requirements; but has recently instituted provisions for students whose backgrounds are not well aligned with departments at MIT or Harvard. Details are available in the HST catalog, available in the HST Academic Office (E25-518).
Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program in HST (SHBT):
The Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program, (SHBT) in HST, established in 1992, prepares scientists for research careers in the fields of speech and hearing. Interested students apply directly to this program: concurrent admission by another department is not required.
Subjects in human biology are offered under the auspices of HST. These subjects are primarily for students enrolled in Harvard-MIT programs, but they are available to a limited number of graduate students and undergraduates at MIT; they are listed in the MIT catalog under HST. Further information on the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology is available from the office of the Director of the Division, Room E25-519, at MIT.
Bioengineering (BE):
Bioengineering, (BE), was founded in 1998 as a new MIT departmental academic unit, with the mission of defining and establishing a new discipline fusing molecular life sciences with engineering. The goal of this biological engineering discipline is to advance fundamental understanding of how biological systems operate and to develop effective biology-based technologies for applications across a wide spectrum of societal needs including breakthroughs in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, in design of novel materials, devices, and processes, and in enhancing environmental health. The innovative educational programs created by BE reflect this emphasis on integrating molecular and cellular biosciences with a quantitative, systems-oriented engineering analysis and synthesis approach. In addition to offering the PhD in Biological Engineering, via tracks in either Applied Biosciences or Bioengineering, BE also partners with the departments of Biology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science to jointly offer a PhD in Computational & Systems Biology.