Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering renamed following $20 million endowment

The UNC and North Carolina State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering has been renamed to the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The renaming follows a $20 million donation to the program from Ross W. Lampe Jr., a N.C. State alumnus and philanthropist with a background in electrical engineering. Faculty and administrators are already planning to use the donation to further the program’s mission of bringing together medicine and engineering

“I’m making this investment because I believe in the power of higher education and these bright faculty members to make a difference, and I want to see this department continue to grow and become even stronger,” Lampe said in an NCSU communications release.

Since 2003, the Joint BME department has been structured across the two universities. The program, according to its website, has faculty and students that take courses on both campuses.

BME Department Chair Paul Dayton said the program first incorporated undergraduate students in 2016. In 2023, the department was the third largest BME program by number of Biomedical Engineering bachelor's degrees obtained. 

The program offers five areas of research: Biomedical Imaging, Biomedical Microdevices, Pharmacoengineering, and Regenerative Medicine and Rehabilitation Engineering, allowing students to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical and Health Sciences Engineering from both universities with accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. 

Dayton said Lampe's investment allows for greater flexibility and innovation within UNC and N.C. State’s BME research, as it will enable the program to rapidly pursue initiatives and grow its reputation. In this pursuit, he said the funds will be used to support new grant initiatives, acting as a multiplier to exponentiate research. 

“The endowment doesn't directly change classes or things like that," he said. "But what it will do is because it's going to be amplifying our research and development program, that will directly benefit our students, because we really try and involve a large percentage of our students in the research experience.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Biomedical Engineering industry is projected to grow at 7 percent for the next decade, faster than the average for all occupations nationally. The joint BME Well-Being Director, Jason Franz, said the growth is partially due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field.

Dayton said roughly half of UNC’s BME faculty have startup companies with developed technology at the University. As a faculty member that launched a startup with the support of the program, Franz said the funds will be pivotal in helping accelerate the development of intellectual property and patents, as well as translating research discoveries into clinics and communities that will have a real impact. 

Kabir Dewan, a senior BME student, said he was drawn to the interdisciplinary aspect of the program, providing an applicable degree that not only satisfied pre-med requirements but also fostered his interest in applying engineering towards improving people’s lives. 

“I do think it's a really unique position where you can take all your hardcore engineering classes at N.C. State and get some of that expertise, and get a lot of the soft sciences, like biology and chemistry, at UNC,” Dewan said. 

With a specialization in Rehabilitation Engineering and Biomedical Imaging, Dewan said that he is both excited about the recent donation’s ability—and also confident in the program’s leadership—to use the funds effectively.

Dayton said the BME department is excited to receive this “transformative” investment.

“This endowment in biomedical engineering will really make a substantial impact in our department's ability to conduct cutting edge biomedical research and facilitate its translation into the commercial and clinical space, as well as to train the next generation of biomedical engineers,” he said.

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