Ph.D. Biological Engineering

Degree Prep

View the Ph.D. Biological Engineering prerequisites, deadlines and contact information on the U of I Admissions website.

• Most applicants hold a bachelor’s degree in Biological Engineering from an accredited institution and demonstrate a strong background in the fundamentals of engineering.
• If your undergraduate degree is not in Biological Engineering, you will be required to complete background courses to remove deficiencies before beginning the graduate program.

Degree Roadmap

• Depending on your interests, your academic adviser and graduate committee will help you develop a focused plan of study for the Ph.D. Biological Engineering degree.
• Programs normally consist of three years' work beyond the bachelor's degree.
• Current research interests include:
  • Bio-based products
  • Biofuels
  • Biomaterials
  • Bioprocessing
  • Biotechnology
  • Cell/tissue engineering
  • Climate modeling
  • Drug/gene delivery
  • Environmental impact assessment
  • Liquid plasma technology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Neural imaging
  • Precision agriculture
  • Waste water treatment
  • Water management

View current Biological Engineering courses
Catalogs are released each year with up-to-date course listings. Students reference the catalog released during their first year of enrollment. For catalog related questions, email registrar@uidaho.edu or call 208-885-6731.

Degree Requirements

• Students are required to write a dissertation and give a final dissertation defense at the end of their degree program.
• Biological Engineering graduate requirements
• College of Graduate Studies requirements

Professional Licensing

Completion of the program will count towards eligibility for the Professional Engineer's License (PE) to practice Engineering, which requires a four-year degree from an ABET-accredited school, four years of experience under a PE, and passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principles of Practice in Engineering (PE) Exams.

Questions?

For questions related to Biological Engineering degrees, please email chembioeng@uidaho.edu or call 208-885-6182.

Funding Opportunities

The University of Idaho is awarded more than $100 million in annual grants, contracts and research appropriations.

• Idaho National Laboratory Graduate Fellowship Program – Recipients of this competitive fellowship receive full tuition and fees by U of I during their first three years of graduate school. INL covers tuition, fees, and a $60,000 annual salary during the final two years of their doctoral research, to be conducted at INL.
• NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) – $25,000 fellowship programs that contribute to NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery. Open to full-time graduate and doctoral students.
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP ) – For outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees.
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship – Three-year fellowship with full coverage of tuition and all mandatory fees, including a monthly stipend and up to $1,000 a year in medical insurance.
• DAAD Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE Professional) Programs – RISE Professional offers summer research internships in Germany to Master’s and Ph.D. students at companies and non-university research institutions with strong relations to industry.
• Faculty provide funding through a variety of external agencies and industry partners. Contact our faculty to learn more about these funding opportunities.

For more funding options, visit the College of Graduate Studies’ funding website .

Clubs & Organizations

Our college offers 20+ clubs and organizations tied to international and national engineering organizations, including national competition teams.

Learn about clubs related to your major:

• American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers (ASABE)
• Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
• Graduate & Professional Student Association (GPSA)
• Humanitarian Engineering Corps (HEC)
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Vandal Clean Energy Club