University-industry partnerships in biomedical engineering

We describe the activities that are vital to establishing and maintaining a thriving cooperative education and industrial internship program. In addition, we describe the benefits of such a program for not only the students but for the industrial partners and for the university. Student participants work as engineering professionals, gain valuable engineering and business experience, apply engineering concepts to real-world problems, and tend to be more focused on their career choices after participating in a co-op or internship opportunity. There are also multiple benefits to the industrial partner. Employers have the opportunity to train potential long-term employees; capture the attention of motivated, talented biomedical engineers; obtain visibility at the university; and ultimately lower their turnover and training costs. Students can also provide a fresh perspective and can be motivators contributing to the growth of the employers' organization. Finally, the academic department benefits from industrial partnerships through increased student satisfaction, improved student training, novel education programs, job placement for graduates, and research collaborations.