Though biomedical engineering is the newest among engineering disciplines, it is very much the one that is attracting the most attention from the world's science and education communities. From synthetic heart valves to contact lenses, biomedical engineering unites the principles of engineering with those of basic biology.

Its application has been, thus far, at times both controversial and life-enhancing. In this latest issue of IIT Magazine, leading researchers from Armour College and from the scientific community at large look at this burgeoning field, and how it is being advanced and taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Our undergraduate degree program in biomedical engineering enters its first year this fall. Our highly anticipated Biomedical R & D Complex, which integrates the IIT Research Institute Life Sciences' efforts in cancer-related research and expands collaboration among IIT, area medical schools, and Argonne National Laboratory, will form a hub of creative activity in the Chicago area. The joint efforts of Stuart Graduate School of Business and our law school's Institute of Law, Science, and Technology enhance the interdisciplinary nature of the Biomedical R & D Complex. To aid in the development of solid dosage pharmaceuticals, the complex will also house a Particle Technology and Crystallization Center in partnership with a consortium of leading pharmaceutical companies.

To present you with a brief taste of what the full version of IIT Magazine has to offer, this online version shares only a portion of the content you can find in the printed pages of the second issue of IIT Magazine. Besides selected biomedical engineering content, the online version also features an introduction to Tim Preheim, the new dean of the Stuart Graduate School of Business, and an article on job searching for engineers, written by alumnus Jim Karlin. There is also an essay about online education, and how higher education is reacting to the Internet and the fizzle of the dot.com's.

For complete print versions of IIT Magazine, contact us at iitmagazine@iit.edu. In the pages of this magazine, we'll bring you up to date on our progress and take you with us as we invent the future.

Allan Myerson
Dean, Armour College of Engineering and Science