BIOE-PHD - Bioengineering (PhD)
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Program Overview
Bioengineering is jointly supported by the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine. The facilities and personnel of the Department of Bioengineering are housed in the Shriram Center, James H. Clark Center, the William F. Durand Building for Space Engineering and Science, the William M. Keck Science Building, the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, and the Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging. The departmental headquarters is in the Shriram Center for Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering.
Students are expected to enter with core competencies in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, computing, and engineering. Students entering the program are assessed by examining their undergraduate transcripts and research experiences. Specifically, the department requires that students have completed mathematics through multivariable calculus and differential equations, completed a series of undergraduate biology courses, and completed physics, chemistry, and computer sciences courses required of all undergraduate majors in engineering.
Admissions Information
Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply for predoctoral national competitive fellowships, especially those from the National Science Foundation. Applicants to the PhD program should consult with their financial aid officers for information and applications.
The deadline for receiving applications is December 1, 2025. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not required for admission to the MS or PhD program in Bioengineering.
Further information and application instructions for all graduate degree programs may be obtained from Graduate Admissions.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Select three or more Biology & Technical electives from the pre-approved list of 200+ Technical Elective courses, which can include more of the Lab or Quantitative courses.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of Bioengineering, some courses are offered directly through the Bioengineering Department, but many are available through other departments. See respective ExploreCourses for course descriptions.
All lecture and lab-based BioE courses at the 200+ level and above are considered Technical Electives.
Directed research units (e.g., BIOE 391, BIOE 392) and BIOE 296 do not count toward the Biology & Technical electives for the PhD requirements.
One of these courses may be an ethics course from among BIOE 131, BIOE 177, CS152, CS182, CS184, CS256, CS278, or CS281.
Any course that satisfies the PhD degree requirements must be taken for a letter grade if offered. A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above is required for all courses to fulfill the 22 units of formal coursework requirement. An overall grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 must be maintained.
Degree milestones indicate progress toward a degree. They are listed on unofficial transcripts and document satisfactory and timely completion of various events, such as securing research advisors, candidacy examinations, submission of completed degree progress forms, dates of reading committee meetings, and assisting with teaching BIOE courses.
Doctoral candidates should submit forms as appropriate to departmental student services. Students approaching a milestone should be aware of intradepartmental communications and support, and students with questions or concerns should discuss them with student services staff. Additional information regarding Degree Milestones can be found in the graduate handbook.
Based on the research interests expressed in their application, students are assigned an initial faculty advisor who assists them in choosing courses and identifying research opportunities.
One of the most important goals of the first year is to identify a primary research advisor. Students are strongly encouraged to explore research activities in three or a maximum of four labs during their first academic year.
Students who do not confirm a research advisor, and thus a thesis lab, by the end of the 4th quarter of study at Stanford are subject to dismissal from the program.
Students in the PhD program are required to complete 135 units of unduplicated coursework. In addition to the requirements listed above, this total may be satisfied by:
research units (e.g., BIOE 391)
seminar units (e.g., BIOE 296)
additional lecture/lab courses taken CR/NC or for letter grades
non-departmental units in nontechnical areas
Completing an MS degree is not a prerequisite for beginning, pursuing, or completing doctoral work.
The Bioengineering Department believes that teaching is integral to graduate-level education in Bioengineering. Consequently, serving as a teaching assistant for two courses is a requirement for the PhD in Bioengineering. Students serve as teaching assistants for one course during the second and third years of graduate study. The TA requirement may only be satisfied by TA-ing Bioengineering courses assigned by the Bioengineering department. Students on full fellowships, such as the NSF, may hold a concurrent teaching assistantship up to a maximum of 25% with no additional hourly employment.
In preparation for the TA requirement, students are encouraged to enroll in BIOE 296 (Promoting Effective and Equitable Teaching in Bioengineering) during their first or second year.
BioE PhD students TA'ing to fulfill their academic requirement will be appointed to a 25% TA during the assigned TA quarter. If the PhD student is fully funded by fellowship support they will not be appointed to a 25% TA and instead will enroll in BioE teaching practicum units during the assigned TA quarter.
Before being formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree, the student must demonstrate knowledge of Bioengineering fundamentals and potential for research by passing a qualifying oral examination before the end of the second year. Potential for success in research is demonstrated by completing an outstanding bioengineering research proposal, the testimony of the student’s research advisor of their research potential, and a detailed evaluation.
Students must be admitted to candidacy by the end of the second year of the student’s PhD Program. Being admitted to candidacy signifies that the department considers the student capable of completing the requirements for earning a PhD degree. Candidacy is valid for five calendar years (through the end of the quarter in which candidacy expires) unless terminated by the department for unsatisfactory progress.
For information regarding candidacy extension request, please see Stanford GAP 4.6.1. All extension requests must include the BioE Path to Graduate Form and are reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies.
The PhD candidate is required to take the university oral examination after the dissertation is substantially completed (with the dissertation draft in writing) but before final approval. The examination consists of a public presentation of dissertation research, followed by substantive private questioning on the dissertation and related fields by the university oral committee (four selected faculty members, plus a chair from another department). Once the oral has been passed, the student finalizes the dissertation for reading committee review and final approval.
Dissertation Reading Committee
Once the oral has been passed, the student finalizes the dissertation for reading committee review and final approval.
Each PhD candidate is required to establish a reading committee for a doctoral dissertation within six months after passing the department’s PhD Qualifying exams. After that, the student should at least annually convene with all committee members about the direction and progress of the dissertation research.
Students must have at least three faculty members who read and certify their dissertations. At least two members must be on the Stanford Academic Council (see GAP 4.8.1 for membership requirements). Two members of the reading committee are also required to be Bioengineering faculty.