I really enjoyed this course and the applicability it has to the medical device industry. This course gave me insight on how to be a great team member and work efficiently on a project team. The DHF final project allowed me to gain a thorough understanding of design controls and understand how a project works from start to finish. Additionally, this project gave me the opportunity to work with others and help each other be great. In this course we learned about many different critical aspects of industry that are not normally discussed or taught before graduation. I have already been able to apply many elements of this course to my current job in industry and that has helped me excel. I am grateful I was able to take this course and would highly recommend it to any engineering student. 

ThIs course was quite interesting and gave me a lot of insight on how medical devices can be made! There were so many moving parts to making medical devices that was not aware of, like the legal contracts, FDA rules, biological compatibility, how to market the product, and even QA and QC. All of these parts and more working together, and the right idea, can fashion an amazing product. Hopefully I can apply what I learned to my future experiences as well.

We had a lot of technical difficulties in this course; however, I appreciate the honesty in preparing us for the real world. I'm definitely looking into career options. What I learned the most in this class is the strict regulations and process in presenting a medical device. We all had to be in our A game in the simulations scenarios which helped me a lot in what to expect in the industry.

So far, I've taken two of Dr. Simon's courses, and I enjoyed them because they allowed me to get a glimpse of the real world and see how things work in the industry. One might say that the weekly discussion posts are excessive, but I believe they allow us to discuss with our peers and broaden our minds to other opinions. Some factors of the course that I would change is making the quizzes worth more because, as of right now, it is only worth 20% of our grade, but I think this should be closer to 40% of the grade. Also, dropping one of the lowest quizzes in the class should be an option since it can help students in the long run. 

I have taken all classes taught by Dr. Simon offered at NJIT and I have enjoyed them all. Each class offers real-world experience in different subject areas that give the most clarity when seeking a job in the industry. The best part about this class for me was learning about the highlights of how medical devices are made and about the different job opportunities we could take in the field.  I really enjoyed that because you have so much experience in the field with different companies and owning your own,  your knowledge permeates through the class in what you highlight and what is important to help us when looking for a job. The project is also great to experience what it would be like to work with groups on an innovative project and dip your toes into people relying on you to complete your job. It was a great combination of hands-on work and lectures that emphasize what is relevant. I also enjoyed the discussion forums because it ensures that you are really thinking about what you are learning and how to apply it to different prompts. Overall, I could not have asked for a better class in development. Thank you! 

This is one of my favorite classes, the skills I learned in this class made me feel more confident in my future endeavors after graduation. I appreciate the beginning of the class when you mentioned your experiences and what you wish you knew. I also appreciated how you went over the differences between academia and the workforce, the pros and cons of it and how each one is run. It puts everything in perspective and gave me a better understanding of what to look for and what I can specifically do to better myself for certain positions. Thanks for a great class!

I like this course to discuss how the biomedical industry works and what different departments should do in a company. This information is very helpful for students who have not started to work to know what kind of position they might want to be in. It's also helpful to know what other departments are doing. Just like professor simon said at the beginning of class, this course gives me a view that what I can do and what I should do when I first get in to a company. That's what I need for looking for a job in this industry.

Dr. Simon, thank you for creating this course! I have learned so much from it and it has helped me tremendously in making progress towards figuring out my career goals. To be completely honest, I was completely intimidated by industry and did not know just how many roles are open to me with my degree. All I knew going in was the one role that I did not want, which seemed the most common. I am now excited to apply to more roles that I think match me, whereas previously I dreaded it because I didn't know what that role really looked like. This kind of course, where it exposes you to the real world a little bit, is very beneficial. I completed my undergrad here at NJIT, and although I learned a lot, it was all classroom eduction that left me feeling a little bit abandoned when it came time for job applications. I didn't know how to apply what I learned to the real world or where it would be relevant outside of research. 

I enjoyed seeing the comparisons between a career in academia vs. a career in industry. I currently work in industry, but it was neat to see the pros. vs cons. of each side and it really opened up my outlook on what are some of the challenges in academia and what the benefits are. I feel this is a great course that actually teaches you about the real world, in my opinion a lot of classes that I have taken (both in undergrad and in grad school) are very theoretical and have a lot to do with academia-related subjects; very rarely do you see a course that has such an effective real world application like this one. I think taking this course as well as System Mgmt for Medical Devices has given me the tools/knowledge to go into the medical device industry which is such a beneficial and ever-evolving industry to begin with. Thank you Dr. Simon for taking the time to offer us this valuable knowledge!

As someone who started working in industry before attending graduate school, I really wish I had something like this course during undergrad! I really had no idea as an undergrad what the day-to-day work of an engineer really entailed - I went to Rutgers and the vast majority of my BME undergraduate curriculum consisted of technical courses, and even when we delved into more "real-world" work it was much more tailored to academia. Plus, even though a lot of the topics in this course were already familiar to me, I've only ever worked at one medical device company so it's nice to learn about medical device requirements from a more general, industry-wide perspective, rather than just the way my company does it. I especially enjoyed having the lecture on businesses/corporations, since a lot of it was brand new for me. Overall I'd highly recommend this course as well as BME 682 (System Mgmt for Medical Device) for anyone in BME seeking to work in the medical device industry!

First of all, thank you so very much for creating this invaluable resource for us budding BMEs. A lot of this information is conveniently left out during our undergrad, and I am so glad I took this class. Initially, I had no idea what to expect coming into the course. I thought most of the course would specifically be about design controls for medical devices. I learned over the course of the course, lol, that so much more goes into the development of a medical device. I got a small taste during my capstone, little did I know how much I was missing. Thank you Dr. Simon, for creating this amazing course, and for giving a lot of us hope that we can start our careers with confidence.

I must say, after taking two courses with Dr. Simon, his courses are one of a kind. Your typical course includes learning theories and understanding key definitions of the course but these courses in medical device development really take things a step forward in implementing the applications of all the topics in projects and simulations. In the other course I've taken with Dr. Simon, we were able to participate in simulations where we were overseeing a project management team and were tasked with making decisions for the company that resulted in different outcomes. This really allowed me to truly understand the project management aspect of medical device development. We were also assigned to different teams, similar to the final project for this course where we worked together to conduct some kind of research to resolve an issue with a product. From these courses, I've learned so much about myself as a professional and I am currently in my job search to transition from a position more relatable to academia to a position in industry. As I'm expected to graduate this December, while it's bitter sweet, I'm deeply saddened that I will not be at NJIT for other courses offered by Dr. Simon as they've truly succeeded in refining my professional development. Thank you, Dr. Simon and I look forward to staying in touch.

-Jada

Thanks to this program, I've gained a better understanding of the medical device sector. It covered subjects generally ignored in the technical field, like project management, sales, legal matters, and risk analysis. The course material is comprehensive, engaging, and helpful. The course material is understandable and really helpful.

As many others have stated in this thread, I was pleasantly surprised at how much information about what the industry of the medical device field looks like and also talked a bit about the academic side. As a student, I was generally aware of the academic side of the equation but getting to know more about the industry side was very interesting as that is where I see myself more. I have been working for close to a year now and it is not precisely in the medical device field so it is cool to see what some of the differences and similarities are between both of them. I think the weekly discussions are a good way to talk about the topics covered in the week and the quizzes were also a good way to really review the content in-depth better than any PowerPoint or video could cover. Overall, this course was definitely one of the most relevant to me and a lot of the information learned are things that I can see myself using in the future.

Overall, I found this course very informative and interesting. I believe much of what I learned will be helpful when I make the transition from graduate school to industry. I enjoyed the discussion forum because it gave students a platform to connect and discuss the current week’s topic. It enabled students to explore different aspects of the lecture whether it is sharing their own personal experiences that connect to the current topic or divulging further into certain lecture points. It helped in thinking about the topics differently, and being more active in learning. This forum helped avoid the passive learning that can occur when taking an online course. One improvement I would recommend is feedback on the discussion posts, specifically when the post is not substantial. Having feedback on such posts would ensure students are aware of how to avoid insubstantial posts in the future. I understand that comments on every post is an unrealistic expectation. Rather, occasional feedback would be very valuable.