Biomedical Engineering Design Lab

What Will You Do?

• Build a life-size body model showing organ functions

• Design a prosthetic limb within material constraints

• Research 3D-printed organs and compare kidney-failure treatments

• Build and test heart-valve and lung models

• Explore vision, hearing, and cochlear-implant questions

• Propose and present a new regenerative-medicine application

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain how organs work and how medical devices can help

• Use test results to evaluate and improve a design

• Explain a medical idea’s benefits, limits, and effects on patients

You’ll leave with a science journal, biomedical models, a regenerative-medicine proposal, and a certificate of completion.

Why Biomedical Engineering Skills Matter

Biomedical engineering asks students to connect how the body works with how a design must perform. A heart valve must control the direction of flow. A prosthetic limb must respond to movement and fit the user. A lung model must account for expansion and gas exchange.

Building and testing models develops observation, iteration and evidence-based problem solving. Students also consider the person behind the device. Cost, comfort, access and ethics can be as important as technical performance. Balancing those factors helps them see why medical innovation requires both scientific knowledge and human judgment.

Who Should Attend?

For students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.

If your student enjoys making things and wonders how the body works, this course brings those interests together. They’ll explore how a device could help someone, try designs with classmates, and develop a medical idea of their own. There’s room to follow their curiosity across medicine and engineering without having to choose a future career.

Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.

Based on students surveyed in 2026 about Summer Discovery programs at Yale University campus.

The Institute for the Gifted program takes place on Yale University’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

The setting gives middle-school students a memorable place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life. New Haven’s connections to law, theater, science, and the arts, along with the campus’s courtyards and academic spaces, make exploring a subject feel different from an ordinary school day. The program combines active academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students grow comfortable in a new community. Students can try challenging ideas, meet peers who share their interests, and build age-appropriate independence.