Ph.D. Student Handbook

The Graduate Environment

The spirit and size of the Department of Bioengineering fosters a close interaction between graduate students and the entire faculty. This enriches the quality of student-faculty communications and the academic environment to benefit both learning and discovery. Every effort is made to create an environment of scholarship, creativity and learning, which is the very essence of graduate study.

Wellness and Climate Communication Channels

If you are having any wellness or climate issues with your advisor, other students, or any in the Penn community, please see this document for guidance on available resources and support mechanisms.

Graduate Student Organizations

Apart from offering advising, seminars, and informal meetings with the Department Chair and Graduate Group Chair to solicit student input and exchange information, the Department strongly supports the Graduate Association of Bioengineers (GABE). GABE is a student-run association that represents the entire graduate student community in BE, and organizes both social and professional Bioengineering development events, sometimes in collaboration with the student chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) is the University-wide student government for all graduate and professional students at the University of Pennsylvania. There are many University-wide affinity groups supported by GAPSA (e.g. LGBT, BGAPSA, LaGAPSA, Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Penn).