Patrick Sanford

Project 1

ENGL 3315

IEEE Citation Style 1052 words

A Journey through Bioengineering

What even is bioengineering? I have had to endure this question many times in the

short semester I have been a bioengineering student. Unlike many majors however an answer is

not that simple and clear cut. Bioengineering is a diverse field, and I invariably find myself

explaining that I am working towards a concentration in cell and tissue engineering, which of

course raises another raft of questions. The truth of the matter is, it is difficult to explain exactly

what the field is because it is evolving at an immense rate. Every year new discoveries are made

which fundamentally rewrite our understanding of the manipulation of living systems and so new

figures continue to influence the field in meaningful ways. In certain subjects like geometry it is

easy to point to an individual, in this case Archimedes, and say that this person was the single

most important person to ever work in the field. In the case of bioengineering this is nearly

impossible, which is in large part because I believe bioengineerings Archimedes type figure

hasnt even begun to work in the field yet. Though I may believe this to be the case, several

figures have been the guiding force behind all my instruction in bioengineering.

There is one theory, proposed by one man, which governs the actions of every creature on

earth. This man is Charles Darwin and this theory is the theory of evolution. Evolution now has

so much evidence it is nearly impossible to refute. One might hear Darwins name and

immediately associate him with their high school biology class and not think that his theory
impacts their everyday life, but they would be wrong. The importance of evolution is felt far

beyond the lecture hall, and in almost every scientific pursuit that involves life in any capacity.

The influence of evolution, and by extent Darwin, is down to its ability to provide answers.

Evolution is dependent upon a concept known as natural selection in which the strong

organisms, properly adapted for their environments, survive to pass on their good genes while

organisms without these beneficial traits will die out [2]. In cell and tissue engineering much

work is done in the modification of plant genomes to make them perform better as crops.

One of the largest initiatives in the plant engineering world is to remove the need for

pesticides by modifying plants to naturally repel insects. Such a plant would be able to survive in

much greater proportions than its unmodified brethren and so reproduce at a much greater rate as

well. This would drastically increase crop yields and decrease pollution [3]. In this instance, the

engineers are actually using natural selection to their advantage. By modifying the plant genome

they are essentially pressing fast forward on the process of evolution and reaping the benefits of

the new plant species being superior to the others. Thinking in terms of natural selection is an

important undercurrent in all bioengineering work and something that I have noticed passively

affecting my perception of the entire field. In every cell and tissue lab report I read I now ask

myself, how likely is it that this adaptation would occur and be successful in the wild?

Natural selection is something of an abstract concept, but my coursework has not all been

so abstract. Calculus has been a driving force behind much of the work I have done so far in

bioengineering. All coursework, in any branch of engineering, has been influenced by the

brilliant work of Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was an individual of such boundless intellect that we

have him to thank not only for the existence of calculus, but also for many of the most famous

and fundamental concepts of mechanical physics and electricity and magnetism. Newtons
presence is so strong that his influence is still clear in the field of bioengineering today, and in

fact has been a guiding light throughout the evolution of the field. In my fluids and transport

class we derived serval formulas for heat flux through a convective process. The symbol for heat

flux is q, and I always wondered why this was the notation, why use a double prime? My

curiosity only grew when we talked about mass flow rate, which has the symbol m . Naturally

I wondered; so why do some symbols have primes and others have dots? My lingering interest

continued to grow over the course of weeks until finally I decided to do a bit of research.

This course, as with all my courses, was a lecture and if the professor did not say why

something was a certain way, it was my responsibility to go off and learn it on my own. I have

found that this has been much of my experience in my college coursework, supplementing my

learning with additional research. In this case, it turns out that, in fact, we have this notation

convention for the sole reason that this is what Newton did [1]. Newton was the one who

determined these relationships and equations, so we have simply followed his example. Even

though it would be simpler to switch to a more logical notation, the strength of Newtons

influence is such that we collectively decide the standard should be whatever Newton did [1].

Newtons effect goes far beyond this simple notation however. In every course I took last

semester, and the semester before that, I did mathematical calculations using methods and

relationships discovered by Newton. Every piece of high level math can, in some way, trace its

origin back to Newton [1]. His methods have also survived the centuries, as in my fluids class

the professor discussed the concept of wall shear stress just as Newton did, borrowing from his

own notes for her lecture.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Julianne and Emily for their insightful peer reviews which helped me shape

my paper and trim it down so that the essential parts were highlighted.

Works Cited

[1] F. Cajori, "The spread of Newtonian and Leibnizian notations of the calculus," Bulleten of

American Mathematics, no. 27, pp. 453-458, 1921.

[2] C. Darwin, On The Origin of Species, London: Murray, 1859.
[3] N. Halford, Genetically Modified Crops (2nd Edition), London: Imperial College Press,

2012.