The Department of Applied Mechanics & Biomedical Engineering has been in existence since the inception of IIT Madras in 1959. It was earlier known as the Department of Applied Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, and then subsequently as just the Department of Applied Mechanics after Aerospace became a separate department. The department has three research groups (1) Solid Mechanics, (2) Fluid Mechanics and (3) Biomedical Engineering. While the first two groups are primarily rooted in Mechanical Sciences, the Biomedical Engg group aligns more closely with Electrical Sciences. The department was rechristened as “Department of Applied Mechanics & Biomedical Engineering” in 2023 to ensure greater visibility of the group working on the biomedical, biomechanics and bioscience aspects of engineering.
The department offers several academic programs both course based and research based. We recently introduced two interdisciplinary B.Tech programs: (a) Computational Engineering & Mechanics (b) Instrumentation & Biomedical Engineering - to train students in addressing contemporary challenges. The department offers three M.Tech programs: (a) Computational & Experimental Mechanics, (b) Biomedical Engineering, (c) Clinical Engineering. Additionally, our faculty offers interdisciplinary dual degree (IDDD) programs in (a) Computational Engineering, (b) Complex Systems & Dynamics, (c) Biomedical Engineering, (d) Energy Systems, (e) Climate & Atmospheric Science.
Our research program is our major strength, with over 220 PhD students, 100 MS scholars, and a significant number of postdoctoral researchers working in cutting-edge areas and is reflective of the interdisciplinary and contemporary nature of the department. We maintain active collaborations and joint degree programs with several leading international academic institutions and industries.
Our faculty work closely with government laboratories and contribute to several national missions, reinforcing our commitment to impactful research and innovation. Our alumni are in leadership positions in all sectors - academia, govt and private industries and several having become successful entrepreneurs.
Our department is the most interdisciplinary department in the country, with faculty drawn from 12+ different undergraduate backgrounds. A natural strength arising out of this diversity in faculty training is the ability to re-engineer to keep up with rapid changes in the academic landscape and to the demands of emerging technological requirements.
Our departmental focus recently has been to shed our image of a surrogate of traditional departments and emerge as the department of choice for carrying out cutting edge, fundamental research that promotes inter-disciplinarity. With a healthy mix of relatively young senior professors along with recent recruits, our department is poised to be recognised internationally as one of the leading centres of research in fundamental as well as translational, cutting edge interdisciplinary research. While research remains our focus, teaching is equally important. We offer three MTech programs: Computational & Experimental Mechanics, Biomedical Engineering, and Clinical Engineering. An online MTech in Computational Engineering is upcoming. We coordinate three Interdisciplinary Dual Degree programs in Computational Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Complex Systems & Dynamics—also offered as I²MP for international students.
After 66 years of being a postgraduate-only department, we are launching two undergraduate programs: Computational Engineering and Mechanics (CEM) and Instrumentation and Biomedical Engineering (iBME). These were designed through wide consultations with faculty, alumni, and industry leaders. They blend foundational STEM tools (math, computing, data science, AI) with core engineering disciplines and promote systems-level problem-solving. The positive reception in JEE admissions affirms their relevance. These programs also allow us to revisit and modernize our MTech curriculum. I invite you to come and become part of this exciting journey.
