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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Snyder
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/31/2007
HB
SHORT TITLE Expand UNM Biomedical Engineering
SB 117
ANALYST McOlash
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$682.5
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates HB 376.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Higher Education Department (HED)
University of New Mexico (UNM)
Economic Development Department (EDD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 117 appropriates $682,500 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of UNM
for expenditure in FY 2008 to expand the Biomedical Engineering Program.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $682,500 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY2008 shall revert to the
General Fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The University of New Mexico Center for Biomedical Engineering researches biomaterials,
nanobiotechnology, bioanalytical microsystems and bioenergy technologies.
pg_0002
Senate Bill 117 – Page
2
A UNM analysis indicates this request seeks funding for a biomedical engineering program
director and four additional faculty slots, and equipment for education and research. This faculty
will:
Create BME concentrations in existing School of Engineering undergraduate curricula
Develop a MS/PhD level graduate program in BME
Develop a BME undergraduate (BS) degree
The program will support new faculty members that will:
Coordinate research, development and education in biomedical engineering.
Represent a critical mass of researchers and research activity to support planned
educational programs.
Seed the funding of new educational programs in biomedical engineering including:
o
A new undergraduate certificate program that coordinates course offerings across
engineering departments.
o
A new interdisciplinary graduate program in biomedical engineering to augment and
parallel the current Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. The first two years of the
program will be devoted to planning and implementing this program. Faculty
members that serve the certificate program will also serve the graduate program.
o
Coordinated articulation programs focused on biomedical engineering with feeder
schools. The initial program will be developed with NMHU, and expected to expand to
include other schools throughout the State.
Study, identify and justify the need for an undergraduate BME program, based on the response to
the certificate programs, to be introduced five years from now.
These funds would augment funding received by UNM through the Instruction and General
(I&G) funding formula for operation of the existing Biomedical Engineering Program.
This proposal was submitted to the HED by UNM, but was not included in the Department’s
funding recommendation for FY08. UNM's request consists of two line items: a recurring
amount of $895,800 and a non-recurring amount of $3,500,000.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
SB 117 is a duplicate of HB 376.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The UNM Center for Biomedical Engineering has received a $2.5 million grant from the
National Science Foundation over the next five years (2006 through 2011) to fund a research and
educational partnership with Harvard University< Albuquerque Public Schools and the
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. The project will focus on a multidisciplinary are of
materials technology; biomaterials, which are synthetic and natural, solid and sometimes liquid,
and used in medical devices or in contact with biological systems (UNM Press Release, July 26,
2006).
BM/mt