Criterion Five: Engagement and Service Core Component 5c: The organization demonstrates its responsiveness to those constituencies that depend on it for services.

---

	Our School of Computing and Engineering [SCE] has an active and growing bio-engineering research effort. With virtually no research in Biomedical Engineering in 2003, the school now has a widely recognized cohort of biomedical researchers currently managing over a million dollars of external funding. Current research in our Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering [CME] concentrates in biomechanics and orthopedics, with a primary focus in musculoskeletal biomechanics and human movement. Specific research projects include predicting loading on knee tissues, and balance maintenance and fall prevention. Demand for this type of research is strong and is increasing as the elderly population increases. For example, it is estimated that the total annual cost of arthritis in the U.S. exceeds $90 billion (data from the National Institutes of Health and The Arthritis Foundation). Our Department of Computer Science Electrical Engineering [CSEE] is active in biomedical, biometrics, and bioinformatics research. Specific examples include a patented new biometric system using the microcirculation of the white of the eye for personal identification, brain-computer interfacing systems, biomedical imaging for dental and chromosome-related research, as well as research in data mining for large biological and medical data sets. In addition, SCE faculty actively collaborate with local hospitals. These efforts have led to research products in cardiovascular data integration, biosensor networks, and congenital heart defect monitoring systems, pediatric image and health information systems, and middleware for medical error prevention. We are also responding to U.S. Department of Labor predictions that the number of biomedical engineering jobs will increase by 31.4 percent through 2010, double the rate for all other jobs combined. Overall job growth in this field will average 15.2 percent through the end of the decade. To support the demand in this rapidly growing area, the SCE is currently developing a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering degree, a five-year track in each of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (and possibly Computer Science) resulting in ABET accredited Bachelor of Science degrees in each discipline, coupled with the MSBmE. The SCE efforts are particularly significant to UMKC in supporting our University’s critical life sciences missions of the schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Nursing.
The School of Pharmacy’s [SOP] clinical faculty outreach placements are based on programmatic needs as well as on the health care needs of our constituencies in Kansas City and mid-Missouri. UMKC’s pharmacy practice faculty provides full-time services to hospitals and clinics that might otherwise not be able to provide these services, due to manpower or financial constraints. The SOP faculty can be found at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, Western Missouri Mental Health Center, the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, Truman Medical Centers, Inc., Truman Medical Center Behavioral Health, University Hospital & Clinics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, St. Luke’s Hospital, and Research Medical Center. Additionally the SOP Drug Information Center delivers services to institutions and organizations throughout Missouri (e.g., Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Truman Medical Centers, Inc., and Missouri Medicaid). Programs and initiatives related to communitybased research at the SOP have increased dramatically due to the creation and hiring of doctoral faculty in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Examples include a program to improve breast and cervical cancer screening practices among Bangladeshi immigrants to the Kansas City area; a collaboration with the School of Nursing to study violenceprevention strategies among the Hispanic population; and preliminary discussions about a “Community Participation in Research” grant proposal with Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) Department of Aging Services to support Medicare Part D outreach education and dissemination projects to enhance seniors’ use of the Medicare Part D program in our community.