Page 15 - Biomedical Engineering and Design Handbook Volume 1, Fundamentals

xiv VISION STATEMENT

engineering, but they may also work in a number of other disciplines—mechanical, electrical, or
materials engineering, to name just three—that impinge on, for example, the design and development
of medical devices implanted in the human body, diagnostic imaging machines, or prosthetics.
Depending on the topic being addressed, the audience affiliation can be closely aligned with the dis-
cipline of biomedical engineering, while at other times the affiliation can be broader than biomed-
ical engineering and can be, to a substantial degree, multidisciplinary.
To meet the needs of this sometimes narrow, sometimes broad, audience, I have designed a prac-
tical reference for anyone working directly with, in close proximity to, or tangentially to the disci-
pline of biomedical engineering and who is seeking to answer a question, solve a problem, reduce a
cost, or improve the operation of a system or facility. The two volumes of this handbook are not
research monographs. My purpose is much more practice-oriented: it is to show readers which
options may be available in particular situations and which options they might choose to solve prob-
lems at hand. I want this handbook to serve as a source of practical advice to readers. I would like
the handbook to be the first information resource a practitioner or researcher reaches for when faced
with a new problem or opportunity—a place to turn to before consulting other print sources, or even,
as so many professionals and students do reflexively these days, going online to Google or
Wikipedia. So the handbook volumes have to be more than references or collections of background
readings. In each chapter, readers should feel that they are in the hands of an experienced and knowl-
edgeable teacher or consultant who is providing sensible advice that can lead to beneficial action and
results.

Myer Kutz