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Bioengineering: Career Information

Best Library and Internet Resources for finding bioengineering information. Also includes information about library services, basic library skills and tools that help with citation management, poster design and writing.

Introduction to Career Information

The information on this page is a supplement to Engineering Career Center. 

Engineering as a Career

What Do Biomedical Engineers Do?  How Much Do They Get Paid?  What Do I Need To Do To Become A Biomedical Engineer?

Check out these resources:  

Determining the Industry Outlook for Medical Devices

Market Reports study the past performance of a specific industry or consumer product and combine that with current political, social and/or economics news to predict future trends.  The ASU Library does not buy these specific reports but you may find an older one freely available on the web (for example, see Pulse of the Industry: Medical Technology Report 2013) or you may find an informative summary of a current one (for example, see  2014 Global Opportunities in Medical Devices & Diagnostics). 

You can create your own medical device market report by using the databases listed below. .  Besides giving you a good foundation in what the medical devices industry is all about, the information you find here will help you in your job search to decide what companies are the best and giving you information that you can use in your cover letters, resumes and in interviews.   

  • ABI/Inform: Data & Reports Search
    Once in the database, choose the "Data & Report" Search from the list of options near the top of the screen.  Put the name of the specific product  or a product group  in the search box and then select the types of company or market reports you want to see.

  • Business Insights: Global - Industries Search
    The list of industries may take a minute or more to load.  Once it's completed, you may browse the list (over 1,000 entries) or use the search box in the left-hand column to search by keyword or NAICS code.  

  • First Research
    After clicking on a few links to get past the introductory screens, you'll land on the "Search Industry and Geographic Profiles" page in which you may enter a keyword or NAICS code for the industry in the search box OR you can click on the browse button underneath the search box and browse by either subject menus or an alphabetical list.   First Research entries can also be found within the ABI/Inform database. 

  • Manufacturing and Distribution USA 
    Select the 2013 edition to work with.  Once that edition opens, you can use the search box in the left-hand column to search by keywords or NAICS code; below the search box check the option "all volumes within this edition."

  • Mergent Online: Industry Reports

    Once in the database, click on the blue "Report Search" tab near the top of the screen.  On the next screen select the "Industry Reports" link just below the blue bar. Select the appropriate industry group and click the gray "Search" button to the right side of the screen.  You'll retrieve a list of reports on that industry for the past several years.  For each entry in the list, the full report (in PDF) is listed in the far right-hand column while a short overview of key points can be seen by click on the "view' link in the second column from the right. 

  • S&P: NetAdvantage 
    Once in the database, click on the "Industries" link in the dark blue navigation bar.  Select the appropriate industry and click on either the html or the pdf link for the report. 

Identifying the Organizations and People Working in Your Area

Who are the major medical device companies and who is doing the research?  There are several ways to find this information:

  1. The resources you used to find the industry profiles and market reports provided you with the names of some companies operating within that industry.

  2. You can also find lists of companies by industry in business directory databases such as:
  3. You can also determine what companies, organizations, agencies and universities are working in very specific areas( and the names of the specific individuals) by researching the literature. You'll find that mostly academic institutions and non-profit organizations are the ones writing about their discoveries.  For obvious competitive reasons, for-profit companies don't publish their research. 

    In the following databases, you'll do a search on a specific topic of interest to you, and then have the database analyze the results by the author and/or organization doing the research. 

    • Compendex/Inspec
      Compendex is an index to engineering journal articles and published conference proceedings in all areas including manufacturing; Inspec is an index to the electrical engineering, computing sciences, and physics literature.  This link will load both indexes so that you may search them both at once however you do have the option to only search one index at a time.

      Search the phrase "biomedical equipment" or a specific device (example: biosensor, stent).   On the results list page, go to the left hand column, use the Year limiter to restrict the results to recent years; then go to the "Author" and "Author Affiliation" categories and expand them.  This will give you a list of the people and organizations that occur the most in the results.

    • IEEE Xplore
      IEEE Xplore is an index to the publications (books, journal articles, conference papers and standards) of the IEEE and IET; it also includes publications from selected other societies in the areas of physics and engineering.

      Search the phrase "biomedical equipment" or a specific device (example: biosensor, stent).   On the results page, go to the left hand column, use the Publication Year limiter to restrict the results to recent years; then go to the "Author" and "Affiliation" categories and expand them.  This will give you a list of the people and organizations that occur the most in the results.

  4. You can identify what for-profit companies are working on by looking for news items announcing product innovations and searching for who is patenting inventions of medical devices.  
    • ABI/Inform
      ABI/Inform is an index to the business literature including trade journals and news sources that cover the business aspects of medical devices, so this is a good place to find new product announcements and news-type information about medical, pharmaceutical and engineering companies. Search the phrases "medical equipment", "medical devices", or a specific device (example: biosensor, stent).  

      On the results list page, go to the right hand column, use the publication date feature to restrict the results to recent years; then click to expand the "Company/Organization" category; click on "more options" to see the full list.  This will give you a list of the companies that are mentioned the most in the list; unfortunately, the list could include news sources such as CNN that you'll need to ignore.   The reasons a company is mentioned could be for good reasons (release of a new product, better than predicted earnings, etc.) or not-so-good reasons (product defects or side-effects, bankruptcy, etc.).  To see what is being written about the company, click on the "Include" box next to the company name and then click the "apply" button at the bottom of the company list.  

    • The US Patent and Trademark Office does a yearly assessment of the top 50 organizations receiving US patent grants in each major technology area. See Report Breakouts by Patented Technology and select the report for Patenting in Technology Classes - Breakout By Organization.   Information is arranged by the US Patent Classification - most medical devices will fall within the categories of 128, 601, 602, 604, 606, 607 and 623.   For each technology category, click on the category title to see the list of ranked organizations.  

    Before the Interview, Research The Company

    If you've been watching videos, reading books or attending sessions at the Engineering Career Center, you'll have heard the advice to "research the company" before you go in for an interview.  Obviously, you can look at the company's website to get some idea of it's mission and products/services and in some cases, get a copy of their latest annual report.   In this section, you'll learn how to find out very specific information about the company's adminsitration, productivity and finances. 

    Library databases with Company Information: 

    • Mergent Intellect (formerly Hoovers)
      Great source in which to start your research. Simply search your company name for detailed fact sheets with company descriptions, key financials, executive biographies, the competitive landscape, news and more.

    • Business Insights: Global
      Covers public, private, U.S. and international companies; includes complete company histories, rankings, investment reports, financials, plus  links to articles from business journals and industry newsletters.

    • Passport GMID (Global Market Information Database)
      Contains key business intelligence on countries, industries, companies, markets and consumers; the data is provided by Euromonitor, a quality provider of global business information.

    • Mint Global
      Contains in-depth company analyses in a customizable report format. 

    Books That May Be of Interest ...

    Videos That May Be of Interest ...

    Off-campus access to these videos is limited to ASU students, staff and faculty and require asurite id/password.

    Engaging Resumes & Cover Letters: How to Hook the Job You Want
    Directed by Akela Stanfield, Kathleen O. Ryan and Kevin McCarthy
    (Chicago, IL: Learning Seed, 2011), 28:06 mins

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