The development of an infrastructure for bioengineering in the United States, 1989-1990

Correspondence, reports, grants, meeting agendas and minutes, conference schedules and programs, and publications mostly created by the Alliance for Engineering in Medicine and Biology (AEMB) during its existence from 1969 through 1991. Some records created by the Joint Committee for Engineering in Medicine and Biology (JCEMB), AEMB's direct predecessor, as well as conference programs and publications from affiliated organizations comprise smaller portions of the collection.

Series 1, Joint Committee on Engineering in Medicine and Biology (JCEMB) Administration (1965-1969), and Series 2, JCEMB Conferences (1966-1968) total only eight folders. They contain a bare quantity of information about the JCEMB's administration and conferences.

Series 3, Alliance for Engineers in Medicine and Biology (AEMB) Administration (1969-1992) is the largest portion of the collection. Committee correspondence is complemented by reading files, which approximate what are normally identified as chronological files. Of the few topically segregated correspondence groupings, the most illuminating are the "history files" (1967-1976), which were evidently accumulated to document the AEMB's origin. Nineteen National Science Foundation grant projects awarded to the AEMB (1972-1988) include proposals and progress reports among the correspondence. The AEMB Council (1969-1988) is the most completely represented of the sporadically collected administrative agendas and minutes.

Series 4, AEMB Conference and Workshops, provides an almost complete picture of the AEMB's annual conference through programs and final reports (1967-1990). Three AEMB workshops (1972-1990) illustrate efforts to integrate technological development with medical practice. Similarly, the Other Conference, Workshops, and Reports which make up Series 5 (1973-1986) are medical technology-driven. They were produced by AEMB affiliate organizations such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, and the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Completing the collection are the Publications in Series 6 (1960-1978). Booklets and directories put out by AEMB are mostly concerned with assessing the state of biomedical engineering in the United States and identifying sources for further education. The American Institute of Biological Sciences' BioInstrumentation Advisory Council (BIAC) produced the bulk of material not produced by AEMB.