Salisbury Post's Sarah Campbell spoke with a handful of North Carolina professionals working in growth fields to better understand their occupations. Citing US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Campbell says "the number of job openings for biomedical engineers is expected to increase by 72 percent" through 2018. "I think companies like biomedical engineers because they have a broad science and engineering education," Charles Bridges, a local heart surgeon, tells Campbell. "Some engineering fields are very narrow, but bioengineers can morph into almost any direction you need to go."
Campbell adds that job opportunities for trained biomedical engineers are projected to expand, and "include working in health care, consulting, research, and pharmaceuticals." Bridges says that for those with an aptitude in science and math, biomedical engineering is a choice field, particularly because it "allows you to go in multiple directions."