Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium (RMBS), Inc.

We informally began in 1963 as a group of visionaries, primarily from the Rocky Mountain area, interested in the then emerging field of biomedical engineering who thought that meeting regularly at a conference, both among ourselves as well as involving other professionals and students, would improve the exchange of knowledge and ideas for the benefit of all participants. But the group soon thought that this would be better accomplished with a symposium (as in the work with the same name by Plato, i.e., a friendly contest of extemporaneous speeches given by a group of notable men attending a banquet) rather than a dull traditional conference. So, in September 1965 we were officially incorporated at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado by Dr. Richard (Dick) J. Gowen, Dr. Joseph C. Daniel Jr. and Carl A. Hedberg. This makes us one of the first and oldest bioengineering societies.

Our journal, Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation, is one of the world's oldest journals in the biomedical engineering field. Published since 1963 it is, as stated in the initial jackets, … a continuing series dealing with the latest advances in the new field of biomedical sciences instrumentation. The aim of this series is to provide a link between medicine and the measurement sciences, and to expand the use of instrumentation in the medical sciences. The objectives are to determine the measurement requirements of research for clinical laboratories, practitioners, and hospitals. This publication is of use to the medical profession in general, biologists, physiologists, behavioral scientists, and related professions. This journal is dedicated to the publication of peer-reviewed outstanding articles of interest in biomedical sciences, welcoming submissions ranging from basic physiology and physiological monitoring to medical, engineering and biomedical education; from aviation, space and aerospace medicine to predictive medicine, machine learning & AI; from pollution monitoring to wildlife management.

Our annual Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium (now the joint International Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation Symposium & Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium) has been organized since 1963, and has become the oldest continuously held scientific meeting in the field of biomedical engineering in the world, a conference like no others (because it's not a conference, it's a symposium!). In times when meetings and conferences are sprouting all over the globe and becoming more and more specialized, we pride ourselves for covering all aspects of biomedical engineering, from the traditional aerospace medicine and bioinstrumentation, to the latest trends in machine learning and image processing, from clinical engineering to the current challenges in education. Attending our annual symposium is a special experience you cannot find anywhere else: you are not an attendee, you are an active participant. No matter if you are an undergraduate or graduate student, a post-doc or an established professor, or a professional, you get the same opportunity to present your work, ask and answer questions, and interact with everyone.

In the true spirit of a Platonic symposium, at the RMBS we have always rewarded the best oral presentations, the best written papers, and the best posters. The contest has had different names and different rules over the years, but it has always been a way to recognize scholarly work and the efforts of the attendees, especially the students for whom participating in the contest allows an exposure to established academics, professionals and fellow students, both as participants and judges; and why not, the contest is chance to to win some prizes!

Our founders were the some of the most visionary and historical individuals in the field and they created our organization to promote the development of bioengineering education and research as well as the exchange of ideas and experiences among engineers, physicians, educators, college students (undergraduate as well as graduate), and other professionals.

So many years later, all of us members of the current Board of Directors are still following their vision and guidance to provide a forum at the forefront of biomedical engineering and sciences.