This paper determines whether or not the biomedical engineering field at North Carolina State University is a discourse community and presents information about the community as a whole. This paper does so by exploring an article specifically directed at the biomedical engineering field, an article gauged toward engineering as a whole, an interview with a senior in the biomedical engineering program at NC State University, and a classroom observation of Dr. Feducia’s organic chemistry class. This paper also aims to provide its audience with an understanding of what biomedical engineering is, but focuses on its determination of whether the biomedical engineering program is indeed a discourse community. Determining its validity as a discourse community comes from articles on the topic of discourse and discourse communities presented by Gee and Swales. This paper suggests that yes, the biomedical engineering program at NC State University is indeed a discourse community through Swales’ arguments that “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals,” “a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis,” “a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise,” as well as Gee’s arguments on acquisition of a discourse, his definition of literacy, apprenticeships, and membership (Swales, 1990, p. 471-473).

Keywords: biomedical, engineering, ethnography, discourse, discourse community