1. The acquisition of new knowledge and understanding of living systems through the innovative and substantive application of experimental and analytical techniques based on the engineering sciences.
2. The development of new devices, algorithms, processes and systems that advance biology and medicine and improve medical practice and health care delivery.

As used by the foundation, the term "biomedical engineering research" is thus defined in a broad sense: It includes not only the relevant applications of engineering to medicine but also to the basic life sciences.

There is no standard, universally-accepted definition of the term, “software architecture,” although there is no shortage of definitions, either. The following sections attempt to capture an appropriate cross section of what is meant by software architecture. The first section includes definitions from recent works on software architecture. The second section provides the "Classic Definitions," a brief tour through some of the more important or influential ones. These definitions are followed by additional definitions from articles taken from our software architecture bibliography. Lastly, definitions are listed that Web visitors have suggested (complete list, new listings only).