Mechanical engineering assistant professor Dana Carpenter presented a TEDx Talk at TEDxUCLA last month about space travel and its effects on the human body.
Watch it now!
Benninger and Yakacki awarded tenure
The University of Colorado Board of Regents approved tenure appointments for two College of Engineering and Applied Science faculty:
- Richard Benninger, bioengineering
- Christopher Yakacki, mechanical engineering
In addition, the Regents approved the appointment of Martin Dunn as the new college dean (effective January 1, 2018), who will also join the mechanical engineering department.
Congratulations on this acheivement.
Richard Benninger
Christopher Yakacki
Marxhausen awarded NSPE Colorado 2017 College Educator of the Year
Peter Marxhausen, instructor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded the National Society of Professional Engineers – Colorado 2017 College Educator of the Year. In addition to teaching at CU Denver, Marxhausen is a licensed professional engineer with Higgins & Associates Forensic Engineering Consultants and the City and County of Denver Building Department, which enables him to bring a real-world perspective to the classroom.
Congratulations on being recognized for your hard work and contributions to the college and university.
Regents approve Dunn’s appointment as new CEAS dean
Denver (June 16, 2017) – The University of Colorado Denver announced today the appointment of Martin Dunn, Ph.D. as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Dunn, who was hired following a national search, will succeed Marc Ingber who is stepping down after serving as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) for seven years and taking a faculty position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dunn will assume the dean position in January 2018.
“Dr. Dunn will bring a new viewpoint to CEAS that directs academic scholarship toward creating and translating knowledge that broadly impacts both academia and industry,” said David Engelke, acting provost and dean of the Graduate School.
Dunn joins CEAS from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) where he is currently the associate provost for research. In this role he designs, builds and manages the research and innovation enterprise for the university. He also directs the SUTD Digital Manufacturing and Design Research Centre.
Previously, Dunn has worked for the Boeing Company, Sandia National Laboratories and the National Science Foundation. He also has held a faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1993 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
“The significance of universities – and in particular engineering colleges – has never been greater,” said Dunn. “At CU Denver I will champion experiential technical learning with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurial and global perspectives, holistically integrated with the development of human and social skills like creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking. The CU Denver engineering experience will be continually contemporary and allow our students to differentiate themselves and stand out in the market.”
With his extensive background in academia, government and industry, Dunn will bring a rich perspective to CEAS. He will champion contemporary experiential learning with emphasis on entrepreneurial and global perspectives. He aims to support scholarship and partnerships that create and translate knowledge to have an impact both locally and internationally.
Stephen Gedney, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering, will lead the college from July 1 until January 2018 when Dunn will begin his tenure as dean.
Park receives American Heart Association AWRP Winter 2017 Grant-in-Aid
Daewon Park, assistant professor of bioengineering, received American Heart Association Grant-in-Aid with his research titled “Engineered biomimetic injectable system towards cardiac repair”.
Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading ischemic cardiovascular disease. Over recent decades, the number of medical treatment methodologies for patients with MI has steadily increased, with new treatments being developed every few years. However, even with this concerted attention from the medical and research communities, a significant percentage of MI patients have suffered a recurrent attack, despite receiving proper medical treatment. There is a clear unmet need for MI treatment that prevents recurrent attacks.
With this grant, Dr. Park will develop an alternative treatment strategy, using an injectable biomaterial with the capacity for localized co-delivery of therapeutic agents, to target key endogenous processes of the post-MI healing process: the anti-inflammatory reaction and the formation of new blood vessels.
This injectable biomaterial system addresses MI in a one-time treatment platform, removing the critical barrier of patient compliance thereby promoting therapeutic success.
Congratulations Class of 2017!
With the graduation of the class of 2017 comes the culmination of a vision nearly a decade in the making. The Department of Bioengineering celebrated the graduation of the inaugural undergraduate class. Welcoming friends and family to join in the festivities, the department hosted a banquet to acknowledge the accomplishments of each senior and their contributions to the program.
The fifteen graduates from the program have set high standards for their predecessors, with students continuing to industry, graduate programs, medical school, and even MD/PhD programs. Throughout their time as undergraduates, many students have excelled in undergraduate research. Others placed into competitive industry internships, linking them with full-time offers after graduation. As the bioengineering graduates of 2017 end their time on the Anschutz Medical Campus, some students will stay local and begin their professional careers, while others are relocating across the country.
The Department of Bioengineering is grateful is have such a dedicated and incredible inaugural class and looks forward to all they will accomplish in the future.
2017 BMES Coulter College Training Program awarded to Howard and team
Coulter College is a BMES program that is focused on translation research. The University of Colorado Denver Bioengineering team was accepted into the program for 3 days this summer in Atlanta. The team is made up of in-coming seniors: Vinh Pham, Kailey Beck, Mackenzie Wilderman and Matt Kiselevach with Casey Howard, one of the senior design faculty. The team will learn about the innovation process and the steps to commercialization of medical devices and technologies. Topics such as intellectual property, regulatory approval processes, reimbursement and business model development.
Benninger receives JDRF Innovation Grant
Richard Benninger, Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, has been awarded a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Innovation award entitled “Non-Invasive Imaging of Pancreas Blood Flow Redistribution to Assess Insulitis and Islet Decline in Type1 Diabetes”. Type1 diabetes involves autoimmune destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. As a result, lifelong insulin therapy is required, with significant elevation in the risk of diabetic complications including blindness, kidney disease, and cardiovascular diseases. There are currently no clinical approaches to monitor the ongoing decline in beta cells prior to clinical presentation of diabetes, as well as to monitor the success of any preventative treatment. This JDRF Innovation award will build upon recent findings in the Benninger Research Group showing that contrast enhanced ultrasound can detect changes in islet microvascular function in animal models during the preclinical stage of type1 diabetes progression. Specifically it will validate whether the success of preventative therapeutic treatments can be predicted early, prior to diabetes onset. It will also investigate ways to translate this approach to clinical testing. Ultimately the goal is to develop a means to improve the early diagnosis of underlying disease development and enable successful treatments to prevent diabetes.
Connors receives faculty mentor award at RaCAS 2017
Dan Connors, associate professor of electrical engineering, received one of three faculty mentor awards at the 2017 Research and Creative Activities Symposium (RaCAS). He was the only faculty from CU Denver to receive an award.
This year marked the first time RaCAS honored faculty from CU Denver and CU Anschutz for outstanding mentoring of student research. From 23 nominations, three recipients were picked based on the extent of their engagement with undergraduate and graduate students, their impact on research and creative activities, and the potential importance of their students’ work.
Congratulations, Dan.
Six bioengineering students awarded UROP grants
The Office of Undergraduate Experiences announced the next round of Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) recipients. UROP is a competitive program designed to financially support undergraduate research, most broadly understood as including all creative and other scholarly activities. The goal of UROP is to provide an opportunity to extend learning outside the traditional classroom, laboratory, or studio.
Congratulations to Kateryna Biryukova, Ryan Gerstenberger, Alexander Ho, Cameron Mattson, Damon Pool and Robert Wood who received these awards.
Kateryna Biryukova will use the immortalized human derived SH-SY5Y cell line to develop protocols and methodology for printing neurons using a 3D bioprinter. Differentiated SH-SY5Y cells acquire morphological and biochemical characteristics of mature neurons, thus providing means to generate a cost-effective reproducible model of bioprinting neural cells. This research is a part of Dr. Lammer’s open source 3D bioprinter project.
Ryan Gerstenberger will be working on a joint project between Children’s Hospital Colorado physician Stephen Hawkins and Department of Bioengineering Instructor Jennifer Wagner. The title of his project is 3D Printed Custom Mask for Pediatric Sleep Apnea Therapy. Ryan will work to create a method for producing patient specific, pediatric, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) masks.
Alexander Ho will investigate pelvic anatomy and geometry, and tissue deformation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 20 adults who have used a wheelchair for at least 3 years. Pressure ulcers have negative consequences for the health, activities of daily living, employment, and quality of life for wheelchair users. The results of the study could lead to methods for reducing the incidence rate and severity of pressure ulcers, and improvements in wheelchair seating design. Alexander will be working with Dr. Levin Sliker in Assistive Technology Partners (ATP), Dept. of Bioengineering.
Cameron Mattson’s research project is titled “Development of volume-changing shape memory polymer as a gutta percha filling material in root canals.” This research is an important first step to develop a replacement of the gutta percha using a shape memory polymer. He will conduct this research under the guidance of Dr. Daewon Park, Assistant Professor in Bioengineering.
Damon Pool, an undergrad (and future BS-MS student) working with Dr. Jeffrey Jacot in his research laboratory. He will be investigating whether including native heart extracellular matrix in an electrospun heart patch material can enhance the attachment, migration and viability of heart cells.
Robert Wood will study the mechanical and physiological impacts of constant-flow left ventricular assist devices on the proximal Aorta. He will be working with Dr. Kendall Hunter (BioE) and Dr. Amrut Ambardekar (SOM Cardiology).
