The CU Board of Regents approved appointments or awards of tenure for the following faculty, effective April 5, unless otherwise noted.
Emily Gibson, Department of Bioengineering
Kannan Premnath, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Kristin Wood, Department of Mechanical Engineering (appointment effective May 1, 2019)
Congratulations!
Niki Clark, a PhD candidate in bioengineering, has been selected to participate in the second NIH-sponsored Summer School in Adaptive Neurotechnologies from July 7 – 26, in Albany New York. She is one of 24 successful applicants who will participate in lectures, hands-on training, and integrative experiences.
Per NIH, “the course will provide a select group of scientists, engineers and clinicians with the multidisciplinary knowledge and expertise needed to guide the development of new adaptive neurotechnologies from conception through laboratory and clinical evaluation to dissemination and use for important scientific or clinical purposes. The goal is to create the next generation of leaders in this burgeoning new field.”
Clark received her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in biology at Arkansas State University. She is now pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at the University of Colorado Denver under the mentorship of Dr. Cathy Bodine. Her research is focused on social assistive robotics and their use as therapeutic tools for children with cerebral palsy.
Congratulations!
Jimmy Kim, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, received the Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research in the spring convention of the American Concrete Institute held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. This prestigious award is given to the author or authors of a peer-reviewed paper published by the Institute that describes a notable achievement in experimental or analytical research that advances the theory or practice of structural engineering and, most importantly, recommends how the research can be applied to design. The award need not be presented each year.
Kim’s research interests encompass advanced composite materials for rehabilitation, structural informatics, complex systems, and science-based structural engineering, including statistical, interfacial, and quantum physics. He is Chair of a national technical committee and participates in developing several design specifications and guidelines to transfer research into practice. Kim, President of the Bridge Engineering Institute, is an elected Fellow of American Concrete Institute and elected Council Member of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC), and serves as an Associate Editor/Editorial Board Member for international journals.
On April 5, the CU Denver steel bridge team competed at the regional AISC Steel Bridge Competition, which took place at CU Boulder.
The team, comprised of six civil engineering students – Hussain Almosawi, Dakota Chauncey, Valerie Do, Dustin Doll, Kyle O’Hearn and Dinesh Panta – placed first in the state and third in the Rocky Mountain region.
“We did a wonderful job and worked marvelously as a team. I could not be more proud of all my teammates and the things we accomplished,” said Chauncey, who served as the team captain.
The team set a personal best record build time of 11 minutes and 56 seconds, and ranked top three in many categories including stiffness (least deflection), economy (one of the faster build times after penalties) and total weight (of the bridge).
The AISC Steel Bridge Competition challenges civil engineering students through an intercollegiate competition where they are tasked to complete with a comprehensive, student-driven project from conception and design through fabrication, erection, and testing. The end result is a steel structure that meets client specifications and optimizes performance and economy.
This year’s competition challenged student teams to design a limited access, short-span bridge to cross a river near recent and past lava flows. The bridges are tested for stability, strength and serviceability, and must be able to support bicycles, pedestrians, park vehicles and emergency vehicles while prohibiting private motor vehicles. Teams were also required to construct the bridges under simulated field conditions.
“Our CU Denver engineers ranked first among all six Colorado schools and third overall,” said assistant professor Fred Rutz, the team’s faculty advisor. “While most other schools utilized the more traditional lattice truss, ours was an innovative steel arch. We benefitted from trial load tests conducted in our Structures Lab.”
Other state schools in attendance included University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, Air Force Academy, and Metropolitan State University of Denver. The event also included South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Utah State University, Brigham Young University and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Civil engineering associate professor Wes Marshall and PhD graduate Alejandro Henao have found that cities are seeing a reduction in parking demand as a result of more people using ride-share services like Lyft and Uber. This research was featured in CU Denver Today and in the Denver Post.
Read more in CU Denver Today.
Read the story in the Denver Post.
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Dean Martin Dunn presented the college’s new strategic vision and name at a faculty/staff celebration on February 28, setting the trajectory for the exciting things to come for the newly renamed College of Engineering, Design and Computing.
On March 6, the college and Office of Advancement kicked off the fundraising campaign for the new building at an intimate event held at CU Denver CityCenter.
All in all, it’s a very exciting time for the college, and these advancements were covered in the Denver Post and CU Denver Today. Both pieces paint an accurate picture of the exciting things to come.
Team HyperLynx, comprised of 18 students from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, has advanced the the final stage of the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, scheduled for July 21, 2019 at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Cali. CU Denver is the only Colorado school to advance to the final stage of the competition, and will compete against schools including Delft University of Technology and MIT. A complete list of competitors is available at www.spacex.com/hyperloop.
Hyperlynx began designing their pod more than a year ago, a process that’s included refining, redesigning, and basically starting over from scratch. The end result is a simplified, less expensive, lighter, faster pod.
Leading up to this, the team completed internal preliminary design reviews followed by critical design reviews. They sought out subject-matter-experts from around the world with the goal of doing everything possible to learn the true scope of the project. In January, the team participated in a final design briefing with SpaceX and Boring Company engineers, which was the final hurdle to making the top 20.
The team will spend the next few months fabricating and building the pod, ensuring it’s in top shape for the late-July event.
Learn more about Team HyperLynx by visiting www.denverhyperlynx.com.
Support the team by clicking here.
The bioengineering graduate program moved up 10 spots in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 Best Graduate Schools Report, published March 12. The program is now ranked number 69 in the country, and is the top-ranked biomedical program in Colorado.
Kudos to Dr. Robin Shandas, founding chair and professor, and his team of faculty and staff for this achievement. The bioengineering program has gained national recognition in less than 10 years of its establishment, which speaks volumes to the quality of bioengineering research and teaching taking place at CU Denver and the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Read the CU Denver Today story about all CU Denver rankings.
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