A Good Year For The College of Engineering, Design and Computing: Engineering Faculty Win Campus Awards for Teaching and Research 

On April 29^th,  2024 CU Denver gathered at the annual Faculty Excellence Awards ceremony. Faculty Excellence Awards are a great way for our Lynx community to come together and recognize the excellent work the faculty has brought to campus in addition to positively impacting students and colleagues.   

This year, The College of Engineering, Design, and Computing had the honor of having two faculty members recognized at the Faculty Excellence Awards. The Department of Civil Engineering’s David Mays, P.E., Ph.D. received the “Excellence in Teaching by Tenured/Tenured- Track Faculty” and Bioengineering’s Chelsea Magin, Ph.D. was the recipient of the “Excellence in Research & Creative Work by Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty” award.  

David May’s spoke on receiving this award, saying “It really hit me that I had won the teacher-of-the-year award on the evening of Friday 5/3, when I attended the civil engineering senior design presentations. It’s quite gratifying to see how the students have developed into engineers during the 1-3 years since I met them in my required undergraduate course CVEN-3313 Fluid Mechanics. After the presentations, many students congratulated me on my award, saying my class was helpful. About 12 of them even wanted a photo with me. I was really touched. That’s when I really felt like teacher-of-the-year.” 

Chelsea Magin also had her own moments of realization after receiving her award. “Amidst the rigorous academic feedback cycle characterized by a continuous stream of grant rejections and paper revisions, it can be challenging to transcend the daily grind and acknowledge the cumulative achievements amassed throughout one’s career. A pivotal moment in recognizing the caliber and impact of my own research endeavors occurred upon the receipt of a letter of support from my department chair for this award application. In conveying her endorsement, she recounted instances from conferences and the national Council of Chairs meeting within the field of Biomedical Engineering, where our colleagues immediately associated CU-Denver with admiration for my work, often remarking, “Isn’t that where Chelsea Magin is?” These anecdotes helped me understand that my hard work is appreciated and impactful even before receiving campus-wide recognition. It has been such a joy to watch the students, postdocs, and medical fellows trained in my lab turn my research vision into a reality. I am so grateful for all they contributed to these achievements as well.”  

Both faculty members have shown exemplary actions and embraced what it means to be given these awards. We hope they continue to represent CU Denver and the College of Engineering, Design, and Computing in monumental ways for years to come!