New fellowship recognizes rising faculty leaders whose research is accelerating discovery, expanding student opportunity and strengthening Colorado’s innovation economy.

Every engineering breakthrough begins with a question: How can we solve a problem that matters?

At the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Engineering, Design and Computing (CEDC), those questions are driving advances in artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, advanced manufacturing, resilient infrastructure and intelligent health technologies. They are also creating opportunities for students to contribute to funded research, develop career-ready skills and help address challenges shaping the future.

Recognizing that faculty success fuels student success, CEDC has launched the inaugural Tullis Faculty Fellowship. Established through the generosity of CU Denver alumna Marta Tullis and longtime supporter Larry Tullis, the fellowship recognizes exceptional early- and mid-career faculty whose research, teaching and mentorship are expanding the college’s research enterprise and creating new pathways for student achievement.

The inaugural fellows represent a new generation of engineering scholars whose work is attracting competitive research funding, building industry partnerships and positioning CU Denver as a growing force in engineering innovation across Colorado and beyond.

The 2026 Tullis Faculty Fellows are Mazen Al Borno, PhD, assistant professor of computer science; Nam Bui, PhD, assistant professor of electrical engineering; Chelsea Magin, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering; Aditi Misra, PhD, assistant professor of civil engineering; and Kai Yu, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Together, their research spans nearly every engineering discipline, reflecting the breadth of innovation taking place across CU Denver—from artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing to infrastructure, health care and biomedical engineering.

More importantly, their work reflects a defining strength of the College of Engineering, Design, and Computing: faculty whose work tackles society’s most pressing challenges while preparing students to lead the future of engineering.

Investing in people who create opportunity

The Tullis Faculty Fellowship recognizes more than research productivity. By investing in faculty pursuing ambitious ideas, the fellowship expands opportunities for students to contribute to meaningful research, present at professional conferences, publish alongside faculty mentors and graduate with the experience employers value. 

For Misra, the recognition comes four years into a CU Denver career shaped by collaboration.

“Over my four years at CU Denver, I have had the privilege of working with amazing collaborators and mentors, and this recognition is a testament to those mentorship and collaborative relationships as much as to my own work,” says Misra. “It is a powerful motivator to double down on impactful research and to invest in preparing the next generation of transportation researchers and practitioners.”

That connection between faculty support and student opportunity runs throughout the inaugural cohort.

“Being selected as an inaugural Tullis Faculty Fellow is both a tremendous honor and a meaningful affirmation of the work my students, collaborators, and I have built at CU Denver,” said Nam Bui, PhD, assistant professor of electrical engineering. “Strong support for faculty ultimately creates greater opportunities for students, strengthens research programs, and expands the university’s impact on society.”

For Kai Yu, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering, the fellowship recognizes a decade of progress while creating momentum for what comes next.

“Personally, being selected as the inaugural Tullis Faculty Fellow is a great recognition of the sustained efforts and accomplishments of my research group over the past 10 years at CU Denver,” Yu said. “Professionally, the fellowship will enhance the visibility and impact of my research, helping me pursue more ambitious and high-risk ideas, attract talented students, strengthen research mentorship and create new opportunities for students to engage in meaningful engineering research.”

Learning from faculty shaping the future

The inaugural fellows represent nearly every engineering discipline illustrating how innovation at CU Denver addresses challenges ranging from health care and manufacturing to infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Mazen Al Borno, PhD, assistant professor of computer science, develops artificial intelligence and computational methods that help solve complex scientific and engineering problems. His research explores how machine learning can improve modeling, simulation, and decision-making across disciplines, creating new opportunities to apply AI to real-world challenges.

Misra studies systems people navigate every day. Her research and teaching focus on transportation data science, artificial intelligence and modeling, with particular attention to whether the data behind infrastructure decisions accurately represents the people and places those investments will affect.

“My research and teaching focus on transportation data science, AI, and modeling — forecasting what our traffic, travel, and roadways will look like in the future,” says Misra. “With my students, I am developing open-source frameworks that tell decision makers when they can trust a model’s output and when they need to generate their own data and models. I am excited to continue this work into the future because it lays the foundation for trusted research-to-practice technology transfer, bringing research directly into policy and planning decisions.”

Among the fellows, Yu is exploring how artificial intelligence can accelerate the discovery of advanced materials and transform manufacturing. By combining AI with computational modeling and materials science, his research aims to shorten development cycles and bring new technologies from concept to application more quickly.

“Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly transform many aspects of our lives and the engineering profession,” Yu said. “Over the next five to 10 years, I am most excited to use AI to better understand complex materials, predict their behavior and accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing technologies.”

Bui’s research sits at the intersection of intelligent sensing, robotics and healthcare. His laboratory develops technologies that continuously monitor health, support clinical decision-making and make healthcare more personalized and accessible.

“My goal is to develop systems that can continuously monitor health, assist clinicians and caregivers, and provide timely, actionable information for decision-making,” Bui said. “The opportunity to create technologies that make healthcare more accessible, efficient, and patient-centered is both scientifically exciting and socially meaningful.”

Chelsea Magin, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is advancing translational research that moves engineering discoveries closer to patient care. Her laboratory has developed a patented hybrid hydrogel designed to help seal air leaks following lung surgery. Her lab is also creating tissue-engineered lung models that allow researchers and pharmaceutical companies to evaluate potential therapies in environments that more closely resemble the human body before treatments advance to clinical trials.

“Over the next five to 10 years, I’m most excited about translating our research into real benefits for patients,” Magin said. “Making new scientific discoveries is rewarding, but the greatest impact comes when those discoveries improve people’s lives…If, over the next decade, our work helps bring a new treatment or medical device to patients, that would be our greatest success. Helping patients is the reason I pursued biomedical engineering.”

Creating the next generation of researchers

The fellowship recognizes research excellence, but its greatest impact may be seen in the students who gain confidence, experience and mentorship through that work. 

For Misra, preparing students to become independent thinkers begins with curiosity and extends to building pathways where that curiosity can lead somewhere.

“The best gift I can give my students is to nurture, protect, and encourage their questions and their curiosity — that is what motivates my teaching, and it is why my classes are highly interactive. I hope everyone who passes through my classroom or research group leaves as an independent, critical thinker and a creative problem solver.”

Misra has put that philosophy into practice by helping build CU Denver’s human-centered transportation program, including a certificate and minor that give students a structured pathway into the field. For her, creating those opportunities matters most when students begin making the transition from learners to researchers in their own right.

“To me, the combination of building something lasting and seeing students grow into independent researchers because of it is the truest measure of success as a faculty member.”

Yu shares that focus on helping students develop independence.

“I hope students leave my classroom or research group not only with stronger technical skills, but also with greater confidence, curiosity and independence,” Yu said. “Ultimately, I want them to see themselves as engineers and researchers who can develop their own ideas and solve meaningful problems.”

For Bui, the measure of research success extends beyond publications and funding.

“Research success isn’t measured only by discoveries or funding, but by the opportunities we create and the people we inspire to become the next generation of engineers and innovators,” says Bui. “One of the most rewarding aspects of being a faculty member is watching students transform into independent researchers. Those moments remind me that education is not simply about transferring knowledge. It is about helping students grow, discover their strengths and realize their potential.”

Magin shares that philosophy, emphasizing that innovation depends on creating environments where students feel supported as they tackle difficult problems.

“My role is not just to teach technical skills, but to create an environment where students feel supported, ask questions, take intellectual risks and grow from setbacks,” Magin said. “I want them to leave with the confidence to tackle difficult problems, the resilience to persevere when experiments don’t go as planned and the curiosity to keep learning throughout their careers.”

“The accomplishment I’m most proud of isn’t a single award or publication—it’s creating learning environments where students from all backgrounds feel they belong and have the support they need to succeed,” she said.

An Investment in What’s Next

Colorado’s demand for engineers, researchers and technology leaders continues to grow. Investments in faculty accelerate discovery, attract external research funding, strengthen partnerships with industry and health care, and create more opportunities for students to tackle meaningful challenges before they graduate.

Support for faculty accelerates research, attracts external funding, strengthens partnerships with industry and healthcare organizations and gives students opportunities to work on consequential problems before they enter the workforce.

For Misra, the fellowship creates an opportunity to connect transportation engineering, urban planning and AI more deliberately while strengthening CU Denver’s role in Colorado’s transportation research ecosystem.

“The Tullis Fellowship motivates me to strengthen my existing local and regional partnerships while embarking on a more ambitious research agenda at the intersection of AI, urban planning, and transportation engineering — and to train a new generation of data- and statistics-savvy “plan-engineers” who can bridge planning and engineering practice,” says Misra. “I also see the fellowship helping us grow that effort into a lasting hub for research, partnership, and student opportunity.”

For Yu, the fellowship is already creating momentum toward a future where student opportunity, industry collaboration and ambitious research converge.

“I hope the Tullis Faculty Fellowship will provide greater momentum and flexibility to pursue ambitious research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, advanced materials and manufacturing,” he said. “It will also help me attract and mentor talented students, create new research opportunities and strengthen collaborations with industry and academic partners.”

Bui sees the fellowship in much the same way.

“The Tullis Faculty Fellowship will provide an opportunity to accelerate research, strengthen collaborations, and create new opportunities for students,” he said. “I view the fellowship as an investment not only in faculty scholarship but also in the students who will contribute to these projects and carry their skills and experiences into the workforce and broader community.”

Ultimately, that is what distinguishes the Tullis Faculty Fellowship. It recognizes faculty whose research is expanding the boundaries of engineering today while creating new opportunities for students to shape what comes next.

At CU Denver’s CEDC, investing in exceptional faculty has never been only about recognizing achievement. It is about creating the conditions where discovery, innovation and student success advance together.