ChBE Department Updates - Spring 2021

Letter from the Chair: Spring 2021
With the spring semester behind us, it’s with optimism and hope that we look forward to a summer of reconnection and a fall semester that will look increasingly “normal” compared to this previous year.
Christopher Bowman elected to National Academy of Engineering
Distinguished Professor Christopher Bowman of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Boulder has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to engineers.
Anseth to receive 2021 Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemistry Award this fall
Professor Kristi Anseth will be the recipient of the prestigious Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemistry Award at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2021 meeting.
Boulder Chemical and Biological Engineering jumps to No. 14 in U.S. News and World Report’s best graduate school rankings for 2022
The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering continued to gain national recognition for the quality of its graduate school education, earning the No. 14 (tie) spot overall in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Graduate School rankings for chemical engineering for 2022.
Sage Hurta wins the Women’s Mile at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships
"Crossing the finish line in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I was overcome with both joy and relief. I spent much of 2020 injured, dreaming of an opportunity to win an NCAA title. Now that I had an opportunity to realize that dream, I didn't want to pass it up. Winning an individual NCAA track title has been a couple years in the making for me, delayed in large part by the pandemic."
Seniors shine with CEAS Graduating Student Awards
Five graduating seniors from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering earned Graduating Student Awards from the College of Engineering and Applied Science this year.
Developing efficient, dynamic windows for comfort and climate change research appears in Nature Energy
Researchers from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Program are among the authors of “Polymer inhibitors enable >900 cm2 dynamic windows based on reversible metal electrodeposition with high solar modulation” which appeared in the April issue of the highly prestigious science journal Nature Energy.
Drug development platform could provide flexible, rapid and targeted antimicrobials
Researchers at Boulder have created a platform that that can develop effective and highly specific peptide nucleic acid therapies for use against any bacteria within just one week. The work could change the way we respond to pandemics and how we approach increasing cases of antibiotic resistance globally.
Six Boulder Chemical and Biological Engineering students selected for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Six students in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering have won prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) awards.
Bauman receives NDSEG Fellowship for his work with responsive, lightweight materials
Grant Bauman, a second-year graduate student advised by Gallogly Professor Tim White, recently received the 2021 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Award (NDSEG). The fellowship recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated academic excellence in science and technology fields of interest to the Department of Defense.
Spike protein mapping could lead to more effective COVID-19 vaccine boosters and therapies
New research from the Sprenger and Whitehead groups aims to identify and map common mutations in “Spike” proteins—the proteins that allow the virus to enter and infect cells. This would provide researchers with a roadmap to anticipate and counteract the development of future SARS-CoV-2 strains with effective vaccines and vaccine boosters.
Boulder scientists win $1.2M for cutting-edge microscopy center
New center will be ‘truly paradigm shifting for life scientists and engineers across campus’
Growing a better, more affordable solar cell from perovskite
While solar panels have traditionally used silicon-based cells, researchers are increasingly looking to perovskite-based solar cells to create panels that are more efficient, less expensive to produce and can be manufactured at the scale needed to power the world.
Velcro-like cellular proteins key to tissue strength
Where do bodily tissues get their strength? New Boulder research provides important new clues to this long-standing mystery, identifying how specialized proteins called cadherins join forces to make cells stick—and stay stuck—together.
Setting the stage for cell 'directors' to repair fractures: Rao wins Three Minute Thesis competition
What do movie sets and biomaterial environments have in common? According to Varsha Rao, a fifth-year PhD student in the Anseth Lab who placed first in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on Feb. 16, they both need directors to call the shots.
Erica McNamee joins Brooke Owens Fellowship Class of 2021
Erica McNamee, a junior in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is among 44 undergraduates selected for the Brooke Owens Fellowship Class of 2021.
Ryan Hayward: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner
The Department of Energy followed up with Prof. Hayward to discuss his Early Career Award.