News

Shields Lab and SPUR student team up to advance microrobot drug delivery

Susan Glairon — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:46:07 +0000

Shields Lab and SPUR student team up to advance microrobot drug delivery Susan Glairon Fri, 10/03/2025 - 14:46

SPUR student Joshua Smith joined researchers in the Shields Lab to develop microrobots that actively deliver drugs to the lungs—an innovative approach that could transform treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Off

Traditional

White

Frugal engineering innovator Saad Bhamla headed to �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

Susan Glairon — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 22:30:42 +0000

Frugal engineering innovator Saad Bhamla headed to �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Susan Glairon Wed, 10/01/2025 - 16:30

Susan Glairon

Saad Bhamla, a pioneering scientist known for studying unusual biological systems and inventing ultra-low-cost medical devices, will join the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the BioFrontiers Institute in August. His work blends biology, engineering and frugal science.

Off

Traditional

White

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder's chemical engineering ranked 11 among public universities

Susan Glairon — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:20:15 +0000

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder's chemical engineering ranked 11 among public universities Susan Glairon Fri, 09/26/2025 - 13:20

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s chemical engineering program retained its No. 11 spot among public engineering programs in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report. ChBE's biological engineering program was not ranked, likely due to the program’s newness and the field’s typical association with agricultural programs in USN&WR.

Off

Traditional

White

Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship

Susan Glairon — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:36:42 +0000

Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship Susan Glairon Tue, 09/23/2025 - 18:36

Susan Glairon

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been named the recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry's 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship, a prestigious award recognizing outstanding early-career researchers in the field. The honor is awarded by the Soft Matter editorial board to an early-career scientist who has made significant contributions to soft matter research, selected from a pool of nominees put forward by the scientific community.

Soft matter is a branch of physics and materials science that studies materials that are easily deformed by external forces — typically lying between solid and liquid states.

Gupta is the principal director of the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow, and Electrokinetics (LIFE) in �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, where a team employs theoretical, numerical and experimental methods to study transport phenomena in electrochemical, microfluidic and biophysical systems.

Gupta’s contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12, Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, Air Force Young Investigator Award, AIChE 35 Under 35, Dream Chemistry Lecture, NSF CAREER Award, Soft Matter Emerging Investigator Award and the Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from IIT Delhi.

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is one of only two institutions — along with MIT — to have two recipients of the Soft Matter Lectureship. Professor Tim White received the honor in 2019.

Read about Gupta's scientific journey in Soft Matter's Q&A

Adding to a growing list of honors, Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship — a prestigious recognition of outstanding early-career researchers in the field.

Off

Traditional

White

Kristi Anseth awarded National Academy of Engineering's founders award

Susan Glairon — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:40:33 +0000

Kristi Anseth awarded National Academy of Engineering's founders award Susan Glairon Tue, 09/16/2025 - 09:40

Susan Glairon

Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth, of chemical and biological engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Simon Ramo Founders Award by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) “for outstanding contributions to new bioresponsive polymeric materials and their applications in tissue engineering and for leadership in biomaterial science education and research.”

Anseth, also the associate faculty director of �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute, designs biomaterials that interact with living tissues to promote repair and regeneration, aiding in healing injuries and diseases. Her lab works with hydrogels—a degradable biomaterial—to deliver molecules at the right time and sequence to accelerate the healing process. Her team is also growing miniaturized versions of heart cells and tissues, known as organoids, to better understand disease mechanisms and explore new types of heart disease treatments, such as to repair heart muscles after heart attacks.

Anseth is also among the select few innovators elected to all three National Academies: Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Beyond her scientific contributions, she has been recognized with more than 50 major awards and delivered over 60 honorary lectureships worldwide.

Read the NAE story

Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth, also the associate faculty director of �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute, designs biomaterials that interact with living tissues to promote repair and regeneration, aiding in healing injuries and diseases. Her lab works with hydrogels—a degradable biomaterial—to deliver molecules at the right time and sequence to accelerate the healing process.

Off

Traditional

White

Building community around electrochemistry and energy innovation

Susan Glairon — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 13:56:48 +0000

Building community around electrochemistry and energy innovation Susan Glairon Sat, 09/13/2025 - 07:56

Professor Mike Toney

Building on the momentum of the well-attended 2023 materials chemistry gathering, a new workshop brought together students, faculty and national lab staff from across the Front Range for a focused conversation on electrochemistry—with a strong emphasis on batteries, energy storage and the role of machine learning in accelerating innovation.

Professor Michael Toney, co-organizer for the 2025 Front Range Electrochemistry Workshop (FREW), explained that while the meeting broadly addressed electrochemical science, this year’s focus on batteries reflects their increasing relevance to everything from electric vehicles to renewable energy infrastructure.

“Electrochemistry is a very energy-efficient way of driving chemical reactions to produce useful products,” he said. “That includes emerging battery technologies, which are key to storing electricity generated by solar or wind when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.”

Among the invited speakers was Assistant Professor Kayla Sprenger, who spoke on her group's innovative approaches using simulations to model battery interfaces. The event aimed not only to highlight cutting-edge research—including the potential of AI to optimize battery materials and testing—but also to build community among graduate students and early-career researchers. As Toney noted, many students work in small lab groups and don’t always realize how many peers and potential collaborators are just a short drive away.

Co-organized with Eric Toberer, a physics professor at Colorado School of Mines, the workshop also included collaborative pitch sessions, where student teams proposed new research ideas for cash prizes. Pitch and poster session awardees included CEAS graduate students Loren Andrews, Rebecca Beswick, Peter Romero, Bryce Rives and Cindy Wong.

With around 100 attendees—mostly students—the event fostered both technical exchange and professional networking, creating space for new ideas, mentorship and cross-institution partnerships across the region.

Read the RASEI story

Co-organized by Professor Mike Toney, the 2025 Front Range Electrochemistry Workshop (FREW) broadly addressed electrochemical science, with this year’s focus on batteries reflecting their growing importance to everything from electric vehicles to renewable energy infrastructure. Assistant Professor Kayla Sprenger was an invited speaker.

Off

Traditional

White

New single-dose, temperature-stable rabies vaccines could expand global access

Susan Glairon — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 20:49:34 +0000

New single-dose, temperature-stable rabies vaccines could expand global access Susan Glairon Fri, 09/05/2025 - 14:49

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder researchers, led by Ted Randolph, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, have developed a groundbreaking temperature-stable rabies vaccine that combines multiple doses into a single shot—an innovation that could vastly improve global access to life-saving immunization.

Off

Traditional

White

Kristi Anseth named Forbes "50 over 50" for "Innovation"

Susan Glairon — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:37:13 +0000

Kristi Anseth named Forbes "50 over 50" for "Innovation" Susan Glairon Tue, 08/12/2025 - 09:37

Professor Kristi Anseth is known for developing tissue substitutes that improve treatments for conditions like broken bones and heart valve disease. She recently made key discoveries about sex-based differences in cardiac treatment outcomes. Anseth is also among the few innovators elected to all three national academies: Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Off

Traditional

White

Professor Kim See joins Chemical and Biological Engineering

Susan Glairon — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 18:50:33 +0000

Professor Kim See joins Chemical and Biological Engineering Susan Glairon Mon, 08/11/2025 - 12:50

See is advancing new technologies to boost the performance of future sustainable batteries.

Off

Traditional

White

New cancer therapy clings to tumors, with inspiration from gecko toes

Susan Glairon — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:15:45 +0000

New cancer therapy clings to tumors, with inspiration from gecko toes Susan Glairon Tue, 07/22/2025 - 15:15

A gecko-inspired technology developed by the Shields Lab, in collaboration with doctors at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, uses a specially designed material that adheres to tumors inside the body and steadily releases chemotherapy drugs over several days—potentially allowing for fewer but longer-lasting therapies.

Off

Traditional

White

News

Shields Lab and SPUR student team up to advance microrobot drug delivery

Off

Frugal engineering innovator Saad Bhamla headed to �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder

Off

�鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder's chemical engineering ranked 11 among public universities

Off

Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship

Off

Kristi Anseth awarded National Academy of Engineering's founders award

Off

Building community around electrochemistry and energy innovation

Off

New single-dose, temperature-stable rabies vaccines could expand global access

Off

Kristi Anseth named Forbes "50 over 50" for "Innovation"

Off

Professor Kim See joins Chemical and Biological Engineering

Off

New cancer therapy clings to tumors, with inspiration from gecko toes

Off

Frugal engineering innovator Saad Bhamla headed to �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder's chemical engineering ranked 11 among public universities