Letter from the Chair—July 11, 2024

Dear ChBE Colleagues, Alumni and Friends,

My name is Ryan Hayward, and I am the new chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. It is an honor to step into this role and to have the opportunity to lead the direction of the department and connect with our alumni community. I joined the CU Boulder faculty in 2020, and you can read more about me in this article.

I am proud to lead our department, which is among the top chemical and biological engineering departments in the country. The CU Boulder chemical engineering graduate program was ranked No. 11 among public universities for 2024-25 and No. 14 for undergraduate programs in 2024 by U.S. News & World Report.

I would also like to introduce two new members of our faculty. Katie O'Harra is joining the department as a teaching assistant professor in the area of polymers. Trevor Franklin joins us as a teaching assistant professor, with a background that spans both industry and academia.

In another exciting development, the department has updated one of its undergraduate majors to offer students greater flexibility in exploring biological engineering-focused courses. Starting in August, and effective for incoming students, the Bachelor of Science degree in chemical and biological engineering (CBEN) will be renamed biological engineering (BIEN). Changing the major’s name from CBEN to BIEN was prompted by years of feedback from students, alumni and employers. 

In research news, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) granted $39 million to a CU Boulder-led team, including Professor Stephanie J. Bryant, to pioneer a single-shot joint treatment that would stop cartilage and bone erosion and promote regrowth. Assistant Professors Kayla Sprenger and Laurel Hind are on a collaborative mission to explore solutions for mitigating cognitive decline in individuals living with HIV. And Professor Ankur Gupta's lab is working on improving supercapacitors for energy storage by studying how they store energy at the nanoscale. 

Our students continue to thrive, again winning 25 percent of this spring's College of Engineering and Applied Science Graduating Student Awards.

You can read stories about all of this and more below.

I am excited about the future of our department and look forward to staying closely connected to our alumni, students, faculty and staff.

Warm regards,

Professor Ryan Hayward
Chair, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder