Highlights of 2013

CU Boulder's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE) thrived in 2013, with large grants won by faculty, prestigious awards bestowed upon both faculty and students, and impactful research highlighted in prominent journals. Read about some ChBE highlights from the past year, and keep up with the department by joining us on LinkedIn.

Kristi Anseth

Kristi Anseth Elected to National Academy of Sciences

May 2, 2013

Our congratulations to Kristi Anseth , who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences . Kristi, who is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, now joins a very select group of scientists/engineers (approximately 15) who are members of all three...

Ryan Gill

CU-Led Team Receives $9.2 Million DOE Grant to Engineer E. coli into Biofuels

Feb. 15, 2013

Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE) Associate Professor and Patten Fellow Ryan Gill and his team have been awarded $9.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for research aimed at engineering E. coli to produce biofuels such as ethylene and isobutanol. “This is a fantastic opportunity to take what...

MSE Director Chris Bowman

Bowman Heads Newly Launched Materials Science and Engineering Program

Aug. 27, 2013

CU’s newly established PhD degree program in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) welcomed its first graduate students as well as the first new faculty hire into the program this fall thanks in large part to the efforts of MSE Director and ChBE Distinguished Professor Chris Bowman . “We are really...

Ted Randolph

Ted Randolph and Team Awarded $4.4M by NIH to Study Aggregation of Therapeutic Proteins

Feb. 24, 2013

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institute of Health (NIH) has announced that it will provide CU Boulder with a $4.4M Biotechnology Research Partnership grant to study aggregation of therapeutic protein molecules. The Research Partnership is headed by ChBE Prof. Ted Randolph and includes ChBE...

Nature Communications

Medlin and Schwartz's Biorefining Catalysis Work Published in Nature Communications

Oct. 7, 2013

CU Chemical and Biological Engineering Professors Will Medlin and Dan Schwartz have discovered a way to improve biorefining catalysts used to convert biomass to fuel. Their work, which was recently published in Nature Communications , involves adding alkanethiols to the catalyst to hinder undesirable reactions. The hydrodeoxygenation of furfural is...

Al Weimer

Weimer Awarded $3.6 Million for New Way to Produce Magnesium for Auto Parts

Sept. 19, 2013

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Al Weimer has been awarded a three-year, $3.6 million grant from the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a new process to produce magnesium that can be used to make lightweight vehicle parts. Weimer and his research team will use the...

Phillips 66 committed $3.5 million

Phillips 66 Partners with ChBE

May 28, 2013

Phillips 66 takes investment in the future seriously. For years, the company has partnered with ChBE, supporting the department’s students, facilities and events along with other CU departments and programs. When the decision was made to build the cutting-edge Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (JSCBB), Phillips 66 committed $3.5 million...

Multi-tube solar reactor

Weimer and Musgrave Develop New Water Splitting Technique for H2 Production

Aug. 5, 2013

The research groups of Professors Al Weimer and Charles Musgrave have developed a radically new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel. A paper on...

Christine Hrenya

Christine Hrenya Named Editor of Aerosol Science and Technology

April 5, 2013

The past several months have been exciting for Professor Christine Hrenya . In addition to receiving a $1.5M industry-sponsored grant for fundamental particle flow research , a $450K grant for solar power plant research , and a BFA Excellence in Teaching Award , Christine has now been named an Editor...

Arthi Jayaraman

Arthi Jayaraman Wins 2013 AIChE CoMSEF and 2014 ACS PMSE Young Investigator Awards

July 15, 2013

In addition to her recently received 2013 CoMSEF Young Investigator Award , Patten Assistant Professor Arthi Jayaraman has now been honored as a 2014 American Chemical Society (ACS) Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Young Investigator . Jayaraman is one of thirteen Young Investigators chosen to present in the PMSE...

Rich Noble

Rich Noble Honored with IChemE Innovator of the Year Award

Nov. 8, 2013

Professor Rich Noble received the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) 2013 Innovator of the Year Award this month at the IChemE Awards and Annual Dinner in the United Kingdom. This international award recognizes the individual who best demonstrates his or her achievements and tangible application of chemical, biochemical and/or process...

Professor John Falconer working on the learncheme.com website.

ChBE Pioneers Active Learning Tools

May 29, 2013

ChBE has been on the forefront of innovative teaching for years. The department was an early adopter of student response systems (clickers), which have been used in some ChBE courses with ConcepTests and peer instruction for almost a decade. ConcepTests challenge students with qualitative questions that are not answered by...

Jia Chew

Jia Chew Awarded 2013 AIChE Best Ph.D. Thesis in Particle Technology

June 18, 2013

Congratulations to Dr. Jia Chew , who was awarded the 2013 AIChE Best Ph.D. Thesis in Particle Technology for her experimental research on the impact of polydispersity on multiphase flows. Dr. Chew received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2011 as a member of Christine Hrenya’s research group. She has...

Nanoly CEO Balaji Sridhar (third from left) and other members of the Nanoly Bioscience team.

Nanoly Bioscience to Develop CU-Boulder Vaccine Stabilization Technology

Oct. 7, 2013

Nanoly Bioscience and the University of Colorado recently entered into an option agreement that will enable the startup company to develop a technique developed in the labs of ChBE Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth for protecting vaccines during delivery to rural and less-developed areas of the world. The most needed vaccines...

Rudy Kahsar demonstrates a catalytic reaction

ChBE Hosts Middle School Students for a Science & Engineering Field Day

May 21, 2013

ChBE graduate students hosted 87 middle school students on May 11 for a Science & Engineering Field Day at the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (JSCBB). Students traveled from across the Denver-metro area, as far north as Loveland and as far south as Littleton, to take part in the day’s...