Chemical & Biological Engineering

Project Description In this research effort we aim to assess the engineering students’ cultural wealth at three selected institutions (University of Colorado Boulder, James Madison University and Angelo State University) and to understand how engineering students’ personal values relate to beliefs about engineering. Findings from this research will tremendously assist...

Project Description In this project you will learn to synthesize and modify upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) for protein conjugation. You will analyze different methods of chemically conjugating photoreactive proteins to the UCNPs. Once conjugated, you will explore the distribution of photoreactive fusion protein-UCNP conjugates in in vitro cell models including tumor...

Project Description Student will work with the Hannigan Lab to develop and refurbish air and soil quality environmental monitors which use low-cost sensors to measure soil and air quality indicators in rural high schools in Colorado. Student will be working with low costs sensors, embedded systems and we based data...

Project Description In this project, you will learn how to synthesize mesoporous silica nanoparticles, hydrophobically modify their surface, and attach phospholipids to the hydrophobic surface. In addition, you will learn how to synthesize Janus phospholipid capped, hydrophobically modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles. After learning to synthesize these particles, you will learn...

Project Description Prof. Crimaldi runs the Ecological Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, where we use a combination of experimental and numerical approaches to study fluid stirring, mixing, and reactions, and to investigate how organisms have evolved and adapted to opportunities and constraints associated with their physical environment. We have a particular interest...

Project Description This project is part of larger studies that aim to understand soft tissue injury susceptibility. In these studies, we quantify the differences in injury mechanics of knee ligaments from multiple mouse model comparisons, including genetically-modified mice and treadmill exercised mice vs. caged controls. These differences in mechanical function...

Project Description The objective of this project is to identify differences in osteocyte mechanobiological function in response to exposure to breast cancer and mechanical loading. These differences will be determined via histological staining and image analysis of relevant osteocyte-derived proteins. Our previous work demonstrates that skeletal mechanical signals have an...

Project Description Biosensing is an essential part of patient diagnosis, pandemic response, and disease management; however, many biosensing techniques require complex preparation and processing steps. This project will explore use of acoustic trapping of biomarker-specific microparticles in microfluidic channels – a technique termed “acoustofluidic trapping” – for simplified purification and...

Project Description Many applications of drop-based microfluidics have been explored in recent years, ranging from drug targeting to micro-chemical reactors. Understanding the physics of drop motion in rectangular microchannels is key to provide insights when designing such applications. Our group has previously developed computational methods to similar such systems, whereas...

Project Description Self-propulsion at the micrometer or nanometer scale is ubiquitous in biological systems around and within us. Inspired by this biological phenomena, there has been immense interest in creating synthetic microswimmers, i.e. self-propelling particles. However, most of the computational studies in this domain are limited to spheroidal or cylindrical...