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On her own terms—Arianna McCarty brings excellence to everything she does, from everyday tasks to her highest pursuits

Susan Glairon — Tue, 12 May 2026 19:01:47 +0000

On her own terms—Arianna McCarty brings excellence to everything she does, from everyday tasks to her highest pursuits Susan Glairon Tue, 05/12/2026 - 13:01

Susan Glairon

In 2021, Arianna McCarty was a high school junior taking calculus 3 and planning a future in medicine. When the pandemic hit, she turned an unexpected setback into a new direction — one that led her to engineering and launched a fast-rising career in research.

In May, McCarty graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder summa cum laude with honors in chemical and biological engineering and as the Outstanding Graduate of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, along with some of the nation’s most competitive undergraduate awards and scholarships.

Her awards include a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP); a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation; a Churchill Scholarship, which includes one year of master’s study at Cambridge University; and a Goldwater Scholarship.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, McCarty’s classes at Centaurus High School in Lafayette quickly moved fully online, and she soon found herself unchallenged and wanting more.

“Because I wasn't yet 18, I couldn't volunteer in a clinical role,” McCarty said. “So I started thinking about research. It was something I’d planned to pursue in college, and it became a ‘why not start now?’ kind of thing.”

Encouraged by her older brother and his partner, McCarty contacted ̽��Ƶ professors about computational research opportunities, as in-person lab work was rare during the pandemic.

She soon began working with the Layer Lab at ̽��Ƶ’s BioFrontiers Institute, in partnership with Children's Hospital Colorado, analyzing sequencing technologies for patients with difficult-to-sequence genomic regions. At the same time, she enrolled in Colorado Early Colleges, where she took college classes concurrently at Front Range Community College.

Upon graduation, McCarty was awarded the Boettcher Scholarship, a highly competitive merit-based award for Colorado high school seniors.

Turning point

Arianna McCarty performs an adherence assay experiment
in the Clark Lab at CU Anschutz.

McCarty says she loved computational research, but soon realized she also wanted a hands-on lab experience.

The summer after her freshman year, she joined the Clark Lab at CU Anschutz through the Boettcher Foundation, where she studied the respiratory microbiome and investigated how native bacteria in the respiratory tract can protect against pathogens.

Still thinking about a career in medicine, she drove daily to the Anschutz campus for full days of research, then attended classes several evenings a week at Denver Health to earn her Emergency Medical Technician certificate.

In the fall of her sophomore year, she worked as an emergency room (ER) technician at a level one trauma center at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies and on the medical surgery floor at Boulder Community Health. As a technician, she collected vital signs, inserted IVs and performed EKGs, often in trauma situations. On the medical-surgery floor, she provided ongoing patient care, including post-surgery support, monitoring vitals and responding to call lights.

At that point, she was working roughly 40 hours a week on night shifts while also managing her college classes, several part-time jobs and research. The demanding experience prompted a turning point and set her on a new path.

“I bit off more than I could chew,” McCarty said. “I didn’t have time for my friends. I wasn’t as engaged in my coursework, especially after having been awake for 36 hours.

“I enjoyed patient care and working in a hospital, but I eventually decided it wasn't worth doing night shifts for a decade,” she continued. “The work was a very structured, systematic, flowchart-like process. It didn’t engage me as much as research does. It was difficult emotionally to leave my medical plan behind, but it felt easy to pivot to research, which I find very gratifying.”

Road to research

McCarty is interested in tissue engineering—the process of building biological tissues in the lab—and regenerative medicine, which focuses on repairing damaged tissues. To gain research experience in those areas before attending graduate school, she joined the Burdick Biomaterials and Biofabrication Laboratory through the Young Scholars Summer Research Program and has continued her work with that lab.

Arianna McCarty presenting her research at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting in San Diego.

This fall, one of her academic awards, the Churchill Scholarship, will take her to the University of Cambridge for a one-year Master of Philosophy in biological sciences. During that time, she will work under Dr. Sam Behjati at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a world-renowned genomics research center, conducting computational research to study genetic information from individual cells while engaging with an international research community.

McCarty’s focus will be on the adolescent immune system. Her goal is to better understand why pediatric blood cancers such as leukemia arise and to help inform potential therapies, McCarty said.

“More broadly, this experience will strengthen my computational skill set as I prepare to pursue a PhD in the United States,” she said.

Passion unearthed

Although McCarty entered ̽��Ƶ with a significant number of college credits, she remained enrolled at ̽��Ƶ for the traditional four years, completing her degree requirements as a junior, then spending her senior year taking graduate courses and exploring subjects that interested her.

“I discovered a love for philosophy,” said McCarty. “CU offers uniquely strong programs that introduce engineers to these ideas through the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society and the Engineering Leadership Program (ENLP). The Engineering Honors Program offers a freshman critical encounters course that introduces more philosophical readings. I've been able to take advantage of all these opportunities.”

Arianna McCarty receives the Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year in the leadership category from the National Student Employment Association. Standing to the right is Professor Rob Davis, who nominated McCarty for the Award.

While winning numerous awards and scholarships for her academic and research pursuits, McCarty also received national and campus teaching awards, including the Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year from the National Student Employment Association for her work as a course assistant and mentor.

McCarty said her new-found passion for teaching surprised her. Since her sophomore year, she's held office hours, assisted in grading papers and given several lectures.

“I've had a blast with it,” she said. “I've been the teaching assistant for a group of students and have watched them grow from taking the introductory material and energy balances course to being a course assistant for their senior design class. It's been an unexpected, gratifying experience to be a part of that journey and community.

“The student employee awards have been more meaningful than some of the big-name awards,” she continued. “There’s something powerful about feeling that the people around me—within my department and among those I look up to—hold my work in high regard.”

She fondly remembers giving a brief lecture on leadership and having students come up afterward to share how much they enjoyed it.

“Those experiences made it clear to me that what I’m doing can have a direct, positive impact. A lot of what’s been motivating me towards being a professor outside of research is that I have enjoyed teaching and mentoring. I hope that as I progress through my career, I can continue mentoring, formally or informally and directly impact students' lives.”

Future plans

McCarty hopes to integrate all of her previous lab experiences in tissue engineering, immunology and computation into a unified research focus. She plans to become a professor and establish her own regenerative medicine lab.

Her top choice is to pursue her PhD at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Although she was accepted, the program could not defer her admission until after she completed her master’s at the University of Cambridge. Instead of choosing one of the numerous other PhD programs she was accepted to, she plans to reapply to Johns Hopkins after finishing her year at Cambridge.

In many ways, McCarty has come full circle, hoping her research will help heal patients in the same way she once hoped to work with them directly.

“In terms of research, the ultimate goal is human health impact,” she said. “At the end of the day it would be fantastic to figure out some way to make organs in a lab and how to heal different types of wounds.

“But those are more lofty pies in the sky. A lot of progress in science comes from small, incremental steps that eventually lead to big end goals. I’m interested in how research moves from the lab into the real world and makes an impact, rather than just staying in academic papers that never get used.

“It’s my ultimate goal — for my research to help improve patient care.”

A conversation with Arianna McCarty

It seems you are on the go all the time. How do you stay grounded?

I spend time with my people. I like having my few close friends, and I stick to them. I am not someone who texts 100 friends. I couldn't keep that up. My sanity check is to spend time with my friends or my partner, have random late-night conversations, cook dinner together and enjoy the little in-between moments of life.

What kept you motivated during those long shifts in the emergency room?

I really enjoyed the ER. It's a 12-hour night shift, and those shifts are not for the faint of heart. But there's a sense of triumph and success in doing it, and also a strong sense of community with everyone around you going through the same thing.

It was similar in Professor Jason Burdick’s Lab. When we were there late at night, we'd start playing random fun music, and we'd dance. It’s nice to feel like you're all in it together.

What could students do to stand out?

If you are not the most hardworking person, intelligence doesn't mean much. At the end of the day, you need to put in long hours even when you don't want to. Be the person who organizes a club's Google Drive and who stays after a club meeting to clean up pizza boxes and close the door. No one wants to do it, but it will be helpful.

Over time, this will set you apart and make it clear how engaged and caring you are, to the point that others start asking for your opinions. Before long, you’ll find yourself in a leadership position with the opportunity to contribute even more.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

A big thank you goes to my brother, Bryan McCarty, and Dr. Jessica Stelzel, his fiancée. Both have been mentors for me since high school.

It's the same with Professor Jason Burdick, Assistant Professor Ryan Layer, and a huge shout out to Assistant Professor Sarah Clark at CU Anschutz. She was the first to let me go wild with my scientific curiosities. I would send her the things I was curious about and how I wanted to test them, and she was game. She gave me a lot of advice and mentorship on the way.

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Inside Dragan Mejic’s shop: where students grow and ideas take shape

Susan Glairon — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:54:05 +0000

Inside Dragan Mejic’s shop: where students grow and ideas take shape Susan Glairon Tue, 05/05/2026 - 08:54

Susan Glairon

Dragan Mejic stands in his machine shop in front of a large milling machine.

In February, Dragan Mejic received a 2026 Chancellor’s Employee of the Year Award. Nominated by his colleagues, this distinguished annual award celebrates staff for their outstanding contributions to ̽��Ƶ, going above and beyond their defined job duties to make a meaningful difference.

Step inside Dragan Mejic’s machine shop, and the past and present blurs. Workhorse machines built in the 1950s are still used to cut metal. Raw materials labeled with long-retired professors’ names haunt his shelves.

This is Mejic’s 25th year as the instrument shop supervisor for ̽��Ƶ’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

“Yeah, a long time,” he says.

His work includes decades of designing and crafting hardware for PhD students, some of whom have gone on to become CEOs and founders of top companies.

When he started his position at ̽��Ƶ, the machine shop, then housed in the Engineering Center, seemed more like a museum, he says. Over the years, Mejic added modern equipment, such as a computerized milling machine, which cuts metal with a rotating tool, and automated lathes for cutting large chunks of stainless steel. Twelve years into his tenure, the shop moved to the basement of the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building, where it remains today.

Everything he does—fittings, lines, connections, custom pieces—involves high-precision work.

“You're talking plus or minus a couple thousandths of an inch, half of a human hair,” he says. “Everything needs to be exact to seal at high pressure and fit together.”

Dragan Mejic and Allan Lewandowski stand beside a solar device used for the Sol-Char sanitation project in 2012. The system uses solar energy to convert human waste into biochar, a carbon-rich material that can improve soil.

Beginnings

Mejic receives his Chancellor's Employee of the Year award.

When faculty receive research grants, they often need specialized mechanical systems to make their experiments possible.

That's where Mejic comes in. Over the years, he has designed and built a wide range of systems, from filtration units that pump saltwater through membranes, to bioreactors for mechanically stimulating tissue grown outside the human body, to ultra-high temperature reactors that drive chemical reactions to produce hydrogen. He’s also engineered advanced materials that combine the properties of base materials with fine powder coatings.

“We’ve maintained a very high success rate,” Mejic says. “Even when something doesn’t work, there’s still value in what you learn. What matters most is generating valid experimental data. Sometimes an unforeseen anomaly can lead to new discoveries.”

Over the years, he’s seen the pace pick up, the research grants becoming more demanding. When Mejic started, sponsors gave researchers two years to report their final results. Now, it’s a conference call each month.

“They want to know what'd you do yesterday? What'd you do today? What are you going to do tomorrow?”

He often works closely with PhD students whose faculty mentors have tasked them with helping develop the platforms for their experiments.

“Some students come to me stressed out,” he says. “Sometimes they cry.”

Figuring it out

Although the graduate students typically have backgrounds in chemical engineering, sometimes their only exposure to mechanical systems was a half-semester senior undergraduate lab.

Dragan Mejic works at a bench in his machine shop.

“You can't build a system if you don't know what you're going to do with it. So it's a back and forth process, with a lot of questions,” Mejic says. “The professors can’t hold everybody’s hands; some groups have 16, 20 people. So they give the students rudimentary instructions: this is what I want you to do; this is the amount of time to do it.”

After determining what they need, Mejic uses computer aided design (CAD) software to create the initial design. He then sends screenshots to the students. “How does this look? Will this fit in your space? What does your work area look like?”

Once Mejic built a system that was so tall it could only be utilized at an off-site partnering company. Other systems are tiny, like the cell he made to test water filtration membranes for the International Space Station. The students now want a larger version made from high-strength plastic.

Mejic constantly juggles projects, shifting between design, drawings, materials, machining and delivery. It can be chaotic and demanding.

“Students usually want stuff within a week,” he says. “I'm pretty fast, but sometimes I can't deliver it when they want it. We have to scale expectations back, but we do our best to make sure they have something to show the sponsor when they have their ‘go/no-go’ meetings.”

Sometimes students wander in the shop. They lost or stripped a bolt, or something’s stuck, and they're unsure how to fix it. Mejic will take 15 minutes to help them. But he’s always thinking about the bottom line, the billable projects.

“This is a cost-recovery operation,” he says. “We bill people per hour, which goes into the shop account.”

Natural talent

Despite time constraints and the pressures of funding, Mejic has a natural talent for working with students and helping them build important confidence and technical skills.

“I see them from the beginning when they know nothing,” Mejic says. “We had an issue yesterday with a leaking heat cartridge. It wasn't something I made; it was something I integrated to the cell. I'm like, ‘Let me think about it. I'm not really sure how we're gonna handle this.’ Then the student and her lab partner came up with a solution.

“She wouldn't have been able to do that four years ago,” he continues. “It’s from being with us and building so many things. The students pick things up quickly, and they want to learn. When I explain something to them, they take it to heart, and it sticks.”

Many students return after finishing their projects to thank him. “A lot of them will come by and say, ‘Hey, I never would have gotten where I needed to go without the stuff you made for me.’ Sometimes they’ll bring a box of chocolates. It’s sweet.”

When he first started, Mejic was close in age to the graduate students. “They’d say, ‘Let's go cycling after work,’ and we’d ride to Lyons and back. Or, ‘Let's watch a movie and have a couple beers.’ It's funny working here. You watch yourself age, and the grad students always stay the same age.”

He still keeps in touch with some of those former students.

“Now the hiring engineers are CU graduates,” he says. “There’s a deep connection with companies built on technology developed here.

“It’s been a long journey."

Talking shop with Dragan Mejic

A half dozen companies have emerged from technology developed in Dragan Mejic’s machine shop. For example, during his PhD, Paul Lichty (MechEngr BS‘06, ChemEngr PhD ’11) worked with Mejic to develop an 1,800° C water-cooled reactor, which was tested at the high-flux solar furnace in Golden operated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (now National Laboratory of the Rockies).

Today, Lichty is the CEO of Forge Nano, which recently announced plans to go public. Mejic also built some of the original systems for Big Blue Technologies and VitraVax.

It looks like you played a large part in starting these companies.

Some came in knowing exactly what they wanted me to build, while others had only rough ideas. We built the equipment they used to prove their technology. Once they begin scaling up to the size of a van or larger, they typically move on to other manufacturers. But it can be difficult to find companies willing to build small prototypes while also providing design input at those early stages. That’s the role we filled.

Most manufacturers focus either on very large systems or high-volume production. They’re not interested in making just a few units. We fill that gap. R&D manufacturing is a niche space, and even among those who do it, few offer the kind of design collaboration we provide.

Do you only work with the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering?

I work with anyone who has a speedtype. I’ve built equipment for civil engineering to test the breaking point of concrete, manufactured components for the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) supporting Mars missions and the International Space Station and created behavioral mouse cages for the Department of Integrative Physiology. Just about everything, for everyone. We also have private companies that rent space in the building, and I’ve built equipment for them as well.

As you look back, do you have a favorite project?

The Sol-Char team sits together by the solar panels used for the Sol-Char sanitation project.

One project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, focused on developing a sanitation system that used little to no water for use in less developed countries. ̽��Ƶ two dozen university teams competed at a composting toilet fair in India, and we made it to the finals. Our design for the Sol-Char Sanitation Project used concentrated solar energy to burn waste at ultra-high temperatures. We didn’t use real waste in testing; we used “NASA Number 2,” a synthetic substitute made from cotton, peanut butter, yeast and other ingredients. When we ran it, it smelled like roasting peanuts.

Finding the right components can be a challenge. At one point, we needed a fiber optic cable that could handle 200 kilowatts of concentrated solar energy without melting. We finally found a company that could provide one. Once everything came together, the system performed exactly as intended. The final unit was shipped overseas in an ocean freight container.

In the end, we didn’t make the final cut. Our system was too expensive, too complex and too vulnerable to theft and vandalism. It was, in many ways, too technical a solution for a very basic problem.

Another project that really sticks with me flew twice on a “vomit comet,” a plane used to simulate zero gravity.

The device launched small steel spheres at an oil-coated quartz plate, capturing the collisions and rebounds on video. The interaction between the liquid and solid surfaces has applications in medical coatings. The graduate student who led the work went on to a high-level role at Intel.

It was an especially challenging mechanical system because it could only function in zero gravity. You couldn’t fully test it in a normal lab setting. We did the best we could on the ground, and fortunately, it worked. The footage looked like the wildest pinball machine you’ve ever seen, with spheres ricocheting in every direction. I still have photos of the students floating above the setup in zero gravity.

What does it mean to you to receive this award?

It's nice so many people nominated me and thought highly of my contribution. It's a very big campus. People are scattered across it, and not everyone's aware of everything going on.

For 25 years, Dragan Mejic has helped bring research ideas to life in ̽��Ƶ’s machine shop, supporting hundreds of PhD students and contributing to technologies that have launched multiple companies. In February, Mejic received the 2026 Chancellor’s Employee of the Year Award.

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Honoring our 2026 department awardees

Susan Glairon — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:57:12 +0000

Honoring our 2026 department awardees Susan Glairon Fri, 05/01/2026 - 10:57

Susan Glairon

Ten undergraduate students won 11 awards from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Please click on their names to read more about our students' accomplishments.

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Driven to win: ̽��Ƶ qualifies again for national Chem-E-Car competition

Susan Glairon — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:47:24 +0000

Driven to win: ̽��Ƶ qualifies again for national Chem-E-Car competition Susan Glairon Wed, 04/29/2026 - 11:47

Susan Glairon

James Hempfling, Mizuki Green, Alex Tibbits and Izzy Culver hold their First-Place Poster Presentation and Second-Place Performance awards for their car, Stinkinator, which is powered by a zinc–alkaline battery system.

A little car named "Stinkinator" placed second in the Chem-E-Car car performance competition, qualifying ̽��Ƶ for the national American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Chem-E-Car competition next fall.

This marks the second consecutive year that ̽��Ƶ has advanced to the nationals, which will take place in November in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This year, ̽��Ƶ sent two teams to the Rocky Mountain regional competition held in Salt Lake City, Utah from April 10-11. Teams are composed of students representing chemical and biological engineering, mechanical engineering and various other engineering disciplines.

“Qualifying for the national competition again is both exciting and intimidating,” said Captain Mizuki Green, a sophomore in chemical engineering whose car, Stinkinator, qualified for the national competition. “We are proud to continue ̽��Ƶ’s legacy in this event and recognize the high standard set by previous senior teams. At the same time, we’re eager for the opportunity to learn, grow and build new connections within the chemical engineering community.”

The competition's goal is to design a shoebox-sized car powered by chemical reactions— such as a battery or an internal combustion engine — that stops at a specified distance using a time-dependent chemical reaction. The target distance is revealed just before the competition, and the team whose car stops closest to that distance wins.

Stinkinator placed second in the car performance competition and took first place in the poster presentation. The second-place win for car performance secured ̽��Ƶ a spot at the national AIChE competition.

The second car, a pressure car named “Pushin' P,” took second place in the poster presentation and fourth in car distance.

“We have never done this before, so it was difficult figuring out how to build an operating pressure car in general,” said Captain Katya Jassem, a junior in chemical engineering. Unlike the first team, the second team was made up entirely of chemical and biological engineering students.

Ethan Blair, Katya Jansem and Sergio Morales with their second-place Poster Presentation award, for their car, Pushin' P. Pushin' P is powered by an acid–base reaction between citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide gas. The buildup of gas creates pressure, which powers a pneumatic motor to drive the car

Stinkinator is powered by a zinc–alkaline battery system using pure zinc anodes and a potassium hydroxide electrolyte separator. The cathode is a copper–manganese dioxide paste with activated carbon, which serves as the primary energy source. To stop the car, aqueous hydrochloric acid is released into a sodium thiosulfate solution, triggering a reaction that produces solid sulfur—hence the name, Stinkinator.

Pushin’ P uses an acid–base reaction between citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide gas. The buildup of gas creates pressure, which powered a pneumatic motor to drive the car. After the reaction, the gas was directed through steel tubing from the reaction chamber to the motor, where it turned the system and propelled the car.

To control when the car stopped, the team used a calibration curve relating system pressure to travel distance, allowing them to calculate the correct reactant amounts in advance.

Throughout the year, ̽��Ƶ students designed, built and tested their car ideas in the chemical engineering undergraduate teaching lab, supported by Assistant Teaching Professor Ehsan Keyvani.

"These competitions involve an intensive, year-long process of iteration and refinement to master their craft.” Keyvani said.

The first semester is typically focused on brainstorming and initial engineering/testing. Once the second semester begins, activity ramps up. The first half is dedicated to testing, solidifying the car design and preparing the required competition documentation. In the second half of the spring semester, the team meets multiple times per week for extended sessions to ensure everything is competition-ready.

̽��Ƶ's Chem-E-Car club is supported by funding from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and has received Engineering Excellence Fund support in the past. Students interested in joining ̽��Ƶ's Chem-E-Club can send an email to chemecar@colorado.edu. The club can also be followed on Instagram at @boulderchemecar.

A little car named "Stinkinator" placed second in the Chem-E-Car car performance competition, paving the way for ̽��Ƶ to compete in the national competition next fall. The competition's goal is to design a shoebox-sized car powered by chemical reactions— such as a battery or an internal combustion engine — that stops at a specified distance using a time-dependent chemical reaction.

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2026 Outstanding Alumni Mentor of the Year: Ben Rains

Susan Glairon — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:51:39 +0000

2026 Outstanding Alumni Mentor of the Year: Ben Rains Susan Glairon Fri, 04/24/2026 - 07:51

Susan Glairon

Ben Rains (ChemEng’19) was named the 2026 Outstanding Alumni Mentor of the Year for his dedicated mentorship of Himaghna Kuntumalla, a graduating senior in chemical and biological engineering. A liaison for the Senior Design Projects class, Rains shares his insight to help students navigate career paths that align with their passions.

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Honoring our 2026 undergraduate college awardees

Susan Glairon — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:44:16 +0000

Honoring our 2026 undergraduate college awardees Susan Glairon Tue, 04/14/2026 - 14:44

Thirteen chemical and biological engineering undergraduate students won 18 awards from the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Please click on their names to read more about our students' accomplishments.

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Major osteoarthritis research featured in The New York Times

Susan Glairon — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:35:41 +0000

Major osteoarthritis research featured in The New York Times Susan Glairon Wed, 04/08/2026 - 09:35

Professor Stephanie Bryant is leading a $33.57 million federal grant to reverse osteoarthritis, and the New York Times is taking notice.

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A simple shot shows promise to reverse osteoarthritis within weeks

Susan Glairon — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:58:40 +0000

A simple shot shows promise to reverse osteoarthritis within weeks Susan Glairon Mon, 04/06/2026 - 15:58

A ̽��Ƶ-led team has developed a suite of new therapies aimed at reversing osteoarthritis in a single injection. With animal studies showing promise and funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health extended, the team could be ready for human trials by 2028. Professor Stephanie Bryant is the principal investigator of the project.

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Kristi Anseth receives the Biomaterials Global Impact Award

Susan Glairon — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:12:51 +0000

Kristi Anseth receives the Biomaterials Global Impact Award Susan Glairon Tue, 03/31/2026 - 07:12

Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth has received the Biomaterials Global Impact Award, which recognizes distinguished research and development accomplishments in the field of biomaterials.

The award will be presented at the 35th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials in Antwerp, Belgium, from September 7-11, 2026.

Anseth, also the associate faculty director of ̽��Ƶ’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.

Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth has received the Biomaterials Global Impact Award, which recognizes distinguished research and development accomplishments in the field of biomaterials. Anseth is known for developing tissue substitutes that improve treatments for conditions like broken bones and heart valve disease.

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Could 3D-printed livers make transplant lists a thing of the past?

Susan Glairon — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:30:09 +0000

Could 3D-printed livers make transplant lists a thing of the past? Susan Glairon Tue, 03/24/2026 - 08:30

̽��Ƶ researchers and partners at MIT, Harvard and Columbia are working to recreate the human liver’s complex structure in the lab. With support from a $25 million ARPA-H grant, the team aims to develop 3D-printed, transplantable liver tissue made from human cells that the body won’t reject. Professor Jason Burdick's lab at CU’s BioFrontiers Institute will lead the 3D printing component of the project.

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News

On her own terms—Arianna McCarty brings excellence to everything she does, from everyday tasks to her highest pursuits

Turning point

Road to research

Passion unearthed

Future plans

It seems you are on the go all the time. How do you stay grounded?

What kept you motivated during those long shifts in the emergency room?

What could students do to stand out?

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

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Inside Dragan Mejic’s shop: where students grow and ideas take shape

Beginnings

Figuring it out

Natural talent

It looks like you played a large part in starting these companies.

Do you only work with the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering?

As you look back, do you have a favorite project?

What does it mean to you to receive this award?

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Honoring our 2026 department awardees

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Driven to win: ̽����Ƶ qualifies again for national Chem-E-Car competition

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2026 Outstanding Alumni Mentor of the Year: Ben Rains

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Honoring our 2026 undergraduate college awardees

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Major osteoarthritis research featured in The New York Times

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A simple shot shows promise to reverse osteoarthritis within weeks

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Kristi Anseth receives the Biomaterials Global Impact Award

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Could 3D-printed livers make transplant lists a thing of the past?

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Driven to win: ̽��Ƶ qualifies again for national Chem-E-Car competition