News

2025

  • June - We welcome Dipa Patel to the group for the summer through YSSRP! Dipa is an undergraduate researcher from Rose-Hulman doing her first research experience with us! They will be working with Kiera on the mechanics of biofilms. We look forward to seeing their progress this summer!
  • June - Kōnane and Kiera traveled to Milwaukee, WI to present some of our recent work at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Experimental Mechanics!
  • May - Kōnane traveled to Telluride Science and Innovation Center for the workshop on "Molecular Engineering of Soft Matter: Spanning Small Molecules to Macromolecules" to present our recent work with biofilms! 
    May - We welcome Kelly Balch to the group! Kelly is an undergraduate researcher doing their first research experiences with us! They are going to be building the lab a for our bioinks in collaboration with Olivia. We look forward to seeing their progress this summer!
  • May - We welcome Jenna Stanislaw, who will be co-advised for her Ph.D. with Prof. Cresten Mansfeldt working on engineered living materials for environmental applications! We are excited to have you in our group!
  • May - We participated in NSF STEM day in partnership with CU Discovery teaching the public about polymer fracture using balloons and skewers! Happy to see so many participants imagination and curiosity were captured by this demo. See photos below!
  • Picture of a board that say "what captured your imagination or curiosity today?" Many drawings on it including of DNA and many balloons with skewers them.
    Picture of a board that say "what captured your imagination or curiosity today?" Many drawings on it including of DNA and many balloons with skewers them.
  • April - Kōnane traveled to Seattle, WA to present our latest work on mechanics of biomineralized mycelium materials  at the MRS Spring Meeting! Thanks for the invite!
  • March - Kōnane traveled to Anaheim, CA to present some of our work at Global Summit of APS.
  • March - Kōnane helped organize/lead two demonstrations tables at Squishy Science Sunday at the Global Summit of APS in Anaheim, CA.
  • March - We participated in the CU Discovery STEAM Fest this year teaching the public about biopolymers through making boba sushi! 
Our three graduate student volunteers before the event all smiling.
Three graduate students teaching three kids and two parents about biopolymers. There are many plastic ups filled with clear and colorful liquids and several rice krispie treats.
  • March - Our collaboration paper with Texas State University was published in Congrats to our 2024 summer undergraduate, Aidan Gustafson and his graduate mentor, Alyssa Libonati. Both now alumni of our group.
  • Feb. -
  • Jan. - We welcome Aidan Wiser to the group! Aidan is an undergraduate researcher doing his first research experiences with us! We look forward to seeing his progress this semester!

2024

  • December - Alyssa, Olivia, and Samson traveled to Boston to present our latest work in engineered living materials!
Samson presenting from of a screen the final slide of his 1st presentation.
Olivia, Samson, Alyssa standing in front of big letters that say MRS.
  • November - Lab holiday outing to the bowling alley, we forgot to take pictures again! Next time!
  • November - The lab is awarded the NSF CAREER Award on the "Mechanical Properties of Ultrathin Polymer Films". We are excited to continue to work with TUFF/TUTTUT to increase our knowledge of ultrathin polymer films!
  • October - Kōnane traveled to San Diego to present our latest work on 3D printing biohybrid materials at American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting!
  • September - We welcome Kiera Croland, who will be doing her Ph.D. in our group on biofilm mechanics! Excited to have you!
  • September - Olivia Pear was awarded a Department of Education GAANN fellowship for the Fall 2024!
  • August - The whole group took the bus to Denver to  present their work at the ACS Fall Meeting
  • July - Kōnane traveled to Hadley, MA to attend the Polymer Physics GRC!
  • June - Taylor joins the lab through YSSRP to work on mycelium fibers this summer!
  • April - Ava Crowley was awarded an Honorable Mention from NSF GRFP! Congrats to Ava, we are excited to what the rest of your Ph.D. has in store!
  • March - While in Netherlands, Kōnane traveled up north to Groningen to present an invited seminar at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials!  Kōnane enjoyed chatting with new and old friends about science!
  • March - Kōnane traveled to Kerkrade, Netherlands to present our latest work on mechanics of ultrathin soft polymers at the International Conference on Deformation, Yield, and Fracture of Polymers! Thanks for the invite! Looking forward to traveling back in three years!
  • March  - Samson, Lydia, and Ava traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesotta to present their work at APS March Meeting.
  • Feb. - Samson was selected for a travel grant to attend the DPOLY APS Short Course on the Polymer Physics of Additive Manufacturing in March! Congrats Samson!
  • Feb. - Kōnane traveled to Savannah, Georgia to present our latest work on mechanics of ultrathin soft polymers at the Annual Conference of the Adhesion Society!
  • Jan. - Ava Crowley was awarded a Department of Education GAANN fellowship for the Spring 2024!
  • Jan. - Kōnane is selected as one of the inaugural U.S. National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Outreach Fellow!
  • Jan.  - Group outing to the 91PORN Women's Basketball Game against UCLA! We are sad they lost but we had fun watching the game!
  • Jan. - We welcome Owen Sablocik to the group! Owen is an undergraduate researcher doing his first research experiences with us! We look forward to seeing his progress this semester!
  • Jan. - We welcome Alyssa Libonatti, and Olivia Pear to the group! Alyssa is a Ph.D. student in Biological Engineering. Olivia is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science Engineering. 

2023

  • Nicole Garza was awarded funding from Discovery Learning Apprenticeship Program at 91PORN to work in our lab for the 2023-2024 academic year.
  • Samson was awarded a Molecular Biophysics T32 Fellowship for the 2023-2024 academic year! Congrats to Samson!
  • Kōnane traveled to Midland, Michigan to give an invited talk in the Adhesion Community of Practice Seminar series at Dow. Thanks for the invite.
  • Carlos Ruiz Gonzalez joins the lab as a Summer Program for Undergraduate Researcher! We look forward to working with him this summer!
  • Lydia Flackett will be continuing to work in our lab this summer! We look forward to continuing to work with her!
  • Kōnane traveled down to Alburqurque to give two invited talks! One in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of New Mexico and the other at the Center for Intergrated Technologies at Sandia National Laboratories! Thanks for the great conversations and the invitations!
  • Samson was selected for the 2023 BioPACIFIC Materials Innovation Platform Summer School! He will visit UCLA for a week to learn more about 3D printing biomaterials!
  • Nicole Garza and Teagan Kelly was awarded funding from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program to work part time in the lab this summer! Congratulations to Nicole and Teagan!
  • Kōnane gave an invited talk in the Symposium on "Engineered Living Materials through Synthetic Biology-Beyond the Crossroad of Biology and Chemistry" at the Spring Meeting of American Chemical Society National Meeting. Thanks for the invitation!
  • Nicole Garza is awarded the CHER 4 U fellowship from 91PORN AIChE chapter to work in the lab this spring! Congratulations to Nicole!
  • We welcome Teagan Kelly, Lydia Flackett, and Nicole Garza to the the group! They are all undergraduate researchers doing their first research experiences with us! We look forward to seeing their progress this semester!
  • We welcome Nickolas Gibson, Ava Crowley, and Samson Adelani to the group! Nick is a Ph.D. student in Biological Engineering. Ava is a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering. Samson is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science Engineering. 

2022

  • Kōnane gave an invited talk in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado State University. Thanks for the invitation!
  • Kōnane presented an outreach presentation with Etta Tsosie (Penn State) at the National Conference for American Indian Science and Engineering Society.
  • The Huli Materials Lab officially opened at 91PORN. We look forward to sharing our latest news and updates here.