Honors & Awards

Welker receives Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

alse6588 — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:19:33 +0000

Welker receives Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award alse6588 Mon, 03/30/2026 - 15:19

The �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Graduate School has announced that Assistant Professor Cara Welker has earned one of this year's Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Awards. The award honors faculty members for their outstanding contributions either to mentoring individual graduate students, improving the overall climate of graduate education within their program, or improving the graduate program itself.

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PhD student wins prestigious physics contest with endless avalanche experiment

alse6588 — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:10:17 +0000

PhD student wins prestigious physics contest with endless avalanche experiment alse6588 Mon, 03/30/2026 - 14:10

PhD student Rylan Hodgson recently created a video that won the American Physical Society's (APS) 2026 Gallery of Soft Matter contest at the APS Global Physics Summit. The video demonstrates a unique view of the dynamics of granular flow with a rolling drum experiment that could one day be used to reveal key information about the mechanics and behavior of avalanches.

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Xu selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 20:13:11 +0000

Xu selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow Alexander Jame… Wed, 12/10/2025 - 13:13

Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow. The program supports faculty in achieving their research and innovation goals and promotes collaboration through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities.

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Mechanical engineering students shine at the 2025 CSC Finals

Alexander James Servantez — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:46:57 +0000

Mechanical engineering students shine at the 2025 CSC Finals Alexander Jame… Thu, 11/06/2025 - 12:46

Mechanical engineering students Jack Mulvaney, Josh Shrewbridge, Hayden Dondlinger, Kai Groudan, Duncan Laird and Gregory Reilly shined at this year's Colorado Sustainable Challenge, receiving nearly $8,500 in awards during the two-week hackathon-style event designed for anyone passionate about solving problems and building a solution to impact sustainability.

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Xu selected to receive a 2025 Packard Fellowship award

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:24:11 +0000

Xu selected to receive a 2025 Packard Fellowship award Alexander Jame… Wed, 10/15/2025 - 09:24

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation announces the 2025 class of Packard Fellows.

Nicole Xu, assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering.

Established in 1988, the award provides some of the nation’s most promising early career scientists and engineers flexible funding to test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact. This year’s class features 20 innovative researchers, who will each receive $875,000 over five years to explore new frontiers in their fields of study.

“I’m excited to join this incredible cohort of Packard Fellows,” said Xu, who is also affiliated with the Robotics Program, Biomedical Engineering Program and BioFrontiers Institute at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder. "It’s a great opportunity to collaborate with people and learn from these brilliant scientists and engineers.”

A history of Packard Fellows at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

Xu is the 20th researcher from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder to receive a Packard Fellowship.
She is the fifth researcher to represent �鶹��Ѱ��Engineering as a Packard Fellow.

Xu leads an interdisciplinary research group at the intersection of robotics, fluid dynamics and biology. She says the funding will help her team tackle issues related to climate, energy efficiency and even environmental stewardship.

“To address climate change, we need new, energy-efficient tools for ocean monitoring and exploration,” Xu said. “The Xu Lab leverages jellyfish as a model organism to design next-generation underwater vehicles using three approaches: engineered soft robots, cyborg systems enhancing live animals, and tissue-engineered constructs. Together, these methods offer complementary insights into propulsion.”

The Packard Fellowships were inspired by electrical engineer and former United States Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard and his commitment to strengthening university-based science and engineering programs across the country. Since the fellowship’s inception, the Packard Foundation has awarded more than $500 million to support 735 scientists and engineers from 55 universities.

Over the years, Packard Fellows have made discoveries to help protect species, develop new vaccines and launch technologies that improve our daily lives. Many have gone on to receive some of the field’s highest honors, including Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics and elections to the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

“It’s important to invest in science now more than ever so that we can study fundamental research and applications in areas like AI and climate change,” said Xu. “The Packard Fellowship will provide my lab with crucial funding that will allow us to conduct high-risk, high-reward research.”

Read the Packard Foundation news release

‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles

Assistant Professor Nicole Xu first became fascinated with moon jellyfish more than a decade ago because of their extraordinary swimming abilities. Today, Xu has developed a way to harness their efficiency and ease at moving through the water in ways that could make some types of aquatic research much easier.

We can turn bugs into flying, crawling RoboCops. Does that mean we should?

Scientists and engineers are modifying animals with mechanical parts to create next-generation biohybrid cyborg animals that can perform difficult and unappealing tasks for humans. But do humans have the right to overlook animal consciousness for personal gain? In this article by Salon, Assistant Professor Nicole Xu blazes this new terrain and explores the ethical considerations behind these biohybrid creatures using her jellyfish case study as an example.

Meet 5 types of robots with living body parts

Living organisms have evolved across the span of millions of years to do things that are nearly impossible even for today's machines. But what happens when you combine biology and engineering to create more capable robots? Assistant Professor Nicole Xu shares her lab's efforts to create the next generation of cyborg jellyfish explorers.

Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering. The award provides some of the nation’s most promising early career scientists and engineers flexible funding to test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact.

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Vriend selected for Outstanding Postdoc Mentor of the Year award

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:35:04 +0000

Vriend selected for Outstanding Postdoc Mentor of the Year award Alexander Jame… Fri, 09/19/2025 - 15:35

Associate Professor Nathalie Vriend has been selected as a 2025 Outstanding Postdoc Mentor of the Year Award recipient. The postdoc-nominated award recognizes faculty members who provide exceptional mentoring, training and leadership to postdoctoral scholars at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder. Vriend is described by her nominators as an "unparalleled mentor who not only guides research but also creates a profoundly supportive environment" for postdocs in her lab.

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Two ME graduate peer mentors recognized for outstanding support

Alexander James Servantez — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 17:36:27 +0000

Two ME graduate peer mentors recognized for outstanding support Alexander Jame… Mon, 07/07/2025 - 11:36

PhD students Marissa Dauner and Elijah Miller have been selected by the Graduate School to receive the Graduate Peer Mentoring Impact Recognition, an honor awarded to those who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to supporting their peers through mentorship. These outstanding mentors were nominated by their mentees for providing not only practical guidance, but also meaningful personal support and connection.

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�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students win big at collegiate hydropower competition

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:32:51 +0000

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students win big at collegiate hydropower competition Alexander Jame… Wed, 06/18/2025 - 16:32

Alexander Servantez

A powerhouse group of graduating seniors from the �鶹��Ѱ�� made waves in a sustainable challenge that’s all about energizing the future.

The �鶹��Ѱ��Hydropower Team took part in this year’s Hydropower Collegiate Competition, where 12 teams from universities across the country were tasked with developing unique energy solutions using fresh, moving water—one of the Earth’s oldest forms of renewable energy.

The �鶹��Ѱ��Hydropower Team holding up their award-winning testing apparatus on competition day.

But they weren’t just participants. They were overwhelming winners, earning first-place honors in a variety of contests within the competition, including the highly coveted Overall Best Team award.

“We had a great group and a really good workload sharing system,” said Logistics Manager Miles Salzer. “We weren’t really sure how we were going to do or what the outcome would be. There were a lot of challenges, but we overcame them and we’re proud of what we were able to accomplish.”

The competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Water Power Technologies Office, was launched in 2022. It allows teams to showcase their engineering prowess by conceptually designing plans for either an electricity generating power dam or a functioning closed-loop pump storage facility.

The team chose to tackle the closed-loop pump storage facility—a novel hydropower solution that features two independent reservoirs that transport water back and forth, much like the sand in an hourglass. The system is also hydrodynamically sealed, preventing water from exiting the system.

CAD Engineer Jack Printup says this new pump storage concept is currently growing in popularity as a clean energy and sustainable alternative, but there are still some environmental risks involved.

“It’s basically a big water battery that lasts longer and is more consistent than other nonrenewable sources, but like nuclear plants, they can cause some damage to the area around it,” Printup said. “Our task was to choose and develop a site for our pump storage facility that was safe and could be implemented in the real world.”

�鶹��Ѱ��Hydropower team members Sascha Fowler (left) and Pisay Suzuki (right) working on their testing apparatus in preparation for the competition.

But the competition doesn’t just focus on technical design. Judges also assessed the team’s ability to manage their facility’s finances and cybersecurity.

They even measured the group’s ability to use digital tools to increase community awareness or quickly pitch their plan to a panel of “investors” in an environment reminiscent of the hit TV show “Shark Tank.”

Luckily, Salzer said the group was perfectly equipped to handle the interdisciplinary obstacles with a well-rounded force of their own. The team featured students from the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Environmental Engineering Program, Integrated Design Engineering, the Department of Computer Science and even the Leeds School of Business.

“I think the different backgrounds made our group really unique,” said Salzer. “Hydropower—and renewable energy in general—are large and complex infrastructure projects. One of our team’s biggest strengths compared to other teams was our varied skill sets that allowed us to handle all of the challenges.”

Most importantly, however, the competition is designed to help college graduates develop skills, connections and interest in the hydropower industry.

Printup says increased activity and engagement in hydropower can be crucial, and this competition really sparked his passion.

“There are spurts in the hydropower industry—you build a large plant and then 60 years later it needs to be refurbished or new facilities need to be built,” Printup said. “I’m going into hydropower to continue developing this incredible technology, but also make sure public safety is at the forefront.”

The �鶹��Ѱ��Hydropower Team had a strong showing in this year's Hydropower Collegiate Competition, bringing home multiple awards including the best design award, the cybersecurity award, the best quick pitch award and the highly coveted first-place honor in the overall competition.

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From left to right: Maximilian Schmid, Pisay Suzuki, Jack Printup, Patrick Liu, Luke Shaw, Sara Leschova, Charlie Loewenguth, Sascha Fowler, Miles Salzer, Tristan Wrable and Landon Nattrass.

Burleson earns 2025 Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 13 May 2025 20:53:08 +0000

Burleson earns 2025 Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award Alexander Jame… Tue, 05/13/2025 - 14:53

Assistant Professor Grace Burleson has earned the Graduate School's 2025 Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award for her outstanding contributions to mentoring individual graduate students and improving the overall climate of graduate education.

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Jayaram nabs prestigious grants to design insect-inspired, shapeshifting robots

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:57:24 +0000

Jayaram nabs prestigious grants to design insect-inspired, shapeshifting robots Alexander Jame… Tue, 04/29/2025 - 10:57

Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram is the recipient of a $650,000 CAREER award from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The funding will help Jayaram make advancements in robots by drawing from what might seem to be an unlikely source: insects and other small creatures.

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Honors & Awards

Welker receives Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

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PhD student wins prestigious physics contest with endless avalanche experiment

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Xu selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow

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Mechanical engineering students shine at the 2025 CSC Finals

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Xu selected to receive a 2025 Packard Fellowship award

A history of Packard Fellows at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder

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Jayaram nabs prestigious grants to design insect-inspired, shapeshifting robots

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A history of Packard Fellows at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students win big at collegiate hydropower competition