Materials Science Engineering

Skydiving into a PhD

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 19:07:56 +0000

Skydiving into a PhD Jeff Zehnder Thu, 10/16/2025 - 13:07

Jeff Zehnder

Adam Harris is advancing the frontiers of aerodynamics as a non-traditional student, finishing up a doctoral program in which he never expected to enroll.

“I’m writing computational fluid dynamics and finite element codes to study flow control by phononic materials and structures. A phonon is the quantum of vibrational energy, a quasi-particle that could give birth to a whole new species of technology,” Harris said.

A PhD student in the materials science and engineering program, Harris began his college journey in 2012 as a psychology major, but his time at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ did not last long.

“I didn’t show up to classes and just really didn't care. I was placed on academic probation my first semester and academic suspension my second,” Harris said.

A native of Miami, he elected to stay in Boulder, working in construction and landscaping. In 2014, Harris enrolled at Front Range Community College for an associate’s degree in business.

Skydiving Hobby

Harris also started skydiving as a hobby, hanging out at Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, making up to 10 jumps a day. Eventually, he was hired there for a paid ground crew position.

“I was surrounded by people who were monitoring weather, maintaining aircraft, and discussing flight mechanics. I started teaching myself basic aerodynamics, watching TED talks and physics documentaries online. It all became more and more interesting to me,” he said.

After finishing at Front Range, Harris decided to continue onto a four-year business degree at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. Because of his past suspension, enrolling required an appointment with an admissions advisor. The meeting would change the direction of his life.

Changing Gears

“I told her about all the science, engineering, and physics I was being exposed to. She looked at me suspiciously and said, ‘Are you sure you want to study business?’ Nope, put me down for physics,” Harris said.

He steamrolled through his courses, earning As and Bs in subjects where he had previously shown little interest. In the five years since his first stint at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, Harris had grown significantly.

“Turns out I really love math. I think my success was a product of motivation and how much I enjoyed where I was, the people around me, what I was learning, and relevance to my passions. I have a GPS in my skydiving helmet and I would always try to connect course concepts to data acquired from wingsuit flights,” he said.

As he was completing his bachelor’s, a connection with Mahmoud Hussein, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, opened the door to graduate school.

Graduate School

“I was still enjoying classes but I paid for undergrad myself, so I didn’t want to continue accumulating debt. I started talking to Mahmoud, and when I learned engineering PhD programs cover tuition and living expenses, there was no question. What an opportunity,” Harris said.

Hussein became his graduate advisor as Harris earned two master’s degrees – in aerospace and materials science. He expects to finish his PhD in materials science next spring.

His dissertation is centered on phononic subsurfaces (PSubs), which could lead to radical increases in fuel economy for jet aircraft and hypersonic vehicles. It has been a focus of Hussein’s lab for 15 years, beginning at the theoretical level and now approaching the applied stage, thanks in part to a major Office of Naval Research grant awarded last year.

“This started with purely computational work and now we’re 3D printing PSubs. We can validate the PSub’s tuned frequency response with a laser vibrometer, and we have candidate prototypes that yield the response we expect. We’re going to begin the first wind tunnel tests in collaboration with the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ very soon,” Harris said.

What's Next?

As he writes his dissertation, Harris’s research background offers a wealth of career opportunities, but he is hoping for a particular dream job that would combine fluid dynamics and computational modeling with his love of skydiving.

It may sound like a fantasy. It is not.

“There’s a company in California that builds parachutes used for space craft atmospheric re-entry,” Harris said. “The job description is everything I’m doing at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, plus a requirement of parachute rigging experience, which I have.”

Wherever Harris lands, he is a long way from his beginnings in Boulder as an 18-year-old psych major.

“I think this is where I was supposed to be all along,” Harris said. “I just wasn’t aware of it back then. The synchronicity is really cool.”

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A better band-aid: New 'suspended animation' technology could revolutionize wound care

Susan Glairon — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:49:42 +0000

A better band-aid: New 'suspended animation' technology could revolutionize wound care Susan Glairon Fri, 10/10/2025 - 08:49

A ��ƷSM��ӰƬ research team co-led by Distinguished Professor Christopher Bowman has received up to $5.8 million from ARPA-H to develop new treatments that temporarily suspend the immune response after severe burns or tissue injuries, aiming to reduce pain, speed healing and prevent long-term damage. The approach could also benefit patients with limited access to immediate medical care.

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Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship

Susan Glairon — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:14:21 +0000

Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship Susan Glairon Wed, 09/24/2025 - 03:14

Susan Glairon

Adding to a growing list of honors, Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship — a prestigious recognition of outstanding early-career researchers in the field.

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Kristi Anseth awarded National Academy of Engineering's founders award

Susan Glairon — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:35:25 +0000

Kristi Anseth awarded National Academy of Engineering's founders award Susan Glairon Tue, 09/16/2025 - 10:35

Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth, of chemical and biological engineering, 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.

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Building community around electrochemistry and energy innovation

Susan Glairon — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 15:26:41 +0000

Building community around electrochemistry and energy innovation Susan Glairon Sat, 09/13/2025 - 09:26

Co-organized by Professor Mike Toney, the 2025 Front Range Electrochemistry Workshop (FREW) broadly addressed electrochemical science, with this year’s focus on batteries reflecting their growing importance to everything from electric vehicles to renewable energy infrastructure.

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Robots and chemistry isn’t just a fun combo. Bruns says it’s the future

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:30:26 +0000

Robots and chemistry isn’t just a fun combo. Bruns says it’s the future Alexander Jame… Fri, 06/06/2025 - 16:30

Assistant Professor Carson Bruns is leading the charge on an NSF-funded project that he and his team like to call "robochemistry." Their goal is to create robotic sidekicks that can assist chemists with burdensome or unsafe tasks that they may routinely encounter in a wet lab. But that's not all: this unique blend of bots and beakers can also inspire youth interest in science.

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Alumni Entrepreneurs

Michelle Wiese — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:31:13 +0000

Alumni Entrepreneurs Michelle Wiese Fri, 06/06/2025 - 11:31

Jesse Petersen

In 2024, 35 startups were launched out of labs and research projects at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, putting the university second only to Stanford University in the number of new ventures. Twenty-two of those were affiliated with CU Engineering, solidifying our role as a leader in innovation on campus.

We’re taking the opportunity to highlight two of our alumni-run startups: Mana Battery, founded in 2023 as a spinout of Chunmei Ban’s laboratory in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Manifest Technologies, founded as Vitro3D in 2020 by PhD students in electrical engineer and materials scientist Bob McLeod’s lab.

“We’re doing a new form of volumetric additive manufacturing where we create an entire 3D part all at once.”

Camila Uzcategui
(MMatSci’18; PhDMatSci’21), Manifest Technologies

“We’re developing next-generation materials and batteries in order to support low-cost energy storage.”

Tyler Evans
(PhDMechEngr’15; PhDMatSci’15), Mana Battery Inc.

Hear from our alumni entrepreneurs

Alumni founders from Mana Battery and Manifest Technologies talk about why they chose CU Engineering as the place to launch their startup.

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Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials

Susan Glairon — Fri, 30 May 2025 14:27:52 +0000

Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials Susan Glairon Fri, 05/30/2025 - 08:27

Jeff Zehnder

Materials researchers are getting a big boost from a new database created by a team of researchers led by Professor Hendrik Heinz. The initiative, now available online to all researchers, is a database containing over 2,000 carbon nanotube stress-strain curves and failure properties.

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Tiny robot team could be a gamechanger for safety inspections

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 21 May 2025 20:01:24 +0000

Tiny robot team could be a gamechanger for safety inspections Alexander Jame… Wed, 05/21/2025 - 14:01

Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram, in collaboration with Laura Blumenschein, has received a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a tiny robot super team capable of navigating a complex maze of machinery and squeeze through the tightest of spaces—like the guts of a jet engine—to potentially perform non-destructive evaluation faster, cheaper and better than ever before.

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New discovery shows how molecules can mute heat like music

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 06 May 2025 15:37:50 +0000

New discovery shows how molecules can mute heat like music Alexander Jame… Tue, 05/06/2025 - 09:37

Assistant Professor Longji Cui and his team in the Cui Research Group have developed a new technique that allows them to measure phonon interference inside of a tiny molecule. They believe one day, this discovery can revolutionize how heat dissipation is managed in future electronics and materials.

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