Two faculty members in the Department of Mechanical Engineering will receive 2023 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Awards.
Ryan Hurley and Soojung Claire Hur were among the thirty-seven faculty members selected across nine academic divisions of Johns Hopkins University.
The 2023 honorees—selected on the basis of their accomplishments to date, creativity and originality, and academic impact—will each receive a $75,000 grant to support their work over the next year. They also will have the opportunity to participate in mentoring sessions and events designed to connect these colleagues at similar stages in their careers.
The Catalyst Awards program was launched in early 2015, as was the Discovery Awards program for interdivisional collaborations. Together the two programs represent a $45 million university commitment to faculty-led research by university leadership along with the deans and directors of JHU’s divisions.
Hurley’s research group develops and uses novel experiments and numerical models to study the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of granular materials, rocks, concrete, and ceramics. His group is a frequent user of synchrotron X-ray facilities around the world, at which they seek to see and understand deformation mechanisms in materials at the smallest length and time scales.
Hur is working to develop microfluidic platforms to understand complex fluid dynamics principles and to translate acquired knowledge into practical applications. Her group aims to create innovative techniques for high-throughput target cell detection, cost-effective cell separation, and sequential multimolecular delivery that are useful for oncology, immunology, gene therapy, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.