Research and innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have several major impacts as such institutions continue to strengthen these areas. In this seminar, work from the Bioinspired Polymer Engineering lab and its effects on Hampton University will be discussed. Projects include the development of bone microenvironments to study cancer cell behavior and opto-active polymers for the detection of proteolytic activity. Lastly, the impact of both research and entrepreneurship learning (via NSF I-Corps) on engineering students will be discussed.
Jerald Dumas, PhD is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Hampton University. His research focuses on the development of bioinspired polymeric materials for tissue engineering, disease detection, and equipment performance. Dr. Dumas graduated from Auburn University with a B.S. in chemical engineering and received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. He teaches junior level chemical engineering courses, while serving as PI and Co-PI on several grants.