Graduate Program Director
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Dr. Peter Kofinas For Questions About the Graduate Program: For more information see Dr. Kofinas'
other web pages: |
Welcome to the Graduate Program in Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Our program presents the strong intellectual interdisciplinary infrastructure and collaborative culture that links engineering, biology and medicine at our University.
With strong research programs and funding, and innovative partnerships with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the University of Maryland Medical School, the Graduate Program in Bioengineering is an exciting place to be a student. I encourage you to expand your perspective of the graduate program activities of the faculty and students, as well as educational programs, research areas and course selections, by exploring our web site.
Background Information
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994
B.S. and M.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peter Kofinas is appointed in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, where he is Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies. He also holds affiliate appointments with the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.
Professor Kofinas received his bachelors and masters degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a PhD in materials science and engineering from MIT in 1994 from the interdisciplinary Program of Polymer Science and Technology (PPST). He was then appointed as a post-doctoral research associate in the department of Chemical Engineering at MIT for 2 years before joining the faculty at University of Maryland in September of 1996. Dr. Kofinas was promoted to the rank of Professor at the University of Maryland in 2006.
Awards
Professor Kofinas received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 1999 for his research and educational activities on block copolymer nanostructures, and was also awarded the Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching award from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland the same year. In 2006 he was awarded the endowed Keystone Professorship for his exemplary undergraduate teaching skills and commitment to excellence in teaching fundamental engineering courses.
Research Interests
The main thrust of Professor Kofinas' research program is the synthesis, characterization and development of novel polymer-based nanostructured systems used in a variety of technological fields ranging from medicine to microelectronics. Emphasis is given on synthesizing well- characterized polymer systems to help elucidate structure-property relationships. Present problems of interest include: the design of molecularly imprinted polymers for recognition of specific viruses; the selective immobilization and binding of recombinant proteins and viruses on nanopatterned polymer surfaces; the development of flexible nanostructured small-scale energy storage systems; and the investigation of novel functional magnetodielectric polymer nanocomposites for RF applications.
For more information:
Dr. Kofinas' Homepage »
Functional Macromolecular Laboratory Site »
The Graduate Program in Bioengineering »
