Cullen R. Buie is an African American mechanical engineer specializing in microbial fuel cells.

Life and career

Education

Buie's passions changed during high school when he attended an engineering camp that gave him the opportunity to receive college credits and scholarships. This led him to study mechanical engineering at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, receiving his Bachelors of Science in 2003. He then went on to earn a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

(M.S.) in 2005 at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, as well as his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(Ph.D) in 2009 in mechanical engineering. At Stanford, he was a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow, working under Juan Santiago. While working towards his Ph.D, Buie worked on microfluidic electro-osmotic pumps for fuel cells at Stanford.

Career

After graduating Stanford in 2009, Buie began teaching at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) in 2010. During his teaching career, Buie had also worked on numerous of research labs. In 2010, he worked on microbial fuel cells at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. In 2012, he was working alongside a team in Australia to test the effectiveness of bacteria in these microbial fuel cells. Buie is the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, and leads the Laboratory for Energy and Microsystems Innovation (LEMI). Cullen Buie is a co-founder of a startup called Kytopen, which has created a technology called Flowfect. This new technology gives scientists a way to mass-produce genetically engineered cells as it opens the pores of cells to deliver genetic material.

Awards

Cuie has received the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(DARPA) Young Faculty Award to investigate the challenge of getting genetic material into bacterial cells. He has also received the

NSF CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

and the Presidential Early Career Award named by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Personal life

Buie's older sister, Simone, is the motivation for his research as she had died due to a bacterial infection,

sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

. In disbelief that individuals were still dying from common bacterial infections, Buie and his team are actively researching to eliminate this issue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buie, Cullen Living people Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Ohio State University College of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty African-American engineers American mechanical engineers Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 21st-century African-American scientists