Cullen Buie, Ph.D.

Cullen Buie is currently the New Directions Scholar at the Broad Institute and an associate professor (with tenure) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His laboratory explores flow physics at the microscale for applications in materials science and bioengineering. His research is applicable to a diverse array of problems, from anti-biofouling surfaces and biofuels to energy storage and bacterial infections. Recently, work in the Buie Lab has focused on designing novel tools to introduce genetic material into cells. This work has led to multiple NIH grants and a startup company, Kytopen, which is commercializing non-viral transfection platforms for engineered cellular therapies.

Buie holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, where he studied water management for hydrogen-fed fuel cells and fuel delivery for direct methanol fuel cells. Prior to joining MIT, Buie was a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley working with Professor Liwei Lin at the Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Center (BSAC).

Buie is the recipient of numerous awards for his research and service including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2016), the DuPont Young Professor Award (2013), the DARPA Young Faculty Award (2013), and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2012).