Rate My Professor Robin Shandas

Robin Shandas, PhD, serves as University of Colorado Distinguished Professor, Professor, and Founding Chair of the Department of Bioengineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Denver. He also holds appointments as Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Cardiology and Director of the Center for Bioengineering at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Shandas received his BS from the University of California system in 1987, MSc in 1991, and PhD in 1993 from the University of California, San Diego. With more than 25 years at the University of Colorado, he previously served on the faculty at CU Boulder in Mechanical Engineering and at the CU School of Medicine. As the pioneering force behind Colorado's inaugural standalone Department of Bioengineering, Shandas recruited faculty, established facilities and curricula, and launched degree programs that have graduated students highly regarded by industry, graduate programs, and medical schools.

His research specializes in biomedical engineering, with emphasis on pediatric cardiovascular medicine, medical device design and entrepreneurship, shape-memory polymers for cardiovascular applications, cardiovascular biomechanics, pulmonary vascular function, tissue engineering, and advanced medical imaging techniques such as echo particle image velocimetry. Shandas has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, including seminal contributions like "Unconstrained recovery characterization of shape-memory polymer networks for cardiovascular applications" (Biomaterials, 2007; 759 citations), "Finite deformation thermo-mechanical behavior of thermally induced shape memory polymers" (Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2008; 511 citations), and "Strong, tailored, biocompatible shape-memory polymer networks" (Advanced Functional Materials, 2008; 453 citations). Holding over 60 patents and patent applications, he has translated innovations into clinical practice through startups, including a novel surgical operating table generating over $10 million in sales and benefiting hundreds of patients. Shandas' exceptional contributions earned him designation as a CU Distinguished Professor in 2019—the system's highest faculty honor—and induction into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows in 2025. He was the first PhD faculty member to receive the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Career Development Award for patient-oriented research. His mentorship has propelled numerous trainees to leadership roles in academia and industry.