Christopher J. Bettinger, PhD

Dr. Christopher Bettinger earned his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University before arriving in Pittsburgh in 2010, where he is currently a Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. The Bettinger Group at Carnegie Mellon University is broadly interested in the application of new polymeric biomaterials and flexible electronics for applications in medical devices including neural recording, neuro-modulation, and sensing. Dr. Bettinger has won numerous awards including:

• Philbrooke Prize in Materials Science & Engineering (2018)
• Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship (2016)
• DARPA Young Investigator Award (2014)
• National Academy of Sciences – Award for Initiatives in Materials Science Research (2012)
• MIT Technology Review TR35 – Young Innovator Award (2011)

Since 2010, Dr. Bettinger has enhanced the educational experience for his students.  At Carnegie Mellon University, his teaching efforts have advanced students’ understanding in the following areas:

• Engineering Biomaterials:  An advanced course that studies fundamentals of interfaces and biomaterials by applying principles of thermodynamics and kinetics.
• Polymeric Biomaterials: An introductory course to the design, synthesis, and characterization of polymers to medicine.

Dr. Bettinger is a member of the Society for Biomaterials and the Materials Research Society.  He is also the author/co-author of numerous publications, proceedings, and book chapters and is an invited speaker both nationally and internationally. View a list of Dr. Bettinger’s publications here.