Meet the Dean

Martin L. Dunn is a professor and dean of the College of Engineering, Design and Computing at the University of Colorado Denver. He joined CU Denver in 2018 after serving as the founding associate provost for research at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) where he oversaw the design and operation of the research and innovation enterprise. He was also a professor at SUTD and the founding director of the National Research Foundation-supported Digital Manufacturing and Design Center. Prior to joining SUTD, he served as a program director (mechanics of materials) in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation Division at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), where he was also the founding program director for the Design of Engineering Materials Systems program. He served the NSF while on leave from the University of Colorado Boulder where he was the associate dean of research in the College of Engineering, Design and Computing, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering, holding the Victor Schelke Endowed Chair.

Dunn’s research has focused on understanding the mechanics and physics of complex heterogeneous materials through a combination of theory and experiment and using this understanding to create methods and tools to design and manufacture new materials and components. This includes constitutive modeling of the nonlinear multiphysics response (thermal, optical, mechanical) of active polymers and polymer composites, computational design automation approaches based on shape and topology optimization and additive manufacturing based on SLA, DLP and FDM technologies. Most recently this has involved the development of computational design and manufacturing methodologies for multimaterial additive manufacturing, including the creation of a technology called 4D printing – an approach that integrates new computational design, manufacturing process and materials technologies to create environmentally responsive printed components.

Dunn has received international recognition and awards for his research accomplishments as well as awards for products designed with the methods and tools developed from his research.  Dunn received his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and held positions at Sandia National Laboratories and the Boeing Company before joining academia.

Executive Staff