Faculty Directory

DeVoe, Don

DeVoe, Don

Fischell Institute Fellow
Mechanical Engineering
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Maryland Robotics Center
Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices
5226 A. James Clark Hall

Don DeVoe is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Idea Factory at the University of Maryland, College Park.  He holds affiliate faculty appointments in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and is a faculty member within the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices. Dr. DeVoe completed his B.S. (1991) and M.S. (1993) degrees in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, and received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997 with a dissertation focused on piezoelectric MEMS sensors and actuators. His current research interests target the development of microfluidic systems for applications in clinical diagnostics, cancer immunology, nanomedicine, and aerovirology. His research has been supported by NIH, NSF, DARPA, ONR, NIST, and diverse industry partners, and he has supervised more than 35 doctoral students, many of whom now hold faculty positions in the U.S. and Asia or technical leadership roles in industry and government laboratories. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, and is an inventor on eight U.S. patents. In 2000 he co-founded Calibrant Biosystems, a biomarker discovery company leveraging technology licensed from the University of Maryland. He later founded Io Scientific to commercialize active nanomaterials developed in his lab for enhanced protein analysis by mass spectrometry. He received a Wilson H. Elkins Professorship from the University of Maryland in 2020, and was named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in 2023.  He is also a recipient of the 2013 University System of Maryland Regents Award for Research. Dr. DeVoe was recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation in 1999 for advances in microsystems technology, and was named a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Science in 2008.  He served for over a decade as a Senior Editor for the IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (J. MEMS), and as a Board Member and Treasurer for the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

ENME476 Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)

Fundamentals of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Introduction to transducers and markets. MEMS fabrication processes and materials, including bulk micromachining, wet etching, dry etching, surface micromachining, sacrificial layers, film deposition, bonding, and non-traditional micromachining. Introduction to the relevant solid state physics, including crystal lattices, band structure, semiconductors, and doping. The laboratory covers safety, photolithography, profilometry, wet etching
 

ENME481/740 Lab-on-a-Chip Microsystems

Fundamentals and application of lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic technologies. A broad view of the field of microfluidics, knowledge of relevant fabrication methods and analysis techniques, and an understanding of the coupled multi-domain phenomena that dominate the physics in these systems.
 

ENME441 Mechatronics and the Internet of Things (IoT)

The field of mechatronics integrates dynamical systems, transducers, computation, control, and design to realize systems where complexity is shifted from solely mechanical components to the merged domains of mechanics, electronics, and software. This project-driven course will provide a structured hands-on environment to strengthen students’ understanding of mechatronics principles, and extend these concepts to the Internet of Things (IoT) in which sensors and actuators are embedded into physical objects together with wireless communications, enabling remote interaction with these objects through the Internet. 

UMD's 40th Annual Convocation Honors Engineering Staff, Faculty

The University of Maryland's 40th annual Convocation will honor 33 faculty and staff—including four from the A. James Clark School of Engineering—for their contributions to education, research, and the campus community.

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