Courtney Keiser
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Materials Engineering expected 2022
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
We are excited to introduce another WELocal 2022 Guiding Star Award recipient, Courtney Keiser! Courtney is the Founder and President of UNL GradSWE (President since March 2020) and she was the Graduate Member Coordinator of UNL SWE from May 2017 to May 2021. She recruited 35 graduate students as members in an 8-month time frame, founded a mentoring program for undergraduate SWE members with local professional SWE members, secured funding for eight GradSWE members to attend the virtual weSTEM conference in February 2021, organized and hosted the annual graduate student panel for undergraduate members to learn about grad school, and partnered with the Eastern Nebraska Professional Section to host seminars and help with outreach opportunities.
Courtney was our own GradSWE Learning Content Coordinator in FY21, where she formed a subcommittee to engage graduate members at the international level and expand content creation, developed virtual webinars and workshops for GradSWE members to learn and connect, and edited and published videos from webinars and workshops to the GradSWE website.
Courtney has also been a SWENext Awards Committee Member since July 2021, an advanced participant in the highly competitive SWE Leadership Development Program since August 2021, a beginner participant in the SWE Leadership Development Program for the year before that (FY21), and a participant in the SWE Collegiate Leadership Institute during FY21.
In addition to this WELocal Guiding Star Award, Courtney’s many SWE awards include being a finalist at the Graduate Poster Research Competition at WE21, winning first place at the Rapid Fire Graduate Research Competition at WE20, and winning first place at the Graduate Research Competition at WELocal Des Moines 2020 (for which she also won a travel grant). Outside of SWE, Courtney earned the UNL College of Engineering Professional Development Fellowship in 2021, First Honors Award in Engineering at the UNL Student Research Days Research Competition in 2021, second place in the Graduate Research Symposium Design Competition at UNL in 2021, the Graduate Complete Engineer Award at UNL in 2021, an Honorary Mention for the Student Luminary Award at UNL in 2021, and first place at the Graduate Research Pitch Competition at the UNL College of Engineering in 2020.
Courtney’s research is focused on developing, optimizing, and testing reinforced biomimetic vascular bypass grafts for treating patients with peripheral artery disease in the lower limb. Currently bypass grafts are made from stiff materials that do not behave like native vasculature and fail frequently. Her approach to developing a next-generation bypass graft is to not only match mechanical properties but incorporate longitudinal pre-stretch into the graft. The main artery in your leg, the femoropopliteal artery, is subjected to bending, twisting, and compression deformations. Imagine your femoropopliteal artery being similar to a rubber band under tension. A young healthy artery is able to accommodate these deformations without kinking/becoming tortuous because of longitudinal pre-stretch, but as we age we lose that tension. Patients with peripheral artery disease have very little if any tension left. Without it, the artery can kink/becomes tortuous and causes blood flow disturbance that lead to plaque formation. We cannot restore longitudinal pre-stretch to the patient's artery, but we can engineer a vascular graft that is capable of longitudinal pre-stretch.
After graduating, Courtney plans to work in medical device and materials R&D, and eventually lead her own team.
Courtney’s hobbies include weight lifting, reading, 3D printing, hiking, biking, and fishing.
Fun fact: she is scuba certified!
Find Courtney on Instagram as courtney.keiser!
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Materials Engineering expected 2022
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
We are excited to introduce another WELocal 2022 Guiding Star Award recipient, Courtney Keiser! Courtney is the Founder and President of UNL GradSWE (President since March 2020) and she was the Graduate Member Coordinator of UNL SWE from May 2017 to May 2021. She recruited 35 graduate students as members in an 8-month time frame, founded a mentoring program for undergraduate SWE members with local professional SWE members, secured funding for eight GradSWE members to attend the virtual weSTEM conference in February 2021, organized and hosted the annual graduate student panel for undergraduate members to learn about grad school, and partnered with the Eastern Nebraska Professional Section to host seminars and help with outreach opportunities.
Courtney was our own GradSWE Learning Content Coordinator in FY21, where she formed a subcommittee to engage graduate members at the international level and expand content creation, developed virtual webinars and workshops for GradSWE members to learn and connect, and edited and published videos from webinars and workshops to the GradSWE website.
Courtney has also been a SWENext Awards Committee Member since July 2021, an advanced participant in the highly competitive SWE Leadership Development Program since August 2021, a beginner participant in the SWE Leadership Development Program for the year before that (FY21), and a participant in the SWE Collegiate Leadership Institute during FY21.
In addition to this WELocal Guiding Star Award, Courtney’s many SWE awards include being a finalist at the Graduate Poster Research Competition at WE21, winning first place at the Rapid Fire Graduate Research Competition at WE20, and winning first place at the Graduate Research Competition at WELocal Des Moines 2020 (for which she also won a travel grant). Outside of SWE, Courtney earned the UNL College of Engineering Professional Development Fellowship in 2021, First Honors Award in Engineering at the UNL Student Research Days Research Competition in 2021, second place in the Graduate Research Symposium Design Competition at UNL in 2021, the Graduate Complete Engineer Award at UNL in 2021, an Honorary Mention for the Student Luminary Award at UNL in 2021, and first place at the Graduate Research Pitch Competition at the UNL College of Engineering in 2020.
Courtney’s research is focused on developing, optimizing, and testing reinforced biomimetic vascular bypass grafts for treating patients with peripheral artery disease in the lower limb. Currently bypass grafts are made from stiff materials that do not behave like native vasculature and fail frequently. Her approach to developing a next-generation bypass graft is to not only match mechanical properties but incorporate longitudinal pre-stretch into the graft. The main artery in your leg, the femoropopliteal artery, is subjected to bending, twisting, and compression deformations. Imagine your femoropopliteal artery being similar to a rubber band under tension. A young healthy artery is able to accommodate these deformations without kinking/becoming tortuous because of longitudinal pre-stretch, but as we age we lose that tension. Patients with peripheral artery disease have very little if any tension left. Without it, the artery can kink/becomes tortuous and causes blood flow disturbance that lead to plaque formation. We cannot restore longitudinal pre-stretch to the patient's artery, but we can engineer a vascular graft that is capable of longitudinal pre-stretch.
After graduating, Courtney plans to work in medical device and materials R&D, and eventually lead her own team.
Courtney’s hobbies include weight lifting, reading, 3D printing, hiking, biking, and fishing.
Fun fact: she is scuba certified!
Find Courtney on Instagram as courtney.keiser!
