Cel Welch, a Brown biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate, has been named to the 2023 STAT Wunderkind list. Welch and 27 others were selected from among hundreds of nominations for their innovative research, as STAT News celebrates early-career researchers who are not yet independent scientists or program leaders.
STAT is an American health-oriented news website launched in 2015, by John W. Henry, the owner of the Boston Globe. It is produced by Boston Globe Media, and each year selects unheralded heroes of science and medicine from across North America in search for the next generation of scientific superstars.
Welch landed on the list for their research focusing on the creation of new fluidic-electronic device technologies. They are exploring this in their thesis, which is focused on creating integrated cellular diagnostic technologies that apply electronics, microfluidics, and machine learning techniques.
Welch was recently named to the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) Future Leaders program as one of 35 elite Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars to receive the prestigious award that supports the growth of science leadership potential of early-career scientists. They have also been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the science category, as well as IET’s list of 95 inspiring engineers and technologists of the past, present and future.
Welch has developed technologies for diagnostic testing using microscale physics and engineering, and holds five patents, with others pending, on new devices for cell and tissue analysis, as well as wearable biosensors. They are working to commercialize these technologies through PerkinElmer Inc. and other industry partnerships.
Beginning in February 2024, Welch will be working as a Baker Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, in the laboratory of Chemical Engineering’s Dr. Zhenan Bao.