Dr. Monika Bleszynski is a research scientist and DU program director of the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Novel High Voltage/Temperature Materials and Structures (HVT Center) at the University of Denver. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Saint Louis University, and has obtained her PhD in Materials Science in 2018 focusing on polymeric materials and computational modeling. Her previous work history includes software engineering and systems management at The Denver Post, where she specialized in systems administration. Dr. Bleszynski is currently researching environmental effects on polymers and polymer composites, including developing molecular dynamics simulations to create novel materials for extreme applications.