Rate My Professor Glen Niebur

Glen Niebur is Professor and Chair of the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he also directs the interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S.M.E. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. Niebur helped found the Bioengineering Graduate Program, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among engineers, biologists, and physical scientists. In April 2023, he was appointed Chair of the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, overseeing its academic and research activities.

His research, conducted in the Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, centers on bone mechanobiology, exploring how mechanical loading regulates gene and protein expression in osteocytes and bone marrow cells. The laboratory employs bioreactor culture systems to apply precise mechanical stimuli to bone explants from animal models and develops high-resolution computational finite element models to correlate local stress and strain states with biological responses. This approach reveals mechanisms underlying bone adaptation and remodeling. Niebur's work extends to the interactions between bone mechanobiology and metastatic cancer, where tumors in bone marrow resist detection and standard chemotherapies, potentially altering tumor biology through mechanical cues. Associated with the Mike and Josie Harper Cancer Research Institute and the Notre Dame Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, his research informs treatments for osteoporosis, bone metastases, and orthopaedic device design. Niebur's contributions have garnered over 9,800 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include "Comparison of the elastic and yield properties of human femoral trabecular and cortical bone tissue" (Journal of Biomechanics, 2004), "Biomechanics of trabecular bone" (Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 2001), "Osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells is regulated by osteocyte and osteoblast cells in a simplified bone niche" (European Cells & Materials, 2012), "High-resolution finite element models with tissue strength asymmetry accurately predict failure of trabecular bone" (Journal of Biomechanics, 2000), and "Hydroxyapatite reinforced collagen scaffolds with improved architecture and mechanical properties" (Acta Biomaterialia, 2015). He received the Dick and Peggy Notebaert Award from the Notre Dame Graduate School in 2025.