Joe Pugar

Joe Pugar, Ph.D., currently serves as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago's Pocivavsek SurgBioMech Lab since April 2023. As the Cofounder and CEO of Aruga Technologies LLC, established in May 2018, Joe Pugar specializes in creating vascular graft and shunt designs aimed at mimicking native arteries and preventing thrombosis. Previously, Joe Pugar held the position of Entrepreneurial Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh from June 2017 to May 2018, focusing on the evaluation of early-stage innovations for commercial transition. Joe Pugar obtained a Ph.D. in Materials Science Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University between 2019 and 2023, and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2017.