Elizabeth Vargis

2026 Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year Award

College of Engineering | Biological Engineering

Elizabeth Vargis is an Associate Professor of Biological Engineering at Utah State University. She received a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. She completed a postdoctoral appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory before joining USU in 2013.

Dr. Vargis studies mechanisms of disease by developing realistic in vitro models of human tissue. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the Department of Energy, the Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium, and private foundations including the BrightFocus Foundation and the Retina Research Foundation. Since 2013, she has published 28 peer‑reviewed articles, 20 of which include graduate student co‑authors, in high‑impact journals such as Biomaterials, the Journal of Biological Engineering, and Lab on a Chip.

Over the past 12 years, 3 PhD students and 8 master’s students have graduated from the Vargis Lab. There are currently 2 PhD students and 1 master’s student in her research group. Dr. Vargis serves as USU’s Goldwater Scholar research mentor and the faculty advisor for WE Engineer (formerly the Society of Women Engineers). She was named Utah State University’s Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year in 2022.