University of Colorado at Boulder Address: Boulder, Colorado 80309 Phone: 303-492-1411 Fax: 303-492-5105 Web Site: http://www.colorado.edu University of Colorado at Boulder admission closing date: January 15 Does University of Colorado at Boulder offer Associate's degrees? No Does University of Colorado at Boulder offer Bachelor's degrees? Yes Does University of Colorado at Boulder offer Master's degrees? Yes Does University of Colorado at Boulder offer Doctoral degrees? Yes University of Colorado at Boulder graduation rate: 68% University of Colorado at Boulder retention rate: 83% University of Colorado at Boulder average high school GPA: 3.52 University of Colorado at Boulder average ACT score: 25 University of Colorado at Boulder average SAT score: 1175 University of Colorado at Boulder tuition cost (estimate): $5,643 Financial Aid is available only to those who qualify. University of Colorado at Boulder room & board cost (estimate): $7,980

Is University of Colorado at Boulder a private college? No Is University of Colorado at Boulder a coed college? Yes University of Colorado at Boulder school calendar: Semester Is University of Colorado at Boulder a 2 year or 4 year college? 4 Years Please Note: Length of programs pertain to finishing programs in normal time. University of Colorado at Boulder enrollment: 28,624 Students Percentage of applicants accepted to University of Colorado at Boulder 88% Percentage of students at University of Colorado at Boulder receiving financial aid: 52% Percentage of African American students: 1.7% Percentage of Native American students: 0.7% Percentage of Asian students: 5.6% Percentage of Hispanic students: 5.6% Percentage of Caucasian students: 79.2% Percentage of students living on campus: 95% Percentage of students living off campus: 5% Other Activities Nearby: Golf Courses in Boulder

Data provided by Data-lists.com Universities and Colleges Database. Data last updated on 2007-10-18.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER IN COLORADO GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION

Federal Pell Grants

Academic Competitiveness (AC) Grant Program

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program

Grants and Scholarships available in Colorado

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER NEWS

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Beyond Boulder: Undergraduate’s independent film merges hip hop and the wilderness
This summer, Ani Yahzid is embarking on an independent film project with a goal of encouraging young people to get outdoors. Assisting the CU Boulder undergraduate with his project is hip hop musician Namaste.  The Exposure Film Project: When Hip Hop Meets the Outdoors will be filmed in the wilderness of Olympic National Park. With little wilderness experience, Namaste will be exposed to the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest. The three short films comprising the project will feature alpine, rainforest and coastal environments and Namaste’s authentic reaction to each.  “We live in time when more and more children are disconnected from nature,” Yahzid said. “I want to use hip hop as a way to connect them with the outdoors. This film project brings together my love of hip hop and my love of the outdoors, which have not always gone together, but which I have been finding ways to combine that are fun and empowering.” Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, the business and ecology and evolutionary biology major, is a photographer, filmmaker and musician. Growing up, Yahzid’s main cultural influence was hip hop recording artist Lil’ Wayne. Whatever Lil’ Wayne did, from skateboarding to hip hop music, Yahzid did too. His connection to the outdoors was limited to watching National Geographic documentaries on TV. Yahzid was 6 when he began attending a Boys & Girls Club. When the Sierra Club hosted Saturday hiking excursions into the North Georgia Mountains for Boys & Girls Club participants, Yahzid went along. One hiking trip in particular stands out for Yahzid, when the Sierra Club sponsored a three-day camping trip and gave each child a point-and-shoot camera to keep. As an urban child with few outdoor opportunities available to him, those experiences were his passage to the world of nature. Through the lens of his camera, Yahzid’s love of nature grew. “On one trip, we hiked to the top of a mountain and there was snow on top,” he said. “That was a big deal to me. And I was always hoping to see a black bear. Those small experiences added up and pushed my passion for the outdoors forward.” When he was 13, Yahzid was accepted into a boarding school in Colorado Springs. Immersing himself in Colorado’s outdoor activities, he upgraded his point-and-shoot to a DSLR camera, taking upwards of 300 photos a day. On trips back home to Georgia, Yahzid noticed the difference between his friends in Colorado and those in Atlanta who had no access to the outdoors. Wanting to share his experiences and try to influence city dwellers to get outdoors, Yahzid came up with the idea to collaborate with Atlanta-based Namaste in a way that might appeal to millennials. Yahzid hopes his film project not only will engage young people with the outdoors, but also will increase support for protecting natural parks and other places throughout the country. While Yahzid had been taking photographs for a number of years, he hadn’t used the video function on his camera until last fall. He has since made several films on topics including social problems, climate change and relationships. “What I am pushing to capture is authentic emotion,” he said. “To connect on an emotional level with the audience. No script. The emotional response that being outdoors evokes is the spirit of adventure. It fuels creativity. Seeing that there is more out there beyond what you grew up with.” Learn more about Yahzid’s film project with on his TySounds website.  front-homepage Students


Pushing Boundaries: Specdrum rings let you turn any color, any surface into sound
As a drummer, Steven Dourmashkin was always tapping out drum beats with his fingers whenever and wherever he could find a flat surface. Harnessing that energy, he developed Specdrums, app-connected rings users wear on their fingers that turn colors into sounds. Specdrums can be connected to mobile devices to make music. Using the app, you assign musical notes and sounds to specific colors. When you tap the ring on the color, it plays the designated sound. “The original goal was to make something I could use to drum anywhere,” Dourmashkin said. “It’s a fun way to learn about notes and rhythm. It’s for anyone who wants to make music anywhere.” Steven Dourmashkin and Jack FitzGerrell play Specdrums Dourmashkin started Specdrums while an undergraduate at Cornell University and went through Cornell’s eLab business accelerator. Since coming to CU Boulder to earn a graduate degree in aerospace engineering, he’s perfecting the innovative product with CU Boulder teammates, a junior majoring in marketing and technology, arts and media; and Jenna Palensky, a doctoral student in ethnomusicology. The three of them came together last semester. Dourmashkin had put up fliers asking for marketing help and that’s how he met FitzGerrell. Palensky and Dourmashkin met at a meeting held at the College of Music’s entrepreneurship center. Palensky’s role with the team is to ensure musical consistency and improve Specdrums’ educational potential. To connect a Specdrums ring to a mobile device, open the app and tap the ring close to the phone. Many rings can be connected to the app at once. Users can add sounds to any colors by tapping on colors—magazine pictures, photographs, sticky notes, even clothes. Any sound can be connected to any color, or you can cycle through sounds whenever the ring detects a new color. Specdrums can reliably play up to 36 colors at once. Specdrums has a large database of sounds, from hand drums and piano keys to guitar chords and animal sounds. Users can also record their own sounds. The beats, melodies and vocals that music-makers can play with the rings can be looped into a short musical piece, named Sloops, which can be saved and shared with others. Palensky and another colleague are starting a nonprofit music school where they will pilot a SpecDrums youth ensemble. “When I met Steven, he talked about this device he made, Palensky said. “I thought it was the coolest thing and wanted to be a part of it.” Making music accessible to all ages is the goal of Specdrums. Dourmashkin is planning to develop additional Specdrums music products, including Specdrums drumsticks and a foot pedal that allows users to tap colored surfaces with their feet. The colorful handcrafted rings made from silicone and 3D-printed molds are being beta tested. Dourmashkin and his team are planning a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for manufacturing and future product development. For more information, visit the Specrums website. front-homepage Students


Class of 2017: Tumbling toward a bright future
Ozell Williams may be walking at this spring’s graduation ceremony, but he tumbled his way there. The senior communication major—known around campus and on YouTube for his undeniable acrobatic talent—grew up in Chicago before making his way to Boulder. He began doing flips on his mother’s couch and on old mattresses left in alleys, which led him into some trouble but also helped him meet a mentor, referred to by Williams as Ms. Jackson. She pushed him to take tumbling seriously, which inspired Williams to use his tumbling abilities to push himself in a positive direction while working to inspire and encourage others in the community. Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify  Connect with fellow Forever Buffs Williams made his way to CU Boulder in 2010, and his tumbling became a highlight for fans at basketball and football games. The following year, he founded Mile High Tumblers 5280, where he coaches young athletes while offering mentorship programs and opportunities for kids from low-income families. At the same time, Williams pursued a bachelor’s degree in communication. The skills he learned as a communication major helped him in his professional pursuit to spread a positive message for young athletes, as well as in his everyday life, he said. During his time at CU, Williams amassed a long list of achievements, both as an athlete, a student and a community member. "I’ve been travelin’ doing stuff with the Nuggets, being a part of the amazing spirit program here," he said. "I’ve been on America’s Got Talent since I’ve been here, as well as I broke the record for the most number of back handsprings, so I’m a Guinness Book of World Record holder." After graduation, Williams will continue his mission to help young athletes at Mile High Tumblers 5280, while also taking on a new role as the head cheer coach at East High School in Denver. He hopes to leave behind a legacy at CU that will inspire future students and athletes and show them dedication is key in achieving what you're passionate about. "I wanted to be able to do something and leave a mark," he said. Read the full story on the CMCI website. Students


Class of 2017: Advocating for health equity
Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify  Connect with fellow Forever Buffs When Kaylee Ortega came to CU Boulder from Denver's Abraham Lincoln High School, it was a bit of a culture shock. She struggled at first to find her place—like so many students do. But the 22-year-old found her way to various student organizations and met people who shared her interests in social justice, healthcare and women’s issues. She sought out mentors, hands-on experiences and research. She worked hard and stood out to her professors. Because of this, Ortega graduates with honors, a double major in ethnic studies and integrative physiology, a Jacob Van Ek Award and a public health certificate. She will begin work toward a master’s degree in public health at CU Anschutz in the fall. "Initially, I had a very hard-headed mindset of becoming a doctor," Ortega said. "I wanted to be the first doctor in my family. I wanted to witness a woman of color who was a doctor." But a few ethnic studies courses with an emphasis on social justice and spending her junior year abroad in Costa Rica caused her to course correct. "I always like science and that part of me is still there, but my niche is really focused on the connection between science and advocacy." Working with underrepresented populations also comes from Ortega’s family background. Her parents were born in Puebla, Mexico, and came to the United States in search of a better life not only for themselves but for their children. Ortega learned at an early age that getting an education was a privilege she wanted to take advantage of, especially since her parents had only received a grade school education. Ortega’s two older sisters were great role models: Both received bachelor’s degrees and proved to Ortega it was possible. Embracing research as an undergrad Ortega dove into her studies, winning a competitive Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program grant to do a thesis on the impact of microaggressions on the mental health of Latinx college students. Her thesis idea impressed ethnic studies Professor Joanne Belknap. "I truly believe that this honors [thesis] will be a publishable article given the growing number of Latina/o college students, the increasing acknowledgement and concern regarding the retention of college students of color, and the quest to identify and address the phenomenon of racial microaggressions," Belknap wrote in a letter nominating Ortega for the Van Ek award. With the help of mentors like Belknap, Ortega took advantage of opportunities that helped her succeed. Before she even came to campus she received support wading through the complexity of college applications from the Denver Scholarship Foundation. Once here, she joined AVID, a nationwide program designed to provide extra academic support for first-generation college-bound high school students who show promise in their academic careers. She also participated in TriO Student Support Services on campus. She joined UMAS y MEChA de CU Boulder. M.E.Ch.A. was started nationwide in the late 1960s to unite various Chicana/Chicano student organizations. She became involved with Pi Lambda Chi, an organization whose mission is to create a strong sisterhood and education support network for women on college campuses through an emphasis in teaching Latino culture and history. She interned at the Women’s Resource Center. Ortega’s path of growth and learning will continue in perhaps unexpected ways; but her goals—as outlined in her Van Ek application—are clear. "As part of a marginalized community myself I plan to use the knowledge I’ve gained over the years to share with others back home and assist community members towards the common goals of health equity." Students


Class of 2017: Improving bilingual education
As a teacher in El Paso, Texas, Adriana Alvarez saw pursuing a PhD as nearly impossible, until one fateful day when a professor from the University of Texas at El Paso asked to visit and observe her classroom.  The professor Rey Reyes, a CU Boulder graduate, was impressed. He encouraged Alvarez to consider doctoral studies and left a post-it note on her desk with contact information for his PhD advisor, Kathy Escamilla, CU Boulder professor of education. Alvarez held the note in hand, stunned. Throughout her studies as an undergraduate and master's student in bilingual education, she had studied and was inspired by the work of Escamilla. She said, "I knew I had to try." Now, as a PhD student in the CU Boulder School of Education, Alvarez continues to add to the work of mentors like Escamilla. Her research has been focused on working with Mexican immigrant families and their children, promoting biliteracy and challenging the injustices faced by emerging bilingual students. Alvarez grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, with close ties to the U.S.-Mexico border. Her family moved to El Paso when she was 11. As an emerging bilingual student and recent immigrant, she often felt isolated in school where students were reprimanded for speaking Spanish and encountered lower expectations and sometimes unkind attitudes. "Although it was a difficult experience and process, I am convinced it has also become the motivation that drives my strong commitment to improve bilingual education programs and the educational experiences of linguistically and culturally diverse students," she explained. "I became a bilingual teacher in El Paso to help emerging bilingual students see that their bilingualism is a wonderful characteristic that should be fostered and maintained." Next year, Alvarez will join the University of Texas Austin as assistant professor of bilingual and bicultural education. First as a teacher and now as a researcher and instructor, she looks forward to continuing to pay it forward. "I feel a strong responsibility to help students like me find pathways to lead them to well deserved opportunities." Read the full story on the School of Education website. StudentsAdriana Alvarez pictured on the CU Boulder campus with her mother. Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify  Connect with fellow Forever Buffs  


Class of 2017: Favorite memories and advice
Graduating CU Boulder students share some of their favorite moments from their time on campus, and offer advice to returning students. Students


Class of 2017: From Buff to Cowboy
When Chidobe Awuzie arrived in Boulder as a University of Colorado freshman in 2013, he had a goal and a dream. As far as his family was concerned, the goal—a college degree—was non-negotiable. The dream—a chance to play in the National Football League—was up to him. In typical Awuzie fashion, he not only achieved both, but did so in outstanding fashion. Last December, Awuzie earned his degree from the Leeds School of Business, reaching the goal in three and a half years. In April, Awuzie became the 60th overall pick in the NFL Draft when the Dallas Cowboys made him their second-round selection. To those who know him well, neither came as a surprise. CU's Director of Football Academics Katie Bason noted, "Chido is a representation of being [both] a student and an athlete first. That is amazing because it's very, very difficult to do. Most guys at some point find themselves prioritizing one over the other. Chido didn't do that. That's what made him really, really special." According to Complete College America, fewer than 20 percent of college students at public universities in America earn their degree in four years. The fact Awuzie did it in three and a half years while playing Division I football is a testament to his work ethic and discipline. Awuzie admits it didn't come easily. He says the atmosphere in the business school helped him succeed in the classroom in the same manner that good coaches helped him succeed on the field. "When you start taking upper-division classes, you get teachers who know you and care about you and know your story," Awuzie said. "It gives you extra motivation to not let them down. I was able to have great teachers who cared about me and great classmates who took me in and helped me figure it out." So just how important is that degree to Awuzie? The Dallas Morning News has reported he is expected to miss a day of his first professional football camp to walk in his graduation ceremony and pick up that diploma. "I try to stay humble when it comes to accomplishments and achievements," Awuzie added. "But this is one thing I can really say I was able to tackle and did it without any expectations of doing it. I was able to set a goal early and accomplish it, so I really feel proud of this accomplishment more than anything else, honestly." Read the full story on the CU Buffs website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify  Connect with fellow Forever Buffs


Class of 2017: Hacker, farmer, technologist, designer
Danny Rankin is a farmer, designer, artist, instructor, musician, hacker, coder, craftsman, husband, veteran and visionary. And this spring, he adds Master of Science in technology, media and society from CU Boulder’s ATLAS Institute to his credentials. Rankin will be extending his ATLAS stay, teaching several classes in the fall as an adjunct instructor as well as continuing to mentor students in the institute’s Blow Things Up (BTU) Lab. He’s just not ready to leave, he says. "BTU is made up of people who don’t like to fit into one box," he says. "They are self-motivated people who like to make things all the time; and I, too, put myself in that category." Rankin first became involved with the BTU laboratory as an undergraduate student and immediately fell in love with hacking and building circuits and doing weird projects with electronics. Here, Rankin was encouraged to pursue his personal interests, and he explored his passions. A farmer himself, he wanted to help farmers and ranchers gain control over how they used agricultural technology, without having to worry about being sued by intellectual property owners for modifying the technology. As an undergraduate, he developed agricultural sensors that detect soil temperature and moisture, giving farmers real-time data about their land. More recently he invented a mobile chicken house that follows grazing cow herds and a room-sized, working model of the Internet that transmits ping pong balls around the BTU Lab. "Having a space where you work on your own interests rather than a class project was fundamental," he says. "I would have never pictured myself doing this kind of research, but the ATLAS community made it happen." In the future he hopes to work in creative fabrication design. "I want to custom build for anyone who has weird ideas that they want to turn into reality," he says. "I really just like hands-on work. That makes me super happy." Read the full story on the ATLAS Institute website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Storytelling with computer science
Meridith Richter’s journey from creative writing, to computer science, to the ATLAS Institute’s Technology, Arts and Media (TAM) program was one of self-discovery. Four years ago, she would never have guessed her first job out of college would be teaching 10- to 15-year-old girls how to write JavaScript and make videos to promote social movements, but in a few weeks she heads to the University of Washington in Seattle to do just that.  Richter, who expected to study creative writing or film, was first introduced to the world of computer programming midway through her freshman year at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, when a friend asked her to take an intro programming class with her. Richter expected to study creative writing or film, but midway through her freshman year, a friend asked her to take an intro programming class with her. She says she did it on a whim, "I always thought programming was out of my league, or that it wasn’t going to give me the creative outlet I craved. I learned quickly, however, that with code I could absolutely be creative. It was so satisfying to actually make something, and make it work, instead of just talking or writing about it." The next year Richter transferred to CU Boulder as a computer science major, taking film and music technology classes along with a computer science curriculum.  But one day it hit her: "I could not see myself as a software engineer inside a cubicle surrounded by dudes in other cubicles. I felt like quitting." Then, the BS-TAM major was announced. Not only could she apply computer science to art, digital media, music and live performance, but she gained technical skills in web design, physical computing, digital audio and film production. "TAM provided the web design, film graphic design and programming skills to tell stories that are important to me across a variety of dynamic media. I gained the technical and practical skills to build a fire, and the environment provided the creative spark to ignite it. Instead of choosing between interests, I was able to take a variety of classes which fueled all of them." Read the full story on the ATLAS Institute website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Jill of all trades
Nadya Hill is a vocalist, violinist, visual artist and full-stack Javascript web developer. The Denver native graduates with a master’s degree in voice performance; and after turns in opera classics Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute, L'incoronazione di Poppea and Così fan tutte, she’s looking forward to going out on a slightly different note. Music is in Hill’s blood: Her father is principal timpanist for the Colorado Symphony, her mother is a violinist and her brother Colin is a junior jazz drum major at CU. Hill started playing violin as a child and, since then, music has been intertwined with everything in her life. "It’s hard to say exactly why music is so important, because for me, it’s just necessary and omnipresent. It’s as much of a need to me as eating, breathing or sleeping." Fast forward to her time at CU Boulder: Hill has had roles in five operas, and anyone who’s watched her perform can plainly see passion shining through her skill and engaging stage presence. So, with all that natural musical talent going for her, why computer programming? "After my first year of grad school, I was overwhelmed by the possibility that I might not be able to support myself as a musician. So I started teaching myself to code; then I took a 10-week intensive course in Boulder . . . The world of professional musicians is notoriously financially unpredictable, so there’s something comforting in knowing that while I have the skills to be a professional performer, I can also always know where my next meal is coming from." Plus, in coding, Hill has found yet another creative outlet. "Coding is definitely an art form in itself," she says. "To make a successful website, it has to be fun, easy to navigate, and personalized for each individual business, which ends up feeling like solving puzzles all day." As her time in Boulder draws to a close, the Jill of All Trades hopes to put her many skills to use wherever her path leads her next. And she’ll look fondly on the lessons she learned and friends she made at the College of Music. Read the full story on the College of Music website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: A poet, an activist, a leader
Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify To say that Toluwanimi Obiwole has kept herself busy for the past four years while at CU Boulder is an understatement. Between being named Denver’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate, redirecting her academic path, authoring two chapbooks and participating in organizations across campus, she has filled her college experience to the brim. This month, Obiwole celebrates another milestone. She joins the class of 2017 and, together, they will officially move their tassels from right to left to signify their college commencement. In 2013, Obiwole came to CU Boulder not fully knowing the path of self-discovery that awaited her. Born in Nigeria and raised in Denver, she made the short move to Boulder where she initially enrolled as an architectural engineering student due to practicality. However, having written poetry since she was young, Obiwole felt a gentle tug to take a different educational path. "I caught myself being pulled towards the arts and humanities," she said. "I realized my gift would be better used in a different field." After switching into CU Boulder’s Ethnic Studies program, Obiwole began building upon her natural potential and passion. With the switch, she also found community by getting involved in campus organizations. In fact, finding community was her favorite experience at CU Boulder. "I loved bonding with the people in the African Students’ Association and the Black Student Alliance. When I first joined them, I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I’ve found people who identify with me.' I was able to branch out and find community here that I could identify with, which really enriched my experience here." Embracing ‘authentic self-expression’ The concept of exploring one’s self-identity is a critical part of the college experience for many students, and Obiwole found this to be a core concept she adopted into her poetry. Having built her name and reputation in the Denver poetry and art scene, Obiwole used each opportunity to give voice to a notion central to her experience: authentic self-expression. "Mostly I advocate for visibility and being able to understand other people’s stories. Often underrepresented communities feel pressured to be a certain way in order to survive and navigate society, but I advocate for being true to yourself as a form of social change." Obiwole not only drives social change through her art but has simultaneously gained professional experience and attention with her art and poetry. As a previous participant in Minor Disturbance, she now serves on the organization’s advisory board, as well as co-executive director of Denver-based Slam NUBA. Her positive influence has been recognized by the university, as she was awarded the 2017 Excellence in Inclusion Award from the Department of Women and Gender Studies. As for future plans, Obiwole is determined to continue advocating for social change as she writes, teaches, collaborates with artists in Denver and slams (poetry, that is). With plans to move to Baltimore by the end of the year, Obiwole intends to apply to graduate school to obtain her doctorate in ethnic studies and become a professor so she can continue to positively impact people on their individual journeys to self-discovery.  Students


Class of 2017: Embracing collaboration
It's a question college athletes hear on a regular basis: "How do you manage to find the time to balance schoolwork and Division I athletics?" For Maddie DeWinter, a defender on the NCAA tournament-bound Colorado lacrosse team, the answer is simple. "If I have a bad day at school, get a bad test grade, when I come to practice, I don't have to worry about it . . . I get this three- or four-hour break where I don't have to focus on school." Conversely, DeWinter says, academics can offer a similar respite from the rigors of participating in Division I athletics.  It would be hard to argue with DeWinter's formula. The senior from Parker, Colorado, is set to graduate with a degree in chemical and biological engineering and a grade-point average north of 3.9. She also was recently honored with CU's senior female Scholar-Athlete Award. When DeWinter arrived with CU's first recruiting class, she was a starter as a freshman. By her sophomore year, when more recruits joined the team, she played in 18 games but had just six starts. As a junior, she appeared in just nine games, and this year she has appeared in just five games. DeWinters says the transition has been one of the hardest things she's had to deal with in her time at CU, but true to form, she has made something good out of a difficult situation.  "It's provided one of the biggest lessons I've learned athletically," she notes. "Being behind the scenes and putting in the legwork so the team is elevated translates very well into engineering," she said. "Having that drive, not giving up and continuing to work at it—it's taught me a lot. I've learned that teamwork can produce great results and you don't have to be in the spotlight to be part of that success. It's a lesson I will take with me long after I'm done playing lacrosse." When the season finally comes to an end, DeWinter will begin working for Elion Labs, a Louisville-based analytical research company. A year from now, she hopes to begin pursuit of her MD-PhD degree. But her time at CU—in the classroom, on the field and in the lab—will always be part of her foundation. Read the full story on the CU Buffs website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Finding a voice
When William Kristofer Buxton was in middle school, vocal nodules left him with "essentially no voice." Instead of surgery, Buxton did two years of speech therapy, and gradually his voice returned. "Once it came back, I realized I couldn’t keep taking it for granted," he said. So he tried out for the school musical. An Arvada resident and fourth-generation University of Colorado Boulder student, Buxton graduates next week summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre performance and a Bachelor of Arts in speech, language and hearing sciences. In Buxton’s view, the disciplines of theatre and speech-pathology approach the same issue from different vantage points. "Theatre is applying the concept of voice and actually having the experience of having voice, whereas speech pathology is taking a scientific approach to that idea of having voice." The College of Arts and Sciences spring 2017 outstanding graduate has clearly found his voice. After enrolling at CU Boulder, Buxton pursued his degree in theatre and dance. To fulfill a core-curriculum requirement, he took a course in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Taking that course convinced him to pursue speech pathology as a second major, partly because the discipline helped him when he was in middle school. "That was such a crucial time for me. For me to discover my voice again and start performing was huge, and so I wanted to share that with other people," Buxton said. "I decided I wanted to start pursuing a speech-pathology path. It was sort of the process of me discovering my voice and wanting to help others discover theirs." After graduation and a summer of Shakespeare, Buxton plans to spend the next year doing auditions and applying to graduate school. His plan is to earn an advanced degree in speech pathology and continue working on the stage. "I feel torn between the two worlds," he said of theatre and speech pathology. "For me, it’s going to be about finding how to combine them." Visit the Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine online to read the full story. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 Everything you need to know for graduation day Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Excelling on and off the court
If you follow Colorado basketball, you already know a few things about Buffs senior Haley Smith. You know she was a four-year starter and played a significant role in the just-completed turnaround season. You know she finished her career as one of just 29 1,000-point scorers ever for Colorado and one of just 15 players in CU history with at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. You also know she never took a night off. She spent four years with the Buffs playing her heart out every practice, every game. Anyone who watched Smith play knew her effort was never, ever in question. But what you might not know is that Smith is the kind of student-athlete who makes Buffs fans proud to be Buffs fans. "Haley is the perfect representation of a student-athlete at the University of Colorado," said Chris Howlett, CU's academic coordinator for women's basketball. "She excels in the classroom, she excels on the court, she does everything the right way, she doesn't cut corners. I've never had to ask Haley to do anything; she's always out in front of what I'm asking everybody else to do. She just epitomizes and really defines what an exceptional student-athlete looks like." Smith will graduate this semester with a degree in mechanical engineering and a grade-point average north of 3.67. She is a three-time member of the dean's list, a three-time All-Academic Pac-12 team member, a seven-time member of the athletic director's honor roll and one of three recipients for this year's Byron R. White Leadership and Initiative Award. Smith will enroll next fall at Stanford in pursuit of a master's degree in mechanical engineering. After that, she hopes to begin a career in a research and development setting in the field of biomechanics. But no matter how her time in Boulder starts becoming more and more of her past, there are moments she knows she will never forget. "I can't imagine having gone through college without all these experiences," Smith said. "The people I've been surrounded by, the people I've been able to meet, the people who have been such an influence and impact on my life—it's been amazing. I've had so many opportunities to do so many things, to have so many different experiences, it's hard to think about not taking advantage of all those things." Read the full story on the CU Buffs website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 An overview of commencement Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Creating algorithms for healthcare
Alexandra Okeson, a CU Engineering Outstanding Graduate for Academic Achievement for 2017, tried her hand at several computer science disciplines during her time at CU Boulder.    But it was through a Discovery Learning Apprenticeship that Okeson finally found her calling in the field. She was paired with advisor Sriram Sankaranarayanan and got to help create algorithms for his artificial pancreas verification project.  "Right now, medical companies are using computers to test these devices before testing them on humans, but they don’t have algorithms to test devices on kids and a couple of other high-risk populations," she explained. "We made an algorithm that took a small subset of data and made it into a larger test set." Working on that project inspired her to go on for her PhD, focusing on algorithms for healthcare. She starts graduate school at the University of Washington in the fall. Dabbling in different areas helped Okeson stay motivated during the tough early semesters of the computer science curriculum. As a teaching assistant, she advises younger students not to get discouraged by the early coursework. "There are a lot of different ways you can use computer science to help the world and inform what you’re passionate about, so don’t give up too early." Okeson, who’s originally from Anchorage, Alaska, discovered computer science during a required intro to programming class at the university where she spent her freshman year before transferring to CU Boulder. After that, Okeson was hooked.  Read the full story on the Computer Science website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 An overview of commencement Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: A story of forward momentum
The first night Megan Mangum was homeless, she slept in a park. It was the middle of November in the Colorado mountain town of Idaho Springs. She was 15 and already working three jobs to help pay her way. Mangum lived without a home for more than three years, all the while doing everything she could to get an education. "Without school," she said, "nothing was going to happen with my life." Now 26, Mangum will graduate from CU Boulder with two degrees, a bachelor’s and a master’s, both in integrative physiology, plus a certificate in public health. She’s preparing for the MCAT and contemplating a future of real possibilities that once were mere fantasies. "There is no rational explanation as to where she unearths inspiration to improve, drive and overcome," said Monica Hickox, a housemate and close friend. "She is a fascinating study on the 'nurture versus nature' front, because there was no nurture to instill the 'fight like hell' attitude." In time, Mangum began taking nursing classes at CU Denver in addition to community college classes. She got an internship at Swedish Medical Center, became certified as an EMT, then as a paramedic. In 2013, with two associates degrees in hand, she applied to CU Boulder. Admitted in April, she exulted: “I couldn’t stop smiling.” Not old enough to apply for federal financial aid on her own, she took out her first loan and started paying it back immediately. The first time she heard from the CU Boulder bursar’s office, she didn’t open the email for days, terrified it was a bill she hadn’t anticipated and couldn’t afford. It turned out to be a scholarship, the first in a series. They eased her burdens and gave her a sense of being wanted. "Until getting here," she said, "I was the only one rooting for me." Mangum has been invited to tell her story in public several times. She does it with a disarming mix of candor, humor and optimism. Rooms fall silent. Hearts melt. People rise to their feet and clap. She hasn’t mapped out her future in permanent marker. It’s a luxury of her improbable new life that she faces some good choices—like whether to apply to medical school, a doctoral program or both. "Either way," she said, "there’s gonna be a 'Dr.' next to my name." Read the full story on the Coloradan website. Students Read more stories about the class of 2017 An overview of commencement Be part of the campus conversation on Storify


Class of 2017: Mind of a philosopher, heart of an activist
If Jasmin Torres had a personal motto, it would be, “Sí, se puede.” This Spanish phrase meaning, “Yes, you can,” has defined the graduating senior’s life, from her decision to apply to college, to double major in philosophy and molecular, cell and developmental biology at CU Boulder, and to pursue a medical career. The journey hasn’t been easy. As the first in her family to go to college, Torres didn’t have a road map. But this child of Mexican immigrants was driven by her parents’ sacrifice and eventually by a desire to work in underserved communities as a doctor. Read more stories about the class of 2017 An overview of commencement Be part of the campus conversation on Storify “Coming here was the best decision,” says Torres, who is from Colorado Springs. “I love CU and it helped me become the woman I am today.” Embracing the physical and the metaphysical A deep thinker who chooses her words carefully, Torres doesn't give this praise lightly. In fact, she often felt like she didn’t fit in as a student of color. But an introductory biology class opened up a new world where she discovered a passion for learning. These and other classes became a safe haven in the midst of a painful struggle with feeling inferior and unprepared. “I fell in love with the idea that while life is so complex and confusing, the cell functions in a very specific way that all makes sense,” she says. Through philosophy classes and the Ethnic Living and Learning Community Leadership Studies Program, a residential academic program, Torres began to see her inner turmoil as part of a larger struggle against societal injustice and racism. She became an activist, eventually serving as a peer mentor and resident adviser in the program and joining campus groups focused on social justice and political action. “By the end of my freshman year, I had moved from pain to empowerment,” Torres explains. Reaching out to the community Confidence in herself soon led to a commitment to empowering others.   She helped develop a neuroscience outreach program led by Nicole Speer, director of operations at the Intermountain Neuroimaging Consortium. Torres and other students wrote interactive lessons about how exercise, sleep and eating well can improve brain function, which they have taught at schools across the Front Range region. Speer says Torres’ leadership has transformed the program from simply teaching about the brain to empowering underrepresented and underserved K-12 students to pursue science. Last summer, the program headed to Trinidad, Colorado, where Torres shared these lessons and her personal story with Latina high school students. “It was incredible to see the moments when each of these 15- to 18-year-olds saw Jasmin as a future, potential version of themselves, and realized that a college education and career in science were not off limits to them because of their ethnicity or gender,” Speer says. Torres credits Speer with helping her grow personally and intellectually and discover her career path. “If I believed in guardian angels, Nicole would be it,” Torres says. Blazing a trail What happens when we embrace who we are and where we come from and become bold enough to think we are capable and worthy of pursuing our seemingly impossible dreams?" she asks. “You have to free yourself from constraints and then you can do anything." At the heart of Torres’ activism is a sense of duty to the Latino/Latina community, where she hopes to have an impact as a physician and researcher. She is currently an intern in the neurosurgery unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She is also a research assistant on campus for a national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, a job she will continue after graduation while applying for medical school. While she hasn’t decided on a medical specialty, Torres says volunteering at a clinic in Aurora that serves low-income and homeless patients reinforced her desire to help reduce the health disparities in underserved areas. “Certain oppressive societal structures make it almost impossible to escape generational poverty,” she says. “I’m very interested in learning how poverty impacts brain development.” Torres is also keenly aware that her success is due to the tremendous sacrifices of her parents, Fermin Torres and Florinda Torres-Duarte. They will be cheering from the stands at Folsom Field on May 12 for a daughter who paved the way for the rest of the family: a younger brother is graduating later that day from CU Colorado Springs; an older brother received an associate’s degree last fall; and a younger sister is planning to go to college. This trailblazer doesn’t want anyone to squander opportunities. “What happens when we embrace who we are and where we come from and become bold enough to think we are capable and worthy of pursuing our seemingly impossible dreams?" she asks. “You have to free yourself from constraints and then you can do anything.” StudentsGraduating senior Jasmin Torres outside an MRI machine on campus, where she does neuroscience research.


Class of 2017: After three daughters graduate, mom finishes degree
Patrita “Ime” Salazar wears a ceremonial “Los Ojos” wool blanket as she poses with her daughters, left to right, Kalee, Tachara and Cibonet during an April 29 graduation reception hosted by the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies. All four women are CU Boulder graduates. Photo courtesy of Adam Sings In The Timber. By age 50, Patrita “Ime” Salazar had compiled an impressive list of personal and professional accomplishments. As an IBM project manager, she became vice president of the company’s National Native Diversity Network. In the nonprofit arena, she worked as a fundraiser and national event planner for the Native American Rights Fund and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. In 2003, she co-founded Boulder Valley School District’s American Indian Youth Leadership Institute, where she still mentors middle- and high school students. Her good deeds have not gone unnoticed. In 2007, Boulder County bestowed its Multicultural Award on Salazar to honor her contributions to the local business community. Read more stories about the class of 2017 An overview of commencement Be part of the campus conversation on Storify Salazar also raised four daughters alongside Gary Salazar, her husband of 34 years, and the couple watched proudly as their three eldest graduated from CU Boulder, one by one. Tachara, 30, received a bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies in 2009; Kalee, 28, followed with bachelor’s degrees in environmental studies and ethnic studies in 2012; and Cibonet, 23, earned bachelor’s degrees in history and ethnic studies in 2015. Yet, even as Salazar racked up accolades and forged stronger community ties, the New Mexico native still harbored one unmet goal: the bachelor’s degree she had started working on in 1981. “It was always in the back of my head bothering me,” Salazar says. “When I would write my name, or people would see my bio—I wanted that degree. After our third daughter graduated, I told my husband, ‘I’m going back to school.’” On April 29, more than a dozen American Indian students participated in a graduation ceremony hosted by the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS) at the Koenig Alumni Center. Among the honorees was Salazar, who wrapped herself in a black-and-ivory “Los Ojos” Pendleton wool blanket to honor her family and her tribe. After all, her parents, her husband, her children and her New Mexico and Colorado communities were instrumental as she walked on a path to higher education success. “Education was always a very key privilege for my family, and for my husband’s family. It was something we needed to go and do. It was always the mindset that you needed a college degree so you could have further opportunities,” Salazar says. Of note:According to institutional data, it is rare for those over the age of 25—often referred to as “nontraditional students”—to attend college at traditional four-year universities such as CU Boulder, which makes Salazar’s achievement all the more impressive. On commencement day May 12, Salazar, 54, will receive a bachelor’s degree in communication some 36 years after she set out to study at CU Boulder, leaving behind Taos, New Mexico, and the Santa Ana Pueblo—the Tamaya Reservation or “the rez.’” Stories like Salazar’s inspire David Aragon, assistant vice chancellor for the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE). She symbolizes the growing number of adult learners returning to college to reclaim lost dreams, explore new opportunities or cross long-held goals from their bucket lists. Like Salazar, Aragon was participating in a summer program for first-generation students in the 1980s when the two met and became lifelong friends. When his former classmate returned to college after raising a family, he introduced her to CU LEAD Alliance and the CMCI Diversity Scholars Program. Aragon also served as a mentor to Salazar’s daughters when they were undergraduate students. “It was wonderful to see Ime embrace the opportunity to be a student again,” Aragon says. “I would encourage other students like her to pursue their educational goals. It’s never too late. In my experience, learning is much more interesting when you are older and bring your life experience with you.” Salazar said returning to college to complete her degree was easy. Getting used to how things had changed on campus was another matter. She’d left college in 1984 during her junior year after she and her husband, whom she met at CU, learned they were going to be first-time parents. A lot had changed over the years, but she was ready to test herself as a nontraditional student in 2016. She learned new technologies, got used to being older than some of her professors, and resisted the urge to dominate class discussions because she had seen so much, done so much and had a lot of takeaways to share with classmates who were younger than her children. “You have to totally check in and really set your mind to it, especially with children,” says Salazar. “I had to be fully engaged. I went back full time, and that’s all I did. I had to be on campus, immersed and going to classes. I basically treated it like a work day.” Her middle child, Kalee, said that she and her sisters are proud of the example their mother has set for them and other young people in Colorado and New Mexico. Masani, 15, the youngest of the Salazar clan, is a Centaurus High School freshman who is poised to follow the trail blazed by her elders. Kalee said her mother and her father, an electrician and entrepreneur, taught their children that everyone follows a unique path through life, and people can wear many hats while working to make the world a better place – starting in their own communities. “Seeing our mother celebrated for her accomplishments fills our hearts with pride and our eyes with tears of joy,” she says. Meanwhile, Salazar pointed out that her family still attends CU football games and participates in other campus activities. She will always remember those summer days as a young student living in Libby Hall, where she met her future husband and stared down the challenge of being separated from her family for the first time. She’s grateful for the lifelong friends she met in college while working in the community. “Being a part of the CU Boulder community is ingrained in the family dynamic,” she says. “CU has always just been a part of us.” Students


Class of 2017: A student inspired by his father
It has been a fantastic four years, and I have been fortunate to meet many amazing people and develop wonderful lasting relationships with them," he says. "Along with this I have been challenged intellectually in a manner I never have before. I’m sad my time at CU Boulder is coming to a close, but I know I definitely made the most of it." –Michael Persinger What makes senior Michael Persinger, who graduates from CU Boulder this spring with a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Integrative Physiology, such a driven guy? His father, he says. "My dad started out with nothing," explains Persinger. "He was an orphan and was taken into foster care when he was three or four years old, and he was treated very poorly. But despite all these struggles he was able to make a name for himself. He had a very successful military career, raised a family and put three kids through college. He made sure his kids never had to experience anything close to the hardships he did growing up." One of the biggest lessons his dad, Michael Persinger Sr., passed down was perseverance. "He taught me to always keep pushing no matter what is thrown at me, and I’ve tried to keep that mentality whenever I’m faced with challenges," Persinger says. Persinger’s work ethic has allowed him to handle a challenging course load and multiple part-time jobs. He was a circulation assistant at Norlin Library and also worked in CU Boulder’s Neuroscience Outreach Program, visiting local K-12 schools to teach kids about the basics of the brain in hopes of inspiring them to get involved in STEM education fields. "It gave me the opportunity to practice my passion for teaching and provide a positive impact on the Boulder community," he says. As a volunteer research assistant under Associate Professor David Sherwood, Persinger studied how both internal and external focus can influence a person’s motor behavior. He also was a teaching assistant for Instructor Teresa Foley, whose specialty is endocrinology—the study of chemical messengers that hop between cells and are intimately tied to health and disease.  So what’s next for Persinger? "Being born and raised in a military family has always given me a certain level of respect for the armed forces," he explains. "After shadowing some doctors in high school, I realized I wanted to be a physician because it involves caring for others and science." Persinger began looking around at different medical schools. He was drawn to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (UHUHS), the official medical school for the nation’s military located in Bethesda, Maryland. He said the school’s motto, "Learning to care for those in harm’s way," made a big impression on him. "I would love the opportunity to care for those who willingly put themselves at risk for the rest of us," he says. During his time at CU Boulder, Persinger also found time to volunteer at Longmont United Hospital and the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. Persinger, who was born in Nebraska and lived in Florida from ages 6 to 8 and graduated from Highlands Ranch High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, plans to take the Medical College Admissions Test (known as MCAT) in June and apply to UHUHS in July in hope of matriculating there in the fall of 2018. "It has been a fantastic four years, and I have been fortunate to meet many amazing people and develop wonderful lasting relationships with them," he says. "Along with this I have been challenged intellectually in a manner I never have before. I’m sad my time at CU Boulder is coming to a close, but I know I definitely made the most of it." StudentsGraduating senior Michael Persinger of Highlands Ranch, Colorado


Beyond Boulder: Taking dance into the air
Growing up in Chicago with lawyers in the family and a propensity to argue and perform, Danielle Garrison thought she’d make a good lawyer. Until, on a whim, she took an aerial dance class that changed the course of her career. “I had no idea what aerial dance was. I was just curious,” Garrison said. “When I got on the trapeze I knew immediately it was exactly what I needed to do. In that moment, I just knew, ‘This is it.’ The feeling of being weightless was childlike and I felt so good in my body. That first aerial class set the stage for my dance career.” Garrison, who completed her undergraduate work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is working toward a master’s degree in dance at CU Boulder with an emphasis in aerial dance. She is the second MFA dance candidate in the aerial dance track.  She has been dancing since she was 3, and seriously studied ballet and modern dance throughout high school and college. But her goal was to become a lawyer—until that turning point in the aerial dance class when she let her imagination soar 18 feet in the air. Leaving thoughts of a law career behind, she auditioned with Aerial Dance Chicago as a dancer, later becoming choreographer, teacher and assistant director.    Garrison came to Boulder to dance with the Frequent Flyers dance company and learned about CU’s aerial dance program, which led her to audition. Since 2012, she has been dancing with Frequent Flyers and is director of the student company. She also teaches dance classes in Denver public schools to children of low-income families.  “I’m interested in making aerial more accessible to people who may never have the opportunity to venture into it,” Garrison said. “There’s so much potential—the conditioning, the workout, the artistry. It’s magical to see women of all ages find confidence in their bodies doing aerial.” Combining elements of modern dance, acrobatics and fearlessness, aerial dance uses an apparatus attached to the ceiling that allows dancers to explore three-dimensional space. With aerial, dancers integrate movements on the floor and in the air, so the apparatus becomes an extension of the dance floor. Fabric hung from the ceiling suspends and supports the body, giving dancers freedom to play in the horizontal plane while suspended in vertical space. It takes strong core strength for dancers to hold their bodies aloft.  At opposite ends of the aerial spectrum are the perspectives of modern dance and circus or cirque. Garrison’s approach to aerial dance can be found in the genre-bending place in between. Through improvisation, grace and fluid motion, Garrison has forged her artistic identity. Her choreography includes work that shows her perspective of the Catholic Church’s position on birth control and a depiction of how Muslim women are viewed in American culture.  “I’m being radical and experimental now,” she said. “My work has gotten bolder in discussing controversial topics that are both personal and global. I’m trying to do something with aerial that I’ve never seen or done before. I can’t just do work that is purely aesthetic anymore.” Garrison has received a 2017-18 Fulbright award to France where she will work on her MAPS (Multicultural Aerial Performance Stories) project at La Grainerie, a pre-eminent cirque institution in Toulouse. Through MAPS she seeks to answer the question, ‘How can aerial dance encourage transcultural empathy of grief in a post-embodied global world within the collaboration of art, live-embodiment and technology?’  By bridging aerial dance, cirque and various forms of media, she hopes to encourage an empathetic connection through live performance. Future implementation of her ambitious project would someday take her to far-flung parts of the world to work with artists on choreographing performances that can be viewed along with news stories on a website. Among her awards and distinctions, Garrison was a Fulbright semifinalist last year, a recipient of the Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant and the Eaton Graduate Student Travel Grant, which she used to study cirque in Paris last fall. In 2016, Garrison received the Children, Youth and Environment award for the work she does with youth in Denver public schools, teaching them dance and then bringing them to nursing homes to perform. “Art should be an expression of how we respond to different topics,” Garrison said. “I want the audience to not just think the performance was beautiful, but also to have a conversation about the message. Maybe art can be a bridge that unites different views and initiates dialogue about what’s happening in the world. I want the audience to get something more out of my art, even if it’s discomfort or frustration at the message.” front-homepage Students


Student unlocks mysteries of Norlin's Tibetan Buddhist texts
Students


Pushing Boundaries: Deaf student helps deaf refugees find their voice
“I was scared and shy when I first moved here,” Taw said. “I’ve become a much more courageous and confident person now.” Refugees immigrating to the United States can encounter many hurdles acclimating to their adopted home.  Adapting to a new way of life is much harder when they’re deaf. Sign languages used in other parts of the world differ greatly from country to country. Pamela Wright, a graduate student in linguistics at CU Boulder, is not a refugee, but as a deaf person, she saw the need and wants to gather resources to make their transition better.  Wright uses American Sign Language (ASL) and a translator to facilitate her communication with hearing people. She has a master’s degree in deaf education and volunteers in local schools and around the community, helping deaf refugees develop communication skills so they can grow and thrive here.  Linguistics graduate student, Pamela Wright, signs with Taw, an 18 year-old refugee from Myanmar “I feel like this is an area of knowledge that is entirely untapped,” she said. “We really can learn a lot about people by learning their language.” To establish a starting point for the process, Wright learns enough of the person’s native language to be able to communicate. She has worked with eight refugees.  One of them is Taw, who emigrated from Myanmar. His father was killed by Burmese soldiers, and Taw, who is 18, spent years in a refugee camp, afraid to use any sign language for fear of being punished.  The sign language he used in his native country is vastly different from ASL. Since he didn’t know English or ASL when he was evaluated for placement of services after arriving in Colorado, Taw was thought to have no language ability and was regarded as severely mentally deficient.  Wright began working with the high school senior last June. When she met Taw, he had just arrived into the system, a system that Wright claims is ignorant of the needs of deaf refugees. Their communication began at a rudimentary level—using photos and videos online to find common ground. Simultaneously, Wright was learning his Myanmar sign language.  As Taw learned to communicate with Wright, his intelligence and personality began to show.  “It was a slow process,” she said, “because I couldn’t teach him ASL or English without being able to understand him. I don’t know if there’s a written record of the sign language he was using, so I had to learn it from him first. If they have to work harder cognitively to process information to understand me, then I feel like I should work harder to understand together.”   Over three weeks, the two of them were figuring out ways to communicate.  The first thing Taw conveyed to her was the violence that took place in his country. From there, the story-based interaction of his being able to tell Wright his story opened up their communication and he began to progress. “I was scared and shy when I first moved here,” Taw said. “I’ve become a much more courageous and confident person now.” Signed language doesn’t follow the spoken language of the countries some refuges are from. It’s a separate language. Using International Sign Language, which is Eurocentric, is a good starting point for communication, but it’s not used in all countries.  The inspiration for Wright’s volunteer efforts with refugees developed after meeting Sushil, who is deaf. He emigrated from Nepal in 2008. Wright met Sushil at a deaf event in Boulder.  Sushil knows six languages, owns a computer company in Nepal and has traveled around the world. In the U.S., he discovered there were few local deaf services available to him. Deaf-specific services put him into programs with people who were labeled as “cognitively delayed.”  Being unable to fluently communicate with ASL, Sushil struggled to find work that matched his skills and experience. He lost jobs because of his lack of communication. When he met Wright in 2012, he had picked up enough ASL to easily communicate with her.  “My work experience is very different from the work I am doing here,” Sushil, 38, said. “I have experience in the tech industry, design and photography. I think people look at me and don’t believe I have skills because I’m deaf and obviously not American. That’s a challenge I face.”  By combining her linguistics background, an ability to quickly learn languages and her master’s degrees, Wright wants to put her unique skill set to use. She is setting up a nonprofit organization to serve the deaf refugee population.  “I want to see where this project goes,” Wright said. “Eventually, I would like to have some kind of lab for refugees and to teach in a university setting. With this new passion I’ve discovered, I’m trying to figure out how I can mesh those two together. I see a need and would like to work with that. I’m not here to save them. They’re strong people, but I don’t feel it’s right to leave the system the way it is, because it’s failing people. I believe in human rights and this is a human rights issue.”  front-homepage Students


Pushing Boundaries: ATLAS student's piano gloves turn any surface into a keyboard
After struggling to find his place in engineering and math, Kristof Klipfel discovered the creative outlet he craved in the Technology, Arts and Media program at the ATLAS Institute at CU Boulder. Since changing his major for the third time, the senior is consistently cranking out innovative work that demonstrates his active imagination. “Engineering and math were cool, but not my thing,” Klipfel said. “I can do computer science, engineering, music, art and more. I consider myself a culmination of all these, but I don’t classify myself as a single one.” The TAM program curriculum integrates creative production, critical thinking and technical skills into each course.   Once he was in the TAM program, it didn’t take long for Klipfel to hit his stride. He will present two of his innovative projects at a Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interactions conference in Yokohama, Japan, later this month. In one of these projects, he turned a pair of gloves—purchased at a local thrift store—into a music-making device that allows users to compose, produce and record music. The gloves turn any surface or gesture into a piano keyboard. Or a drum set. Or a violin. Or any number of other musical instruments and sounds with the flick of a wrist or tap of a finger. The possibilities are nearly limitless. With the gloves, a user can map any type of instrumental sound to the gloves’ fingers and record and loop grooves and melodies in real time. By recording backgrounds and melodies and piecing together sections of music, an entire song can be created. The user can add or alter audio effects, including frequency, volume, pitch and panning, just by bending the fingers. To the gloves he attached 15 sensors, eight buttons, two circuit boards and an LCD screen. On each fingertip is a pressure sensor that registers touches and taps to trigger notes. The sensors also set pitch and volume, based on the speed the finger is tapped. The music program receives MIDI signals, which can trigger any sound the user sets up in the program. The result is more organic and natural sounding music. Four buttons on the side of each index finger correspond to controls in the program. There are buttons to stop or start, to undo, and rise or fall an octave, allowing the user to change the finger note values while playing. Pressure sensors on the end of the gloves’ fingers provide velocity-sensitive touch. The harder they’re pressed, the louder the sound will be. Flex sensors on the back of the fingers act as potentiometers that add effects to the sounds being created. For example, users bend their fingers to slowly change the frequency or some other feature that can be defined in the music software. The LCD screen attached to the circuit board allows a user to program the gloves to any scale in any key, such as major, minor, blues or pentatonic. There are similar gloves on the market, but Klipfel’s prototype differs in significant ways. “My set provides consistency and reliability because you have that tactile feedback and more functionality,” he said. “I wanted to be able to create music quickly without having to go back and forth between the gloves and the computer. This is a smoother process. I also want the gloves to eventually have the capability to draw or paint on any surface.” With parents who are musicians, Klipfel was surrounded by music making from an early age. During high school, learning instruments became a hobby. Klipfel can play saxophone, percussion, piano, clarinet, trombone and tuba. And now he can play them on his gloves. At the conference in Japan, Klipfel and graduate student Hyunjoo Oh will demonstrate PaperMech, a website and online repository of Oh’s doctoral study of design tools and techniques for combining paper crafts with mechanical design and electronic engineering. Klipfel led the development of a user-friendly website and design simulator. The goal of this project is to support children and beginning designers to explore mechanical movements that can be used creatively with basic electronic components and common craft materials, such as paper, cardboard and lollipop sticks, to make kinetic crafts, objects or creations. “My parents encouraged me to learn things on my own and to figure it out,” he said. “That gave me the confidence to know I can build anything I want.” front-homepage Students


Sailing in Colorado? CU club would—if it had boats
CU Boulder Crowdfunding Support the CU Sailing Club Learn about Crowdfunding While sailing might not be the first outdoor sport you think of trying in Colorado, the co-captains of the CU Boulder Sailing Club urge you to give it a try. Doug Hamilton, a sophomore studying film production and creative writing, and Ryan Davis, a junior in aerospace science, are leading a recruiting effort and crowdfunding project. Hamilton grew up sailing in Maine and was on the sailing team during high school in Connecticut. He’s also held various sailing jobs. “A lot of us on the Boulder team grew up sailing,” he said. “When we came to CU, we sought it out and found a scrap of team that we’re trying to build up. It’s a euphoric feeling—the wind and the splashing water and knowing it’s all you making the boat go fast.” Davis learned to sail in his home state of Texas.  “Sailing has always been a part of what I do,” Davis said. “It’s exhilarating, fun, relaxing and even scary sometimes. My most memorable moment sailing in Colorado was on a ripping day with wind blowing at 20 knots. There was another person in the boat with me and we were really cruising along. The rush of moving fast in the water, purely by wind, is wild. There’s nothing like it.” The club has 15 active team members and they want to recruit more students to join them. Their practices are held in the afternoons and early evenings at the Boulder Reservoir. The team races in regattas held in other states, including at Baylor University and the universities of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Other than travel expenses, there is no limit to where the team can race and they are hoping to attend regattas on the West and East coasts. It has not been consistently smooth sailing for the club, the only collegiate sailing program in Colorado. Started in 2007, the club dissolved five years ago, leaving students high and dry. Recently relaunched, the sailing team was again racing in regattas in other states.  Just as the current club was gaining momentum, it had to retire its aging boats due to cracked hulls and split seams. Although the team can’t race its own boats, it can still compete out of state by borrowing other colleges’ boats. Relying on the generosity of other colleges is a temporary fix until the team can raise enough money to buy its own boats.     To be viewed as a legitimate team in the South Eastern Intercollegiate Sailing Association, the team needs to be able to practice consistently to maintain a competitive edge, as well as host events in Boulder and compete in sailing events across the country.  To do that, the club has launched a crowdfunding effort to raise $17,000 to buy six two-person sail boats called 420s, so called because the boats are 4.2 meters long. With these resources, the club can also recruit other CU Boulder students and provide opportunities to sail with the team to interested students and members of the Boulder community. “Once we get our new boats, the possibilities are endless,” Hamilton said. “You can learn how to sail, you get to hang out with fun people and go to regattas.”   For more information, visit the CU Boulder Sailing Club crowdfunding page.  front-homepage Students


From military service to INVST, student broadens horizons
Students


Pushing Boundaries: Students earn experience and a paycheck working at the International Film Series
As Boulder’s first arthouse, the International Film Series (IFS) on CU Boulder’s campus has been drawing local enthusiasts and student film buffs for over 75 years. Staffed by student employees, IFS shows more than 60 films each semester, including foreign, experimental and art films, documentaries and classic cinema, as well as mainstream popular films in one of the most eclectic film venues in Colorado. While student employees may have different majors and career goals, they’re gaining experience at IFS that will take them into real-world film industry careers. Adam Elbeck was majoring in international affairs and interested in politics until he took a film course that changed the trajectory of his career plans. Realizing he likes movies more than politics, Elbeck changed his major to film studies with a minor in business. He runs the projector for IFS and is learning about movie distribution.   “I think movies have a beautiful power to shape perception in society or how you feel about something,” Elbeck said. “Movies have the ability to change your perspectives and emotions surrounding sensitive topics. The film industry encompasses every kind of career, from accounting to the artists who design movie posters. I want to go into the business side of movies, into producing.” Melina Dabney is a BA/MA student working on her final year of graduate coursework in film studies through the Department of Art & Art History. Noah Lustgarten is a junior in film studies. As student manager of IFS, Dabney oversees the smooth operation of the showings, ensures the box office is correct at the end of the night and catalogs any scratches or problems with the 35 mm print film. After graduation, she plans to teach. “Film is a dynamic field that influences ideology,” she said. “You can track how film parallels what’s going on in history. IFS brings an awareness to the more art-cinema side of films.” Lustgarten would like to get involved in the film festival circuit and write movie reviews. “Even if they’re bad, I like to watch movies,” Lustgarten said. “An impactful movie for me is Birdman that won best picture in 2014. I’ve seen it eight times. This movie and the unique way it was filmed inspire me to want to write and make movies.” As many films as possible are shown on celluloid. Reel-to-reel projectors provide film buffs access to rare and archive prints from all over the world. IFS has hosted esteemed directors and filmmakers who attend screenings and discuss their work with the audience after the films, including Nathaniel Dorsky, Tom Shadyac, Cory McAbee, Denver native Pam Grier and Derek Cianfrance, a film studies major at CU Boulder. Pablo Kjolseth, executive director of IFS, has run the program for 20 years. For IFS programming, he says “the buck stops with me, but that’s not to say I’m at it alone. “I consider any interested cinephile who attends the IFS a colleague,” Kjolseth said. “I’m always receptive to the ideas and suggestions from CU Film Studies faculty, other departments, programs, students or the public. I have various film students to thank for making movie recommendations that really connected with the student population at large and in ways that bumped up attendance for our younger audiences.” IFS screens films in Muenzinger Auditorium (in the Muenzinger building, west of Folsom Football Stadium). During the spring semester, film showings run until May 7. For a schedule of upcoming films, visit the IFS website. IFS takes a break during the summer and resumes in the fall. Students


Graduate students push boundaries of creativity in CU's ceramics program
Ariana Kolins has had a secret desire since high school to open a tea shop and gallery. For Matt Smith, growing up with a father who was a jack-of-all-trades gave him a role model who worked in many creative ways to solve practical, everyday problems. Both of them became artists working in clay and now are pursuing MFA degrees in CU Boulder’s Ceramics Graduate Program, ranked fifth in the nation by US News and World Report. They were drawn to the ceramics program because of the nationally recognized faculty, the program’s interdisciplinary approach to art making, the spacious new facilities and the success of graduates who have gone on to successful careers in art and academia. "I came to CU to become a better artist," Smith said. "This program forges artists who know how to think critically, who are passionate about making art that people can think about, challenge or enjoy." The Ceramics Graduate Program in the Department of Art and Art History is meant to be a transition from classroom learning to individual learning in a private studio practice. The program offers a solid foundation from which students can take risks, be challenged and stretch themselves as artists. Eight graduates are enrolled in the ceramics area annually. The ceramics space houses include individual studios with common kitchen and separate hall for the graduates, nine gas kilns, 10 electric kilns, a ceramics teaching collection, glaze lab, plaster room, clay mixing room and three classroom studios. A robust interdisciplinary and conceptual approach encourages cross-pollination among myriad art-making disciplines. While Smith and Kolins have been working in clay, they have also been exploring other materials. Kolins has been working on an art installation with used tea bags. Collecting hundreds of tea bags from friends and co-workers, she empties the bags and stitches them together using the tea strings. The different teas stain the bags a variety of colors, which makes the whole piece reminiscent of a handmade quilt. "I chose this program because graduates were coming out with their MFAs working in clay," she said. "This is the first time ever that I’ve not worked in clay. I have a fascination with simple objects we throw away and that we don’t even notice, like tea bags. Something I’ve learned while here is that sometimes clay isn’t the obvious material. For this work I’m doing now, there’s no reason to have clay, so it doesn’t belong." Smith came to the program because thinking about ideas and whatever those ideas demand is often how the material begins to form.  He recently put up a large video installation with church banners made in the manner of those that hung in the church his family attended. Smith made the banners by laser cutting Bible verses into felt using his grandfather’s handwriting. Light shines through the cutouts, projecting onto the walls the verses that held meaning for him. "The reason this makes sense within the ceramic context is the idea of objectness," he said. "I find a certain power in objects that have meaning to me, that hold a personal history and a personal narrative. Being sensitive to the power of objects is one reason why I'm here. Above it all is a passion for challenging ourselves in this field and making pots, but ultimately I want whatever exciting idea that comes to my mind to play itself out in a material and a process that makes the most sense." So, what do stitching together tea bags and cutting Bible verses into felt have in common with throwing a pot on the wheel? Artists are continually reaching for something more within themselves. If they stop growing in their work, their art can become sterile no matter how developed their skills. Graduates come out of the program conversant in the ideas that drive them to create and prepared to engage in a meaningful exchange about the role of the arts in the world. "I think in terms of clay, and that is where the values of this new project are coming from," Kolins said. "This is an intense program. It teaches us to think critically. I process the world through making and I felt this was a place where I really could learn and grow." Kolins will have her work in the MFA Fall Thesis Exhibition at the CU Art Museum from Nov. 5 to 17, with the opening 5 to 7 p.m., Nov. 4. Students Ceramics graduate students


Internship program places students in Washington, D.C.
Undaunted by a divisive presidential election, two CU Boulder political science students are still excited about pursuing careers helping to shape policy. Seniors Safia Malin and Dylan Rogers bolstered their education by serving as interns in Washington, D.C., through the CU in D.C. internship program.  Rogers interned for U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman (Hist, PolSci ’79), a Republican representing Colorado’s 6th District. Malin worked for U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado’s 2nd District. CU in D.C. internships allow students to work, study and live in Washington. The program provides abundant opportunities for students to work with leading federal government agencies, arts and cultural organizations, and nonprofit groups. Internship duties might include researching issues or pending bills, writing reports, attending meetings or tackling general office tasks. Students earn CU Boulder academic credit for the full-time internship experience and coursework. CU in D.C. is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences and is open to undergraduates in majors across campus. Students typically intern Monday through Friday and attend one or two evening classes a week. CU classes are held in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace building. Malin says she wants to study education policy. Last spring semester she interned for Polis, who has a history of working in education reform. She partnered with a staff member who focused on education policy, working on research projects and attending briefings, including one with U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. "I thought this internship would be the perfect way to see educational policy at the federal level," Malin said, "which is something I’m interested in pursuing. Being able to study education policy and issues five days a week helped me realize this is definitely what I’m passionate about, and I would love to be doing this as a career." Malin started her internship after the Every Student Succeeds Act, a federal law passed in December that governs the country’s K-12 public education policy. Due to the flurry of implementation activities that went along with the new law, Malin got to attend some meetings about the Colorado issues. While in Washington, Malin toured a high-performing charter school that serves mostly students of color and lower-income students. Seeing children affected by the kind of policies she wants to influence reinforced her career goal. "Seeing the legislative process from start to finish was a valuable experience you can’t get in a classroom," she said. "In D.C. it was nice to be surrounded by a lot of young people who are beginning the careers. Which is what I see here on campus, students who are passionate about advocacy and social justice." Dylan Rogers, who has a double major in political science and psychology, participated in a summer internship in Washington with Coffman. Among his duties was handling phone calls that came into the office. One memorable phone call occurred when U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx called the office. The phone call reception was poor and Rogers couldn’t hear what Foxx was saying. Putting the call on hold to ask a staffer in the office for help, Rogers came back to find that the call had been disconnected. "I was like, oh, no," Rogers said. "Fumbling a call from the secretary of transportation can’t be good. It’s funny now. One of the most important things I learned was being as professional and calm as possible when on the phone." A major part of the internship, and a favorite of his, was giving tours of the Capitol to constituents. He represented his state and university by wearing Colorado and CU lapel pins. "It never got old walking through the building and explaining to visitors how this building came to be what it is today," he said. For fun on the weekends, interns in the CU in D.C. program would explore Washington, visiting museums and monuments around The Mall, sightseeing in Chinatown and Georgetown, and trying new places for dinner with cuisines from around the world. Malin and Rogers both said their CU in D.C. internships exceeded their expectations, giving them experience, confidence and valuable work skills, along with powerful connections. "I learned that you have to advocate for yourself," Malin said. "There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, or taking the lead, because internships are ultimately learning experiences." "I learned so much about the behind-the-scenes of how the country is run and what gets done on a day-to-day basis," Rogers said. "I’d like to arrange another internship on The Hill to get more experience. It was one of the best educational experiences I’ve ever had." Students can apply to CU in D.C. at any time and are encouraged to apply well in advance of their semester of participation in the program. Apply for CU in D.C.   front-homepage Students


Journalism grad student finds new calling back on the battlefield
As a student at CU Boulder, Mitch Utterback, who is conversant in Arabic, closely follows the news from the Battle of Mosul, as well as the social media feeds of his former Iraqi Special Forces colleagues fighting there. (Photo courtesy of CMCI/Utterback.) In June 2013, Mitch Utterback was working as the top military advisor on the Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs. The fire, which burned 509 homes before it was contained, transfixed the local media and was getting national attention. Utterback, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, was responsible for explaining the military’s response in news conferences. Mitch Utterback training Afghan Army soldiers near Kabul in 2003. (Photo courtesy of CMCI/Utterback.) “People would stop me in Panera and say, ‘Are you that guy who was on TV from the fire? I just have to say my elderly mother was so comforted by watching you on television,’” Utterback said. Several of Utterback’s friends, impressed with his on-air presence, suggested that the 30-year veteran of the U.S. Special Forces consider working as a television correspondent after leaving the military. Today, Utterback is pursuing that career through a master’s degree in journalism at CU Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information. For Utterback, who served three tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq, journalism isn’t as different from military work as it might seem. Both reporters and soldiers work in tight-knit teams under deadline pressure. “And in the military we represent the country,” he said. “I know what it's like to live by a code of ethics and be a good representative of the organization that I’m coming from." Photo courtesy of CMCI/Utterback. He hopes to combine his reporting skills and military experience to work as a war correspondent, reporting from conflict zones for a major television network. “When I watch television, I'm not satisfied with the type of overseas war reporting that I'm seeing," Utterback explained. "I just want to continue to make a contribution to the public and earn a new living by applying skills that I've acquired over a very long career." Utterback is working with his professors to tailor his education to this goal. He’s written a paper analyzing the media coverage of the 2008 Battle of Basra, in which he served, and he’s training with cameras that he might use as an overseas correspondent. “I truly feel like I’m getting a great education here. In every class I’m learning something,” he said. “In every class I’m being pushed, and every day I leave campus thinking, ‘Dang, I’m getting trained to do a new career!’” Utterback is using the G.I. Bill to support his education, and he feels a special connection to previous veterans, like those who returned home after World War II to pursue college degrees.  Mitch Utterback (left) in 2011 with his friend Abdul, the son of an Afghan Army cook, in Farah Province, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of CMCI/Utterback. His advice for other veterans who are considering a college education: "Recognize that even though it's the Veterans Administration paying for this, you have also paid for it with your time and sacrifice. Know what you want to do with that degree and then demand from your school more of what you need to learn." Students


CU Boulder senior breaks records in ultra-triathlon competition
Laura Knoblach was 9 when her father asked if she’d like to join him on a run. Thrilled to get to spend time with him, she jogged over a mile on that first outing. Today at 22, that bonding time with her dad has led to the CU senior’s becoming the youngest athlete in the world to complete a Triple Anvil triathlon. And she is ranked third in the world and first in North America by the International Ultra Triathlon Association in the Women’s World Cup race series. “I didn’t really care about my time in the single Ironman, because I knew I wasn’t going to win anything in that race,” Knoblach said. “But I was really hoping to place in the overall category in the triple. I’ve been surprised at how well I’ve done.” Knoblach, who is majoring in Spanish and English education, has participated in marathons, an Ironman triathlon ( a Double Anvil) and the grueling Triple Anvil, which is 7.2 miles of open swimming, a 336-mile bike ride and a 78.6 mile run.      The Triple Anvil presented a strenuous endurance test for Knoblach, mentally and physically. Her feet were riddled with blisters, her mouth had sores from drinking so many sports drinks, she kept nodding off on her bike and she suffered with muscle cramps in her right calf for 17 miles. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of her life. When she was 15, Knoblach began cycling. Her family had moved 15 miles from her hometown in St. Cloud, Minnesota. To see her friends, Knoblach had to ride her bike. Even today, she relies on her bike for transportation, riding 65 miles to visit family in Fort Collins.  During high school, Knoblach got a taste of competition when she ran her first half-marathon. Finding the experience thrilling, she moved up to full marathons (26.2 miles) the summer after her senior year.  Marathons became stepping stones that led Knoblach to a much tougher competition—the Ironman Triathlon held in Boulder in 2015. Despite not having participated in a triathlon, she began training for the Ironman, which is a 2.4-mile swim in Boulder Reservoir, a 112-mile bike race and a 26.2-mile marathon.  She already had the running and the cycling down, but could only swim the sidestroke. With a lot of flailing and swallowing water, she trained for a year learning to swim freestyle.  The day of the Ironman, Knoblach’s swim didn’t go quite as she’d imagined. Her watch was cracked so she had wrapped duct tape around it. The tape came loose in the water and she lost her watch, which meant she had no idea what her lap times were.  And then a sudden panic attack nearly sidelined her. “Swimming in open water with a bunch of people bumping into me and churning water all around was terrifying,” she said. “I had to hang onto one of the nearby kayaks until I could get my breathing under control and continue the swim.”  Once out of the water and on her bike, Knoblach was back in her element. Not interested in racing fast, she prefers to keep her own pace and enjoy the experience. During the marathon part of the Ironman, she ran, jogged and walked while chatting with the other competitors along the way.  “I had trained for a year and was finally in the race, so I wanted to have some fun and enjoy it,” she said. “Everyone was so friendly and supportive. We bonded over our shared pain.” Wanting more of a challenge, Knoblach participated in the Double Anvil triathlon last March in Florida, a couple of weeks after she turned 21, making her the youngest woman to compete in one. The double consists of a 4.8-mile swim, 224-mile bike ride and a 52.4-mile run, with a 36-hour cutoff. Her time was 34 hours, 20 minutes, 38 seconds. And if that challenge still wasn’t enough for Knoblach, she decided to try the Triple Anvil triathlon held in Virginia in October. It has a 60-hour cut-off. Her time was 59 hours, 36 minutes, 46 seconds.  For two of her three races, Knoblach raised money for organizations that help fight sex trafficking. One was I Empathize, which raises awareness of the exploitation of young people in the United States. For the second, she created a GoFundMe page to raise money for a friend who manages schools in South Africa. Educating girls helps prevent them from getting caught up in sex trafficking. She is also working with a group of students to relaunch CU Students Against Modern-Day Slavery. Participating in triathlons of all levels is rewarding to Knoblach, but competing in support of making a difference to the lives of others is satisfying to her on a deeper level. “I get a renewed sense of purpose and self, as well as an opportunity to help those in much worse situations,” she said.  Participating in and completing these challenging events has led her to rethink what she is capable of physically and mentally. “It’s such a heightened experience,” Knoblach said about the rush she feels when crossing the finish line. “I hate to say this, because it sounds so pretentious, but I feel like the Ironman is too short. I’d like to do a triple again and whittle down my time.” And what did Knoblach do after returning home from her first Triple Anvil? “Go mountain biking,” she said.  Knoblach’s training advice for ultra-marathons:•    Use a bike with a good fit instead of a bike that’s super cool but doesn’t fit.•    Change running shoes regularly. Your feet will thank you.•    Make sure you’re solid with cycling, running and swimming. Don’t over-train on one at the expense of the others.•    Fuel your body adequately. She burned 30,000 calories during the Triple Anvil. front-homepage Students


CMCI student earns CU Boulder a free CubeSat launch
Austin Braun, a junior in the College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI), recently earned the university a free ride to space for one of its future satellites when he won a naming contest hosted by United Launch Alliance (ULA), the Centennial, Colorado-based aerospace company.


Class of 2016: Playing football, becoming a doctor
There’s something to be said for mapping out your future, particularly if you are about to become a college graduate. Colorado football player Derek McCartney has quite obviously done his homework in that regard — but depending upon the circumstances, his path will take one of two wildly divergent roads two years from now.


CU-Boulder students selected as Udall Scholars
CU-Boulder students Bridger Ruyle and Zhashki (Sasha) Strong have been selected as 2016 Udall Scholars, becoming the ninth and tenth CU-Boulder students to be honored with the scholarship since its inception in 1996.


Doing the leg work to write a symphony
Anyone living in Boulder, in the shadow of the Flatirons, could understand the allure of taking your work into the mountains. Keane Southard (MMus'11) has a hunch that the wind blowing through the trees, the sound of critters and the very contour of the earth will set a unique scene as he writes his first symphony.


Same residence hall, different generation
Boulder resident Michelle Maloy Dillon attended CU Boulder in the mid 1980s, moving from New York to live in Baker Hall where she established lifelong friendships over pizza and textbooks. Now, 30 years later, Cooper Dillon is calling Baker Hall "home" for his first year at CU, too.


First gen student, Puksta Scholar helps families navigate road to college
Making sure Colorado's Latino parents have the information they need to help their children get on the path to college is first generation student and Puksta Scholar Alondra Palomino's passion. And she's taking her educational show on the road.


New Horizons “phones home,” CU-Boulder students, faculty elated
The New Horizons spacecraft made a successful flyby of Pluto this morning after a nine- year, 3 billion-mile-journey, sending a thumbs-up signal to Earth tonight and elating the world’s space science community, including University of Colorado Boulder participants. The spacecraft has been beaming back both dazzling and puzzling images of Pluto’s surface in recent days, including features that resemble whales, hearts and donuts. New Horizons is traveling at mind-bending 750,000 miles a day. Images from closest approach this morning, which will be unveiled tomorrow after the data are downloaded, were taken from roughly 7,700 miles above Pluto’s surface. A signal sent to Earth from New Horizons tonight during a 15-minute window that began about 6:45 p.m. MDT indicated the spacecraft is in good health, said New Horizons chief scientist Alan Stern, who received his doctorate from CU-Boulder in 1989. New Horizons is now speeding into the Kuiper Belt, a region spanning more than a billion miles past Neptune’s orbit and believed to harbor thousands of moon-sized objects and billions of comets. “We did it!” said CU-Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal, a New Horizons co-investigator who leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma Team and is a faculty member in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. “We’ve been waiting nearly a decade, but as everyone can see, it certainly was worth the effort.” “This is best news we could get, of course,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi of CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, who led a team of students that designed and built the Student Dust Counter instrument for New Horizons, which launched in 2006. “I’m sure a lot of the former students on this project who have gone on to do other things in their lives are looking on proudly at New Horizons tonight.” The data from New Horizons is being beamed back to the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where the spacecraft was designed, built and is operated for NASA. Hundreds of current and former New Horizons participants -- including CU-Boulder doctoral students Jamey Szalay and Marcus Piquette and former doctoral student David James -- were on hand to applaud the news of the contact signal. A revolving cast of more than 20 students worked on the SDC for New Horizons, designing and developing the instrument between 2002 and 2005, said Horanyi. Szalay and Piquette are currently measuring and analyzing solar system dust particles, remnants of collisions between solar system bodies. The dust counter is a thin plastic film resting on a honeycombed aluminum structure the size of a cake pan mounted on the spacecraft’s exterior. A small electronic box functions as the instrument’s “brain” to assess each individual dust particle that strikes the detector. “Our instrument has been plowing through our solar system’s dust disk and gathering data since launch,” said Szalay. “The measurements tell us about the evolution of our solar system and will help us understand how other solar systems billions and billions of miles away may look.  “We’re thrilled to have reached Pluto, and we can’t wait to journey into the heart of the Kuiper Belt to learn what’s out there.” Contact: Fran Bagenal, 303-492-2598bagenal@lasp.colorado.edu Mihaly Horanyi, 303-492-6903mihaly.horanyi@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 720-381-9479jim.scott@colorado.edu“We did it!” said CU-Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal, a New Horizons co-investigator who leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma Team and is a faculty member in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. “We’ve been waiting nearly a decade, but as everyone can see, it certainly was worth the effort.”Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Your student government: Legislative Council to review new student group funding recommendations
By the University of Colorado Student Government The CUSG Legislative Council will soon hear the second reading of a proposal that could affect the way student fees are allocated to student groups. The current Student Group Funding Board Code allows student groups to request and receive up to $20,000 per academic year for operational expenses. During the 2014-15 fiscal year, student groups received approximately $800,000 in student fee allocations – more than three times the amount allocated in annual student fee funds. “It’s important that we keep annual funding of student groups in line with what is allocated on an annual basis,” said Madalena DeAndrea, the new chair of the Student Group Funding Board (SGFB). “Board reserve funds have covered increased student group funding over the past two years, but that model is simply not sustainable.” Last spring, Deb Coffin, then vice chancellor for student affairs, informed CUSG’s Finance Board and Legislative Council of her decision to suspend any new SGFB funding for the remainder of the 2015 spring semester. This allowed time for a committee of students and university staff to review SGFB’s finances and operating protocol. The committee members – Haelena Bondi-Camacho, Finance Board; Jesse Van Divier, SGFB; Leila McCamey, deputy campus controller; April Ollivier, CUSG Administrative Staff and E. Maia Andreasen, Student Affairs director of budget and operations – reviewed future funding streams and compared CUSG’s policies to those of student governments at peer universities. They were also charged to recommend a model that would fund student organizations at sustainable rates comparable to similar instiututions in the Pac-12 Conference and others around the country. The committee found that a maximum annual funding amount of $3,000 per club was sustainable and more in line with the practices of other peer institutions. Therefore, SGFB and the review committee are recommending that Legislative Council amend SGFB Code to reflect a maximum annual allocation per club of $3,000. If adopted, this should not have an impact on nearly half of the campus clubs that requested and received funding of $3,000 or less last year. “But we appreciate this could impact some larger clubs that have received more than $3,000 on an annual basis,” DeAndrea said. “We want to hear feedback from these clubs and also talk to them about fundraising or other ways they can fund their activities.”   The Legislative Council will officially hear the second reading of this proposal at its July 16 meeting in the UMC, with possible adoption. If you have any questions, please contact custudentgov@gmail.com. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder alumna's dreams realized as New Horizons encounters Pluto
When the New Horizons spacecraft encountered Pluto early this morning, several CU-Boulder alumni realized a decade full of dreams and no one more so than Beth Cervelli. Cervelli, who is a flight software engineer at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, or LASP, is one of a number of CU-Boulder alumni who more than a decade ago built the Student Dust Counter instrument aboard New Horizons. “It’s very surreal because you work on this and you know that we are going to have to wait 10 whole years to get the pictures back," Cervelli said. "It’s hard to believe that all that time has passed and we’re still there and everything is still working. It’s very cool to have been a part of that - especially for Pluto. This is probably the one and only chance in our lifetime that we’ll be flying by this dwarf planet.” Cervelli was an undergraduate in 2003 earning a software engineering degree when she helped create the flight and ground based software for the instrument – one that has been collecting samples of space dust since the craft blasted off for Pluto in 2006. “The job of the Student Dust Counter is to count dust particles as we travel from the Earth to Pluto and beyond," she said. "It is basically a plastic film that sits on the outside of the spacecraft in the direction the spacecraft is moving  - basically like the windshield. So as the spacecraft moves it flies through dust and those dust particles impact out detector and the electronics pick up those signals and store them. And then once a year we send those signals to the spacecraft and the spacecraft sends them down to the ground.” The dust counter can only detect the size of the dust not the compositions, adds Cervelli. But the fact that students built this instrument and that it is still working and working well is what she finds amazing. “It’s amazing. I mean we knew what we were doing, we thought it would work but it actually is working and it’s been running for nine years without so much as a hic up," Cervelli said. "And just to know that we were able to accomplish that - that is amazing to me.” New Horizons had its closest encounter with Pluto at 5:50 a.m. on July 14. Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI).Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Native students tackle reservation’s persistent engineering challenges
Challenges faced by Native American reservations are many: lack of educational opportunity, high dropout rates, low representation in fast-growing STEM fields and therefore career opportunity, and dilapidated and unsafe housing options among them. However, a National Science Foundation-funded research and mentoring program for Native American high school students run by CU-Boulder engineering Professor John Zhai will show students the power of engineering to identify and solve tribal housing problems, as well as create a lifelong interest in science, technology, engineering and math. This Sustainable Building and Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) program is now in its third year. This summer, 12 students from the Rosebud Indian Reservation spent a week in Boulder where they attended lectures on sustainability and engineering by CU faculty, participated in engineering design challenges and hands-on workshops on sustainable building materials and energy systems.  Students built a straw bale construction wall, designed and built their own mold samplers, and installed a residential PV system in Denver with Grid Alternatives, a non-profit organization that brings renewable energy to underserved communities. They then traveled to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and did more “hands on” engineering research evaluating tribal housing. Students compared traditional housing to sustainably built homes evaluating levels of mold and energy efficiency.  CU-Boulder graduate student instructor Wyatt Champion guided the students in analysis of the data from homes and development of research abstracts and posters for presentation at the National Science Foundation’s annual Emerging Researchers Network conference in Washington, D.C., in 2016. “The new concepts from our research will be used to inspire diverse ideas of smart development, use and management of green buildings on reservations,” said Zhai, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “Information and data collected from the REM program activities will also be useful to expand the current research scope and facilitate the inherent integration of innovative research outcomes with practical applications." Throughout the month-long program students were taught by CU engineering graduate students and alumni and mentored by members of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) from Colorado, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud.  Mentors discussed the unique challenges facing Native American students in STEM, ways they had overcome these challenges, and advised students to seek out help when they need it. Members of the AISES chapter at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have invited students to present their research findings in the fall. The students also plan to deliver their findings to the Northern Cheyenne Housing Authority and Tribal Council. Sydney Horse Looking, a student from St. Francis Indian School in St. Francis, South Dakota, said the lectures sparked an interest in engineering and the different ways to build a house. “My favorite part was learning about constructing a straw-bale house because my mom wants to build one,” she said. “I thought if I came here, I could help her.” Horse Looking was amazed to learn how sturdy straw bale construction can be. “People think that because the house is made of straw that it is destructible, but really straw bale homes are more sustainable and durable,” Horse Looking said. “I like that it is more energy efficient and that the materials come from nature. The energy savings can help people pay for (other) things and cut their bills.” Over the past two years the program has worked with a number of different tribal colleges and high schools to recruit students from Haskell Indian Nations University, Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, and Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. In total, 25 Native American students and four teachers have participated in the program.   At least five of the fourteen participants from 2014 are now pursuing STEM degrees and research programs. Chantel Greene, a 2014 participant from Haskell Indian Nations University and member of the Nez Perce Tribe, is now working as a research assistant for the Tribe’s Clearwater Watershed, and will be starting a master’s degree in sustainability science in 2016. “This program greatly influenced my views on STEM,  I now plan to further my education in grad school to study sustainability,” Greene said. For more information on the program please see project website: www.colorado.edu/tribalstem Contact: Anna Segur, program managerAnna.segur@colorado.edu Julie Poppen, Strategic RelationsJulie.poppen@colorado.edu, 303-492-4007, (M) 720-503-4922Engineering, P-12 Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Plump cartoon characters provoke indulgent eating in kids, says CU-Boulder-led study
Children consume more low-nutrition, high-calorie food such as cookies and candy after observing seemingly overweight cartoon characters, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. The results of the new study, involving Colorado State University and published online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, show that kids are responsive to the apparent bodyweight of cartoon characters like the aptly named Grimace, a rotund, milkshake-loving creature created by McDonald’s restaurant in the 1970s. Children tend to perceive ovoid, or egg-shaped, characters as overweight even though the creatures are imaginary, found the study. “Because research like this is new -- looking at kids and stereotyping particularly of cartoon characters -- we weren’t sure whether kids would be aware of bodyweight norms,” said Margaret C. Campbell, marketing professor at CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business and lead author of the study. “But surprisingly, they apply typically human standards to cartoon creatures -- creatures for which there isn’t a real baseline.” In addition, seeing ovoid cartoon characters can influence children to eat more unhealthy food, according to the study. “They have a tendency to eat almost twice as much indulgent food as kids who are exposed to perceived healthier looking cartoon characters or no characters at all,” said Campbell. The inclination to eat more junk food was curtailed, however, when kids in the study first had the opportunity to summon their previously learned health knowledge. That is, before looking at the ovoid cartoon character and then taking a cookie taste-test, the children’s health knowledge was activated when they were asked to choose the healthiest option represented in six pairs of pictures and words -- such as getting your sleep versus watching TV, soda versus milk and playing inside versus playing outside -- which led to lighter cookie consumption. “This is key information we should continue to explore,” said Campbell. “Kids don’t necessarily draw upon previous knowledge when they’re making decisions. But perhaps if we’re able to help trigger their health knowledge with a quiz just as they’re about to select lunch at school, for instance, they’ll choose the more nutritious foods.” Kenneth Manning, professor of marketing at Colorado State University; Bridget Leonard, CU-Boulder graduate student at the time of the study and now assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; and Hannah Manning, CSU student, co-authored the paper. The findings -- gathered from just over 300 participants in three age groups averaging 8, 12 and 13 years old -- have implications for marketers as well as parents navigating a world where children encounter cartoon characters in a variety of media, from books to graphic novels, TV shows, video games, movies and more. “What I would like to see is companies being a lot more responsible with their own marketing choices,” said Campbell. “I think it is important for parents to know they should think about the way they might be associating food with fun for kids -- in the form of exposure to cartoon characters, for instance -- as opposed to associating food with nutrition and the family structure.” The Kellogg’s brand is an example of a company that changed the image of one of its cartoon characters in a responsible way, according to Campbell. Several years ago, it revamped Tony the Tiger to be slimmer and more athletic, which may link the character with healthier eating ideas rather than linking to ideas of eating lots of sugary cereal, she said. For a copy of the study contact Elizabeth Lock at 303-492-3117 or elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu.Business var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder program empowers Latino, Chicano youth
Thirty-two Latino and Chicano Colorado high school students are immersing themselves in college life and learning July 12-18 at the University of Colorado Boulder as part of the third annual Aquetza: Youth Leadership, Education and Community Empowerment summer program. The free residential program provides high school students with strong ties to Latino and Chicano communities with an interactive academic and community-building experience focused on engaging youth in examining the history, literature, health science and relevant social and political issues surrounding their cultural communities. This happens through rigorous academic work in ethnic studies, writing, reading and science combined with individual and group reflection on personal experiences.  In Nahuatl, the language of indigenous people of central and northern Mexico, “aquetza” roughly translates as, “lift your chin up.” This was chosen with great intention and embodies what the Aquetza summer program is all about: To empower youth of all backgrounds with strong ties to Chicano and Latino communities across Colorado to develop powerful connections between academics and community progress. Participants from Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Pueblo, Erie and Firestone will be able to see themselves as scholars and develop the skills to become leaders in their communities, to pursue higher education and to make positive change in their worlds.  The program, co-founded and directed by Jasón Romero, Jr., a master’s student in education, and CU-Boulder doctoral alumnus Mike Domínguez, was intended to revive a summer bridge program that CU’s United Mexican-American Students Association (UMAS) led in the 1970s to bring Latino and Chicano youth to campus. The week includes transdisciplinary and collaborative learning, experiences of campus life and of meaningful sites of activism, such as UMAS activities and Teatro del Oprimido, and evening presentations. At the same time, Aquetza offers educator development through rich critical pedagogy for CU-Boulder undergraduate education students. For example, students last year participated in a “photo voice” activity, in which they shared photos of aspects of their own communities that they perceived as positive and negative. After learning about history, political systems and systemic issues, students reexamined the problems and imagined new ways to contribute to social change. "It was inspiring to see CU-Boulder students and youth engaged together in culturally sustaining pedagogy in a way that builds community and validates identity, while showcasing the amazing knowledge, abilities, perspectives and vision these youth have to offer," Domínguez said.  Youth participation in Aquetza is funded by CU-Boulder’s School of Education, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement (ODECE), Cultural Unity & Engagement Center (CUE), the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, which is housed in the School of Education, and private donations. To learn more visit https://sites.google.com/a/colorado.edu/aquetza-program/home. Contact: Magnolia Landa-Posas, Aquetzamagnolia.landaposas@colorado.edu, 720-474-8450 Monica Gonzalez, AquetzaMonica.Gonzalez@colorado.edu, 630-618-6637 Kristen Davidson, School of Educationkristen.davidson@colorado.edu, 303-492-9019 Julie Poppen, CU-Boulder media relationsjulie.poppen@colorado.edu, 303-492-4007 (O), 720-530-4922 (M)"It was inspiring to see CU-Boulder students and youth engaged together in culturally sustaining pedagogy in a way that builds community and validates identity, while showcasing the amazing knowledge, abilities, perspectives and vision these youth have to offer," Aquetza co-founder and CU-Boulder doctoral alumnus Mike Domínguez said. Education, P-12 Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Students interact in a lecture hall during the 2014 Aquetza program. 


Stratospheric accomplice for Santa Ana winds and California wildfires
This is a joint release of CIRES, the University of Colorado Boulder and the American Geophysical Union. Southern Californians and writers love to blame the hot, dry Santa Ana winds for tense, ugly moods, and the winds have long been associated with destructive wildfires. Now, NOAA researchers have found that on occasion, the winds have an accomplice with respect to fires, at least: Natural atmospheric events known as stratospheric intrusions, which bring extremely dry air from the upper atmosphere down to the surface, adding to the fire danger effects of the Santa Anas, and exacerbating some air pollution episodes. The findings suggest that forecast models with the capacity to predict stratospheric intrusions may provide valuable lead time for agencies to issue air quality alerts and fire weather warnings, or to reallocate fire fighting resources before these extreme events occur. “The atmosphere could give us an early warning for some wildfires,” said Andrew Langford, a research chemist at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the study. Researchers at NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder coauthored the work, which was accepted for publication this week in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters. The authors took a detailed look at the May 2013 “Springs Fire” that burned 25,000 acres about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The researchers used a NOAA forecast model that incorporates satellite observations of ozone, wind data, and other atmospheric information to detect the occurrence of the intrusions. The analysis showed that in the early hours before the Springs Fire, a tongue of air characteristic of the stratosphere—extremely dry and very high in ozone from the stratosphere’s ozone layer—reached to the surface in southern California and extended as far south as Baja California. The researchers found that ground-based monitoring stations near the fire’s origin also confirmed the telltale signs of the intrusion right before the fire broke out: A large drop in relative humidity and a rise in ozone. As the day went on, a combination of factors accelerated the fire: Low humidity, persistent high winds, dry condition of the grasses and other vegetation, clear skies and bright sunlight, and very warm surface temperatures. A few days later, cloudy skies, a drop in temperature, a shift in winds, and widespread rainfall helped extinguish the fire. The stratospheric intrusion also had another downside during the Springs Fire: it added ozone from the upper atmosphere to the urban and fire-related pollution produced in the lower atmosphere. On the second and third days of the fire, this helped to push levels of ozone—which can harm people’s lungs and damage crops—over the federal ozone limit at 24 monitoring sites across southern California. Monitors as far away as Las Vegas also saw a spike in ozone on the third day of the fire. The observed exceedances of the ozone standard were unusual for the region for that time period, suggesting that the stratospheric intrusions were a contributing factor. “Stratospheric intrusions are double trouble for Southern California,” said Langford. “We knew that the intrusions can add to surface ozone pollution. Now we know that they also can contribute to the fire danger, particularly during La Niña years when deep intrusions are more frequent, as recently shown by our NOAA colleagues at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The good news is that with models and observations, we can get an early warning from the atmosphere in some cases.” The authors note that stratospheric intrusions have previously been implicated in the explosive development of wildland fires in New Jersey and Michigan, but have not previously been connected to fires in southern California or to the Santa Ana winds. The frequent occurrence of stratospheric intrusions above the west coast during the fall, winter, and spring suggests that similar circumstances may have played a role in other major southern California fires, including the series of destructive fires that burned more than 800,000 acres in October of 2003, and burned nearly a million acres in October of 2007, say the authors. CIRES is a partnership of NOAA and CU-Boulder. Contacts:Andy Langford, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, 303-809-0458Katy Human, CIRES Communications, 303-735-0196Monica Allen, NOAA public affairs, 301-734-1123Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Springs Fire 2013. Night Owl City/Flickr.


CU-Boulder students, faculty primed for July 14 Pluto flyby
After a nine-year journey of 3 billion miles, a piano-sized, power-packed NASA spacecraft has an upcoming date with history that some University of Colorado Boulder students, faculty and alumni wouldn’t miss for the world. Tuesday, July 14, is the day the New Horizons spacecraft will whip by Pluto and become the first ever spacecraft to visit perhaps the most enchanting planet. A team of CU-Boulder students designed, built and tested the Student Dust Counter (SDC) for the mission to measure dust particles along the way -- remnants of collisions between solar system bodies -- making it the first student built and operated instrument ever to fly on a NASA planetary mission. “We have waited a long time for this,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and a New Horizons co-investigator. The SDC is the only one of the seven instruments aboard New Horizons that has been collecting data since launch. From 2002 to 2005 Horanyi shepherded a revolving group of about 20 students as they developed the dust counter, which is helping researchers learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the formation of planets from dusty disks around other stars. Doctoral student Jamey Szalay, one of two students currently on the SDC science team, came to CU-Boulder in 2010 when New Horizons was screaming nearly a million miles a day between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. “I’m thrilled to be a be a part of this mission," he said. “Since launch we have been flying through the disk of the solar system, learning about its structure and how planets push dust around.” The dust counter is a thin plastic film resting on a honeycombed aluminum structure the size of a cake pan mounted on the spacecraft’s exterior. A small electronic box inside the spacecraft functions as the instrument's "brain" to assess each individual dust particle that strikes the detector. The tiny dust grains hitting the dust counter create unique electrical signals, allowing the students to infer the mass of each particle. “This mission will complete the first reconnaissance of our solar system and will reshape our understanding of the region where Pluto resides,” said CU-Boulder doctoral student Marcus Piquette, a member of the SDC science team. CU-Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal, a mission co-investigator, leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma Team. Bagenal was a member of the original “Pluto Underground” -- a small, dogged band of planetary scientists who began lobbying NASA in 1989 for a Pluto mission. The Pluto Underground also included then-CU-Boulder doctoral student Alan Stern, who now leads the New Horizons mission from the Southwest Research Institute’s Planetary Science Directorate in Boulder. Bagenal, a faculty member in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and LASP affiliate, said the interactions of the solar wind with Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere, which is leaking into space, is of high interest. “It’s clear that when Pluto’s orbit takes it closer to the sun, like it is today, the atmosphere is escaping like crazy,” she said. Scientists don’t yet know what happens to Pluto's atmosphere when the dwarf planet moves further from the sun, since a single solar orbit takes 248 years. Bagenal and her colleagues also want to learn more about why Pluto and some other objects in the Kuiper Belt -- a region spanning more than a billion miles past Neptune’s orbit and believed to harbor thousands of moon-sized objects and billions of comets -- seem to have a reddish hue. “It could be that energetic solar particles and cosmic rays are causing chemical reactions on the planet’s surface, turning the methane ice on Pluto’s surface to a reddish-brown gunk,” she said. The CU-Boulder scientists and students involved in New Horizons are at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Baltimore for the Pluto encounter. APL designed, built and operates the mission and manages it for NASA. In addition to the dust counter, the New Horizons instrument suite includes two cameras, two imaging spectrometers and two particle spectrometers to gather data on the surfaces, atmospheres and temperatures of Pluto, its five moons and several Kuiper Belt objects. “We really have little sense of what Pluto looks like,” said Bagenal. “But with New Horizons we will get our first detailed glimpse of the surface. We will see whether there are craters, or volcanoes, or frost, or tectonic cracks -- or something totally unexpected. I think we are in for a good ride, and it’s going to be lots of fun.”   “The flyby also is an emotional capstone for all the students who worked on SDC,” said Horanyi. “They have moved on to have families and kids and busy lives, but I know that all of them will closely follow the encounter, and remember their contributions with tremendous pride. The encounter is a landmark event along the way to explore the outskirts of the solar system, even beyond Pluto, for possibly decades to come.” Stern, who earned his doctorate from CU-Boulder’s astrophysical and planetary sciences department in 1989, advises Pluto fans to cinch it up for July 14, which is Bastille Day in France. “That is the day we will storm the gates of the Kuiper Belt,” he said.  For more information on SDC visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/sdc/. For more information on student research at LASP visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/about/cu-students-at-lasp/. For more information on the NASA’s New Horizons mission visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html# or http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.Natural Sciences, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder students, faculty primed for July 14 Pluto encounter
After a nine-year journey of 3 billion miles, a piano-sized, power-packed NASA spacecraft has an upcoming date with history that some University of Colorado Boulder students, faculty and alumni wouldn’t miss for the world. Tuesday, July 14, is the day the New Horizons spacecraft will whip by Pluto and become the first ever spacecraft to visit perhaps the most enchanting planet. A team of CU-Boulder students designed, built and tested the Student Dust Counter (SDC) for the mission to measure dust particles along the way -- remnants of collisions between solar system bodies -- making it the first student built and operated instrument ever to fly on a NASA planetary mission. “We have waited a long time for this,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and a New Horizons co-investigator. The SDC is the only one of the seven instruments aboard New Horizons that has been collecting data since launch. From 2002 to 2005 Horanyi shepherded a revolving group of about 20 students as they developed the dust counter, which is helping researchers learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the formation of planets from dusty disks around other stars. Doctoral student Jamey Szalay, one of two students currently on the SDC science team, came to CU-Boulder in 2010 when New Horizons was screaming nearly a million miles a day between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. “I’m thrilled to be a be a part of this mission," he said. “Since launch we have been flying through the disk of the solar system, learning about its structure and how planets push dust around.” The dust counter is a thin plastic film resting on a honeycombed aluminum structure the size of a cake pan mounted on the spacecraft’s exterior. A small electronic box inside the spacecraft functions as the instrument's "brain" to assess each individual dust particle that strikes the detector. The tiny dust grains hitting the dust counter create unique electrical signals, allowing the students to infer the mass of each particle. “This mission will complete the first reconnaissance of our solar system and will reshape our understanding of the region where Pluto resides,” said CU-Boulder doctoral student Marcus Piquette, a member of the SDC science team. CU-Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal, a mission co-investigator, leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma Team. Bagenal was a member of the original “Pluto Underground” -- a small, dogged band of planetary scientists who began lobbying NASA in 1989 for a Pluto mission. The Pluto Underground also included then-CU-Boulder doctoral student Alan Stern, who now leads the New Horizons mission from the Southwest Research Institute’s Planetary Science Directorate in Boulder. Bagenal, a faculty member in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and LASP affiliate, said the interactions of the solar wind with Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere, which is leaking into space, is of high interest. “It’s clear that when Pluto’s orbit takes it closer to the sun, like it is today, the atmosphere is escaping like crazy,” she said. Scientists don’t yet know what happens to Pluto's atmosphere when the dwarf planet moves further from the sun, since a single solar orbit takes 248 years. Bagenal and her colleagues also want to learn more about why Pluto and some other objects in the Kuiper Belt -- a region spanning more than a billion miles past Neptune’s orbit and believed to harbor thousands of moon-sized objects and billions of comets -- seem to have a reddish hue. “It could be that energetic solar particles and cosmic rays are causing chemical reactions on the planet’s surface, turning the methane ice on Pluto’s surface to a reddish-brown gunk,” she said. The CU-Boulder scientists and students involved in New Horizons are at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Baltimore for the Pluto encounter. APL designed, built and operates the mission and manages it for NASA. In addition to the dust counter, the New Horizons instrument suite includes two cameras, two imaging spectrometers and two particle spectrometers to gather data on the surfaces, atmospheres and temperatures of Pluto, its five moons and several Kuiper Belt objects. “We really have little sense of what Pluto looks like,” said Bagenal. “But with New Horizons we will get our first detailed glimpse of the surface. We will see whether there are craters, or volcanoes, or frost, or tectonic cracks -- or something totally unexpected. I think we are in for a good ride, and it’s going to be lots of fun.”   “The flyby also is an emotional capstone for all the students who worked on SDC,” said Horanyi. “They have moved on to have families and kids and busy lives, but I know that all of them will closely follow the encounter, and remember their contributions with tremendous pride. The encounter is a landmark event along the way to explore the outskirts of the solar system, even beyond Pluto, for possibly decades to come.” Stern, who earned his doctorate from CU-Boulder’s astrophysical and planetary sciences department in 1989, advises Pluto fans to cinch it up for July 14, which is Bastille Day in France. “That is the day we will storm the gates of the Kuiper Belt,” he said.  For more information on SDC visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/sdc/. For more information on student research at LASP visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/about/cu-students-at-lasp/. For more information on the NASA’s New Horizons mission visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html# or http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.Natural Sciences, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


H.S. students test ‘photo origami’ 3-D projects
This summer, middle and high school students are helping build and test 3-D structures that complement and mimic the cutting-edge ‘photo origami’ research conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder. Similar to the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes, photo origami is an innovative engineering technique involving light activated 3-D structures. As part of the National Science Foundation-funded Photo-Origami Research Project, researchers at CU-Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science are developing new composite polymers that can fold into 3-D structures using light. The researchers have partnered with CU-Boulder’s Science Discovery, a science education outreach program, to incorporate photo origami curriculum into Science Discovery’s engineering and STEM workshops for K-12 students and teachers. While this research is performed at a nanoscale in a million dollar optics lab, CU Science Discovery has found a way to model the process with $10 heat lamps and a common shape memory polymer – aka Shrinky Dinks. As part of the six-week Photo-Origami Research Experience and Mentorship Program, eight students from Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Skyline High School in Longmont and Northglenn High School have been working with CU-Boulder mentors and researchers. Two of the students have been studying and bending thermopolymers. The students have been able to research the same folding and bending properties as the CU-Boulder scientists, but they are using heat rather than light to make folds. The ability to transform a flat polymer sheet into a sophisticated, mechanically robust 3-D structure will enable new approaches to manufacturing and design of devices. Examples include using extremely low-weight, high-strength materials to create micro-electromechanical systems with complicated 3-D architectures that can be used for microscopic sensors, such as antennas or microphones, and miniature robotic devices for environmental monitoring. “In my 17 years at CU, I have never known a program like this that can take our research and turn it into a challenging and fun activity,” said Kurt Maute, professor of aerospace engineering sciences and co-investigator for the Photo-Origami Research Project. “The kids ask the same questions as our grad students. They are problem-solving and making adjustments; they are becoming engineers.” Leveraging what they have been learning at CU-Boulder, the high school students will share and test their photo origami models using printer-ready polymers with 9- to 13-year-olds in CU Science Discovery Summer Camps. The new models and resources that are being developed this summer will be incorporated into Science Discovery’s K-12 STEM workshops to help teachers and learners across the state understand this important new technology. Contacts:       Beth Stade, CU Center for STEM Learning and Photo Origami Research Project co-principal investigator, elisabeth.stade@colorado.edu, 303-492-8848 Stacey Forsyth, CU Science Discovery director, stacey.forsyth@colorado.edu, 303-492-4839 Hannah Fletcher, Communications, Office for Outreach and Engagement, hannah.fletcher@colorado.edu, 303-492-3949 Julie Poppen, Media Relations, julie.poppen@colorado.edu, 303-492-4007 or 720-503-4922 (mobile) “In my 17 years at CU, I have never known a program like this that can take our research and turn it into a challenging and fun activity,” said Kurt Maute, professor of aerospace engineering sciences and co-investigator for the Photo-Origami Research Project. “The kids ask the same questions as our grad students. They are problem-solving and making adjustments; they are becoming engineers.”Engineering, P-12 Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: April Garlin from Northglenn High School applies heat to a Shrinky Dink-type material to emulate a process known as "photo origami" during the CU Science Discovery program for middle and high school students at CU-Boulder. 


Engage with people different from you
Welcome new students!  College is an exciting time to meet new people from many backgrounds and different ways of thinking, to learn more about who you are, and to think critically about your long-held beliefs, keeping some and revising others.  The Division of Student Affairs is here to support you on your journey throughout your college experience. We are proud to serve many diverse communities and their allies on campus and are excited for all of you to join our community. As a cornerstone in realizing our mission of enhancing your success as students, we know we must help to create a safe and inclusive environment where all students act with honor, integrity and accountability, where we respect the rights of others, and we accept our differences and contribute to the greater good of the community.  We can all practice small gestures of inclusion to make the university community welcoming for all. Challenge yourself to use inclusive language and encourage your friends to do the same. Ask questions about what you don't know and share what you've learned with others.    We all learn and work better in diverse communities. College provides many wonderful opportunities to engage with people different from you, so we hope that you will seek out experiences and events that introduce you to communities and ideas that are new to you. Student Affairs is home to several offices that serve as hubs for identity-based communities and their allies. The Center for Student Involvement, Veteran Services, the Women's Resource Center, the Cultural Unity and Engagement Center and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Resource Center are a few of the departments that host hundreds of free community-building and educational events where you can enhance your understanding of yourself and others, and expand your personal and academic networks.    We hope to see you at one of the many fall welcome events and activities. Christina Gonzales, Dean of StudentsStudent Affairs var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Two alumni awarded Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowships
Two of the five recipients of the 2015 Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship are CU-Boulder alumni. Ari Beser (PolSci’11) and Ryan T. Bell (Hist’01) will study and document international stories over the next year. Beser will travel throughout Japan to study the impact of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He will use photo essays, videos and articles in a blogumentary titled, “Hibakusha: The Nuclear Family.” Beser’s goal is to give voice to people directly affected by nuclear technology today. “My project is about reconciliation, and it's inspiring to me that the U.S. Government is sending me to work towards that,” said Beser. “What was it like to survive the bombs or to live in temporary housing with no end in sight? How do they commemorate? What do they want Americans to know? These are the questions I hope to answer this year.”  Bell will travel through rural Russia and Kazakhstan, studying the areas where pastoralists are working to rebuild cattle industries in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. His project, “Comrade Cowboys,” will chronicle his experience through photography, writing and possibly a travel podcast. “The Ukrainian crisis has made for a tough political climate in Russia,” said Bell. “But something I learned while studying history at CU was that there's a lot more to Russian-American relations than what makes newspaper headlines. I hope that my fellowship project, ‘Comrade Cowboys,’ will enable me to meet everyday people in Russia and Kazakhstan.” Beser and Bell are in the second cohort of the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship. Follow @AriBeser and @ryanbellwriter for the latest updates from their respective projects. They will also post updates on the project Facebook pages: Hibakusha: The Nuclear Family and Comrade Cowboys. Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Coffin appointed VC for advancement; Gonzales to serve as interim VC for student affairs
Deb Coffin has been appointed as the vice chancellor for advancement, effective July 13, Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano announced Wednesday. The position is the chief fundraising officer for the CU-Boulder campus. Coffin, who has served as vice chancellor for student affairs since 2011, replaces Aaron Conley, who was appointed to the post in 2014 and who is leaving the university to seek new opportunities. “I want to thank Aaron for his service to CU-Boulder,” said DiStefano, “and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” DiStefano called Coffin “one of our most devoted and ablest administrators.” “She is an accomplished fundraiser who has led our advancement efforts in Student Affairs with great success by building upon relationships with parents, donors and alumni that she worked hard to cultivate,” he said. “She will bring long experience, energy and vision to this important position.” Prior to her service as vice chancellor for student affairs, Coffin served as associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students from 2008-11, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and executive director of Housing and Dining Services from 2006-08 and executive director of Housing and Dining Services from 2001-2006. Coffin also served in various housing leadership capacities at the University of Northern Colorado (1982-95; 1998-2001) and the University of Wyoming (1995-98). She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in community health education (1977), a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology education (1985) and a Master of Arts in human communication theory from the University of Northern Colorado. She also served in the United States Peace Corps (1977-78) in the Philippines. “This is an exciting opportunity for me to further serve CU-Boulder’s dynamic community,” said Coffin. “I know well the importance of fundraising as part of the chancellor’s goal of increasing diverse sources of revenue for the campus, and I am eager to reach that goal by building a consensus for investment in CU-Boulder among our key stakeholders.” CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore announced that Christina Gonzales, the current associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students, will serve as interim vice chancellor for student affairs. Gonzales has served in her current role since 2012.   “Christina has demonstrated a strong affinity for working with students and serving their needs,” said Moore. “She will provide us with strong and capable leadership as we search for our next permanent vice chancellor for student affairs.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


DiStefano appoints Deb Coffin as CU-Boulder vice chancellor for advancement
University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano today announced the appointment of Deborah “Deb” Coffin as vice chancellor for advancement, effective July 13. The position is the chief fundraising officer for the CU-Boulder campus. Coffin, who has served as vice chancellor for student affairs since 2011, replaces Aaron Conley, who was appointed to the post in 2014 and who is leaving the university to seek new opportunities. “I want to thank Aaron for his service to CU-Boulder,” said DiStefano, “and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” DiStefano called Coffin “one of our most devoted and ablest administrators.” “She is an accomplished fundraiser who has led our advancement efforts in student affairs with great success by building upon relationships with parents, donors and alumni that she worked hard to cultivate,” he said. “She will bring long experience, energy and vision to this important position.” Prior to her service as vice chancellor for student affairs, Coffin served as associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students from 2008-11, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and executive director of Housing and Dining Services from 2006-08 and executive director of Housing and Dining Services from 2001-2006. Coffin also served in various housing leadership capacities at the University of Northern Colorado (1982-95; 1998-2001) and the University of Wyoming (1995-98). She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in community health education (1977), a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology education (1985) and a Master of Arts in human communication theory from the University of Northern Colorado. She also served in the United States Peace Corps (1977-78) in the Philippines. “This is an exciting opportunity for me to further serve CU-Boulder’s dynamic community,” said Coffin. “I know well the importance of fundraising as part of the chancellor’s goal of increasing diverse sources of revenue for the campus, and I am eager to reach that goal by building a consensus for investment in CU-Boulder among our key stakeholders.” CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore announced that Christina Gonzales, the current associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students, will serve as interim vice chancellor for student affairs. Gonzales has served in her current role since 2012.   “Christina has demonstrated a strong affinity for working with students and serving their needs,” said Moore. “She will provide us with strong and capable leadership as we search for our next permanent vice chancellor for student affairs.” Contact: Ryan Huff, CU-Boulder spokesperson, 303-492-1042ryan.huff@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New study shows South Africans using milk-based paint 49,000 years ago
An international research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, has discovered a milk-and ochre-based paint dating to 49,000 years ago that inhabitants may have used to adorn themselves with or to decorate stone or wooden slabs. While the use of ochre by early humans dates to at least 250,000 years ago in Europe and Africa, this is the first time a paint containing ochre and milk has ever been found in association with early humans in South Africa, said Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and lead study author. The milk likely was obtained by killing lactating members of the bovid family such as buffalo, eland, kudu and impala, she said. “Although the use of the paint still remains uncertain, this surprising find establishes the use of milk with ochre well before the introduction of domestic cattle in South Africa,” said Villa. “Obtaining milk from a lactating wild bovid also suggests that the people may have attributed a special significance and value to that product.” The powdered paint mixture was found on the edge of a small stone flake in a layer of Sibudu Cave, a rock shelter in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Africa, that was occupied by anatomically modern humans in the Middle Stone Age from roughly 77,000 years ago to about 38,000 years ago, said Villa. While ochre powder production and its use are documented in a number of Middle Stone Age South African sites, there has been no evidence of the use of milk as a chemical binding agent until this discovery, she said. A paper on the subject was published online June 30 in PLOS One. Co-authors were from the Italian Institute of Paleontology in Rome, Italy; the University of Geneva in Switzerland; the University of Pisa in Italy; the University of Monte St. Angelo in Naples, Italy; and the University of Oxford in England. The excavation was directed by Professor Lyn Wadley of the University of Witwatersrand, also a paper co-author. Cattle were not domesticated in South Africa until 1,000 to 2,000 years ago, said Villa. Wild South African bovids are known to separate from the herd when giving birth and usually attempt to hide their young, a behavior that may have made them easy prey for experienced Middle Stone Age hunters, she said. The dried paint compound is preserved on the stone flake that may have been used as a mixing implement to combine ochre and milk, or as an applicator, said Villa. The team used several high-tech chemical and elemental analyses to verify the presence of casein, the major protein of milk, on the flake. At both African and European archaeological sites, scientists have found evidence of ochre -- a natural pigment containing iron oxide than can range from yellow and orange to red and brown – dating back 250,000 years. By 125,000 years ago, there is evidence ochre was being ground up to produce a paint powder in South Africa. It has been proposed the ochre was sometimes combined by ancient Africans with resin or plant gum to use as an adhesive for attaching shafts to stone tools or wooden bone handles, Villa said. It also may have been used to preserve hides and for body paint, she said, noting that a roughly 100,000-year-old ochre-rich compound blended with animal marrow fat was found at the Middle Stone Age site of Blombos Cave in South Africa. Body painting is widely practiced by the indigenous San people in South Africa, and is depicted in ancient rock art. While there are no ethnographic precedents for mixing ochre with milk as a body paint, the modern Himba people in Namibia mix ochre with butter as a coloring agent for skin, hair and leather clothing, Villa said. Contact: Paola Villa, 303-492-4513villap@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“Although the use of the paint still remains uncertain, this surprising find establishes the use of milk with ochre well before the introduction of domestic cattle in South Africa,” said Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and lead study author.CU Museum of Natural History var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: An international research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, has discovered a milk-and ochre-based paint on a small stone flake dating to 49,000 years ago that inhabitants may have used to adorn themselves with or to decorate stone or wooden slabs. The powdered paint mixture was found on the edge of  of Sibudu Cave, a rock shelter in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Africa.


Colorado business confidence down but positive for third quarter, says CU-Boulder index
The confidence of Colorado business leaders dipped slightly though remained optimistic going into the third quarter of 2015, according to the Leeds Business Confidence Index released today by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. The fall to an overall reading of 58.3, down from 61.7 going into the second quarter of 2015, marks the index’s biggest decrease since the second quarter of 2013. Still, expectations measured positive -- at 50 or higher -- for all of the metrics within the index, which include the national economy, state economy, industry sales, industry profits, capital expenditures and hiring plans. The favorable standings represent 15 consecutive quarters of positive expectations, according to the index. “While the index is still comfortably positive heading into quarter three, business leaders expressed some hesitation,” said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Leeds School’s Business Research Division, which conducts the index. “Potential headwinds bringing down expectations in Colorado may include the production impact of lower oil prices, relatively high cost of housing, tight labor market and macroeconomic factors impacting exports.” Other highlights: --Profits expectations at 58.5 saw one of the smallest dips in confidence going into the third quarter. They were down from 60.7 going into the second quarter. --Optimism in the state economy stepped back nearly 2.1 points at 61.2, down from 63.2 last quarter. --Confidence in the national economy fell the most -- by five points to 55.4, down from 60.4 last quarter. --Sales expectations fell from 64.3 to 59.8 going into the current quarter. --Hiring expectations this quarter fell 4.8 points from last quarter, going from 62.1 to 57.3. --Capital expenditures dropped to 57.5, down from 59.3 going into the second quarter. Colorado’s unemployment level increased from the previous month to 4.3 percent in May 2015. This compares with a national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in May 2015. Year-over-year employment growth was recorded in all but one Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of the state with Greeley (+5.1 percent) seeing the biggest increase. Greeley is followed by the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield (+3 percent) and Fort Collins-Loveland (+2.4 percent) MSAs. Employment growth also was recorded in the Boulder (+1.8 percent), Colorado Springs (+1.6 percent) and Grand Junction (+1.5 percent) MSAs. Pueblo’s employment dropped 0.1 percent. Statewide, the biggest employment gains in May compared with the same month in 2014 were in the construction, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality sectors. For more information about the Leeds School’s Business Research Division and the third quarter report visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/brd. Contact: Richard Wobbekind, Leeds School of Business, 303-492-1147richard.wobbekind@colorado.edu Brian Lewandowski, Leeds School of Business, 303-492-3307brian.lewandowski@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.eduBusiness var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Taking infographic design to the classroom
Just because today’s children are nursed on a steady digital diet doesn’t mean they know how to think critically about the data surrounding them since birth. Last week, CU researchers trained a dozen teachers to use infographics in their classrooms as a tool to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The researchers, led by Joseph Polman, associate dean for research at CU-Boulder’s School of Education, will also offer interested high-schoolers an infographics design class in July and an after-school program in the fall through CU-Boulder’s Science Discovery program. Janet Johnson and Jon Anderson, teachers at the private residential Eagle Rock High School in Estes Park, came to the School of Education to gain new skills to bring to their students. “I’m always looking for different ways for children to evaluate and think criticall about the world around them,” Johnson said. “Putting together an infographic requires them to do that – to think critically about data in the world.” Johnson said her students like infographics and “see them all the time.” “They are more willing to interact with infographics than text,” she said. Anderson, meanwhile, intends to apply his newfound skills in a citizen science project he’s doing with his students, which involves collecting data on dragonflies and mercury levels in national park waters. The program is part of a new $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation aimed at increasing STEM literacy. It builds on years of previous work by Polman and colleagues at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Saint Louis University exploring how science journalism techniques can spark an interest in STEM fields and help students better learn STEM concepts, as well as work on building understanding of data through visualization by colleagues at TERC, a not-for-profit leader in K-12 math and science education. The purpose of the new grant is to expand on the success of the infographics model by making it more flexible so that it can be easily used in a variety of in-school and out-of-school environments. Over the next few years, the researchers plan to build an online resource that teachers across the country can access for use in their own classrooms. “It’s difficult for people to find, make sense of and use the data to check what they’re hearing in the media,” Polman said. “Formulating visualizations of data is an easier way to understand the data than just trying to make sense of the raw numbers.” The teachers spent a recent afternoon critiquing infographics they found online and questioning data assumptions, formatting or confusing organization before diving into their own visually appealing, data-driven projects. The summer’s Science Discovery program on infographics runs from July 20-31, and will enroll local high school students. For more information, visit http://sciencediscovery.colorado.edu/?p=6386. For more information about Polman’s work using infographics and science journalism techniques in the classroom, visit http://science-infographics.org/.  Education var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New study identifies organic compounds of potential concern in fracking fluids
A new University of Colorado Boulder framework used to screen hundreds of organic chemical compounds used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows that 15 may be of concern as groundwater contaminants based on their toxicity, mobility, persistence and frequency of use. Using a fast groundwater transport scenario, the team predicted that 41 of the 659 organic compounds screened would have 10 percent or more of their initial concentrations remaining at a transport distance of roughly 300 feet. That is the average state “setback” distance in the United States between a fracking well and a drinking water well, said CU-Boulder Professor Joseph Ryan, the principal investigator on the study. In the fracking process, a mixture of water, sand and various chemicals is pumped into wells at high pressure to create fissures in subterranean shale layers to release natural gas and oil. Oil and gas companies use a wide variety of chemicals to increase viscosity, inhibit equipment corrosion and reduce friction, among other things. The 659 compounds screened by the CU-Boulder team were gleaned in large part from the nationwide FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry used by many states in which companies disclose chemical information about most of the ingredients used in the fracking process at individual wells. The CU-Boulder team obtained data from more than 50,000 wells in Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas since 2011, said Ryan, a faculty member in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “We wanted to evaluate which compounds we should be paying attention to based not just on toxicity but also on the extent a particular compound travels from one place to another through groundwater,” said Ryan. “We found 41 compounds that were considered mobile and persistent, and a handful of those we would not want in our drinking water.” Corresponding study author Jessica Rogers, a CU-Boulder doctoral student in civil, environmental and architectural engineering, said the remaining 26 compounds predicted to be mobile and persistent were very rare and were identified in fewer than 50 of the 50,000 FracFocus reports analyzed for the CU-Boulder study. Ryan said the new study may reduce the alarm associated with statements that imply that hundreds of chemical compounds used in hydraulic fracturing fluid are at risk of contaminating groundwater. “But it also demonstrates a subset of these compounds could result in potentially hazardous exposures following spills or well failures.” A paper on the subject was published online in Environmental Science & Technology Letters published by the American Chemical Society. Co-authors included CU-Boulder researcher Troy Burke and Cal Poly Pomona Associate Professor Stephen Osborn. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR fellowship to Rogers, first author on the paper. “There were two main objectives with this project,” said Rogers. “The first was to develop a screening process that could be used by researchers or others to prioritize organic fracking compounds based on how mobile and persistent they are in groundwater. The second was to use the framework to perform an initial screening based on currently available knowledge on the compounds identified in fracturing fluid by FracFocus.” The screening process included using known degradation rates of particular organic compounds horizontally transported from a point of release, like a failed well casing, to a drinking water well, said Ryan. The researchers took into consideration the chemical structure and stability of each organic compound and its behavior in water. They also used a wastewater treatment process simulator called BIOWIN 4 to help estimate the biodegradation of the organic compounds over time. Of the 15 compounds that were found to be of concern as groundwater contaminants in the CU-Boulder assessment, only two of those – naphthalene and 2-butyoxyethanol – were identified on more than 20 percent of the 50,000 FracFocus reports. Only four of the compounds were identified on more than 5 percent of the reports. The two transport scenarios considered were a highly porous aquifer with relatively fast groundwater velocity and a less porous aquifer with slower velocity. Compounds were evaluated for potential toxicity using the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations and Health Assessment Information, said Ryan. “Just because a compound has been put into the ground doesn’t mean it is going to migrate to a place where humans will be exposed to it,” said Ryan. “On the other hand, problems with particular compounds in groundwater could take a decade or so to even show up. We don’t know enough about some of these processes right now.” One persistent complaint by environmental groups is that information posted by the FracFocus registry has only been on a well-by-well basis and only in a PDF format, making it extremely difficult to assemble large and meaningful data sets, said Ryan. “We found out that pulling out data we needed, like how frequently a particular compound was used in hydraulic fracturing in wells across the country, was not so easy to do,” Ryan said. “But to evaluate mobility and persistence, we used existing tools so that others follow the same approach for looking at other organic compounds of interest.” The next stage of the CU-Boulder research effort could involve looking at chemical products produced by the breakdown of fracking fluids or considering the return of known fracking compounds to the surface, said Rogers. “Currently we don’t have enough information on these processes to account for them consistently in our screening framework, but the science is rapidly evolving.” Ryan is the principal investigator on a $12 million grant from NSF made to a CU-Boulder-led team in 2012 to explore ways to maximize the benefit of natural gas development while minimizing the negative impacts in ecosystems and communities. Contact: Joseph Ryan, 303-492-0772joseph.ryan@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“We wanted to evaluate which compounds we should be paying attention to based not just on toxicity but also on the extent a particular compound travels from one place to another through groundwater,” said CU-Boulder Professor Joseph Ryan, the principal investigator on the study.Energy, Environment var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


High-tech hardware supporting biomedical experiments slated to launch to space station
A University of Colorado Boulder space center will fly high-tech hardware on the commercial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launching to the International Space Station Sunday, the 50th space mission flown by BioServe Space Technologies since it was founded by NASA in 1987. The SpaceX Dragon mission cargo includes two biomedical experiments supported by BioServe, which is headquartered in CU-Boulder’s Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. BioServe researchers and students have flown hardware and experiments on NASA space shuttles, the International Space Station, the now-defunct Mir Space Station and on Russian, Japanese and commercial cargo rockets.  One experiment on the upcoming SpaceX mission is designed to better understand cell biology by charting the behavior of yeast cell cultures in microgravity. Because multicellular yeast colonies are similar to mammalian cell tumors, researchers hope to identify biological factors that may contribute to understanding health risks for human space crews and tumor behavior that could eventually benefit patients on Earth. The experiment, which will be conducted in a BioServe Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, is led by Timothy Hammond of the Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. A second experiment involving BioServe hardware, being led by Allessandro Grattoni of the Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Texas, is designed to help researchers better understand the mechanisms of molecular transport across tiny membrane channels. Such experiments will help scientists learn more about the release of molecules and drugs from human implants that someday could be used to treat a variety of diseases on Earth.  This experiment is sponsored through the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space or CASIS, which focuses on utilizing the Space Station as a National Lab. “We are excited to be flying once again on the SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station,” said BioServe Business Development Manager and Education Program Director Stefanie Countryman. “We have partnered with SpaceX now on seven missions, and we feel that biomedical experiments like the ones we are flying have the potential to have a positive health impact for both spacefarers and people on Earth.” BioServe has successfully collaborated with NASA, industry and other organizations to conduct ground- and space-based research to support the development of new scientific breakthroughs and technologies that benefit human space exploration and have commercially viable Earth-based applications. Since its inception BioServe has partnered with over 100 companies and performed dozens of NASA-sponsored investigations, said BioServe Director Louis Stodieck. “We continually are searching for spaceflight opportunities and new ways of conducting experiments in microgravity that will push the boundaries of both research and education,” he said. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk to manufacture and launch rockets and spacecraft. SpaceX is the only commercial company with the capability to dock spacecraft with ISS and return them to Earth. SpaceX will once again attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket upright on a football-field sized floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean after it propels the Dragon spacecraft toward orbit. For more information on BioServe visit http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe/index.html. For more information on the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences visit http://www.colorado.edu/aerospace/. Contact: Louis Stodieck, 303-492-4010stodieck@colorado.edu Stefanie Countryman, 303-735-5308countrym@colorado.edu Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115malinda.miller-huey@colorado.edu  “We continually are searching for spaceflight opportunities and new ways of conducting experiments in microgravity that will push the boundaries of both research and education,” said BioServe Director Louis Stodieck.Aerospace var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: An illustration of the Dragon spacecraft being launched by SpaceX aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry hardware designed and built by CU-Boulder to the International Space Station to support biomedical experiments. Image courtesy SpaceX.


Atmospheric mysteries unraveling
It’s been difficult to explain patterns of toxic mercury in some parts of the world, such as why there’s so much of the toxin deposited into ecosystems from the air in the southeastern United States, even upwind of usual sources. A new analysis led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder shows that one key to understanding mercury’s strange behavior may be the unexpected reactivity of naturally occurring halogen compounds from the ocean. “Atmospheric chemistry involving bromine and iodine is turning out to be much more vigorous than we expected,” said CU-Boulder atmospheric chemist Rainer Volkamer, the corresponding author of the new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “These halogen reactions can turn mercury into a form that can rain out of the air onto the ground or into oceans” up to 3.5 times faster than previously estimated, he said.  The new chemistry that Volkamer and his colleagues have uncovered, with the help of an innovative instrument developed at CU-Boulder, may also help scientists better understand a longstanding limitation of global climate models. Those models have difficulty explaining why levels of ozone, a greenhouse gas, were so low before the Industrial Revolution. “The models have been largely untested for halogen chemistry because we didn’t have measurements in the tropical free troposphere before,” Volkamer said. “The naturally occurring halogen chemistry can help explain that low ozone because more abundant halogens destroy ozone faster than had previously been realized.” Volkamer is a Fellow of CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, at CU-Boulder and is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. For the new paper, he worked with scientists from the U.S., China, Denmark and England. The international team relied on a differential optical absorption spectroscopy instruments (DOAS) that Volkamer’s research group built to measure tiny amounts of atmospheric chemicals including highly reactive bromine oxide and iodine oxide radicals. Those radicals are very short-lived in the air, and collecting air samples doesn’t work well. DOAS uses solar light to measure the scattering and absorption of sunlight by gases and particles to identify the chemicals’ distinct spectroscopic fingerprints and quantify extremely small amounts directly in the atmosphere. Reactions involving those bromine and iodine radicals can turn airborne mercury—emitted by power plants and other sources—into a water-soluble form that can stay high in the atmosphere for a long time. High in the air, the mercury can sweep around the world. Towering thunderstorms can then pull some of that mercury back out of the atmosphere to the ground, lakes or oceans. There, the toxin can accumulate in fish, creating a public health concern. Volkamer’s team’s measurements show that the first step in that process, the oxidation of mercury in the atmosphere by bromine, happens up to 3.5 times faster than previously estimated because of halogen sources in oceans. Their work may help explain a mystery: For many pollutants, thunderstorms can rain out the chemicals quickly, so by the end of the storm there’s little left in the air. Not so for mercury. Volkamer said its concentration in rainwater remains constant throughout a storm. “To some extent, because of these halogens, we have a larger pool of oxidized mercury up there,” Volkamer said. Naturally occurring bromine in air aloft illustrates the global interconnectedness between energy choices affecting mercury emissions in developing nations, and mercury deposition in the U.S.  Finally, the measurements will be helpful for climate modelers seeking to improve their understanding of halogen impacts on ozone and other greenhouse gases. The 24 authors of “Active and widespread halogen chemistry in the tropical and subtropical free troposphere” published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)  are from CU-Boulder and CIRES, NOAA, Harvard University, the University of Copenhagen, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and more. The work was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation. This is a joint release of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the University of Colorado Boulder. Contacts: Rainer Volkamer, University of Colorado Boulder, +49 721 608 28387 (on sabbatical in Germany), Rainer.Volkamer@colorado.edu Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196, kathleen.human@colorado.edu  “Atmospheric chemistry involving bromine and iodine is turning out to be much more vigorous than we expected,” said CU-Boulder atmospheric chemist Rainer Volkamer, the corresponding author of the new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: CIRES Fellow Rainer Volkamer, shown here inside a research aircraft, is co-author of a new paper finding that halogens, natural chemicals from the ocean, can contribute to much more vigorous atmospheric chemistry than previously understood. The discovery may help explain levels of mercury contamination in the air, on land and in the oceans, and some climate mysteries as well. More: cires.colorado.edu/news/press/halogenchem Credit: David Oonk/CIRES


BTU Lab unleashes innovation
Hackers get a bad rap. Thanks to popular culture, mention “computer hacker” and people immediately think of Matthew Broderick in War Games, or any number of recent security breaches of data. In reality, hackers are not nefarious types who lurk in the shadows, stealing your personal information. They are creative, dedicated men and women who are using their minds and powers for good, not evil. They want to change not just the way we think of the term “hacker,” but to also change people’s lives through innovation. In support of this mission, the ATLAS Institute is creating what it calls a “hacker space” in its BTU, or British Thermal Unit, Lab. Launched in September 2014, the BTU Lab+Hacker Space is a “physical location where people get together and tinker, create or hack,” says lab director Alicia Gibb. “Hacker spaces were created by communities who wanted camaraderie and a place to work together.” For Jeffrey “Jiffer” Harriman, the Hacker Space provides an opportunity to blend his music and engineering backgrounds into new designs and new creations. Harriman is earning his doctorate in technology, media and society from the ATLAS Institute. He also earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from CU and his master’s degree in music, science and technology from Stanford University. “What I’m doing right now is trying to create interfaces and software that are easy to work with for musicians and artists who are interested in technology but don’t necessarily have the chops,” Harriman said. “I want to make technology more accessible for people to express themselves in new ways.” Harriman wants to bridge music and technology to educate and engage children in music and art while introducing them to technology and science. “I’m working on a project called Modular-Muse,” Harriman said. “It’s a software library and hardware tool kit to make it easier to build instruments and engage kids who are interested in music but not in programming. It’s a way to spark their interest in this field.” Jiffer’s Hacker Space creations are prime examples of what the BTU Lab hopes to get out of those who use it. While the innovations stem from the minds of hackers, the BTU Lab provides an array of tools that would make MacGyver excited. Students have access to 3-D printers, laser cutters, a watercolor robot, sewing machine, performance space and much more. The ATLAS Institute does not stifle imagination. For example, take ATLAS doctoral student HyunJoo Oh, who designs paper machines that move and react to stimuli. Paper mechatronics, in their terms, is an interdisciplinary medium that combines mechanisms, electronics and papercrafts. It allows people to learn the fundamental concepts and structures of physical computing and motivates them to imagine what it could be. Drawing on the interdisciplinary nature of study at the ATLAS Institute, Oh combines art, technology and engineering into projects that take everyday materials like paper and cardboard and transform them into something that turns adults into wide-eyed children. And it all started with Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest, a large mechanical animal built out of polyvinyl chloride that can move on its own. “I saw a YouTube video of a paper kit of his work and I loved it,” says Oh. “I thought, ‘I can build one of these’ and spent the next three to four days at the lab and built it. I spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort to make it despite my expertise as a designer. I wanted to make it more approachable to share with more people.” Oh earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. She then received a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. At the suggestion of her advisor, Oh decided to make her paper mechatronics into something more than just art. She wanted to inspire others to create, so she developed a do-it-yourself method for her projects. Oh uses familiar materials (paper and cardboard) and developed the tools that people need to cut it and build it themselves. Oh envisions it as “another concept of Lego play” that pushes people from simply viewing art to creating art. “ATLAS allows students to use other resources around campus,” Oh says. “It helps us get access to computer science resources, art, education and more if we need it. For me, that is a very important aspect for my study.” In keeping with innovation, creativity and technology, the College of Engineering and Applied Science is adding a new Bachelor of Science in Technology, Arts and Media degree program in fall 2015. It is a key component of the college’s 2020 strategic plan to grow and increase gender diversity. This degree will expand and intensify the existing technology, arts and media core courses of study as well as incorporate a curriculum grounded in engineering and computation disciplines. Because when hackers, educators, artists and students collaborate, great things can happen.Learning & TeachingCollege of Engineering & Applied ScienceATLAS Institute var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


High-tech hardware supporting biomedical experiments launches to space station
A University of Colorado Boulder space center will fly high-tech hardware on the commercial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launching to the International Space Station Sunday, the 50th space mission flown by BioServe Space Technologies since it was founded by NASA in 1987. The SpaceX Dragon mission cargo includes two biomedical experiments supported by BioServe, which is headquartered in CU-Boulder’s Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. BioServe researchers and students have flown hardware and experiments on NASA space shuttles, the International Space Station, the now-defunct Mir Space Station and on Russian, Japanese and commercial cargo rockets.  One experiment on the upcoming SpaceX mission is designed to better understand cell biology by charting the behavior of yeast cell cultures in microgravity. Because multicellular yeast colonies are similar to mammalian cell tumors, researchers hope to identify biological factors that may contribute to understanding health risks for human space crews and tumor behavior that could eventually benefit patients on Earth. The experiment, which will be conducted in one of BioServe’s Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, is led by Timothy Hammond of the Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. A second experiment involving BioServe hardware, being led by Allessandro Grattoni of the Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Texas, is designed to help researchers better understand the mechanisms of molecular transport across tiny membrane channels. Such experiments will help scientists learn more about the release of molecules and drugs from human implants that someday could be used to treat a variety of diseases on Earth.  This experiment is sponsored through the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space or CASIS, which focuses on utilizing the Space Station as a National Lab. “We are excited to be flying once again on the SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station,” said BioServe Business Development Manager and Education Program Director Stefanie Countryman. “We have partnered with SpaceX now on seven missions, and we feel that biomedical experiments like the ones we are flying have the potential to have a positive health impact for both spacefarers and people on Earth.” BioServe has successfully collaborated with NASA, industry and other organizations to conduct ground- and space-based research to support the development of new scientific breakthroughs and technologies that benefit human space exploration and have commercially viable Earth-based applications. Since its inception BioServe has partnered with over 100 companies and performed dozens of NASA-sponsored investigations, said BioServe Director Louis Stodieck. “We continually are searching for spaceflight opportunities and new ways of conducting experiments in microgravity that will push the boundaries of both research and education,” he said. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk to manufacture and launch rockets and spacecraft. SpaceX is the only commercial company with the capability to dock spacecraft with ISS and return them to Earth. SpaceX will once again attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket upright on a football-field sized floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean after it propels the Dragon spacecraft toward orbit. For more information on BioServe visit http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe/index.html. For more information on the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences visit http://www.colorado.edu/aerospace/. Contact: Louis Stodieck, 303-492-4010stodieck@colorado.edu Stefanie Countryman, 303-735-5308countrym@colorado.edu Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115malinda.miller-huey@colorado.edu  “We continually are searching for spaceflight opportunities and new ways of conducting experiments in microgravity that will push the boundaries of both research and education,” said BioServe Director Louis Stodieck.Aerospace var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: An illustration of the Dragon spacecraft being launched by SpaceX aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry hardware designed and built by CU-Boulder to the International Space Station to support biomedical experiments. Image courtesy SpaceX.


Professor discovers new lichen species in city of Boulder
A University of Colorado Boulder scientist unexpectedly discovered two lichen species new to science in the same week while conducting research in Boulder Colorado, near the city’s eastern limits. After a day of fieldwork inventorying lichens at White Rocks Open Space, Erin Tripp was walking back to her car when an unfamiliar lichen caught her eye. Later that week, Tripp spotted a second species of lichen that she suspected might also be a new species. Tripp, curator of botany for the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was collaborating with ecologist Lynn Riedel and other staff members at the City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) program to inventory the lichens along the sandstone cliffs that comprise White Rocks. Lichens are complex life forms composed of at least two separate organisms, primarily a fungus and an alga that form a symbiotic relationship. They can live on soil, rocks, tree bark, desert sand, animal bones and rusty metal, for example. “If you want to study Colorado lichens, you come here to the museum’s Herbarium on campus, which has one of the most important collections of lichens in the country,” said Tripp. “New species are generally found in less accessible parts of the world, rather than within city limits of a sizeable metropolis. Yet, here were these two new species to science within a 10-minute drive of CU-Boulder, which has a very long history of research in lichenology.” The two species Tripp discovered, Candelariella clarkii and Lecidea hoganii, are at present known only from their populations at White Rocks. They are distinctive by their morphology, anatomy and DNA. One has a charismatic yellowish-green color while the other is distinctive by its conspicuously raised fruiting bodies that are tinged pink on the inside. The Herbarium’s extensive botany collection requires devoted efforts by two collections managers who preserve and help curate some 550,000 specimens from around the world, some dating back more than 150 years. As a way of recognizing the staff members’ dedication to advancing knowledge of Colorado botany, Tripp named the two new species after Dina Clark and Tim Hogan, collections managers of the Herbarium. “Tim and Dina work endlessly and have dedicated their careers to building and preserving the collection, as well as extending its resources to others,” said Tripp. “When I saw these species in the field, I thought immediately of Dina and Tim, and honoring their careers via eponymy.” Tripp verified that the two lichens were previously unknown to science through extensive study of the Herbarium’s collections as well as reading the literature, historical and modern. DNA analyses conducted in Tripp’s molecular lab helped to confirm that both were unknown to science. The two new species were formally described in collaboration with colleague James Lendemer of the New York Botanical Garden in the most recent issue of the journal The Bryologist. Additionally, to facilitate lichen research and conservation by the city of Boulder, Tripp  has prepared a field guide of the 57 species of lichens that occur at White Rocks, with high-resolution photos she took in the field. This book is currently under peer review at The University Press of Colorado. She also has authored a paper on the lichen biota at the White Rocks that will be published soon in the journal Western North American Naturalist. At White Rocks, the unusual geology, its southern exposure and availability of water concentrated in transient springs support diverse vegetation and wildlife and allow other organisms — such as the newly discovered lichens — to flourish along the sandstone outcrops. Protected, moist and shady “microhabitats” created by the formation’s rock ledges also contribute to the complex ecosystem found along the sandstone cliffs. The state of Colorado has designated the 100-acre White Rocks site as a State Natural Area because of its high ecological value in providing habitat for uncommon and rare plant and animal species. The open space surrounding White Rocks is home to sensitive wildlife, including bald eagles, northern leopard frogs, northern harriers and the plains top minnow. “The fact that White Rocks occurs within a sea of development in the Boulder-Longmont-Denver urban triangle makes the preserve that much more special ecologically,” said Tripp. Because of the sensitive ecological features of White Rocks, OSMP only provides public access to the area through staff-guided hikes during the summer. “Every year, OSMP works with researchers to help us learn more about the lands we manage,” said Brian Anacker, OSMP’s research and data manger. “Their research provides important information that helps us protect, manage and restore habitat as well as understand how people enjoy a diverse range of recreational experiences on the city’s open space.” As if discovering two new species of lichen in this small preserve wasn’t enough, Tripp may have discovered two additional species of lichens that are possibly new to science.  She is still studying them to confirm her theory. “The discovery of new species in relatively densely populated regions of North America illustrates the ecological relevance of small patches of native habitat, which are certain to become even more important in the future,” said Tripp. “My long-term goal is to expand the study of lichenology in Colorado and eventually produce a total inventory of what we have throughout the state.” Contact: Erin Tripp, 303-492-2462erin.tripp@colorado.edu Phillip Yates, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks communications, 720-564-2051yatesp@bouldercolorado.gov Kenna Bruner, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-6436Kenna.bruner@colorado.eduResearch Collaborations, CU Museum of Natural History var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Erin Tripp, curator of botany for the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, discovered two lichen species new to science while conducting research in Boulder, near the city’s eastern limits.


MAVEN results find Mars behaving like a rock star
If planets had personalities, Mars would be a rock star according to recent preliminary results from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. Mars sports a "Mohawk" of escaping atmospheric particles at its poles, "wears" a layer of metal particles high in its atmosphere, and lights up with aurora after being smacked by solar storms. MAVEN is also mapping out the escaping atmospheric particles.  The early results are being discussed at a MAVEN-sponsored "new media" workshop held in Berkeley, California, on June 19-21. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft was launched toward Mars on Nov. 18, 2013, to discover how the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere, transforming its climate from one that could have supported life billions of years ago into its present cold and barren state. In light of its continued scientific success, the MAVEN mission was extended from November of this year through September of 2016. This will bring the MAVEN mission cycle in synch with the wider planetary mission review process, planned in 2016, that will determine future mission extensions.  Atoms in the Martian upper atmosphere become electrically charged ions after being energized by solar and space radiation. Because they are electrically charged, these ions feel the magnetic and electric forces of the solar wind, a thin stream of electrically conducting gas blown from the surface of the Sun into space at about a million miles per hour. The solar wind and more violent solar activity, such as solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections, have the ability to strip away ions from Mars' upper atmosphere through electric and magnetic forces generated by a variety of mechanisms, causing the atmosphere to become thinner over time. MAVEN's goal is to discover which mechanisms are most prominent for atmospheric loss, and to estimate the rate at which the Martian atmosphere is being eroded away. "MAVEN is observing a polar plume of escaping atmospheric particles," said Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado, Principal Investigator for MAVEN. "The amount of material escaping by this route could make it a major player in the loss of gas to space." Preliminary MAVEN observations of this phenomenon were presented in March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas. Theoretical models had predicted that the electric field generated by the incoming solar wind could drive ions in the direction of one pole or the other, creating a polar plume of escaping ions. "When tracing particle trajectories in the models, the plume looks a bit like a ‘Mohawk'," said David Brain of the University of Colorado, an interdisciplinary scientist working on the MAVEN mission. MAVEN has also detected a long-lived layer in the electrically charged upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) of Mars made up of metal ions (iron and magnesium) that come from incoming solar-system debris, such as comet dust and meteorites.  The incoming material is heated up by the atmosphere as it enters, burns up and vaporizes, and even ionizes. "MAVEN had previously detected the metal ion layer associated with dust from the close passage of Comet Siding Spring last October," said Jakosky.  "When MAVEN did its first 'deep dip' campaign in February, and lowered the closest point of the spacecraft's orbit to around 125 kilometers (almost 78 miles) altitude, we immediately detected metal ions that still resided in the upper atmosphere. As there was no comet encounter at around that time, this must be the long-lived layer that we expect to be present." The spacecraft has also seen the Red Planet lighting up under the impact of violent solar activity. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) blast billions of tons of solar material into space at millions of miles per hour. Because Mars is not protected by a global magnetic field like Earth, CME particles directly impact the Martian upper atmosphere, generating diffuse displays of light called aurora. The high-energy particles from the Sun hit the upper atmosphere, excite the atoms that are there, and the atoms give off energy as they "relax" to their ground state. On Earth, the effect of our magnetic field concentrates auroral displays near the Polar Regions, where they are known as the Northern and Southern lights. On Mars, the aurora seen by MAVEN is more diffuse, and the effects also could drive the escape of atmospheric gas into space. MAVEN has previously observed a diffuse aurora on Mars, during an intense solar electron storm that occurred just before Christmas last year, publicized in a press release in mid-March.  The mission has now seen two additional occurrences of aurora associated with CME events in March, according to Jakosky. MAVEN is also mapping the escaping atmospheric particles. "We can make maps separated according to low and high solar wind pressure, or other drivers of escape," said Brain. "What we learn about the variability in escape rates will allow us to estimate how the escape rate has changed over solar system history." MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided four science instruments for the mission. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project and provided two science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, provides navigation and Deep Space Network support, as well as the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.  A version of this story originally appeared on the NASA website.Aerospace var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


KAPOW! English grad students rock Comic Con
Comic books aren’t just for kids; they are an area ready for academic inquiry. Several English Department graduate students presented papers at the 2015 Denver Comic Con and Literary Conference held May 22-25. Denver Comic Con and Literary Conference is a three-day, family-friendly, pop culture fan convention with a scholarly twist. The event features the best in comics along with popular sci-fi and fantasy TV shows, movies, Japanese animation, cosplay (fan-created costumes and costumed skits), toys, gaming and panel presentations. CU-Boulder students Logan Blizzard, Randall Fullington, Chris Haynes, Caleb Tardio, Allison Shelton and Jillian Gilmer presented papers at educational sessions for Page 23 LitCon, special programming at Comic Con that focuses primarily on scholarly perspectives and explorations of comic books and graphic novels.  CU-Boulder's involvement with Comic Con goes back to 2012, the first iteration of ROMOCOCO (the Rocky Mountain Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels), later renamed Page 23. “CU faculty and graduate students have contributed to the growth of Page 23 as a serious part of DCC’s programming across 2014 and 2015,” said Haynes. “I am proud to be a part of a CU community invested in sound scholarship and genuine enthusiasm for the comics medium.” More English graduate students jumped onboard for this year's event. CU-Boulder's representation at the conference grew, especially through The Gutter, a graduate-student comics and graphic novels reading group that began in January 2015. Associate Vice Provost for Education Innovation William Kuskin, who teaches a comic book and graphic novels course for the English Department, attended and participated in many Comic Con events in the past. Kuskin pioneered many efforts to bring a scholarly spotlight on the comic books genre. He was pleased to see so many graduate students participate this year. “Comics criticism is at a delicate balance,” said Kuskin, who participated in a roundtable discussion about comics in the classroom at this year’s Page 23. “On the one hand there is tremendous energy in the field, and on the other, that energy is having a very hard time committing to serious analysis in favor of fan-based enthusiasm.” With the initiation of the graduate student group, The Gutter, there is more targeted interest in and enthusiasm for comic book scholarship. During The Gutter’s first semester, 10  participants read a variety of comics and graphic novels. The group met once a month for rigorous, engaging discussions about comics, in which they examined larger thematics, individual panels and pages, the relationship between comics, quality and the role of comics in the classroom. “Seeing smart people come together to talk about comics really demonstrates to me the capacity of this medium to draw out great ideas and incisive close readings," said Haynes. "This is a really exciting time to read comics." For photos and more information about the event, visit the English Department's website. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents hears campus diversity reports, grants department status to CU-Boulder's Women and Gender Studies
The University of Colorado Board of Regents today heard a campus diversity report from CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Robert Boswell. The board also voted to approve a proposal to change the status of CU-Boulder’s Women and Gender Studies from program to department. Diversity report With Regent Sue Sharkey presiding, the board's Academic Affairs Committee listened to a diversity report update from each of CU's campuses, including from CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Robert Boswell.  Boswell explained that the university's efforts to expand diversity directly support the chancellor's goal to ensure that 80 percent of CU-Boulder's students graduate within six years.   ?Boswell said the six-year graduation rate for minority students is currently about 65 percent, while the rate for all students is 70 percent.  ?"In order to achieve the chancellor's goal of an 80 percent six-year graduation rate, we have three initiatives underway that will help us understand the factors that influence student persistence and graduation rates," said Boswell.   ?Boswell briefly outlined the three initiatives:  Student social climate survey: Administered during the fall of 2014. Instead of focusing on general issues as it has done in the past, this survey focused specifically on issues within the classroom and residence halls. A report will be delivered in fall 2015, which will contain a set of specific recommendations to improve the campus climate.   Sexual misconduct survey: Will be administered in fall 2015. It is intended to help the university identify the prevalence and incidence of sexual misconduct on campus, as well as the level of knowledge among students of practices, policies and reporting options for sexual misconduct.  Diversity, Inclusion and Academic Excellence Plan: Will help the university arrive at a definition of diversity in all its forms, set forth a blueprint of action for the campus moving forward and redefine CU-Boulder's efforts under a more unified approach. The report, with the assistance of Emeritus Consulting, will take about 30 months to complete, Boswell said.   ?Boswell also discussed campus efforts to increase faculty diversity. ?"We want to be recognized nationally as a university that has a diverse faculty," said Boswell.   But, he pointed out, the nature of faculty hiring is extremely competitive. Boswell described the Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, through which the university recruited approximately 100 candidates whose creative work/research, teaching and service would contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education.   In the end, however, positions were offered to five candidates, two of which accepted positions on the Boulder campus.   The regents reiterated the pressing need for each of CU's campuses to expand the diversity of faculty as well as staff.  "I think that as a public university, we need to mirror what the rest of the state looks like, and I'm not just talking about race . . . " said Regent Glenn Gallegos, of Grand Junction.  Budget discussion CU Vice President of Budget and Finance and Chief Financial Officer Todd Saliman presented to the board a summary of the sources of funding for the CU system and each individual campus. According to Saliman, the sources of funding for the education and general budget at CU-Boulder are as follows: $350 million (50 percent) non-resident tuition; $196 million (28 percent) resident tuition; $70 million (10 percent) state funding; $59 million (9 percent) indirect cost recovery; $22 million (3 percent) fees/other. The board also voted to approve the FY 2017 Prioritized State Capital Construction Budget Request, which includes funding for the for the CU-Boulder Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building, as well as the FY 2017 - 2021 Five-Year Capital Construction Plan for the University of Colorado. Women and Gender Studies Department The board voted 7-1 to approve a proposal to change the status of CU-Boulder’s Women and Gender Studies from program to department. The topic was first presented by CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore at the board's April meeting. Though some regents at that time had questions about whether the proposed change would come with additional costs, Provost Moore said the change would be cost neutral. CU-Boulder Senior Vice Provost Bill Kaempfer said, "what's unique about this recommendation is that it comes directly out of our academic program review process." New Master of Arts in Russian Studies Degree The board also weighed in on a new CU-Boulder Master of Arts degree in Russian Studies. If approved, the degree would be a 12-month, full-time and 31/30 credit-hour professional graduate degree with thesis and no-thesis options. The program has a practical focus emphasizing cultural competence and advanced language proficiency, and will prepare students for careers with the federal government and NGOs and in education and  international business.  The board is expected to vote on the new degree offering in September. In other board news: Staff Council Chair Tricia Strating said plans are underway to incorporate an element of diversity and inclusion in either performance evaluations or performance plans for university staff. This follows previous recommendations by the Staff Council Ethnic and Minority Affairs Committee to include diversity- and inclusion-related work in performance evaluations for faculty. The board voted to award tenure to 43 CU-Boulder faculty members. The board got updates from the Faculty Council Personnel and Benefits Committee and the Ethnic and Minority Affairs Committee regarding discrimination reporting. Faculty Council Chair Laura Borgelt said the CU-Boulder climate survey found that the majority of students, faculty and staff say their academic work unit promotes an environment of respect regardless of social identity. However, significant numbers of students, faculty and staff across all campuses reported that they do not know how to file a complaint about discrimination, harassment, or unethical behavior. Borgelt reported that measures are underway to address this issue. The Regents honored CU-Boulder Professor Kris D. Gutiérrez, who was recently named a 2014 Distinguished Professor, the most prestigious honor for faculty at the university. Gutiérrez currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Literacy Studies and Educational Psychology & Learning Sciences in the CU-Boulder School of Education. She is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in qualitative research methods and design-based research. The board passed a resolution of appreciation for Borgelt for her service as Faculty Council chair for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. More about all of these topics can be found in Board Docs.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Teachers learn ins and outs of infographics
In a world seemingly deluged with data, learning how to make sense of all those numbers is an increasingly important life skill.  Some students in Colorado will soon have the opportunity to take a crack at finding meaning in scientific data by creating infographics designed to help people visualize what the numbers are saying. This summer, a research project led by the University of Colorado Boulder will train a handful of local teachers to use infographics in their classrooms as a tool to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The researchers, led by Joseph Polman, associate dean for research at CU-Boulder’s School of Education, will also offer interested high-schoolers an infographics design class in July and an after-school program in the fall through CU-Boulder’s Science Discovery program. The program is part of a new $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation aimed at increasing STEM literacy. It builds on years of previous work by Polman and colleagues at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Saint Louis University exploring how science journalism techniques can spark an interest in STEM. Earlier projects included having high school students do journalistic reporting on scientific topics that they chose and researched. Students worked to communicate complex topics using language accessible to the layperson. “We’re not asking them to pursue journalism as a professional career but to become ‘citizen science journalists,’” Polman said. “They’re feeding their curiosity, and by being in the position of being the journalist, it pushes them to better understand the material and to become engaged and interested in STEM.” The reporting project led to a second initiative that focused mainly on creating infographics to communicate science to a general audience. Students created infographics explaining the effects of snakebites, how the production of milk cows has been increased, and how false memories work, among many other topics. The purpose of the new grant is to expand on the success of the infographics model by making it more flexible so that it can be easily used in a variety of in-school and out-of-school environments. Over the next few years, the researchers plan to build an online resource that teachers across the country can access for use in their own classrooms. The new infographics project will also be focused on data journalism, Polman said. “It’s difficult for people to find, make sense of and use the data to check what they’re hearing in the media,” Polman said. “Formulating visualizations of data is an easier way to understand the data than just trying to make sense of the raw numbers.” From June 22-26, CU-Boulder will host teachers from Nederland Middle/Senior High School in Boulder County and Eagle Rock School in Estes Park as well as teachers from Missouri and Massachusetts who are interested in using infographics in their classes. The summer’s Science Discovery program on infographics runs from July 20-31, and will enroll local high school students. For more information, visit http://sciencediscovery.colorado.edu/?p=6386. For more information about Polman’s work using infographics and science journalism techniques in the classroom, visit http://science-infographics.org/.   Contact: Joseph Polman, 303-735-5275joseph.polman@colorado.edu Julie Poppen, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007julie.poppen@colorado.edu  Education, P-12 OutreachTeaching var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Sample infographic on biodiesel.


Legislative Council to review new Student Group funding recommendations
The CUSG Legislative Council will soon hear a proposal that could affect the way student fees are allocated to student groups. The current Student Group Funding Board Code allows student groups to request and receive up to $20,000 per academic year for operational expenses. During the 2014-15 fiscal year, student groups received approximately $800,000 in student fee allocations – more than three times the amount allocated in annual student fee funds. “It’s important that we keep annual funding of student groups in line with what is allocated on an annual basis,” said Madalena DeAndrea, the new chair of the Student Group Funding Board (SGFB). “Board reserve funds have covered increased student group funding over the past two years, but that model is simply not sustainable.” Last spring, Deb Coffin, vice chancellor for student affairs, informed CUSG’s Finance Board and Legislative Council of her decision to suspend any new SGFB funding for the remainder of the 2015 spring semester. This allowed time for a committee of students and university staff to review SGFB’s finances and operating protocol. The committee members – Haelena Bondi-Camacho, Finance Board; Jesse Van Divier, SGFB; Leila McCamey, deputy campus controller; April Ollivier, CUSG Administrative Staff and E. Maia Andreasen, Student Affairs director of budget and operations – reviewed future funding streams and compared CUSG’s policies to those of student governments at peer universities. They were also charged to recommend a model that would fund student organizations at sustainable rates comparable to similar instiututions in the Pac-12 Conference and others around the country. The committee found that a maximum annual funding amount of $3,000 per club was sustainable and more in line with the practices of other peer institutions. Therefore, SGFB and the review committee are recommending that Legislative Council amend SGFB Code to reflect a maximum annual allocation per club of $3,000. If adopted, this should not have an impact on nearly half of the campus clubs that requested and received funding of $3,000 or less last year. “But we appreciate this could impact some larger clubs that have received more than $3,000 on an annual basis,” DeAndrea said. “We want to hear feedback from these clubs and also talk to them about fundraising or other ways they can fund their activities.”   The Legislative Council will hear an overview of this recommendation at tonight’s meeting. The Council is expected to officially hear a first reading of this proposal at its July 2 meeting, with possible adoption at a later date.   If you have any questions, please contact CUSG at studentgov@gmail.com.  Learn more about CUSG var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


HR Corner: Training opportunities for managers on campus
The Office of Organizational and Employee Development invites CU-Boulder employees to attend our upcoming management courses. All programs are offered free of charge to CU-Boulder employees. Register now! Space is limited, and sessions are filling up fast.OED Course: Managing the CU-Boulder Way Date: July 28 - 29, 2015 Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Location: ARC 346, East Campus Presenters: Division of Human Resources Trainers The “Managing the CU-Boulder Way” training course is a two-day program that focuses specifically on the knowledge and skills necessary to be a successful manager at CU-Boulder. The training approach includes an overview of related policies and procedures, but will primarily focus on helping participants understand best practices and why they should care about these important topics.  Who Should Attend? New employees to the University of Colorado Boulder, at all levels of management, who will be directly or indirectly supervising any Classified or University Staff Employees recently or soon-to-be promoted to a supervisory role over Classified or University Staff Supervisors and managers seeking a refresher course or to elevate their existing skills and understanding of the unique aspects of managing at the University of Colorado Boulder Future sessions are scheduled for October 7-8, 2015 and December 2-3, 2015. Register through SkillPort or contact Lauren.M.Harris@colorado.edu.OED Course: CU Grow: Recognizing Your Employees in a Meaningful Way Date: July 22, 2015 Time: 1 to 3 p.m. Location: UMC 247 Presenter: Amy Elizabeth Moreno, Senior Training Specialist, Office of Organizational and Employee Development Join your colleagues across campus in a discussion about the value of recognition in engaging and motivating employees. This workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to learn effective strategies, share ideas and begin to build upon their “recognition toolkit.” Register through SkillPort or call 303-492-8103.    Did you know? Organizational and Employee Development is available for department or unit trainings. Please call 303-492-2479 to discuss your training needs. To learn more about these programs and other services offered, visit the Organizational and Employee Development website.Organizational and Employee Development var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Cass retires as director of Glenn Miller Archive
After a 47-year journey as steward of CU-Boulder’s Glenn Miller Archive (GMA) at the American Music Research Center, Alan Cass will retire as curator on July 1. Cass spent much of his career building and maintaining the significant repository of big band musician Glenn Miller (A&S ex ’26, HonDocHum ’84) memorabilia. As the archive’s founder and longtime curator, Cass reviewed and accepted photographs, artifacts and memorabilia, and gave upwards of 50 Glenn Miller presentations yearly.  “The archive has grown beyond any conceivable expectation,” said Cass. “This has occurred not simply because of my love for Glenn’s music, but because of the passion shared by what has become an immense worldwide cadre of enthusiastic individuals and organizations who have supported me and the GMA over the past nearly five decades.” Most of the 56 collections that have been entrusted to the Glenn Miller Archive are a result of the close relationships that the Casses developed with musicians, broadcasters, producers, collectors, friends and music lovers from around the world. “Alan Cass is the reason there is a Glenn Miller Archive,” said Thomas Riis, director of the American Music Research Center at the CU-Boulder College of Music. “It began with his personal interest in the Miller family and the popularity of the Glenn Miller Orchestra during the 1930s and ‘40s, Miller’s musical leadership in the Army Air Force during World War II and its tremendous aftereffects.” The archive was built upon the solid foundation nurtured by Cass from a simple Glenn Miller display at the University Memorial Center in 1969 into today’s well-known archive, serving scholars, students and the public with numerous initiatives, including a robust internet footprint and far-reaching broadcasting presence. “Because Miller’s music was heard ‘round the world at such a fraught time in our history,” Riis said, “it powerfully affected the “greatest generation,” and others. Alan has worked tirelessly for most of his life in Boulder to get the message out that Glenn Miller’s home and heart were in Colorado and at CU. We need to appreciate this fact and help to preserve Alan’s work and the music of the Big Band era.” An important recent acquisition by the Glenn Miller Archive was one of the most significant collections of Big Band Era recordings and memorabilia. The Ed Burke Collection contains some 2,400 reel-to-reel tapes containing hundreds of hours of live radio programs featuring nearly every musician of major importance during the Big Band Era. Cass attended CU in 1959-63. In addition to being curator of the archive, he also was director of the Coors Events Center and served as public address announcer for the Buffs and the Broncos. Cass and his wife Sue recently attended the Glenn Miller Birthplace Festival in Clarinda, Iowa. This was their 40th excursion, and coincidentally, this was the 40th anniversary of the festival. “Preserving a legacy of this stature and relevance to the University of Colorado has been the most joyous and fulfilling undertaking of my life,” said Cass. “The relationships that have resulted go beyond friendship. We are a vast ‘family’ who now have the singularly important task of imparting respect and care to the individuals into whose hands we place our opus.”Arts & HumanitiesCommunity & Culture, Arts & Culture var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder appoints new vice chancellor for research
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the appointment of Terri Fiez, director of strategic initiatives and professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University, as vice chancellor for research. Fiez (pronounced fees) will begin her duties on Sept 16. A former National Science Foundation Young Investigator awardee with over 150 publications, Fiez’s scholarly interests focus on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and approaches to innovative education. The industry relations program she created at Oregon State University hosts more than 400 industry visitors per year and is highlighted by an engineering expo featuring all engineering seniors demonstrating their senior projects to more than 2,500 industry and community visitors. “Terri Fiez has an extraordinary track record of not only research and leadership, but also of developing strong partnerships with industry and federal agencies,” Moore said. “The search committee and I were captivated by her vision, energy and strong abilities in extending the benefits of university research to public and private sector partners, and her commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. She will be a great fit for CU-Boulder.” Fiez has been at OSU since 1999 and has served as a research leader, the head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Research Agenda Strategy Consultant to the Vice President for Research and head of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 2008-09 she took a leave of absence from OSU to co-found, launch and serve as CEO of a startup company and since then has helped support several other early stage startup companies as well. After the departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering merged to become the School of EECS in 2003, her leadership resulted in rapid growth in research and the PhD program by promoting collaboration across disciplines and growing nationally recognized research groups. The research expenditures and PhD program tripled in size during this period.  Prior to her time at OSU, she was an assistant and associate professor at Washington State University. “I am excited about joining the CU-Boulder leadership team and working with researchers to partner with industry, national labs, other universities, and state and federal governments to grow the impact of CU research for Colorado and the nation,” Fiez said. Fiez earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University. Moore announced in October that Stein Sture will retire from his current post as vice chancellor for research after 35 years of service to the campus. Sture has agreed to remain in his post through Sept. 15 and then return to the College of Engineering and Applied Science as a professor. CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano thanked Sture for his more than three decades of service to CU-Boulder. “Even as we welcome Terri Fiez into the post of Vice Chancellor for Research, I want to personally thank Stein Sture for his many years of distinguished service to the university,” said DiStefano. “In every post, he has led with honor, collegiality and good humor, and we are fortunate to have him remain as our Huber and Helen Croft Endowed Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.” Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115“Terri Fiez has an extraordinary track record of not only research and leadership, but also of developing strong partnerships with industry and federal agencies,” Provost Russell L. Moore said.Research Collaborations var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Terri Fiez


U.S. mid-continent seismicity linked to high-rate injection wells
A dramatic increase in the rate of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. since 2009 is associated with fluid injection wells used in oil and gas development, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the U.S. Geological Survey. The number of earthquakes associated with injection wells has skyrocketed from a handful per year in the 1970s to more than 650 in 2014, according to CU-Boulder doctoral student Matthew Weingarten, who led the study. The increase included several damaging quakes in 2011 and 2012 ranging between magnitudes 4.7 and 5.6 in Prague, Oklahoma; Trinidad, Colorado; Timpson, Texas; and Guy, Arkansas. “This is the first study to look at correlations between injection wells and earthquakes on a broad, nearly national scale,” said Weingarten of CU-Boulder’s geological sciences department. “We saw an enormous increase in earthquakes associated with these high-rate injection wells, especially since 2009, and we think the evidence is convincing that the earthquakes we are seeing near injection sites are induced by oil and gas activity.” A paper on the subject appears in the June 18 issue of Science. The researchers found that “high-rate” injection wells -- those pumping more than 300,000 barrels of wastewater a month into the ground -- were much more likely to be associated with earthquakes than lower-rate injection wells. Injections are conducted either for enhanced oil recovery, which involves the pumping of fluid into depleted oil reservoirs to increase oil production, or for the disposal of salty fluids produced by oil and gas activity, said Weingarten. Co-authors on the study include CU-Boulder Professor Shemin Ge of the geological sciences department and Jonathan Godt, Barbara Bekins and Justin Rubinstein of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Godt is based in Denver and Bekins and Rubenstein are based in Menlo Park, California. The team assembled a database of roughly 180,000 injection wells in the study area, which ranged from Colorado to the East Coast. More than 18,000 wells were associated with earthquakes -- primarily in Oklahoma and Texas -- and 77 percent of associated injection wells remain active, according to the study authors.   Of the wells associated with earthquakes, 66 percent were oil recovery wells, said Ge. But active saltwater disposal wells were 1.5 times as likely as oil recovery wells to be associated with earthquakes. “Oil recovery wells involve an input of fluid to ‘sweep’ oil toward a second well for removal, while wastewater injection wells only put fluid into the system, producing a larger pressure change in the reservoir,” Ge said. Enhanced oil recovery wells differ from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking wells, in that they usually inject for years or decades and are operated in tandem with conventional oil production wells, said Weingarten. In contrast, fracking wells typically inject for just hours or days. The team noted that thousands of injection wells have operated during the last few decades in the central and eastern U.S. without a ramp-up in seismic events. “It’s really the wells that have been operating for a relatively short period of time and injecting fluids at high rates that are strongly associated with earthquakes,” said Weingarten. In addition to looking at injection rates of individual wells over the study area, the team also looked at other aspects of well operations including a well’s cumulative injected volume of fluid over time, the monthly injection pressure at individual wellheads, the injection depth, and their proximity to “basement rock” where earthquake faults may lie. None showed significant statistical correlation to seismic activity at a national level, according to the study. Oklahoma had the most seismic activity of any state associated with wastewater injection wells. But parts of Colorado, west Texas, central Arkansas and southern Illinois also showed concentrations of earthquakes associated with such wells, said Weingarten. In Colorado, the areas most affected by earthquakes associated with injection wells were the Raton Basin in the southern part of the state and near Greeley north of Denver. "People can’t control the geology of a region or the scale of seismic stress,” Weingarten said. “But managing rates of fluid injection may help decrease the likelihood of induced earthquakes in the future."  The study was supported by the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, which provides opportunities for collaboration between government, academic and private sector scientists. Contact: Matthew Weingarten, 925-209-1606matthew.weingarten@colorado.edu Shemin Ge, 303-492-8323ges@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu Heidi Koontz, USGS media relations, 303-202-4763hkoontz@usgs.gov var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Moon engulfed in permanent, lopsided dust cloud
The moon is engulfed in a permanent but lopsided dust cloud that increases in density when annual events like the Geminids spew shooting stars, according to a new study led by University of Colorado Boulder. The cloud is made up primarily of tiny dust grains kicked up from the moon’s surface by the impact of high-speed, interplanetary dust particles, said CU-Boulder physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi. A single dust particle from a comet striking the moon’s surface lofts thousands of smaller dust specks into the airless environment, and the lunar cloud is maintained by regular impacts from such particles, said Horanyi, also a research associate at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The cloud was discovered using data from NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, which launched in September 2013 and orbited the moon for about six months. A detector on board called the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) designed and built by CU-Boulder charted more than 140,000 impacts during the six-month mission. “Identifying this permanent dust cloud engulfing the moon was a nice gift from this mission,” said Horanyi, the principal investigator on LDEX and lead study author. “We can carry these findings over to studies of other airless planetary objects like the moons of other planets and asteroids.” A paper on the subject appears in the June 17 issue of Nature. Co-authors include Jamey Szalay, Sascha Kempf, Eberhard Grun and Zoltan Sternovsky from CU-Boulder, Juergen Schmidt from the University Oulu in Finland and Ralf Srama from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. Horanyi said the first hints of a cloud of dust around the moon came in the late 1960s when NASA cameras aboard unmanned moon landers captured a bright glow during lunar sunsets. Several years later, Apollo astronauts orbiting the moon reported a significant glow above the lunar surface when approaching sunrise, a phenomenon which was brighter than what the sun alone should have been able to generate at that location. Since the new findings don’t square with the Apollo reports of a thicker, higher dust cloud, conditions back then may have been somewhat different, said Horanyi. The dust on the moon -- which is dark and sticky and regularly dirtied the suits of moonwalking astronauts -- was created over several billion years as interplanetary dust particles incessantly pounded the rocky lunar surface. Knowledge of the dusty environments in space has practical applications, said Horanyi. Knowing where the dust is and where it is headed in the solar system, for example, could help mitigate hazards for future human exploration, including dust particles damaging spacecraft or harming astronauts. Many of the cometary dust particles impacting the lunar surface are traveling at thousands of miles per hour in a retrograde, or counterclockwise orbit around the sun -- the opposite orbital direction of the solar system’s planets. This causes high-speed, near head-on collisions with the dust particles and the moon’s leading surface as the Earth-moon system travel together around the sun, said Horanyi. The Geminid meteor showers occur each December when Earth plows through a cloud of debris from an oddball object called Phaethon, which some astronomers describe as a cross between an asteroid and a comet. “When these ‘beams’ we see from meteors at night hit the moon at the right time and place, we see the cloud density above the moon skyrocket for a few days,” said Horanyi. Horanyi also is the principal investigator on a CU-Boulder student dust-counting instrument on board NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft that will whip by Pluto on July 14 after a journey of more than nine years. Contact: Mihaly Horanyi, 303-492-6903mihaly.horanyi@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“Identifying this permanent dust cloud engulfing the moon was a nice gift from this mission,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi, the lead study author. “We can carry these findings over to studies of other airless planetary objects like the moons of other planets and asteroids.”Research, Aerospace, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: An artist's conception of the thin dust cloud surrounding the Moon and the LADEE mission orbit. The colors represent the amount of material ejected from the lunar surface, with red representing the highest density of dust and blue representing the lowest density. Credit: Daniel Morgan and Jamey Szalay, University of Colorado


Staff Council Update: Learning new skills with Lynda.com
With more than 2,500 courses taught by industry experts, lynda.com is designed for all levels of learners and new courses are added weekly. Access the lynda.com library 24/7—even from your iPhone, iPad, Android device, or mobile phone. Exercise files let you follow along with the instruction as you learn, and bookmarks help keep track of what you’d like to watch. Provost Russ Moore and Senior Vice Chancellor and CFO Kelly Fox worked to find funding for a three year contract with Lynda.com. The service has a variety of plan options but for a typical user the cost can be approximately $300 per year. CU-Boulder has set a target adoption rate of 10 percent after the initial implementation curve. The current adoption numbers already shows 3,249 users, equating to 7.6 percent of the 43,000 current staff, students and faculty who can use the service. Such a high percentage in the first few months of availability is great news for the program as CU-Boulder will need to show strong adoption numbers to ask for additional funding after the three year trial has expired. CU- Boulder’s Staff Council has heard from our constituent body that professional development is key in making this university a great place to work. Lynda.com offers extensive professional development opportunities and the service can be used outside of work hours allowing for employees to pursue learning when it best suits their individual schedule. It’s also a great tool for staff to use when creating goals during the performance planning process to identify areas of growth and development. For additional information on lynda.com at CU-Boulder, including recommended courses for faculty, staff and students, visit www.colorado.edu/lynda. To access Lynda.com go to: Lynda.colorado.edu OR go to My CU Info and click on Lynda.com under ‘Training.’Go to Lynda.com var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Celebrating Anne Heinz, Dean of Continuing Education
Anne Heinz was just a freshman at Southern Illinois University when she taught her first non-credit class — macramé. The class was part of the campus’ “Free School.” Much to Heinz’s delight, a packed room showed up eager to learn during what would become her early encounter with continuing education. “It all started with macramé,” Heinz said. “That was how I was exposed to adult education and continuing education. I liked being in an environment where people were motivated to learn.” Heinz went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she focused on continuing professional studies and completed her dissertation on public universities’ collaborative relationships outside of their campuses. Her education and early career laid the foundation for her work as Dean of Continuing Education and Vice Provost for Summer Session and Outreach and Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she has also held a faculty appointment in the School of Education. As she prepares to retire after 26 years at CU-Boulder — including 19 years as dean — her contributions are woven throughout the fabric of the Division of Continuing Education and the university.  “I’m very proud of the fact that we have strengthened the linkage between Continuing Education and the work of the campus,” Heinz said. “Quality continuing education programs leverage what we are trying to achieve as a university and advance the role and mission of the campus.” Complementing campus initiatives is a thread running throughout Heinz’s work. Her leadership has been instrumental in establishing and rejuvenating programs. Heinz spearheaded efforts to enhance curriculum and incentives for faculty to teach Summer Session courses. With the support of the Assistant Dean for Summer Session and campus leadership, summer has become fertile ground for innovation, including increased online offerings, three-week terms in May and August, and the Faculty-in-Residence Summer Term program (FIRST), which enriches course offerings and collaboration between CU-Boulder faculty and visiting scholars. Similarly, Heinz’s leadership advanced CU-Boulder’s outreach and engagement initiatives. As dean, she was charged with oversight of the outreach awards program, which provides annual funding for faculty projects that extend research, teaching, and creative work. Heinz enhanced the awards process by establishing a peer-review process and faculty committee, formalizing project criteria, and increasing annual funding. Since 1999, more than 650 faculty projects have been supported with funds from the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost and the Division of Continuing Education. In 2009, Chancellor Phil DiStefano appointed Heinz as the university’s first Associate Vice Chancellor for Outreach and Engagement — later Vice Provost — on the heels of the university’s strategic plan, Flagship 2030. “Anne was the perfect person to lead this initiative given her academic role as Dean of Continuing Education and the respect and trust that she carries with the faculty on campus,” DiStefano said. That respect and trust can be seen throughout her relationships with faculty, staff, and students. Heinz said she never intended to be dean, because she enjoyed working with students one-on-one. As dean, she extended that focus on students and she invited a student to accompany her at commencement each year. Many of these students have not followed a traditional academic path. Under Heinz’s guidance, Continuing Education’s online and evening credit courses have grown tremendously and helped students reach their goals and complete their degrees. “I have always believed that by providing a menu of choices we allow for the fact that people come to us with varying needs,” she said. “We should have a mixed portfolio of offerings that is not too narrowly focused. That way we serve a diverse group of students and community members.” In her own words, “those macramé days are long gone.” Her legacy, however, is uniquely tied to advancing the university’s mission, and her impact on people will continue long after her retirement on June 30. “I take great pleasure in thinking about how these programs have grown,” she said. “I know that our programs and our people are in a strong, thriving space.”   Story courtesy of Continuing Education var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Educators learn to teach computer science through video games
The bananas didn’t last long on the breakfast table in the Roser ATLAS Building lobby on a recent summer morning. Seventh-graders from Longmont’s Flagstaff Academy used the fruit to conduct electricity, transforming chunks of banana into sweet video game controllers with the help of a USB cable and a special circuit board. About 15 students demonstrated video game creations using fruit, Play-Doh and USB cables for teachers. It was the final day of the annual summer institute for Scalable Game Design, a research project housed in CU-Boulder’s Department of Computer Science and supported by the School of Education and the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The weeklong summer institute brought about 100 STEM and language arts teachers from upper elementary, middle and high schools to campus to learn how to use game design for computer science education. They also learned how to teach computational/critical thinking and problem-solving literacy. Torrey Thomas, a business and computer teacher at Rangeview High School in Aurora, came to the institute to learn more about computer simulations using real-world examples, such as factors in the spread of wildfires and the Ebola virus. He stopped by the student demo. By mid-morning, he was the top scorer on a student’s homemade “Dance Dance Revolution” game. “This is where the future is headed,” he said. “Everything deals with technology. There will be a big shortage of (qualified employees). We need to get kids involved a younger age.” Creating video games is an easy way to draw students of all stripes and learning styles into key computer concepts. “They just love games and playing video games,” Thomas said. “They don’t look at it as school work.” What students like Ava Kurowski, 12, love about game design is the creativity of it. “You can do anything you want with it,” said Ava, tinkering with a homemade Q*bert game controller. “It’s limitless.” Learn more at the Scalable Game Design summer institute website.P-12 Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Facilities Management Mentor Program celebrates another successful year
A group of staff from Facilities Management gathered on June 2 for a celebratory luncheon to mark completion of the department’s Mentor Program. The FM Mentor Program is unique as one of the few formal mentoring programs at CU-Boulder housed within an individual department. It was the third round of staff to complete the nine-month program, which launched in 2012. The program pairs mentors with mentees in an opportunity for professional growth and development. Mentors help their partners identify career goals, involve them in hands-on learning opportunities, and facilitate internal and external networking. Some of the program’s broader goals are fostering teamwork, transferring institutional knowledge, and planning for succession as key leaders retire.Several program participants spoke about their experiences during the luncheon.“The program promotes teamwork and partnership, and breaks down silos that exist,” said Hopeton Willis, an IT technician who participated as a mentee. “It also helped me learn more about Facilities Management and what the department means for the university.”David Danielson, assistant vice chancellor for Facilities Management, stressed the program’s many benefits to the department, from increasing employee retention to helping plan for succession. “We really value our employees as everyone here plays a part in how this university operates,” he said.Eleven mentor/mentee pairs participated in the program. The next round of applications will be accepted in August, with the program set to begin again in September. For more information, contact Andy Mead (Andrew.mead@colorado.edu; 303-492-7697).  Learn more about the FM Mentor Program var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Hart named a contender for the Colorado Supreme Court
Melissa Hart, CU-Boulder professor of law, has been named one of three finalists for the Colorado Supreme Court. David S. Prince and Richard L. Gabriel also are in the running, selected by the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission to fill an upcoming vacancy created by the Aug. 31 retirement of Justice Gregory J. Hobbs Jr. The Colorado Judicial Branch now is accepting letters of support from the public on behalf of the nominees at gov_judicialappointments@state.co.us. Governor John Hickenlooper will make the final decision on Hobbs’ successor by June 25. In her work, some of Hart’s hallmarks include understanding and illuminating how the law directly impacts people and businesses; presenting the law in a way that’s accessible and usable to all; and reaching out across the state to engage a diverse population in educational and interactive projects. In addition to teaching, Hart is the director of Colorado Law’s Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, which provides a range of student and community events and programs such as the Colorado Law Constitution Day Project; the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project; the John Paul Stevens Lecture, which has brought many U.S. Supreme Court justices to campus; and the Ira C. Rothgerber, Jr. Conference. To submit a letter of support for Hart email gov_judicialappointments@state.co.us. For more information about the Colorado Supreme Court visit https://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Supreme_Court/Index.cfm. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


HR Corner: Summer learning for employees
Summer brings many benefits-sunshine, warm weather and even a little less traffic coming into Boulder. It is also is a great time to take a break and focus on our own wellbeing. We care about your wellness and invite you to join us for the following workshops and seminars: June Adding Exercise to Your Stress Management Regimen June 17, 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 247 Learn of the most recent research on exercise as an effective tool to manage stress, anxiety, and depression. Information will be presented by Denise Adelsen of CU-Boulder Recreation Center, Rodger Kram of the Department of Integrative Physiology, and Janeen Haller-Abernethy from the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Customer Service Seminar June 18, 9 to 11 a.m., ARCE 346 (East Campus) Can you quickly identify your customers and how to best serve them? Have you ever found yourself in a customer service nightmare? This interactive seminar provides practical skills for identifying customers and delivering great customer service.  Come join us to learn how to deal with all customers, pleasant and challenging, and create a positive experience for all. • Register Now July Ready to Quit? Tobacco Cessation 101 July 8, ARCE 346 (East Campus) This workshop will identify the most effective ways to quit tobacco and also help participants assess their readiness for change as they consider quitting tobacco. Cessation methodologies from the behavioral health and medical fields will be presented by Janeen Haller-Abernethy, LCSW, Counselor and Work-Life Program Coordinator, CU-Boulder Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Keeping Your Kids Close in the Age of Technology July 9, 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 247 Many parents find themselves questioning the prevalence and accessibility of technology. We’ll explore concerns about social media and other technology use with particular focus on long-term impact on the minds, bodies and relationships of our children. • Register Now Stress Reduction Series Wednesdays, July 8 through Aug. 12 (no meeting on Aug. 5), 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 425 Stress reduction strategies have been documented to decrease physical and psychological symptoms, increase relaxation, reduce pain, and also improve self-esteem, enthusiasm, and coping skills. Participants will acquire knowledge of mindfulness, meditation, visualization, guided imagery, cognitive restructuring, emotional health and regulation. Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions. • Register Now Change Your Behavior, Change Your Weight Thursdays, July 9 through Aug. 13 (no meeting on 8/6), 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 425 Explore behaviors causing or maintaining excess weight and obesity. Participants will learn why crash dieting and temporary weight changes don’t work. Topics include motivation and goal setting for long-term weight loss, journaling food intake, mindless and mindful eating, impulsive eating, body image, and adding activity to support healthy weight. Facilitated by Janeen Haller-Abernethy, Counselor and Work-Life Coordinator, Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Communication Seminar July 14, 9 to 11:30 a.m., ARCE 346 (East Campus) This 2 hour communication seminar focuses on analyzing barriers that inhibit listening skills. Identify skills in speaking clearly, directly, and strategize solutions to communication challenges. If you're committed to enhancing this skill, then this seminar is designed for you! • Register Now Coping with Change in the Workplace July 21, 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 247 Organizational change can trigger anxiety, stress, and uncertainty. Gain a better understanding of the physical, emotional, and behavioral responses that are commonly experienced when change occurs. We will explore why coping with change is important and discuss positive stress management strategies to deal with change more effectively. Information will be presented by Olga M. Vera, PhD, Director, CU-Boulder Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Women and Money: Unique Challenges and Considerations July 30, 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 247 Lunch provided by Elevations Credit Union Together, we'll take a look at some of the unique financial challenges faced by women and some of the steps women can take to manage their financial future. Information will be presented by Stephanie Leatherman, Financial Advisor, Elevations Credit Union. • Register Now August Emotional Intelligence Aug. 4, 1 to 3:30 p.m., ARCE 346 (East Campus) Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships. EI has been shown to increase job performance, productivity, and personal excellence. Come to this 2-hour seminar to explore this important ability and gain skills to improve your own emotional intelligence. • Register Now Digging Deeper into Workplace Conflict: Collaborative Ombuds & FSAP Insight Aug. 11, 12 to 1:30 p.m., UMC 247 Join us for a discussion of workplace conflict including strategies for self-reflection in order to reduce tension in the work setting. This discussion will be facilitated by mediators from the CU-Boulder Ombuds Office and counselors from the CU-Boulder Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Growing Through Grief  Aug. 20, 12 to 1 p.m., UMC 247 Grief may be experienced in response to physical losses, such as death or disaster, or in response to symbolic or social losses like divorce or job separation.  Drawing from the latest research in mindfulness practice and neuroscience, this workshop will offer practices and information to help understand and integrate loss-related changes in our lives. Information presented by Paulette EricksonEngland, Staff Counselor, Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. • Register Now Have Questions? Contact Human Resources at 303-492-6475 or hrmail@colorado.eduVisit the HR website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Take precautions against tularemia
Tularemia, a rare but serious bacterial infection transmitted to humans via sick or dead animals, has been confirmed in Boulder and Larimer counties this spring. A dead vole found on CU-Boulder’s South Campus property (located near Hwy. 36 and Table Mesa Dr.) tested positive for the disease in early June. Tularemia spreads through several routes, including direct exposure to infected animals such as squirrels, rabbits, prairie dogs, and rodents; insect bites by ticks and deer flies; airborne bacteria disrupted during gardening and landscaping activities; and contaminated food and water. Symptoms of the disease include flu-and-pneumonia–like symptoms, diarrhea, progressive weakness, mouth ulcers, painful lymph swelling, and possibly painful swollen eyes. To prevent exposure to tularemia, Boulder County Public Health recommends the following precautions: Avoid all contact with wild rodents, including squirrels and rabbits; do not feed or handle them. Stay out of areas that wild rodents inhabit. If you enter areas with wild rodents, wear insect repellent containing DEET. Never touch sick or dead animals with your bare hands. If an animal must be moved, use a long-handled shovel to place it in a garbage bag, and place the bag in an outdoor garbage can. Prevent your pets from hunting or eating wild rodents, especially rabbits. Avoid ticks. The best protection for pets, especially cats, is to keep them indoors. If outdoors with your pets, keep them out of heavily wooded areas as these areas are ideal places for ticks to live. Avoid drinking unpurified water from streams or lakes and keep your pets from doing the same. See a healthcare provider if you become ill with a high fever and/or swollen lymph nodes. Tularemia is a treatable illness when diagnosed early. See a veterinarian if your pet becomes ill with a high fever and/or swollen lymph nodes. For more information, visit http://www.bouldercounty.org/family/disease/pages/tularemia.aspx var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Stricter limits for ozone pollution would boost need for science, measurements
NOAA and CIRES joint news release. A tougher federal standard for ozone pollution, under consideration to improve public health, would ramp up the importance of scientific measurements and models, according to a new commentary published in the June 5 edition of Science by researchers at NOAA and its cooperative institute at the University of Colorado Boulder. The commentary, led by Owen Cooper of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, looks at how a new, stricter ozone standard would pose challenges for air quality managers at state and local levels. In November, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed lowering the primary ozone standard from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 or 65 ppb, based on ozone’s known effects on children, the elderly and people who have lung diseases, such as asthma. A decision by the EPA Administrator is expected in October 2015. The problem for state and local officials is that ozone pollution has several sources, some of which are beyond their borders. At any given place, a certain amount of the ozone pollution comes from local emissions by vehicles and other sources. Additional amounts can blow in from pollution sources across the ocean or in other parts of the United States. And some ozone is produced from natural sources or descends from the upper atmosphere’s ozone layer. Sorting all this out is where science comes in, says Cooper. “It’s not easy, but we do know how to figure out where the ozone comes from," he said. "This source information is exactly what air quality managers will need to know when the margin for allowable locally produced ozone shrinks.” Ozone is a pollutant that has respiratory health effects in humans and also impairs plant growth and damages crops. It is produced when emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react in the presence of sunlight. Controls on NOx and VOC emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources have enabled many U.S. counties to meet the 75 ppb standard, but the number of counties in “nonattainment” status (currently at 227) would jump to 358 or 558 if the standard is revised to 70 or 65 ppb, respectively. The new commentary suggests that to quantify how much ozone flows into the United States from all upwind sources, additional measurements would be needed, from instruments on the ground, on balloons and on aircraft. These observations could help scientists and air quality managers evaluate the performance of the computer models that are used to determine sources of ozone at a particular location. Once the models can successfully replicate the observed ozone levels, scientists and air quality managers will have greater confidence in the model estimates of how much of that observed ozone is beyond the reach of domestic control measures. That information is critical because the U.S. regulatory framework has procedures for exceptions and other allowances if non-local factors are significant for a given locality. And, those outside factors have been growing in recent decades, with sources in south and east Asia pushing up the baseline of ozone that enters the western U.S., for example. “The ozone baseline is rising, especially in high-elevation regions of the western U.S. that are more strongly influenced by high ozone coming from upwind sources or from the stratosphere. Lowering the federal ozone standard to protect public health will reduce the wiggle room for air quality managers. We point out that measurements and science will be crucial to successfully navigating the new regulatory landscape,” Cooper said. The EPA has stated that it will assist states in ensuring that sources of ozone outside of U.S. borders do not create unnecessary control obligations. Contacts: Owen Cooper, lead author, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, 303-497-3599 Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196 Environment, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: CIRES researcher Patrick Cullis releases an ozonesonde—a high-altitude balloon carrying an instrument to measure ozone levels—south of Boulder. (Photo courtesy of David Oonk/CIRES)


Keeping Colorado colorful: CU alum carries on family tradition
Phil Watkins Jr. (Art’70) can do without spotlight or limelight, but his work glories in illumination. “Light is what brings it to life,” says the eighth-generation stained-glass artist, one of few in the country who handles every aspect of the craft, from delicate restorations to original designs on almost any scale. He can sketch, measure, pattern, cut, paint, glaze and install, at eye level or nine stories up. Over six decades, Watkins has created or restored thousands of colored windows in churches, homes and commercial and civic buildings. He’s worked in 38 states, including, of course, Colorado, where he’s restored prized glass in the governor’s mansion, the capitol, the Brown Palace Hotel and Fairmont Cemetery. Since 1985, his wife, Jane Rosholt Watkins (Art’72), has been his primary artistic partner. “He does incredible work and is an asset to the state of Colorado,” says capitol architect Lance Shepard. “He is so quiet, but his work speaks volumes.” The Watkins family entered the stained-glass business in England in 1761. In the 1860s, Watkins’ great-grandfather, Clarence Watkins, emigrated to America with a box of family tools. In 1868, after working in Boston, New York and St. Louis, he settled in Denver. Through the early 1900s, Clarence designed glass for mansions, churches and businesses in the growing city. For the Brown Palace’s 1892 opening, he produced the nine-story lobby’s signature skylight; Phil Watkins Jr. restored it in 1985. Phil Watkins’ apprenticeship began early, at age 8, when he would sweep the floors for his father. Later, he built boxes for shipping glass to Fort Carson by train. By age 12 he was designing original work — six Gothic arch windows for the Boulder Seventh Day Baptist Church. The building houses law offices now, but the windows are still there. The Monday after graduating from CU Watkins joined his father’s studio full-time. One of his early projects was repairing the amber windows in Macky Auditorium — windows installed by his grandfather around 1911, he believes, and damaged by dynamite in 1970 during unrest over the Vietnam War. Trained in the stained-glass craft at home, Watkins developed breadth as an artist at CU, larely under the direction of sculpture professor Lynn Wolfe (MFA '48). Entering CU in 1965, he studied sculpture and painting and competed as a javelin thrower on the track team under coach Frank Potts. “Athletics taught discipline and achieving my goals,” he says, characteristics that have served him well in work that demands meticulous attention to detail. From art historians Alden Megrew and Robert Day he acquired a grounding in the great works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Michaelangelo, DaVinci and Henry Moore that inspire him still. One day he was eating lunch in the UMC with Megrew and Day as they discussed the brushstrokes on a Botticelli painting, debating whether the corners were painted by an understudy or by Botticelli. “The brushstrokes looked the same to me, but they could see a difference, that’s how much they knew,” he says. Watkins did not find all aspects of college life easy. “I was an anachronism in the fine arts department ’cause it was back in the time of the hippies and alternate life-style people,” he says. His ROTC unit stopped marching outdoors after students angry about the Vietnam War hurled beer bottles at them. Art and javelin throwing “kept me going,” he says, “that and all the pretty girls.” One of those girls was Jane, whom he met in a class on Colorado history. “I missed the first several weeks of the semester from being at World Campus Afloat,” Jane says, referring to the program now called Semester at Sea. She needed to figure out a way to catch up. “Phil sat next to me on my second day of class and I asked to borrow his notes.” He obliged; she ended up with the better grade. They’ve been together ever since. Jane’s background in art history — the major she declared after studying ancient Greek, Byzantine and Renaissance art during her semester abroad — is an important asset for Watkins Stained Glass Studio. She tells the story of a prospective client who wanted a window with Van Gogh’s irises. “Do you want Van Gogh’s irises in a field or irises in a pot?” Jane asked, referring to two different works. The client was impressed: “‘You’ve got the job.’” Jane handles many of the details of running the business so Phil has more time in the studio. He spent much of last year in the state capitol, where he’s been called to work several times. The recent project involved cleaning, restoring and reinstalling windows in the Senate and House chambers and in the rotunda. He rates windows on a 1-10 scale and says the rotunda windows are a 10+. “These are painted on glass and the painting is so realistic that it looks like you could stick a finger in front of their faces and they would bite you. They are just done so well,” he told Colorado Public Radio last year. The commission Watkins is most proud of is a stunning portrayal of The Last Supper, a year-long project he began in 1999 and at first was hesitant to take given the prospect of matching the perfect perspective of Leonardo DaVinci’s masterpiece mural, in glass, no less. “I can’t do The Last Supper,” he told Jane when Walt Wostenberg (MechEngr’65), then director of planning and construction for the Denver archdiocese, called about the project for Our Lady of the Snow in Granby, Colo. Jane borrowed a slide of the masterpiece and they projected it onto large pieces of paper taped to a blank wall. After drawing it in charcoal at the size of the planned window — 20 feet by 10 feet — it started to feel more manageable. “Many jobs feel that way at the beginning, too massive to undertake,” Phil says. “I lie awake at night trying to find new and ingenious ways to do things.” Painstaking and often solitary, Watkins’ work takes him into sacred, cinematic spaces. He recalls a 1990 job for St. John’s Cathedral, home of The Last Judgment, which he considers one of the finest in Denver. “There was a big hail storm that blew through here and that window was in its path,” he says. With huge holes to fix in the 20-by-30-foot window in the north choir loft, he worked on scaffolding in the cavernous space off and on for six months, a man on an island. “They had a really good organist at that time,” he says. “I remember listening to him play Handel’s Messiah right before Christmas. I’m sitting up there and the big pipes are rattling the window and my scaffold was rattling. I was just sitting there, not working, enjoying the music.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


NREL's economic impact tops $872 million, says CU-Boulder study
NREL news release. The economic impact of the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was $872.3 million nationwide in fiscal year 2014, according to a study by the University of Colorado Boulder's ’s Leeds School of Business. The study estimates NREL’s impact to Colorado’s economy totaled $701 million, a decline of 1.6 percent from the prior year. The slight year-over-year drop was largely attributed to a decline in major construction spending that came as NREL completed the planned build-out of its sustainable campus. Jefferson County, where the largest concentration of NREL employees is located, saw a $275 million economic impact from the national lab. The Golden-based research laboratory is among the 10 largest employers in the county, according to the study, which was done by Richard Wobbekind and Brian Lewandowski of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business. The study was funded by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, which manages and operates NREL for the Department of Energy. The study is online at http://www.nrel.gov/about/business.html. NREL develops clean energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advances related science and engineering, and provides knowledge and innovations to integrate energy systems at all scales. NREL received $382 million in funding during 2014.  “This report shows how important NREL has become in taking our ongoing research into clean energy and making it available for the marketplace so that everyone can benefit,” said Dan Arvizu, NREL director and president of Alliance for Sustainable Energy. “The completion of the NREL campus build-out plan gives our scientists better tools to do even more collaborative work with established companies and startups on new energy technologies.” The CU-Boulder study, which also contains data for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, found that during 2014 NREL: --Employed 1,730 full-time and 105 part-time employees. --Contributed $470,000 raised by employees to more than 400 charities. That figure includes a 10 percent match by Alliance for Sustainable Energy for every employee dollar given. --Welcomed nearly 25,000 visitors to its campus and adjacent Education Center. NREL held 195 licensing agreements in 2014, resulting in the transfer of 166 new technologies for commercialization. More than 30 clean-energy companies have been started based on research at NREL. Included in the report are case studies showing how innovations developed at NREL are moving from the laboratory into the marketplace: --NREL’s partnership with OPXBIO of Boulder on a way to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas feedstock into renewable fuels. --NREL’s collaboration with the Department of Defense to help all branches of the armed services meet their energy goals. --NREL’s opening of the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), allowing greater collaboration with companies on clean energy research. --NREL’s ongoing support of the entrepreneurial community through its annual Industry Growth Forum. Almost 60 percent of workers at NREL are involved in research and development, according to the study, which also highlighted a highly educated workforce. Among NREL workers, 95 percent hold at least a bachelor’s degree, and 63 percent have earned advanced degrees, including 31 percent with a doctorate. The scheduled completion of NREL’s sustainable campus resulted in six buildings earning certification as LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council, including the ESIF and the Research Support Facility (RSF). The addition of ESIF to the campus gives NREL an unparalleled collection of state-of-the-art capabilities that supports the development, evaluation, and demonstration of innovative clean energy technologies. The RSF is a net-zero energy building, meaning that over the course of a year it produces at least as much energy as it uses. The NREL site serves as a model for the construction of energy-efficient buildings and campuses. NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. Contact: Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.eduBusiness var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Photo courtesy of NREL/Dennis Schroeder.


CAPS, PHP to provide unified mental health program for students
CU-Boulder is unifying two departments which both provide mental health services on campus: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Psychological Health and Psychiatry (PHP). The new department, which will be part of Wardenburg Health Services, will transition to the new name, Counseling and Psychiatric Services, and will continue to use the CAPS acronym. Increasing accessDonald Misch, senior assistant vice chancellor for health and wellness and executive director of Wardenburg Health Services, says the merger is intended to increase student access to mental health services and enable more students to take advantage of these resources on campus. “CAPS and PHP offered a broad and complementary set of services that met different campus needs for mental health services,” explains Misch. Misch says that CAPS and PHP have long had much in common, although in certain aspects the two units’ foci and philosophy differ. While both provide individual, couples and group psychotherapy, PHP employs a more traditional medical model for treating a student’s symptoms, which may include psychological assessment, short- and long-term psychotherapy, and medication management. CAPS has traditionally focused on short-term psychotherapy as well as on a community psychology model that addresses the health and wellness of the entire campus community through outreach and prevention services and mental health promotion.  Same services, better streamlinedMisch hopes one fully integrated unit will combine the best aspects from both departments into one. “From the students’ perspective, we’re really just streamlining how people access mental health services,” says Misch. “On our end, however, this will create opportunities for the professionals working in these two offices to work in even better concert with one another, deeply aware of each other’s roles and how they all work together to meet a need for campus.” The newly merged CAPS department will continue to operate out of the same two locations (the Center for Community and Wardenburg Health Center), and all students will qualify for six free visits (counseling, medication management or a combination of the two) which can be accessed at either location. Additional visits beyond the initial six are covered for students enrolled in the Student Gold Health Insurance Plan, and students with their own non-university health insurance can continue their care on a fee-for-service basis. Under the old model, CAPS has always been free to students for up to six visits, and PHP has historically been a health insurance-based model. To pay for the newly added universal access to treatment, the university has introduced a new student fee of $21 per semester for the upcoming school year, which was approved by the Board of Regents on March 30. Misch says that he hopes that expanding student’s access to more healthcare providers and specialized services will lead to more students taking advantage of the mental health services available to them. “The whole point of this is to make it easier for students to access services when they need them, and to improve the overall health and wellness of our campus community.”Wardenburg website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Lorrie Shepard to retire as CU-Boulder School of Education dean
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced that Lorrie Shepard, dean of the School of Education, will retire effective May 31, 2016, and that a national search has been launched to find her replacement. Shepard plans to remain at the university as a distinguished professor of research and evaluation methodology. Shepard has served CU for 41 years, first as a faculty member and then as chair of the Research and Evaluation Methodology Ph.D. program and director of graduate studies in the School of Education. She has been in her current leadership role since 2001. CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, who led the School of Education as dean earlier in his CU career, worked alongside Shepard for many years. “Dean Shepard has made enormous contributions to the University of Colorado and the education preparation community in Colorado and nationwide with her leadership, vision and commitment,” DiStefano said. “I have been proud to call her my friend and colleague for the last 41 years, and we are thrilled that she will remain on the CU-Boulder faculty sharing her knowledge and passion for quality education for all.” Shepard is credited with transforming the School of Education into a nationally recognized leader in education research with the school ranking at the 95th percentile of scholarly productivity by faculty among colleges and schools of education nationwide.  As a researcher, Shepard is known for her research on psychometrics and the use and misuse of tests in educational settings. Shepard’s technical work has advanced validity theory, standard setting and statistical models for detecting test bias. Her other areas of expertise include formative assessment, classroom instruction and early childhood education/school readiness. “Dean Shepard has led the School of Education to such a level of prominence with her clear and single-minded focus on advancing educational opportunities for all students and addressing inequality in our society,” Moore said. “We look forward to building upon her great work.” With the recent launch of the CU Engage center, the School of Education has become a campus leader in community-based learning and research, stemming from the school’s model of scholarship that integrates research, teaching and outreach. Shepard has served as president of the National Academy of Education, the American Educational Research Association and the National Council on Measurement in Education. She has received Distinguished Career Awards from the American Educational Research Association, the National Council on Measurement in Education and the CU-Boulder Alumni Association. Among many honors and distinguished lectures, Shepard received the 2005 Henry Chauncey Award for Distinguished Service to Assessment and Education Science from the Educational Testing Service. She also received the 2006 David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievements in Teacher Education from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Shepard earned a doctorate in research and evaluation methodology and a master’s degree in counseling from CU-Boulder as well as a bachelor’s degree in history from Pomona College in Claremont, California. Moore also announced the formation of a search committee chaired by John Stevenson, dean of the Graduate School, to lead a national search for Shepard’s successor. In addition to Stevenson, faculty search committee members include Derek Briggs, professor and program chair of Research and Evaluation Methodology; Elizabeth Dutro, associate professor of literacy studies; Sue Hopewell, assistant professor of educational equity and cultural diversity; Susan Kent, professor of history; Michele Moses, associate dean for graduate studies and professor of educational foundations, policy and practice; Valerie Otero, professor of science education; and Bill Penuel, professor of educational psychology and learning sciences. Additional members include Adriana Alvarez, doctoral candidate and ambassador for the Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity program; Bill Barclay, School of Education board member; Sara McDonald, director of operations for the School of Education; Pat Moore, support staff; and Margot Neufeld, assistant dean for Advancement. Questions and comments may be directed to John Stevenson, chair of the search committee, at john.stevenson@colorado.edu or 303-492-2890. Contact: Julie Poppen, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007julie.poppen@colorado.eduEducation var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Lorrie Shepard.


INVST Community Studies program to celebrate 25-year anniversary
For the past 25 years, CU-Boulder's INVST Community Studies program has worked with CU students to help them learn to become engaged citizens and leaders. The program, which is housed within the newly formed Center for Community-Based Learning and Research in the School of Education, has more than 340 alumni who have fanned out all over the world. Partnering with organizations including Boulder Food Rescue, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, New Era Colorado and Project YES!, INVST students have contributed well over 225,000 hours of community service over the past 25 years. "We are so humbled to be celebrating 25 years as part of the CU-Boulder community," said Sabrina Sideris, program director of INVST. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, INVST will hold several events June 5-7, including a community service day on Friday, June 5, at the Cure Farm in east Boulder and an anniversary dinner and gala on Saturday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. Click here for a complete schedule of the INVST 25th Anniversary Celebration. Photo: INVST students learn first-hand about sustainability in New Mexico during the Domestic Summer Service Learning Experience. Photo courtesy of INVST.OutreachLearn more about INVST var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder appoints new dean of Continuing Education and vice provost
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the appointment of Sara Thompson as dean of the Division of Continuing Education and vice provost for Summer Session and Outreach and Engagement.  Thompson, who is currently associate provost of New Program Initiatives and dean of the Metropolitan School of Professional Studies at The Catholic University of America (CUA), Washington, D.C., will begin her duties on Aug.15. “Sara Thompson has been an entrepreneurial academic leader for more than 20 years,” Moore said. “We’re looking forward to the innovation and collaborative leadership style she’ll bring to building continuing education and online programs.” Thompson joined The Catholic University of America in 2002 as dean of the Metropolitan College. She went on to create the Metropolitan School of Professional Studies and was promoted in 2008 to associate provost to lead interdisciplinary program development initiatives across the university. She championed CUA’s first fully online degree programs and collaborated across the university to launch 15 new professional master’s programs over three years in sustainable design, biotechnology, business analysis, community and regional planning, materials sciences engineering and others. Enrollment in the Metropolitan School tripled under her leadership. “It is a real honor to be appointed to this position, and as a proud alumna, I’m excited to return to the university that helped shape me,” Thompson said. “The knowledge and skills I acquired as a marketing student in the Leeds School of Business MBA program have been instrumental to my 20 years in higher education building academic programs that meet the needs of students in creative and innovative ways.” Thompson has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Eastern Illinois University, an MBA from CU-Boulder and a PhD in educational and industrial psychology from Marquette University. Prior to her appointment at CUA, she was an assistant professor and director of the Business and Management Program at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Professional Studies in Business and Education from 1997 to 2000. From 1993 to 1997 she was the director of the Small Business Development Center for the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Continuing Education.  Moore announced last October that Anne Heinz, dean of Continuing Education and vice provost for Summer Session, Outreach and Engagement, will retire on June 30 after 26 years at the university. “I want to thank Anne for her many years of dedicated service to the university,” Moore said. “She has left a strong legacy and Sara is committed to working with the staff in continuing education to sustain and build on the very successful programs established under Dean Heinz’s leadership.” Thompson noted that she is looking forward to carrying out the mission and creating further opportunities in support of its mission and its role in Flagship 2030. “The Division of Continuing Education has been at the forefront of changing the lives of students and communities by extending the resources of the university and providing outstanding lifelong learning opportunities,” Thompson said. “CU-Boulder faculty, the Division of Continuing Education staff and Dean Heinz have built a strong and vibrant presence throughout the state and beyond through outreach and engagement.”   Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, 303-492-3115 var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Sara Thompson.


Extreme weather events connected to climate change? Some scientists think so
Recent heavy rains in Texas and the deadly heat wave in India are indicators that climate change, brought on by increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, is most likely enhancing the effects of these extreme weather events, according to climatologist Jim White, director of CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. “There is so much additional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today that our climate we know is modified by greenhouse gases – by the additional energy that comes from that," White said. "The heat wave in India is quite consistent with what we expect to see in the future. Heat waves, in general, we expect to increase, not only in areas like India, but we expect them to increase in the United States as well.”   According to a new study by Swiss researchers published in Nature Climate Change, extreme weather events world-wide are increasing with regularity, indicators that these events are becoming part of the Earth’s over-all climate pattern. But, White says, it’s one thing to know these extreme weather events will happen in the future but predicting when and where they will happen is something we can’t do. ”We can generally say that we expect more precipitation in a warmer world because the atmosphere just holds more moisture," he said. "That’s not terribly comforting, however, because where it rains is really important. Because if it’s raining out over the ocean that doesn’t do us any good. And so predicting where it rains is not an easy thing to do. What we do think is going to happen is as the atmosphere warms up we’ll get more rain per event. So convective storms - thunderstorms – we expect to get stronger.” There are other aspects of climate change that White says are up for debate. One is the increase of cutoff lows – a weather event similar to what happened in Colorado in 2013, that caused widespread flooding along the Front Range. “There are other aspects of climate and weather that we argue about having to do with slower moving storms - more of what we call ‘cutoff lows’ where you have a low pressure system that is cut off from the jet stream," White said. "It just idles and continues to dump rain or snow in one location. Features like that we argue about but we do expect features like that to increase in the future.” White says right now there are two things happening that can be directly attributed to climate change – rising sea levels caused by melting glaciers and the shrinking arctic ice sheet. “The Arctic is warming up," he said. "Sea ice in the Arctic is going away. Sea level is rising and that is also quite attributable to a warmer world. And it’s very difficult for people to grasp just how dynamic that impact is. So we expect a significant sea level rise over the next several hundred years just from the CO2 we have in the atmosphere today. The amount of sea level rise we expect is something on the order of 10 to 20 meters. So you are talking 30 feet or more.” According to the 2014 National Climate Assessment report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the amount of rain or snow falling in the heaviest one percent of storms has risen nearly 20 percent on average in the United States—almost three times the rate of increase in total precipitation between 1958 and 2007. According to the report, the Northeast alone has seen a 74 percent increase in the amount of rain or snow falling in the heaviest storms. Image courtesy of NOAA.gov var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


The ebb and flow of Greenland’s glaciers
This is a joint release of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the University of Colorado Boulder, and the American Geophysical Union (AGU). New CU-Boulder-led paper could improve understanding of Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise In northwestern Greenland, glaciers flow from the main ice sheet to the ocean in see-sawing seasonal patterns. The ice generally flows faster in the summer than in the winter, and the ends of glaciers, jutting into the ocean, also advance and retreat with the seasons. A new analysis shows some important connections between these seasonal patterns, sea ice cover and longer-term trends. Glaciologists hope the findings, accepted for publication in the June edition of the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface and available online, will shed light on how a warming Greenland will contribute to sea level rise. “Rising sea level can be hard on coastal communities, with higher storm surges, greater flooding and saltwater encroachment on fresh water,” said lead author Twila Moon, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder.  “We know that sea level will go up in the future. The challenge is to understand how quickly it will rise, and one element of that is better understanding how Greenland glaciers behave.” Moon and colleagues from the University of Washington focused on 16 glaciers in northwest Greenland, collecting detailed information on glacier speed, terminus position (the “end” of the glacier in the ocean) and sea ice conditions from 2009 to 2014. Sea ice had an important influence on the glaciers: When the waters in front of the glacier were completely covered by sea ice, the ends of the glaciers often advanced away from the land; and icebergs - that otherwise might have broken off and floated away - stayed attached. When sea ice broke up in the spring, the ends of the glaciers usually quickly retreated toward land as icebergs broke away. By contrast, seasonal swings in glacier speed had little to do with sea ice conditions or glacier terminus location. Rather, the speed (or velocity) of ice flow is likely responding to changes in the surface melt on top of the ice sheet and the movement of meltwater through and under the ice sheet. Over the longer term, however, Moon and her colleagues found a tight relationship between the speed of glaciers and terminus location. When sea ice levels were especially low and glaciers’ toes (or termini) retreated more than normal and then didn’t re-advance, the glaciers sped up, moving ice toward the sea more quickly. While low sea ice is likely not the full cause of the changes, it may be a visible indication of other processes, such as subsurface ice melt, that also affect terminus retreat, Moon said. It’s important to recognize that the mechanisms driving seasonal glacier changes in northwestern Greenland and around the world are not necessarily the same ones driving longer-term trends, Moon said. Knowing the differences may help researchers better anticipate the impact of anomalously low sea ice years, for example. “We do know we’re going to see sea ice reduction in this area, and it’s possible we can begin to estimate how that may affect glacier velocities,” Moon said. It’s also possible, she said, that researchers and communities interested in long-term glacial changes—the kind that affect sea levels—may not need to focus as much on seasonal advance and retreat of the rivers of ice. “It may be that we need to pay more attention instead to these out-of-bounds events, these anomalous years of very low sea ice or very high melt that likely have the greatest influence on longer-term trends.” NSIDC is part of CIRES, which is a partnership of NOAA and CU-Boulder. CIRES contacts:  Twila Moon, scientist and lead author NSIDC/CIRES/CU-Boulder (Moon is in Greenland this week, available by email and by Skype) Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196 “Rising sea level can be hard on coastal communities, with higher storm surges, greater flooding and saltwater encroachment on fresh water,” said lead author Twila Moon, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. “We know that sea level will go up in the future. The challenge is to understand how quickly it will rise, and one element of that is better understanding how Greenland glaciers behave.”Research, Environment, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Icebergs choke the fjord where Jakobshavn glacier flows into the sea off western Greenland. A new analysis shows that the mechanisms that drive the seasonal ebb and flow of some Greenland glaciers are different from those driving longer-term trends like overall retreat of glaciers, and faster flows. Lead author of the Journal of Geophysical Research paper, CU-Boulder's Twila Moon, said she hopes it will help scientists better anticipate how a warming Greenland will contribute to sea level rise. Ian Joughin, University of Washington.


'Sine Die' – a 2015 state legislative wrapup
May 6 marked “sine die,” the final day of the 2015 state legislative session. Almost 700 bills were introduced, which is a record number over the past five years. The Office of Government Relations actively worked on and tracked many bills of interest to CU-Boulder. Major legislative topics this year included higher education funding, tuition classification, capital construction, veterans affairs, health care and job creation. CU initiated several bills that are on their way to the Governor for signature. In addition to our CU initiated bills, we also played a critical role in lobbying for and against numerous other legislative items impacting the University. Please visit the Office of Government Relations website for a comprehensive report. Thank you to everyone at CU-Boulder who helped provide information about bills, testified before committees and engaged with legislators. Your efforts helped make this a successful session for CU and we appreciate your advocacy. Higher Ed Funding Highlights: Operating: A statewide $66.6 million increase for operating at public colleges and universities in FY 15-16. CU’s portion is $17.5 million.  Financial Aid: $15.2 million increase for need-based aid and $5 million for the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative for next fiscal year.  Capital Construction: $15 million for CU-Boulder Systems Biotechnology Building, Academic Wing. CU's campuses also received $2.6 million total in controlled maintenance funding. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


FAA grants drone access to Texas and Oklahoma panhandles for weather research
A consortium led by the University of Colorado Boulder has received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to start flying drones over parts of Texas and Oklahoma this spring in the heart of Tornado Alley to conduct weather research. The consortium, which includes CU-Boulder’s Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) and researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and Texas Tech University (TTU), received a Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA to operate a Tempest drone over 54,000 square miles of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. The region is known for its extreme weather, including “supercell” storms that can spawn damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes. The new “southern COA” complements the 48,000-square-mile “northern COA” previously granted by the FAA to the consortium that covers portions of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming, said RECUV director and CU-Boulder aerospace engineering science Professor Eric Frew. The northern and southern COA’s together cover an area about the size of Colorado. The Tempest is an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) with a wingspan of more than 10 feet developed at CU-Boulder to better understand the origin and development of severe storms by flying to their edges and measuring air pressure, temperature, relative humidity and wind velocities, he said. Sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the first project in the southern COA will be the deployment of a Tempest UAS near Lubbock, Texas, during the last two weeks of June. The project will include the UAS team from CU-Boulder and UNL and the mobile Dopler radar team from TTU, all of which participated in the massive Vortex-2 Project in spring 2010. VORTEX-2 involved more than 100 researchers and 40 support vehicles that chased severe storms from South Dakota to Texas in a project spearheaded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “The goal of this new three-year project is to expand the mission capabilities of the battery-powered Tempest UAS by enabling it to sense the local wind environment,” said Frew. “The UAS is designed to look for updrafts and wind shears which can be exploited to conserve energy stored in the battery,” said Frew, principal investigator on the effort. While the Lubbock UAS activities this summer are designed to test new technologies, the team would likely fly the Tempest into developing storms if the opportunities present themselves, said CU-Boulder aerospace engineering sciences Professor Brian Argrow, a co-investigator on the project. “The next step is to integrate the technology from this project into an unmanned aircraft system known as TTwistor, which is the successor to the Tempest,” said Argrow. TTwistor is being developed by RECUV with financial support from the Colorado Advanced Industries Accelerator Program and NOAA. CU-Boulder’s RECUV is partnering with local companies UASUSA and Black Swift Technologies (BST) to develop the TTwistor. UASUSA is a company spun off from Skip Miller Models of Longmont, a company that began manufacturing and marketing the Tempest after the prototypes were developed and flown by RECUV in 2010. BST was founded in 2012 by several CU-Boulder graduates who helped to develop and deploy the Tempest while at the university. “We are looking forward to future deployments of the TTwistor when we resume our severe-storm research with our partners from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,” said Argrow. Last fall, CU-Boulder and UNL co-founded the Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Severe Storms Research Group, a consortium of public and private-sector collaborators from universities, the private sector and others that are using UAS to study severe storms. In addition to intercepting storm cells associated with tornadoes in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, CU-Boulder faculty and students also have experience using UAS to monitor seal populations in the Arctic, chart sea-ice changes near Greenland and measure features in Antarctic sea ice associated with offshore winds. Contact: Eric Frew, 303-735-1285eric.frew@colorado.edu Brian Argrow, 303-492-5312brian.argrow@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.eduEngineering, Aerospace var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Caption: Former CU-Boulder graduate research assistant Kevin Rahauser launches the Tempest unmanned aircraft with an electric winch in 2013. (Photo courtesy University of Colorado)


Pulitzer Prize-winning CU grad returns to Boulder for CU NOW
It’s not every day you get to work with a Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist as a college student. It’s even less often that you share the same alma mater. When the sixth season of the CU New Opera Workshop, or CU NOW, kicks off this month, one of the opera professionals mentoring composition students knows Boulder well. Mark Campbell, a 1975 graduate of the Department of Theatre and Dance, is coming back to campus for the first time in 40 years.  Click through to read the rest of the story on the College of Music Website.Music var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Parking and Transportation Services awarded the 'Way to Go' employer award
The University of Colorado Boulder Parking and Transportation Services department recently received the "Way to Go Employer Champion Award" from the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). The 60th anniversary and awards celebration was held at the Denver Performing Arts Center. The university was nominated for developing and implementing a creative new employee vanpooling initiative which includes: Simplified pricing: $50/vanpooler/month Payroll deduction, made possible by simplified fares Pre-tax payment option further reducing cost No-cost parking permit for vans, eliminating parking fee collection and reducing cost One no-cost parking permit per month and up to three discounted parking permits per month. Rolling out the initial program, Parking and Transportation Services, working with Way-to-Go, 36 Commuting Solutions and the City of Boulder, organized eight new vanpools serving the CU-Boulder campus in the last six months. Faculty and staff members interested in learning more about vanpooling may email Greg Anthony at the Way to Go program: gregory.anthony@vride.com. There may be a van with an open seat for you, if not he will assist you with getting a new vanpool started. Vanpooling now costs less than a parking permit. Additionally CU-Boulder garnered the top award for “Local Government” for its supporting role in the City of Boulder 2014 Transportation Master Plan. University staff participating in the Master Plan were David Cook, (Parking and Transportation Services), Brandon Smith (Environmental Center) and Richelle Reilly (Facilities Management Planning). DRCOG further recognized CU-Boulder for encouraging faculty, staff and students to choose commuting options that are healthier, more affordable and improve traffic congestion and air quality, noting that the campus: Has more than 13,000 bike parking spaces (more bike parking than car parking) Provides covered bike parking at all major residence hall areas Recently built a covered and secure bike parking facility at the UMC Provides fully subsidized RTD Eco Passes to 8,300 employees Has more than 30,000 students buy RTD College Passes through their student government Is promoting carpooling through the Way to Go Website Provides a Guaranteed Ride Home program for employees Supports flex scheduling and teleworking where appropriate and approved Has been a participant in Bike to Work Day for 30+ years. Congratulations to our CU-Boulder colleagues. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Staff Council Update: Spring BBQ a huge success
The Boulder Campus Staff Council held the Staff Spring BBQ on May 12 in the Rec Center Lower Gyms. The event was the main staff appreciation event of the year and was a huge success. 1,300 staff members were treated to a bountiful buffet of beef brisket, pork shoulder, chicken, BBQ beans, potato salad, coleslaw and brownies.   Chancellor DiStefano and Regent Hybl stopped by to extend their gratitude and thanks to the staff for all their hard work and dedication to CU-Boulder. They also assisted with the raffle of items that were generously donated by Boulder’s local merchants.   A big thank you goes out to everyone that helped to make this possible and to all the staff who came to enjoy the event.      var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Digital accessibility initiative update: Department of Justice inquiry closed
In May of 2014, Chancellor DiStefano informed you about an inquiry from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting information about CU-Boulder’s possible non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since that time, updates have been provided about the steps taken by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services and Applications Accessibility Project team to improve the accessibility of CU-Boulder’s digital environment. A detailed description of the university’s actions was shared in CU-Boulder Today on November 7, 2014. Dan Jones, CU-Boulder’s Chief Digital Accessibility Officer, says that the university has been keeping the DOJ well-informed about our proactive measures over the past year. “We are obviously excited that the DOJ has decided to close its investigation, given the hard work of so many people across campus,” says Jones. Jones explains that when the university was informed of the investigation, campus leadership appointed a project executive team, steering team, working group and the four project core teams to take a close look at the accessibility of not only those applications and services identified in the DOJ investigation, but also the digital environment of our campus as a whole. These teams are comprised of CU-Boulder faculty, as well as staff from Disability Services, the ADA office, the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Human Resources, Procurement Services, Legal Counsel, Strategic Relations and other units on campus. “We take this as a positive sign that we continue to head in the right direction with our programs to provide accessibility,” says Jones. “Now that we have addressed some of the most critical components of our digital environment, we must keep moving forward with this critical work. This is about so much more than just meeting legal requirements. Even more importantly, we are actively working to help change CU-Boulder’s culture to make our digital environments more inclusive and accessible for all.” Summary of CU-Boulder's actions over the last year Appointed Dan Jones the Chief Digital Accessibility Officer Collected feedback from the campus community Launched an Accessible Technology website to provide online resources and documentation Drafted an Accessibility policy and associated standards Collaborated with the Procurement Service Center to ensure that accessibility is considered when purchasing technology for the university Set up a process for reviewing how additional ICT resources will be made more accessible over time if not immediately Received funding to support the project and for additional staff dedicated to digital accessibility Want to learn more about the IT accessibility initiative? Dan Jones will be hosting two town hall meetings to educate campus about the progress and future of ICT accessibility at CU-Boulder. In these meetings Jones will provide an overview of the program, provide guidance on how to make IT resources more accessible and allow for an opportunity for questions and answers. Mark your calendars for one of the following dates: East Campus: Friday, June 5, 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Computing Center 123 Main Campus: Wednesday, June 10, 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Regent 302 var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder instrument selected for NASA mission to Europa
A University of Colorado Boulder instrument has been selected to fly on a NASA mission to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, which is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean that may provide conditions suitable for life. The CU-Boulder instrument, known as the SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer (SUDA), will be used to measure the composition of solid particles released from Europa’s surface due to meteoroid bombardment. The instrument also will be able to measure the properties of small, solid particles believed to be spewing from a hidden ocean within the moon, said physics Assistant Professor Sascha Kempf, principal investigator on the project.  “We are really, really excited,” said Kempf, a research associate at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics where the instrument will be built. “This instrument will be used to support the overarching goal of the Europa mission, which is to understand the prerequisites of life in the solar system.” There is evidence from both NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter and from Hubble Space Telescope images that plumes of water and ice particles are shooting out from Europa’s surface, according to NASA officials. SUDA was one of nine instruments selected today by NASA for the mission to Europa from 33 proposals from around the world. Other CU-Boulder co-investigators on the instrument – which has been under development for about 10 years – include physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi and aerospace engineering sciences department Assistant Professor Zoltan Sternovsky. Sternovsky also is affiliated with LASP. Europa is one of four large Jovian moons and is about the size of Earth’s moon. Scientists believe there is a frozen crust about 40 miles (70 kilometers) thick separating the ocean from the surface, said Kempf. The ocean, which may be heated by Europa’s interior, could harbor more than twice as much water as Earth’s oceans, according to NASA officials. NASA’s fiscal year 2016 budget request includes $30 million to formulate a mission to Europa. The solar-powered spacecraft would be placed in a long, looping orbit around the gas giant Jupiter – the largest planet in the solar system – performing repeated flybys of Europa as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) over a three-year period. “There appears to be an exchange of material occurring between Europa’s surface and its subsurface ocean,” said Kempf. “We are building a very powerful instrument that will provide us with information about the moon’s interior structure and the repository of material in the water under the ice crust.” Students play a major role in all research activities at LASP, said Kempf. “We already have both undergraduates and graduate students involved in this project, and through the course of the mission they will be working on everything from software development and instrument testing to data acquisition and analysis.” In March, a CU-Boulder-led study involving Kempf used data from NASA’s Cassini mission indicating microscopic grains of rock detected near Saturn may be due to hydrothermal activity taking place within its moon, Enceladus. About the size of a lunchbox, the LASP instrument for Europa will weigh about 24 pounds, much of it for special high-tech shielding to protect it from the harsh radiation environment of Jupiter. LASP also has a dust instrument on NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto called the Student Dust Counter built entirely by students. Launched in 2006, New Horizons will make its closest flyby of the dwarf planet on July 14. Other U.S partners on the SUDA project include Arizona State University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In addition, there are several European partners including the University of Stuttgart in Germany, the University of Oulu in Finland and the National Center for Scientific Research in France.  Contact: Sascha Kempf, 303-735-4476sascha.kempf@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-311jim.scott@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute


CU Money Sense: 5 steps to improve your finances this summer
By CU Money Sense Summer can be a busy time for college students between working, internships, traveling or summer classes. However, now is the perfect time to give your finances a checkup. Below, we recommend taking these five easy steps towards improving your money situation today. 1. Open a savings account and add direct deposit If you already have a savings account—great! If not, head over to your local bank (or use an online bank) and set one up, preferably one with a great interest rate. Next, you have two options: 1.) have a percentage of your paycheck direct deposited into the account or 2.) set up an automatic transfer from checking account to your savings account. The money will grow without much effort on your part and chances are, since it’s automatic, you probably won’t even miss the money because you hadn’t seen it yet. 2. Lower your monthly bills Do you really need cable, Netflix, and Hulu? Can you turn the A/C down by a few degrees? Or lower your cell phone bill by switching to a different plan? Most likely, you can find a few extra bills that you can either reduce or completely eliminate. By doing so, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars over the course of a year. 3. Comparison shop Before you make a purchase—whether it’s a car, computer, or new shoes—comparison shop to make sure you getting the best deal possible. Check online sites and Google reviews to help find the best value for your money. You’d be surprised by the amount of money you can save by taking the time to do a little investigative research before you make a purchase. 4. Find your money leaks Spending too much money on lattes? Always have to buy the latest video game? Can’t resist going out and splurging on dinner and drinks every payday? If your spending habits and hobbies are leaving your account balance low, find a way to cut back. Bring your own coffee to work. Rent video games or borrow from friends. Try to set a budget for your nights out. By figuring out where your money is going, you’ll probably realize you’re spending a lot more than you thought. 5. Get organized Being organized is one of the best things you can do for your finances. By keeping good track of your bills and due dates, you’ll never miss a payment or pay another late fee again. Take it a step further and try setting up your accounts for automatic bill pay. Ask your bank if they offer a bill pay service and they’ll help get you started. Most utility and credit card companies offer an automatic payment option as well, so check out their websites for more information. Don’t forget that CU Money Sense is open for the summer! Click here to schedule an appointment to discuss your money questions. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


HR Corner: 'Supervising Student Employees from A-to-Z' and 'Customer Service' seminars
The Office of Organizational and Employee Development invites CU-Boulder employees to attend upcoming seminars and workshops. Supervising Student Employees from A-to-Z and Customer Service are June’s featured seminars! All programs are offered free of charge to CU-Boulder employees. Register now! Space is limited and sessions are filling up fast.OED Seminar: Supervising Student Employees from A-to-Z Join us June 15, 1 to 4 p.m. in UMC 382-386Presenter: Natalie (High) Engelbrecht, Coordinator of Student Employment, Financial Aid  Not sure where to start with supervising students? Or, maybe you have been a supervisor for a long time and could contribute some wisdom for newbies! No matter your level of experience, we would love to have you be a part of the conversation.  Join us to discuss everything from advertising positions and interviewing to strategies to capitalize on your students’ talents to keep them engaged. Learn how to set expectations, plan effective training, hold students accountable, and evaluate them fairly to prepare them for successful careers. To register, please visit https://universityofcolorado.skillport.com/skillportfe/custom/login/universityofcolorado/login.action?courseaction=Summary&assetid=ilt_B10112 or call 303-492-8103.  OED Seminar: Customer Service Join us June 18, 9 to 11:30 a.m. in ARC 346, East CampusPresenters: Omaira Bankston, Senior Training Specialist, Office of Organizational and Employee Development and Amy Elizabeth Moreno, Senior Training Specialist, Office of Organizational and Employee Development Would you like to sharpen your customer service skills? This 2-hour seminar will give you practical skills in providing good customer service every time. Learn to handle irate customers while maintaining a positive attitude and more.  To register, please visit https://universityofcolorado.skillport.com/skillportfe/custom/login/universityofcolorado/login.action?courseaction=Summary&assetid=ilt_B10028 or call 303-492-8103. The next Emotional Intelligence seminar will be offered in November 2015. Did you know that Organizational and Employee Development is available for department or unit trainings? Please call 303-492-2479 to discuss your training needs.  To learn more about the programs and services offered by Organizational and Employee Development, we encourage you to visit http://hr.colorado.edu/training/Pages/default.aspx. Learn more about Human Resources var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten CU-Boulder students offered Fulbright awards for 2015-16, one named alternate
Ten University of Colorado Boulder graduate students or alumni have been offered Fulbright grants to pursue teaching, research and graduate studies abroad during the 2015-16 academic year. In addition, one CU-Boulder doctoral student has been named an alternate. Candidates with alternate status are offered awards if additional funding becomes available through the Fulbright program. The 2015 CU-Boulder Fulbright recipients and their destination countries are: Alexa Almeida, Argentina; Kaitlin Fertaly, Armenia; Eric Lovell, Tanzania; Jessica Luna, Burkina Faso; Richard Mapes, Israel; Roya Mirhossaini, Turkey; Caitlin Ryan, Kyrgyz Republic; Matthieu Talpe, Germany; and Kelsey Thibdeau, Jordan. Alumna Lisa Powers received a Fulbright grant offer but chose to decline it. Tyler Kohler is the alternate candidate whose research project would take place in the Czech Republic. The awardees’ areas of focus include the architectural fortification of pre-1980 residences (Israel); the impacts of land-use planning as they relate to new governance and human-elephant relations (Tanzania); the value of women’s labor in three contexts including the orthodox revival, international development and wage labor (Armenia); and the use of music by Syrians in Jordan as a means to articulate their experiences amid current conflict in their homeland. “The contributions of CU-Boulder students and alumni to the international community are vast and inspiring,” said Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “As representatives of CU-Boulder, they are advancing not only their own lives and careers, but also global understanding and relations. About 155 CU-Boulder students have received Fulbright grant notifications since 1978, including this year’s recipients, according to CU-Boulder’s Top Scholarships office. Fulbright students are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The 69-year-old program, sponsored by the U.S. government, operates in more than 160 countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the program has provided opportunities for approximately 360,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists. Students interested in applying for the Fulbright program should visit http://enrichment.colorado.edu/topscholarships/scholarships/graduate-scholarships/fulbright-u-s-student-program/ or contact topscholarships@colorado.edu. The campus deadline for 2016-17 Fulbright applications is Sept. 10, 2015. For additional information on graduate student opportunities abroad visit http://www.colorado.edu/oie/global-cu/graduate-student-opportunities-abroad. Contact: Deborah Viles, Top Scholarships, 303-735-6801viles@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.eduResearch var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Matthieu Talpe.Photo: Caption: Alexis Almeida.


Awards from Chancellor's Advisory Committee on GLBT Issues
Every year the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on GLBT Issues honors outstanding educators and advocates for the LGBTQ community. This year, the committee is pleased to honor the following award recipients: Associate Professor sj Miller is this year's winner of the Joanne Arnold Courage and Commitment Award. In Professor Miller's first year at CU-Boulder, sj has provided inclusive classrooms for LGBTQIA students, has been an effective advocate across campus, and help organize the first conference at CU-Boulder on Queer Young Adult Literature.   Elleayla Bayarjargal is the winner of this year's Transito "Tito" Torres Award for Outstanding Student Activist. Elleayla is a student leader of Biphoria, a student group for bisexual, pansexual and allied students, and is the co-creator of another student group called Bichorious, in which queer and allied students can come together to express their musical and vocal talents.   We thank both the awardees for their dedication and commitment to providing education, support and advocacy to CU Boulder's LGBTQ and allied community.Learn more about the committee var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Study shows Colorado’s biggest storms can happen any time
This is a news release from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. In a state known for its dramatic weather and climate, Colorado’s history of extreme precipitation varies considerably by season and location, according to a new study led by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA. Decision makers -- often facing increased pressure to consider climate change information -- typically turn to historical averages to understand when and where extreme rain, hail and snow happen in the state. But those averages often are not reliable because they’re based on observations of events that don’t happen frequently and because the observations themselves are limited, especially in remote areas. The new study set out to improve understanding of the state’s extreme event climatology, said Kelly Mahoney, a CIRES scientist working at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, and lead author of the study. “Even in regions where you think you have a strong seasonal signal, the data actually show heavy precipitation events happening outside of the expected timeframe, especially in the central mountains of Colorado.” The research is published in the current issue of the Journal of Hydrometeorology. The study also includes researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Colorado State University and the U.S. Geological Survey. The September 2013 Colorado Front Range floods are evidence that big storms can happen out of season and don’t necessarily obey expected norms. Widespread flooding across northeast Colorado -- when the city of Boulder saw just over 17 inches of rain in one week, close to the city’s typical total for the entire year -- was unusual in that it happened more than one month after the state’s typical monsoon peak. Though unusual, the floods weren’t unprecedented. “Because fall is drier on average, the assumption was that we don’t tend to see big precipitation events in the fall. But once these storms happened, people looked back and found other big storms in September, so it’s not that surprising after all,” said Mahoney. Although daily rainfall events in Colorado aren’t as high in September, lots of moisture can still reach the state from both the Gulf of Mexico (because the Atlantic hurricane season is at its peak) and from the Pacific Ocean. According to Mahoney, having a better understanding of the pattern that resulted in the 2013 floods, regardless of the season, could help scientists better anticipate the likelihood of future similar events. The precipitation data used in the study came from Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) sites across Colorado. Run by the National Weather Service, COOP relies on volunteers to record daily temperature and precipitation data at sites throughout the United States. The researchers selected precipitation data from the 130 COOP stations throughout Colorado that had a record of at least 30 years of daily data between 1950 and 2010. At each station, the 10 largest daily rain totals were identified and used to characterize Colorado’s extreme precipitation by season. The team found that the largest recorded daily precipitation totals in Colorado vary widely, from about two inches (60 millimeters) per day in some areas to more than four times that, at just under 10 inches (250 millimeters) per day in other parts of the state. In general, the heaviest storms tend to happen east of the Continental Divide and in southwestern Colorado, but the seasonality of these big storms isn’t quite so simple. Across the state, there’s a striking difference when it comes to which seasons see the biggest storms: East of the Continental Divide, most of the largest storms happen in spring, including along Colorado’s Front Range. Farther east still, across the state’s lower-elevation eastern plains, bigger storms are more common in summer. And west of the Continental Divide, at lower elevations, most of the biggest storms happen in fall. In Colorado’s central mountains, along the spine of the Continental Divide, there’s no clear pattern. The common belief—based on those historical averages—is that winter storms at the state’s highest elevations produce big snow events. That’s not what the researchers found, however. Instead, high-elevation intense precipitation events have occurred in all months of the year, including summer, when that precipitation is more likely to be rain and therefore more of a flood risk. What’s the take-home message? It’s that Colorado’s extreme precipitation can occur in any season and at all elevations across the state. “Trying to assign extreme events to a certain season is not necessarily a good thing to do, especially here in Colorado,” said Mahoney. Particularly in the central mountains of Colorado, very big storms can happen during any season and it’s important for decision makers to understand that impacts such as flooding are a nearly year-round risk across the state. According to Mahoney, “we need to look at the critical ingredients that come together to produce an extreme event, because that can happen at any time during the year.” Other authors of the paper are F. Martin Ralph (Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Klaus Wolter (CIRES and NOAA), Nolan Doesken (State Climatologist for Colorado and Colorado State University), Michael Dettinger (U.S. Geological Survey and Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Daniel Gottas (NOAA), Timothy Coleman (CIRES and NOAA), and Allen White (NOAA). A radio story on the research featuring audio clips from Mahoney is available at: https://www.colorado.edu/news/multimedia/colorados-biggest-storms-can-happen-anytime-cu-boulder-noaa-study-finds. High-resolution images are available for download on CIRES’ Flickr account, News Release album: Climatology of Colorado’s extreme precipitation events caption: The climatology of Colorado’s historical extreme precipitation events shows a remarkable degree of seasonal and regional variability; particularly in the central mountains of Colorado, it is possible to experience extreme precipitation during any season. County road in Berthoud, Colorado after the 2013 Colorado Front Range floods caption: County road in Berthoud, Colorado washed away by the September 2013 Colorado Front Range floods. Credit: Lornay Hansen/CIRES. Contact:Kelly Mahoney, 303-497-5616kelly.mahoney@noaa.govKarin Vergoth, CIRES communications, 303-497-5125karin.vergoth@colorado.edu Robert Monroe, Scripps Institution of Oceanography media relations, 858-534-3624monroe@ucsd.edu“Because fall is drier on average, the assumption was that we don’t tend to see big precipitation events in the fall. But once these storms happened, people looked back and found other big storms in September, so it’s not that surprising after all,” said Kelly Mahoney, a CIRES scientist working at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, and lead author of the study.Environment, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement celebrates 30th anniversary of Equity and Excellence Awards
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Equity and Excellence Banquet on April 22 in the Koenig Alumni Center. The banquet honors and recognizes outstanding students, faculty and staff in the CU community who have been engaged in diversity and have dedicated themselves to equity for all. The Equity and Excellence Awards program began in 1985 when CU-Boulder Professor Albert Ramirez identified the need to recognize those who have made significant commitments to CU and its community. “When I got to Regent Hall as an administrator, I realized that the university was at a point that it had to acknowledge the contributions of those students and faculty who had come to the university from diverse backgrounds and from different ethnic racial groups" said Ramirez. "They had made an impact in a positive way at the university.” In 2005, Ramirez came out of retirement from CU to be the department chair of the Ethnic Studies department. He began his career at CU-Boulder in 1971 as an assistant professor in the Psychology Department. Ramirez said he missed student activism when asked about whether or not CU’s views of diversity have changed since his earlier days, and that it is important and critical that the Equity and Excellence celebration continues. “It honors the staff, faculty and students that bring diversity perspectives to the campus, whether it be their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, whatever,” Ramirez said. “It’s important to honor and acknowledge that. We’ve come a way, but we ain’t there yet.” During the banquet, the 2015 Equity and Excellence Awards were presented to undergraduate student Juedon Kebede, staff member Scarlet Bowen and faculty member Alejandro Cremaschi. Kebede, a Tri-Executive for CU Student Government and president of student affairs, was recognized for academic achievement, outstanding service to the university community and noteworthy service service to, or on behalf, of CU-Boulder's diverse communities.   “I felt honored when I found out I won the Equity and Excellence Award,” Kebede said. “To be on a list with some of CU’s finest graduates, faculty members and staff is very humbling. To be honest, this award is a reflection of the mentorship I received from Vice Chancellor Deb Coffin, Dean of Students Christina Gonzales and Chief Melissa Zak. It’s been a transforming experience for me to have had the opportunity to work with them this year and I am excited for the next group of CUSG leaders to be mentored by them.” Bowen, director of the GLBTQ Resource Center, was honored for professional service that best exemplifies the commitment to equity and excellence in higher education. “I was very surprised and delighted to receive the award, and I was honored to be nominated by colleagues such as Christina Gonzales, Randy McCrillis and Brendon Chavez, whose work in equity and diversity I so much admire and respect,” Bowen said. “I believe both the awards themselves and award ceremonies like these that focus on inclusive excellence are vital. Creating a socially just institution takes the commitment of all students, staff and faculty; and when we gather together at events to celebrate our successes, it allows us to see that our network is strong and ranges widely across departments, colleges and positions in the university.” Cremaschi, an associate professor of piano and pedagogy in the College of Music, was honored for professional service that exemplifies commitment to equity and excellence in higher education efforts and toward promoting the principles of diversity and inclusive excellence in teaching, learning and leadership. “I felt really honored to receive this award,” Cremaschi said. “It is truly an honor to join past recipients of this prestigious recognition, colleagues who have done so much for diversity, excellence and inclusion. To tell you the truth I feel that I'm only just getting started on my work for diversity and excellence at CU. When my music colleagues decided to nominate me, I thought that my work so far did not really measure up to the amazing achievements of past recipients. I am really humbled that the nominating committee thought my work worthy of the recognition.” Cremaschi added, “I want to encourage everyone to keep diversity and inclusion as an important priority when teaching, researching and administering. I sometimes feel that diversity takes the back seat, almost like an afterthought that gets attention only sporadically. As my fellow award recipient Scarlet (Bowen) so eloquently stated in her award acceptance, there is research that clearly links diversity to excellence. We work best and achieve more when we are diverse.” Presentation of the Equity and Excellence Award takes place each year at the Equity and Excellence Banquet, but this year the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement had a smaller celebration to recognize the 30th Anniversary of Equity and Excellence and the award recipients. The larger celebration will resume in spring 2016. Photo courtesy of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement: From left to right, Juedon Kebede, Alejandro Cremaschi and Scarlet Bowen. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Margaret Murnane elected to American Philosophical Society
University of Colorado Boulder Distinguished Professor Margaret Murnane has been elected to the prestigious American Philosophical Society (APS). Murnane, a fellow at JILA -- a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology -- and professor in the physics department, is the fourth CU-Boulder faculty member to be elected to APS. There were 34 people worldwide elected in 2015 to the society, which was founded in 1743 in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, who later became its first president. CU-Boulder faculty previously elected to APS include CU-Boulder Nobel laureate and Distinguished Professor Tom Cech of the chemistry and biochemistry department, who is director of the BioFrontiers Institute; the late Distinguished Professor Gilbert White, a prominent American geographer awarded the National Medal of Science in 2001 for his research on natural hazards, including floods; and the late Distinguished Professor Kenneth Boulding, former president of the American Economic Association and a widely honored economist, philosopher and poet who was nominated for Nobel Prizes in the categories of both economics and peace. Murnane is known internationally for her research -- much of it with her husband and colleague, JILA fellow and CU-Boulder physics Professor Henry Kapteyn -- which includes conducting optical and X-ray science using tabletop light sources. The group develops new ultrafast laser and coherent X-ray sources as part of its research in optical sciences, using the light sources for new experiments in physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering. Ultrafast coherent X-ray beams are expected to be indispensable tools for scientists in developing practical nanoscale machines. Murnane is the recipient of dozens of national and international awards. She has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship or “genius grant” in 2000. Murnane and Kapteyn shared the 2010 R.W. Wood Prize from the Optical Society of America. APS promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications, library resources and community outreach and has played an important role in American cultural and intellectual life for more than 250 years. In addition to former U.S. Presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, other prominent APS members include John J. Audubon, Robert Fulton, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Alexander von Humboldt, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Margaret Mead, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost and George C. Marshall. “This is truly a great honor for Margaret Murnane,” said CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Research Stein Sture. “She has long been among the best and brightest researchers in the world, and the work of her group, which includes graduate students in physics, engineering and chemistry, continues to push the boundaries of science.”   Murnane received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University College Cork, Ireland, and her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She came to CU-Boulder in 1999 from the University of Michigan. Contact: Margaret Murnane, 303-492-7839murnane@jila.colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu  Natural Sciences, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Margaret Murnane (Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)


Increases for classified staff
On April 24, 2015 the Governor signed Senate Bill 15-234, commonly referred to as the FY 2015-16 budget bill, or Long Bill. According to this bill, classified employees are eligible for a 1% Across the Board (ATB) - and a performance based merit increase (per the chart below). All classified employees who are employed by the University prior to July 1, 2015 will receive the ATB increase, regardless of performance rating. The matrix for merit pay that is dependent on an employee’s performance rating and salary within the FY 2014-15 Compensation Plan: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/compensationplans Increases for classified employees will be implemented as follows: Any temporary pay differential is removed from base salary. An Across the Board (ATB) of 1% is applied as a base-building increase. If the employee’s salary is at the new range maximum, the ATB increase will be a non-base-building, one-time payment. If the total increase would cause the employee’s salary to be over the range maximum, a base building increase will be applied up to the maximum and any amount over the range maximum will be a non-base building, one-time payment. Merit increases for employees hired before April 1, 2015, are determined by the following matrix:   After ATB and merit increases are calculated, the employee’s new adjusted salary will be placed into the new FY 2015-16 Compensation Plan: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/compensationplans If the salary is below the new minimum, a base-building increase will be added to bring the employee’s salary to the minimum of the salary range. If the salary is above the new maximum, the employee’s pay will be in saved pay status for up to three years, which means the employee’s pay will remain the same for three years and then be reduced to the range maximum if the range maximums do not change before that time. Temporary pay differentials, if applicable, are calculated and monthly salary is adjusted accordingly using departmental funds. Classified employees are encouraged to review the FAQs on the Human Resources website and/or contact HR at 303-492-6475 with questions.  var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Launching a career in space
When their professor proposed a senior capstone project that combined space, satellite ground station communication exploration and the opportunity to be part of pioneering weather research, five students majoring in electrical and computer engineering at CU-Boulder jumped at the chance. It was just the sort of challenge the senior students wanted—one that would not only draw on their interests and skills, but also prove that they have the engineering chops to handle a project of that magnitude. Undergraduates Jake Cazden, Patrick Harrington, Brian Lamb, Seth Meirs and Topher Pollard spent their senior year working on the Earth Station Antenna project under the direction of Professor Al Gasiewski, director of the Center for Environmental Technology (CET) at CU-Boulder. Whimsically calling themselves Team Jackalope, they have been designing and building a satellite ground station that has the potential to greatly improve weather forecasting, as well as designing the control, tracking and radio frequency subsystems that will enable them to communicate with satellite projects better than the current weather satellite infrastructure allows. And they are enabling a system interface with off-site computers, which will allow the system to be operated remotely. “It was really cool working on a project that’s going to have so much impact in the next few years,” said Cazden. “I’ve learned a great deal, especially about the real-world engineering challenges we’ll face after graduation.” The Earth Station Antenna project is an important part of a larger project called PolarCube, a student-designed-and-built CubeSat satellite mission involving 25 other engineering students. The project is a collaboration of CET, the Colorado Space Grant Consortium (CSGC) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). CSGC is building the satellite and NSIDC will use the data that gets relayed back to the CET ground station. “It’s a brand new concept,” said Gasiewski. “This will be the first time this kind of instrument has ever operated at that particular wavelength. The Air Force, Navy and NOAA are very interested for its potential to greatly improve weather forecasting.” The antenna system is the key means of communicating with the CubeSat satellite.  The student team has been designing and building the sensors, the control system that keeps the parabolic satellite dish aligned, a graphical readout and the power systems. Rather than having to rely on an outside facility for communication with the satellite, students and researchers will have direct access to the satellite using Team Jackalope’s ground station, which is temporarily located in a trailer on CU-Boulder’s East Campus next to the Boulder Creek Path.  While the control room is in the trailer, the antenna and equipment can also be controlled remotely from the Engineering Center on the main campus. A formerly decommissioned 14-foot diameter, two-ton antenna from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is housed in a large spherical dome fastened to the top of the trailer. The Air Force and NASA have been sponsoring the project and NASA is providing CU-Boulder with a launch opportunity. A launch date is scheduled for 2016. The goal of the mission is to measure the temperature of the atmosphere at a number of levels from the troposphere through the lower stratosphere and down to the Earth’s surface. It will also be able to sense the presence of heavy clouds, which will show where rain is likely to occur. PolarCube will provide 25 times more temporal resolution, twice the spatial resolution and six times the overall sensitivity of the nation’s current weather satellite systems and at one-third the cost. It has the ability to view Earth at a wavelength that is 4,000 times longer than the wavelength of visible light. The longer wavelength penetrates clouds much better, allowing PolarCube to see through dense clouds, something that has not been successfully accomplished by other weather satellites before. The mapping capability will be such that everyday data will be collected and sent down to the antenna. Collected data will be sent to NSIDC, which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, where researchers will compare the data with what current weather satellites are providing and then share the data with the Navy. The annual electrical engineering capstone project allows students to integrate and apply the theory and skills they’ve learned in their courses by working on realistic, immersive design projects. “This capstone was an ambitious project,” said Lamb. “We knew from the start it was going to be big. Last semester we thought we were on top of things. This semester we realized its full scope. Clearly, it was our kind of project, so we hopped right on it.” Since 2011, more than 50 CU-Boulder students have worked on the PolarCube project, which is completely student-designed. “For students to have this level of experience on this project would be like a student working with Steve Jobs helping with his computers in the beginning,” said Gasiewski. “This project is just as big.” And what are members of the Jackalope Team doing now that the semester is over? Cazden, from Boulder, graduated in May and wants to return to CU-Boulder for a master’s degree or work for one of the many satellite-related companies in the Boulder area. Although, he said, “working for NASA would be really cool.” Harrington, from Littleton, Colorado, who will graduate in December, has been interning with Texas Instruments during the summers and plans to continue with them full time after he graduates. Lamb, from Fort Collins, Colorado, graduated in May and has a job lined up with Intel conducting computer chip verification. The antenna project gave him a variety of experiences that will serve him well in his new position. Meirs, from Boulder, who will graduate in December, has been interning for Xilinx for the past three years. “I’ve learned more doing this capstone project than I have in all four years of theory classes,” he said. Pollard, from Denver, is in the bachelor’s/master’s program. He finished his bachelor’s this semester and will complete his master’s in two years. In the meantime, he wants to keep working on the Earth State Antenna project.EngineeringElectrical, Computer & Energy EngineeringCenter for Environmental TechnologyColorado Space Grant Consortium var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


HR Corner: Leadership and Management Graduate Certificate program for CU-Boulder employees
The Department of Human Resources and the Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program are excited to continue their partnership on an exclusive Leadership and Management Graduate Certificate Program for CU-Boulder employees, with an opportunity for Fall 2015 enrollment.   This program was successfully launched in Fall 2013 and has current participation from nearly 45 CU-Boulder employees, from all corners of campus and varied levels of the organization. The goal of this certificate program is to help our current and future leaders develop and refine their leadership skills and learn new ways to measure and enhance organizational effectiveness with practical application. In fact, many participants are actively involved in working with the Office of Performance Improvement (OPI) to implement the Business Performance Excellence (BPE) model (taught in one of the four certificate classes) in their respective departments. The content of this certificate program is applicable to all professions and does not require a technical or engineering background.   This 12-credit hour certificate program has been designed with CU-Boulder employees in mind. In addition to being able to use the tuition benefit to cover tuition, employees selected to participate in this exclusive program will be allowed to attend classes during work time and the employee’s department will pay for the costs of any fees and books. Additionally, we are very excited to announce that employees in this program can now enroll in either the in-person or on-line options, allowing greater flexibility to meet the needs of each individual.    Employees interested in furthering their graduate level education may apply this certificate program towards a Masters in Engineering (ME). For those interested in participating in these classes as non-credit, non-degree seeking participants, opportunities still exist to participate in either a classroom or distance learning environment.   This initiative is one of several exciting efforts underway in Human Resources to continually address feedback from the 2012 Employee Engagement Survey that clearly identified leadership development and career advancement as two of five central themes of importance to our employees. The Department of Human Resources recognizes the importance of providing growth opportunities, including management and leadership development programs such as this one, to help our employees be more successful in their current and future positions.    For additional information, please visit the Leadership and Management Graduate Certificate website. The deadline to apply to commence this program in Fall 2015 is Wednesday, July 15, 2015. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder enacts campuswide Open Access policy
The University of Colorado Boulder today announced that on April 22 it adopted an Open Access policy that grants CU-Boulder nonexclusive, worldwide license to the scholarly work of its faculty including published journal articles and conference proceedings. The campus joins other institutions like Harvard and the University of California system in supporting Open Access initiatives that enable global access to research results that can speed the process of scientific discovery, encourage innovation, enrich the educational experience and stimulate the economy. "We are delighted that the Chancellor's Executive Committee has approved an Open Access policy for the campus that was endorsed by the Boulder Faculty Assembly, the Council of Deans, and the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor,” said University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “CU-Boulder proudly joins the ranks of other campuses in higher education that have created such policies in the interest of openly sharing their published intellectual assets." Faculty members will retain full ownership of their scholarly works, which will be available free of charge on CU Scholar, CU-Boulder’s institutional repository administered by the University Libraries. Readers around the world can discover and view relevant research by topic, author or sponsoring research department with the repository’s straightforward organization and search tools. The system also allows users to sign up for a service alerting them to new content tailored to their unique interests. For more information about CU-Boulders Open Access policy, visit http://scholar.colorado.edu/openaccess.html or contact Jennifer Chan at Jennifer.Chan@colorado.edu.  var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Athletic Hall Of Fame to welcome 11 Buff legends
The 11th class that will be inducted into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame this November 5 will feature a diverse group of 11 Golden Buffalo legends who all left indelible marks while attending school and many who went on to great heights once their college days came to an end. The 11, two of whom will be honored posthumously, represent nine different sports over a period that spans from the late 1930s to the middle of last decade, or touching upon eight decades in all.  Included in the group are three of the most dominant players in the school’s basketball history – two men and one woman – the most valuable player of CU’s 1990 national championship football team, others with incredible individual accomplishments and two non-athletes that served the school well for a combined 62 years. The 2015 class will be the second-largest inducted into the Hall since it was conceived in 1998, and the 11 will join 68 individuals (and the 1959 ski team) who have been enshrined to date (nine have been honored previously after their deaths).  Athletic director Rick George personally notified eight members of the upcoming class of their impending induction, as well as the next of kin for the two deceased inductees.  “This is a great class, a diverse class across several sports, and all are excited and very honored to be included – some were even brought to tears and were real emotional when they got the news,” George said.  Click through to CUBuffs.com to see the list of inductees. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


A hopeful new strategy for treating Parkinson’s disease
A novel compound developed by a team led by the University of Colorado Boulder may be therapeutic in suppressing misguided inflammatory responses by a set of immune cells known as microglia to perceived damage to the brain and nervous system. The targets of the drug are two cell receptors that sit on the surface of the microglia and which have evolved to identify danger to the cells and to activate an immune response, said Associate Professor Hang Hubert Yin of the BioFrontiers Institute. The drug, known as CU-CPT22, acts on the receptors to keep inflammation at bay, which could be a new strategy for treating Parkinson’s disease, said Yin. “This is exciting for us,” said Yin. “We are suggesting an entirely new strategy for treating Parkinson’s disease – one that we think will be more effective, and one with a potential drug that patients may access in the future.” A paper on the strategy by Yin, BioFrontiers researcher Kui Cheng and colleagues from the Georgetown University Medical Center appeared May 12 in Science Signaling. Yin, a faculty member in the chemistry and biochemistry department, led the team that developed CU-CPT22. The University of Colorado holds the intellectual property rights to CU-CPT22, which was recently licensed by the CU Technology Transfer Office to Brickell Biotech of Miami, Florida, and commercialized by the life science and biotechnology companies EMD Millipore, Sigma-Aldrich and Tocris for drug development and research. The research was supported by a Parkinson’s Movement Disorder Foundation grant as well as funding from the National Institutes of Health. Contact: Hang Hubert Yin, 303-492-6786hubert.yin@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“This is exciting for us,” said Associate Professor Hang Hubert Yin of the CU-Boulder BioFrontiers Institute and the chemistry and biochemistry department. “We are suggesting an entirely new strategy for treating Parkinson’s disease – one that we think will be more effective, and one with a potential drug that patients may access in the future.”Natural Sciences, Biotechnology, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU honors graduates during a soggy ceremony on May 9
A heavy downpour didn't dampen enthusiasm on Saturday, May 9, as CU-Boulder honored candidates for 5,927 degrees during an abbreviated spring commencement ceremony. Cathleen Black, a former media executive and author, gave a shortened speech to the graduates and their families. The planned graduation speeches from Chancellor DiStefano and Black were cut short due to the weather. The presentation videos from the Senior Class and for our Honorary Degree recipients were also not shown. Please click the links below to enjoy these items produced to help our graduates celebrate their special day. Click here for the Chancellor's remarks Click here for Black's address Click here to view the Senior Class video Click here to view the video on honorary degree recipient John Darrah Click here to view the video on honorary degree recipients Peter and Joan Balsells Click here to view the video on honorary degree recipient Richard Jessor var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Statements from campus officials regarding settlement with CU Professor David Barnett
Today, the University of Colorado and Philosophy Department Professor David Barnett agreed to a legal settlement that removes him from campus. The following are statements from CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, CU President Bruce Benson and CU-Boulder Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and Title IX Coordinator Valerie Simons.   Statement from CU-Boulder Chancellor DiStefano: “I have approved a legal settlement with Professor Barnett which will remove him from campus and remove all obligations of this campus to him. We have taken a number of pro-active steps to set the philosophy department on the right course to success, which have included some legal settlements intended to move the university past litigation. This action is part of our ongoing efforts to support the department’s work to make improvements in the workplace and academic culture over the last 16 months, while continuing to build a supportive environment for women as faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates both in the department and across the CU-Boulder campus. This settlement will provide finality on the dismissal proceeding against Professor Barnett and avoid years of ongoing litigation. I am thankful for the work that the Faculty Senate Committee on Privilege and Tenure performed in this case, and I also appreciate the work that was done by the former Office of Discrimination and Harassment, which is now the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.  Since the Boulder campus created this office last year under Valerie Simons’ leadership, we have seen ongoing improvements in our compliance capabilities and our campus culture. I am confident that our efforts will be successful and that this campus will be viewed as a leader among institutions of higher education in creating a campus culture free of discrimination and harassment.”    Statement from University of Colorado President Bruce Benson “I received the recommendations of the Privilege and Tenure Committee, which determined that Professor Barnett engaged in conduct below minimum standards of professional integrity, but recommended that he return to the campus after a year of suspension. Rather than face the possibility of years of litigation and the possibility that Professor Barnett would return to campus at the conclusion of a lawsuit, I believed the best course of action was to negotiate a resolution that permanently separates him from the University of Colorado. We will continue to hold our faculty to high standards of professional conduct.”   Statement from CU-Boulder Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and Title IX Coordinator Valerie Simons: “This settlement is an important step forward for the Boulder campus in our efforts to ensure that we are taking appropriate steps toward creating a campus culture that does not tolerate discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Staff Council Update: 39th Annual Years of Service Banquet
20 years of serviceRebecca AdelmanMaria AguirreRogelio ArellanoAndrea BarschGayle BoethlingAnn BrookoverJack BrubakerSylvie Burnet-JonesConnie CaplanMee ChangShannon ChinattiCharles CounterDaniel CourtneyConsuelo DelvalBrenda DuranSharee Ewudzi-AcquahSedrick FrazierMyra FritchMaria GarciaLecarla GilmereLinda HarknessKaren HawleyEllen HedrickAva Hill-EctorBronson HilliardCarla Ho-aVictoria IbarraAngela JanacekDavid KambicThomas KunstmanJennifer LawDavid LindbladKaren LorimerBret MannEric McDonaldJeanne McFarland-McDonaldNarinton McKinleyPatricia McNally-LeefElaine MontanoKenneth MorsePaul O'BrianVaughn OchsKathryn Ramirez AguilarHeidi RobinsonLoretta RobinsonPamela RosseTerry SwindellSteven ThweattLisa VialpandoMary WilliamsDaniel Wyss 25 years of serviceRamon GoLee GutmacherAnne HeinzSusan JohnsonRochelle JoyVickie MachoiNichola McIntoshJane MerrimanLesa MorrisCynthia OckenMichael PetittGwen PomperLou RutherfordFrancisco SalasNorman SkarstadTina TanLillian ValenzuelaJohn WarrenKaren Weingarten 30 years of serviceDaniel AguilarRobin Bryant  Karen CampbellJohn DebellCassandra GobrechtTim HoganSoay PhommachanhJoseph RosseKhammoune SailakhamDerrick WatsonHilary Waukau 35 years of serviceEllen RomigMichael Thomason 40 years of serviceKaren BrownMichael GrantSheryl JensenLorrie ShepardLeanne WaltherDonald Yannacito 45 years of service Mary Shea This Thursday, 142 university staff members and recent retirees were honored at the annual Staff Council Years of Service banquet, an annual tribute to recently-retired and long-serving members of the Boulder campus staff. Chancellor DiStefano, himself a 41 year member of the CU-Boulder campus, opened the event with remarks about the importance of staff to the university’s goals. “I often say that staff is the backbone of the university,” said DiStefano. “Staff are very integral to my three goals for this campus” (student success, reputation and diverse revenue sources). “Without you we really couldn’t do it.” Chancellor DiStefano added that having a staff with diverse backgrounds and perspectives is what makes the university strong. “We couldn’t do what we do without you, and I want to thank you for your work and your many years of service.” Staff Council represents, informs and educates staff employees by serving as a liaison between employees and Boulder campus, University system and State administration. For more information, visit the staff council website.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU Cares about your wellness - Pink Life Saver
In 2015, it is estimated that among U.S. women, there will be 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer. When breast cancer is detected early, in the localized stage, the 5-year survival rate is 99% (ACS, 2015). Your health is important to CU, and so we are taking proactive steps to make wellness programming more convenient for you.    The Pink Life Saver, a mobile mammography program of University of Colorado Hospital, will be on the east campus (south of the ARCE building) from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 20, June 10, July 15, Aug. 20, Sept. 23, Oct. 21, Nov. 17 and Dec. 16.   Appointments are required - please contact 720-848-1030 to make your appointment and visit the Pink Life Saver program page for details about cost and eligibility.    The members of the Division of Human Resources are here to help. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance to you. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New graduate plans to 'push the envelope of applied demography'
About seven years ago, Rob Kemp had two encounters that changed his life. The first was when a mentor at the university where he earned his bachelor’s degree pushed him to talk with a former CU-Boulder PhD student. Until then, Kemp hadn’t really considered going on to graduate school. “I had a really strong interest in renewable energy, and that dovetails nicely with population trends,” Kemp says. As a result of talking about population issues at that meeting, he applied to CU-Boulder and was accepted into the doctoral program in sociology. During his first semester, he took a class titled Population Issues, Problems, and Policies, which launched the second big change. “I was pretty much sold after taking that class,” says Kemp, who has been employed full time by the State Demography Office since 2013. The professor who taught the class, Richard Rogers, became one of his main advisors. Now he will graduate May 9 with a doctorate in sociology and a certificate in demography. He plans to pursue a career of studying population trends and wants to “push the envelope of what applied demography can do.” “For me, things like demography, looking at the different structures of a population -- like age distribution, and how it can drive so much, and how that affects the economy and also can really drive the way that households consume energy -- is fascinating,” he says. “The only way populations change is when you’re born into it, when you move into or out of it, and when you die. It’s this really simple process, and then there are other simple processes -- people get older one year at a time. But the ways that they work together can be complex and impact many other things.” During his studies, Kemp got involved with the CU Population Center, part of the Institute of Behavioral Science, where he worked with a number of influential people and found it to be a terrific training resource. The center explores demographic processes in the U.S. as well as internationally and its study areas include environmental demography, migration and population distribution, and health and mortality. Through his work at the center, Kemp got involved with the Computing and Research Services section of IBS on migration, and that grew into his job at the State Demography Office. At the demography office, the job of Kemp and his colleagues includes giving talks on general population trends to a wide range of groups of around the state, including town councils, government officials and service organizations like Rotary. “Anyone can request a presentation,” he says. Residents of Colorado’s eastern plains outside of the Front Range are particularly interested in population changes, Kemp says. The population of this area has been getting older and losing jobs and people there are looking for information about trends, including estimates of difficult-to-count migratory agricultural workers. The demography office is the state data center for the U.S. Census and presentations always include census information, Kemp says. In addition to providing data to state agencies, the office also provides population and demographic information to local governments and nonprofit organizations around the state to help them anticipate and plan for changes. One of the key points his office is making these days is the impact that an aging population is going to have, Kemp says. It’s a change that will impact the economy and housing as seniors need more services and spend less on taxed goods. Kemp grew up in Littleton, Colorado, and feels fortunate to work in his native state. He has been married for six years and he and his wife Katie have a son, Oliver, who will turn 2 in May. He says he did his dissertation “in the mornings, evenings and on weekends.” And he says there is one other reason he was interested in attending CU-Boulder. “I’ve always been a Buffs fan.”Social Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


2015 graduates looking at best job market in years
It’s graduation time for colleges and universities around the country and for the 5,927 University of Colorado Boulder graduates likely to hit the job market there’s good news. That’s because the job market is healthy and strong across the board, says Jon Schlesinger from CU-Boulder’s Office of Career Services. “Projected hiring for new graduates is up, job postings for graduates is up," Schlesinger said. "Right now we have more than 900 positions posted in our database for full-time employment. Some of the majors that employers are really targeting right now – they’re looking into business, they’re looking into engineering, computer science, accounting. Nationally we have projected double-digit hiring growth in areas of non-profit, manufacturing, government, business services, finance and information services.” And Schleslinger says for the last several years Career Services has been tracking CU-Boulder graduates and the data shows that they have been doing fairly well landing jobs right out of school. “Six months after graduation we know that 95 percent of our graduates are employed, working in the military, doing volunteer work or working in graduate school," he said. "Sixty-five percent of the bachelor’s degrees have full time employment, which is 12 percent higher than the national average. One of the things we really find is that it really pays to start your job search early. Most of our graduates find employment between two and six months.” If you are graduating but haven’t landed a job, Schlesinger says there are some things to consider when searching for work fresh out of college. “Employers are looking to hire you as an individual," he said. "So they are really looking at your skills. And we consistently see the top skills employers are looking for are critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork skills, the ability to use technology and leadership. If you can communicate those skills to an employer and leverage your previous experiences that’s a great way to really increase your shot of finding a position.” He says something else to keep in mind when searching for a job is to narrow your search concerning what company you want to work for and be open to finding jobs in other parts of the country. “Focus in on a few specific industries so that you can try to narrow down that search," Schlesinger said. "If you find yourself getting really stuck because you're focused on one particular geographic region, particularly if it’s small and the market isn’t very big, the next best thing that you can do is expand your job search. We are seeing growth all across the country so start looking at other major metropolitan areas.” But before you start sending out resumes, Schlesinger says to make sure that your Facebook, Twitter or any other social media accounts you might have are employer safe. “The social media landscape has really been changing in the last few years, particularly for employers. So right now we are seeing more employers that are going to social media first. So they’re Googling their potential applicants, they’re looking them up on LinkedIn, looking them up on Facebook, Twitter, a number of different platforms. So one of the first things you always want to do is lock those down. You want to make sure you're presenting a professional profile to employers and really projecting the messages you want them to see,” he said.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU Art Museum temporarily closing for repairs
The CU Art Museum, located on the Boulder campus, will temporarily close to the public beginning Saturday, May 9, to facilitate repairs to the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The CU Art Museum is scheduled to reopen in February 2016. During the closure, the museum will offer programming and exhibitions in partnership with campus and community organizations, including the CU Museum of Natural History and the Department of Classics. “Although the building will be closed over the summer and fall, we’ll still have a presence in the community and we’re very excited about the collaborations in development,” said Sandra Firmin, director of the museum. “Closing the building will allow contractors to complete the work more efficiently while protecting the museum’s permanent collection of more than 8,000 objects.” When the museum reopens in February 2016, exhibitions will include: ·      A new Artist-in-Residency program featuring Janelle Iglesias ·      Life and Afterlife: Selections of Ancient Chinese Art from the King Collection ·      An inaugural exhibition by Hope Saska, curator of collections and exhibitions The First Folio, which is the first complete collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays and was published in 1623, will be on exhibit Aug. 8-31 in 2016 as part of a national tour sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Additional information on the museum is available at cuartmuseum.colorado.edu. Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115“Although the building will be closed over the summer and fall, we’ll still have a presence in the community and we’re very excited about the collaborations in development,” said Sandra Firmin, director of the museum. “Closing the building will allow contractors to complete the work more efficiently while protecting the museum’s permanent collection of more than 8,000 objects.”Arts & Humanities, Arts & Humanities, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Paying it Forward in the Public Achievement Program
When Balkarn Singh Shahi looks back on his high school experience, one activity stands out – the University of Colorado Boulder’s Public Achievement program. As a student at Centaurus High School participating in the program, Shahi and peers responded to national public shootings by spearheading a public campaign to prevent gun violence with support from the faith-based community, the City of Lafayette, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, and other influential organizations.   “Looking back, what shocked me was we approached high-power local institutions and they took us seriously,” Shahi said. “We found out that we could actually make a difference and create change even as high school students.”     Now a sophomore at CU-Boulder, Shahi could not resist the opportunity to give back to the Public Achievement program, which pairs CU-Boulder students as coaches with groups of underrepresented K-12 students seeking solutions to their identified salient social issues. Shahi has been a Public Achievement coach, and this year he served as a teaching assistant for the corresponding civic engagement course and new class of coaches.   “This program tells you ‘yes, you can make change,’ and I wanted to ensure other students had a similar experience,” he said.   Click here to read the rest of the story on the Outreach and Engagement Website.   Photo: Balkarn Singh Shahi, in red, and his Public Achievement team at Centaurus High School.Community Outreach, Civic EngagementCommunity & Culture var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ecological restoration must be held to more robust standards, says interdisciplinary team of scholars
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center news release Policy communities increasingly call upon ecological restoration as a means to address many of the major threats facing the world’s ecosystems. But internationally accepted best practices for restoration efforts are noticeably absent. A new article published online today in Science calls on parties to global agreements, such as the United Nations’ New York Declaration on Forests, to take up a set of holistic guiding principles for restoration projects. The authors—experts from the fields of ecology, economics, law, political science, geography, and philosophy—outlined the principles as part of an interdisciplinary working group on restoration funded by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). “Global initiatives point towards ecological restoration as a solution to many of the world’s environmental problems. However, current understanding of the term is so broad that it encompasses efforts that are not consistent with ecological science,” said University of Colorado Boulder Associate Professor Katharine Suding, a community ecologist and lead author of the paper. “It’s critical that policy and planning documents consider in detail what restoration means and what it looks like to ensure these projects have meaningful, long-term results.” Many of the world’s ecosystems have been degraded or entirely destroyed by human activities, and the impacts of transformed landscapes can have far-reaching consequences for natural ecosystems and human communities alike. Although it’s widely acknowledged that human intervention through ecological restoration is necessary to correct or remediate these altered landscapes, exactly what such intervention should entail is still much debated, said Suding, a faculty member in the ecology and evolutionary biology department and fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Bringing their collective perspectives to bear in a series of workshops, the interdisciplinary team determined that restoration projects should be guided by four comprehensive principles to maximize benefits such as conserved biodiversity and sustained livelihoods. The authors concluded that ecological restoration should [1] increase ecological integrity, [2] be sustainable in the long-term, [3] be informed by the past and future, and [4] benefit and engage society. Initiatives that emphasize one principle over the full suite are not true restoration—and therefore are insufficient to address restoration goals of international agreements such as the Declaration on Forests. The scholars say these principles are needed now more than ever before. “An unprecedented number of recent commitments have been made to restoration at very large scales, but there is no global campaign or clear guidance to ensure success. The worry is that shortcuts, sufficient for achieving only limited goals, will be used to meet restoration targets,” explained Eric Higgs, an environmental scientist at the University of Victoria and co-author of the paper. The principles outlined by the researchers provide a clear framework for avoiding the very shortcuts Higgs warns against. The authors point out that, thanks to the diversity of their disciplinary backgrounds, the principles are applicable across different cultural and regulatory contexts. “We’re trying to provide legal, policy, and planning audiences with a more focused definition of ecological restoration to avoid a false advertising or greenwashing of the term,” said Baird Callicott, an environmental philosopher at the University of North Texas who led the SESYNC working group. “The misapplication of ‘restoration’ has egregious consequences—we don’t have to look far to see how this happens and what it means for natural ecosystems and human communities.” The authors point to compensatory mitigation for mountaintop removal mining as an example of so-called restoration that fails to hit the mark. Coal companies are required by federal law to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the destructive impacts of their operations on waterways. But regulatory criteria for restoration do not match up with fundamental scientific standards. “On paper, mining companies are in compliance with federal requirements—but only because restoration is defined ambiguously. In reality, the term restoration is being coopted for activities that do not address the physical, chemical, and biological processes of a healthy stream,” said Kelly Hondula, an ecosystem ecologist at SESYNC and co-author of the paper. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The scholars say the adoption of their principles now will help local-to-global restoration initiatives achieve sustainability and resilience into the future. In addition to Suding, Higgs, Callicott and Hondula, the article’s co-authors are Margaret Palmer, SESYNC executive director and a restoration ecologist at the University of Maryland; Christopher Anderson, an ecologist at the Argentine National Scientific and Technical Research Council and the National University of Tierra del Fuego; Matthew Baker, an ecohydrologist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County; John Gutrich and an ecological economist at Southern Oregon University. Additional authors include Matthew LaFevor, a human–environment geographer at SESYNC; Brendon Larson, an environmental social scientist at the University of Waterloo; Alan Randall, an environmental economist at the Ohio State University; J.B. Ruhl, a legal scholar at Vanderbilt University; and Katrina Schwartz, a political scientist at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. This work was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under funding received from the National Science Foundation DBI-1052875. Media Contact: Melissa Andreychek, (410) 919-4990mandreychek@sesync.org  “Global initiatives point towards ecological restoration as a solution to many of the world’s environmental problems. However, current understanding of the term is so broad that it encompasses efforts that are not consistent with ecological science,” said University of Colorado Boulder Associate Professor Katharine Suding, a community ecologist and lead author of the paper. “It’s critical that policy and planning documents consider in detail what restoration means and what it looks like to ensure these projects have meaningful, long-term results.”Natural Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


United Arab Emirates to partner with CU-Boulder on 2021 Mars mission
A mission to study dynamic changes in the atmosphere of Mars over days and seasons led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) involves the University of Colorado Boulder as the leading U.S. scientific-academic partner. Known as the Emirates Mars Mission, the project is being designed to observe weather phenomena like Martian clouds and dust storms as well as changes in temperature, water vapor and other gases throughout the layers of the atmosphere. The CU-Boulder part of the mission will be undertaken at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). The mission will be headquartered at and controlled from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, which is affiliated with the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology. According to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president and prime minister of Dubai, the new Mars probe will be named Hope. The UAE’s U.S. scientific-academic partners also include the University of California, Berkeley, and Arizona State University. “We view this as a marvelous partnership and unlike anything the university has ever done before,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano. “This mission not only will involve the advancement of important science, it will include a large emphasis on international education, something CU-Boulder is strengthening at a rapid pace.” Education and outreach efforts are expected to reach thousands of K-12 students, undergraduates and graduate students from around the world, said DiStefano. Leading the mission are more than 75 Emirati engineers and researchers, a number that is expected to grow to more than 150 by 2020. Mike McGrath, LASP engineering director and project lead at CU-Boulder, said that a team comprised of CU-Boulder faculty, LASP engineering and missions operations staff and university students will contribute to the effort. The mission is still in its early planning stages, said McGrath. The science objectives include round-the-clock global weather mapping of the Red Planet in order to better understand how surface weather changes the upper Martian atmosphere. Scientists are interested in how and why Mars -- which has gone from a warm, wet planet to a cold, dry planet -- is losing its oxygen and hydrogen into space. The UAE is a constitutional federation of seven emirates, or principalities: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Faculty, staff and students from all three U.S. universities will work with UAE researchers on mission data analysis, said McGrath. LASP currently is leading NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission that began orbiting Mars in September 2014 to help scientists better understand the role atmospheric gases played in changing the climate on the planet over the eons. Data from the new UAE-led mission is expected to complement data from MAVEN and other NASA Mars missions.   Statements from University of Colorado officialson the Emirates Mars Mission “We believe the Emiratis are leading one of the most promising space missions in recent years, with benefits for scientists and students at CU-Boulder, in the UAE, and around the world. We hope, in working together, to create new partners for research and science education on a global scale and to begin to redefine space exploration in an exciting new era.”                          -- CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano “CU-Boulder’s participation in the Emirates Mars Mission is a symbol of the talent and expertise that the University of Colorado Boulder brings to Colorado’s global aerospace industry. Taxpayers and CU stakeholders can be proud of this unique and groundbreaking project that will bring jobs, revenue and vital international learning and research experiences for CU-Boulder undergraduate and graduate students.”                         -- University of Colorado President Bruce Benson “This project is an exciting expansion of CU-Boulder’s and LASP’s capabilities and marks a key next step in space exploration in the forging of a direct research partnership with the United Arab Emirates. Not only is the aerospace industry watching this project, we can say with confidence that the entire world will be watching.”                         -- CU-Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore Contact: Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“We view this as a marvelous partnership and unlike anything the university has ever done before,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano. “This mission not only will involve the advancement of important science, it will include a large emphasis on international education, something CU-Boulder is strengthening at a rapid pace.”Engineering, Research, Academics, Outreach, Global Engagement, Aerospace, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


‘Schools of Opportunity’ project announces first honorees, including seven Colorado high schools
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder announced today that 17 high schools in New York and Colorado are the first to receive the “School of Opportunity” designation. These outstanding schools demonstrated a range of practices that ensured that all students had rich opportunities to succeed. All put students, not test scores, first. The Schools of Opportunity project, funded by the Ford Foundation and the NEA Foundation, highlights excellent practices designed to expand student opportunity and access to academic success. The program was piloted in just two states in the 2014-15 school year: Colorado and New York. Next school year, the project will include high schools nationwide. The project is jointly led by Professor Kevin Welner of the CU-Boulder School of Education, who directs the NEPC, and Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, N.Y. Burris was the 2013 New York State High School Principal of the Year. Burris, whose school has been ranked consistently high on lists of the nation’s top schools nevertheless is critical of common ratings programs. “Current ratings programs aimed at identifying the nation’s best high schools include many high-quality schools,” she said. “But the approach they use tends to reward schools that are affluent or those that enroll a selective group of students. It is time we recognize schools that do outstanding work with a wider range of students. “The schools we’re recognizing with this new project are all places you would crave to have your own children attend,” Welner added. “We hope,” he said, “that this project will help move the nation past the constraining and wrongheaded discussion of school quality that focuses on ‘Problems, Statistics and Labels’. Students and educators, as well as parents and researchers who spend time on our high schools, know that quality schooling comes from excellent practices.” Recognized schools received either a Gold or Silver designation. The Gold Schools of Opportunity in 2015 are, in alphabetical order: Centaurus High School, Lafayette, Colorado Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, Bronx, New York Grand Valley High School, Garfield, Colorado Jefferson County Open High School, Lakewood, Colorado Malverne High School, Malverne, New York The 12 high schools that earned a Silver Schools of Opportunity designation in 2015 are: Center High School, Center, Colorado Charles C. D’Amico High School, Albion, New York Durango High School, Durango, Colorado Eastridge High School, Rochester, New York Elwood – John H. Glenn High School, Elwood, New York Fox Lane High School, Bedford, New York Long Beach High School, Long Beach, New York Long View High School, Lakewood, Colorado Mapleton Early College High School, Thornton, Colorado Harrison High School, Harrison, New York Sleepy Hollow High School, Sleepy Hollow, New York Sunset Park High School, Brooklyn, New York These schools range in student-body size and include schools in rural, urban and suburban settings. They include traditional high schools as well as small schools that students choose to attend and that may be outside their neighborhood. The recognition of these 17 schools is based on 11 specific principles identified by experts in the 2013 Oxford University Press book, Closing the Opportunity Gap, which Welner edited along with Stanford University Professor Prudence Carter. Specific practices include effective student and faculty support systems, outreach to the community, health and psychological support, judicious and fair discipline policies, little or no tracking, and high-quality teacher induction and mentoring programs. A list and description of these recognition criteria are available on the project website. In order to be recognized, school applications were required to go through four levels of screening, including rubric-based ratings by two evaluators. Evaluation teams also made in-person visits to the recognized “Gold” schools. Burris and Welner stress that the opportunity gaps facing the nation’s children arise from poverty, racism and other societal ills much more than from anything taking place in schools. But schools are nonetheless important, and they can make a real difference in children’s lives, they said. “When schools and communities focus their resources and efforts on closing opportunity gaps, they should be recognized, supported and applauded,” Burris said. “They should also serve as models for those who wish to engage in true school improvement.” Descriptions of Colorado’s recognized schools: Gold designation: Centaurus High School, Lafayette, Colorado Creating a school community that is welcoming and caring, as well as academically challenging and supportive, requires a broad package of policies and practices. Centaurus focuses in particular on strong supports for entering ninth graders, embracing them with a thoughtful set of social and academic supports, hands-on learning and extracurricular opportunities. Grand Valley High School, Garfield, Colorado Integrating high expectations, challenging curriculum, universal access and strong supports, the school begins with an AP-for-all approach. The school also features a strong system of teacher development, collaboration and leadership, along with a focus on instruction and thoughtfully integrating the school’s response-to-intervention protocol and advisory system. Jefferson County Open High School, Lakewood, Colorado Embracing an educational philosophy rooted in the belief that students are inherently curious and want to learn, educators follow the lead of each student, facilitating opportunities for students to discover, explore and master their interests and their passions. In doing so, the school has provided a vibrant and viable alternative to conventional schooling—an alternative that is particularly stark in our age of standards- and test-based accountability policies. Silver designation: Center High School, Center, Colorado Serving a rural and economically impoverished community, the district recognized that opportunities to learn for their students depended on more than conventional academic supports. Student needs are thus addressed through extra learning time and enrichment opportunities after school and during the summer, as well as during the school day; through a strong focus on healthy choices, supportive interactions and anti-bullying programs; through support staff such as a homeless coordinator, a nurse and counselors; and through partnerships with links to community health organizations. Durango High School, Durango, Colorado A collaborative learning environment for staff is combined with a Small Learning Communities structure for teaching. Interdisciplinary teams of teachers meet regularly to discuss how to engage all students in the learning outcomes their departments have agreed upon. The school’s SLCs work closely with instructional coaches from Expeditionary Learning (EL) and International Baccalaureate (IB) and then develop Critical Friends groups to analyze each other’s lessons and instructional strategies. Long View High School, Lakewood, Colorado Long View High School serves an “alternative school” role, in that the school is sought out by students struggling with life or academics, but the school’s approach is one of enrichment, not salvage. It engages the students with a curriculum that is rigorous, relevant, varied and enjoyable. The school’s mission is to provide a classroom-based, personalized education that takes the long view of each student’s future, stressing learning over simple credit recovery. Mapleton Early College High School, Thornton, Colorado Focusing on authentic learning through internships and early college, the school has created a healthy school culture and learning environment built around project-based, individualized, authentic learning, grounded in the community. For more information, including descriptions of all recognized schools, visit the Schools of Opportunity website at http://opportunitygap.org. Contact: Kevin Welner, CU-Boulder School of Education, 303-492-8370kevin.welner@colorado.edu Carol Burris, Rockville Centre, 516-993-2141burriscarol@gmail.com Peter Caughey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007caughey@colorado.edu"The schools we’re recognizing with this new project are all places you would crave to have your own children attend,” said Professor Kevin Welner of the CU-Boulder School of Education. "We hope that this project will help move the nation past the constraining and wrongheaded discussion of school quality that focuses on ‘Problems, Statistics and Labels’. Students and educators, as well as parents and researchers who spend time on our high schools, know that quality schooling comes from excellent practices.”Education, P-12 Outreach, Civic Engagement var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


From the VCSA: Standing with Nepal
On behalf of the entire CU-Boulder community, I would like to extend my condolences to the students, faculty, staff and other members of our community who have been personally affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25. This tragedy hits particularly close, as Boulder is home to a sizable Nepalese population. I understand that many are inclined to act in support of those impacted by the earthquake. Last week, a group of students launched the “CU Stands with Nepal” campaign, with the mission of unifying the community to raise funds and sustain the dialogue about Nepal. Their goal is to raise over $30,000 in the next three weeks. If you are interested in supporting the relief effort by donating or volunteering, I recommend you visit their website, custandswithnepal.weebly.com, or contact them at CUStandsWithNepal@gmail.com. In solidarity, Deb Coffin Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU Dialogues: It's On Us - What does 'it' mean?
Everybody knows about sexual assault, but how do we talk about it? And how do we move from awareness to action? The CU Dialogues Program recently facilitated a series of two dialogues with a group of 23 Residential Academic Program students in Farrand Hall. The series, entitled "'It’s On Us'-What Does 'It' Mean?" provided students with an opportunity to dig into the issue of sexual assault. As one participant pointed out, sexual assault is something that students often think about but don’t often talk openly about. On anonymous post-dialogue feedback forms, many students described the dialogue as “eye-opening.”  In the first dialogue, participants identified and examined the kinds of social messaging they receive about gender identity, sexuality, and sexual assault. Facilitators encouraged participants to reflect upon the relationship between social messaging about sexuality and their own responses and society’s responses to sexual assault. The dialogue format encouraged open discussion of difficult issues. "It was a very open and honest discussion,” a female-identified participant noted. A male-identified student commented, "Once the dialogue got started, I felt like I could say anything.” Another student echoed that sentiment: "No one shot me down.” In the second dialogue, participants created scenarios, based on their own experiences, of situations college students face. Real-life scenarios raised complex questions. For example, how does the concept of consent apply if the woman is the one making sexual advances in a heterosexual encounter? Students also raised the question of whether non-consensual video-taping of sex or posting photos on Buff Snaps is a form of sexual assault.  The scenarios also challenged students to think through how they would act in specific circumstances involving sexual assault or the threat of assault. After the scenario exercise, one student pointed out that "all of us say we would step in" to intervene but the scenarios confronted students with complex situations that made them "think twice" as they tried to decide on the best course of action in the moment. All participants found the dialogue a useful approach for addressing issues of sexual assault. One participant noted that hearing about others’ experiences made her realize how common sexual assault and violence are. Participants felt the dialogue exposed them to new strategies for listening to others and enabled them to collaborate with others to build a stronger community. On post-dialogue feedback forms, 100% of participants wrote that the dialogue would impact their future actions. Impacts included commitments to "speak up" and "act more confident and courageous.” Several students noted that the dialogue provided insight that would change how they viewed or discussed sexual assault.  The idea for piloting the dialogue series emerged from an Inter-Group Relations Working Group formed by CU Dialogues Program Co-Directors Ellen Aiken and Karen Ramirez, Assistant Vice-Chancellor Alphonse Keasley, and Assistant Professor of Communication Leah Sprain. The four attended the University of Michigan’s week-long Intergroup Relations (IGR) Institute as a team last summer. Farrand Hall Director Steph Parrish, a University of Michigan graduate who participated in Michigan’s IGR program as an undergrad, joined CU’s IGR Working group last fall, as did Pilar Prostko, the CU Dialogues Program Facilitator and Coordinator. Their collaboration was instrumental to implementing the pilot dialogues in Farrand. Jimmy McLeod, First-Year Success Advisor with CU’s Cultural Unity and Engagement Center, and Joshua LePree, PhD student in Sociology, helped facilitate the dialogues.  The long-term goal of the IGR Working Group is to create and support a more inclusive campus climate by integrating intergroup dialogue into the undergraduate experience. One participant in the sexual assault pilot series wrote, “I would love to see dialogue grow and expand to [include] more students.” The CU Dialogues Program plans to refine the Sexual Assault Dialogue Series over the summer and offer it as a programming option to Residence Hall and RAP Directors in the fall. For more information, contact the CU Dialogues Program at dialogues@colorado.edu or visit their website at: http://www.colorado.edu/cudialogues/. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder students lauded with six awards at international advertising competition
(Above: A video of Inkventions, a silver award-winning CU-Boulder student project in the 2015 Young Ones competition) Fourteen University of Colorado Boulder students had a wildly successful evening Tuesday in New York City, winning six awards in a top international advertising contest, the most collected by any public U.S. university at the event. The One Club of New York, an esteemed industry trade group, presents the awards in the annual Young Ones student competition, a premier showcase of creativity in advertising, design and new media. For their creative projects, the CU-Boulder students, who worked in teams, won two silver awards, two bronze awards and two merit prizes.  “The awards are a great honor for the students individually and also for our program,” said CU-Boulder advertising instructor Michael Weed. “It’s a very rare and prestigious thing for people to get into the show let alone win.”  This year’s competition drew 900 entries and 65 prizes were awarded. The prizes demonstrate the strength of CU-Boulder’s program in creative advertising and provide a major career boost for the winners, said Weed. “A lot of students who win these awards are offered jobs even before they’ve left New York.” Contest organizers provide scenarios in which students create advertising and branding campaigns for companies. Students Haley Buchner and Stephanie Hayden won silver awards for the second consecutive year. “We feel really lucky to be in such a strong program at CU-Boulder,” said Buchner. “It has really set us up to go right into the working world and be prepared and get jobs at the agencies we really want.” She and Hayden will graduate this week. Both have pending job offers, according to Buchner. Buchner, Hayden and a third student, Rachel Edwards, teamed up on a scenario that required them to address the issue of children and technology. Their project boosts their client’s brand with a product called Inkventions. Inkventions involves workbooks that teach children about the fundamentals of electronics and the importance of reducing and recycling electronic waste. CU-Boulder students Joe Abruzzo, Mia Cupidro, Kayla Epsman, David Green, Jarrod Gustin, Aaron Marten, Marisa Milisic, Brian Mulligan, Mia Nogueira, Maximillian Schein and Riley Walker also took home Young Ones awards. CU-Boulder’s advertising program historically was part of the Journalism and Mass Communication program. This fall, it will expand and join the new College of Media, Communication and Information, which includes a variety of departments focused on communications and digital technology. Interim advertising department chair Harsha Gangadharbatla said the new college will allow advertising students to build their skills in new areas. For instance, the college’s information science department, opening in fall 2016, will teach advertising students to analyze massive quantities of data to gain insight into consumer behavior, he said. “Our creative program has always been really strong,” he said. “We’re hoping to build on that, expand and take advantage of the synergy the new college provides.” For more information about CMCI visit http://www.colorado.edu/cmci/. For more information about The One Club and the Young Ones awards visit https://www.oneclub.org/.  Contact: Michelle Fulcher, CMCI, 303-492-0460michelle.fulcher@colorado.edu Michael Weed, 303-492-7182michael.weed@colorado.eduJournalism var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New advising system, MyCUHub, is now live
Effective May 4, CU-Boulder has implemented a new online tool for academic advising called MyCUHub. MyCUHub will be used by undergraduate students to make advising appointments, receive texts for confirmations and alerts, and connect with their CU success team via social tools embedded in MyCUHub to better manage their academic plan. Future updates to this tool will add additional features. Once you log in, you will see an advising dashboard which provides you one place to connect with your advisors and other members of your student success team, at a glance academic progress, and a place to request and manage meetings. Now, if you need to ask your advisor a question or would like to set up an appointment for anything advising related (e.g., add or drop a class, change your major or minor or talk about your grades), you can do this through MyCUHub by going to colorado.edu/mycuhub. You can also still access key MyCUHub feature using the familiar advising links in the MyCUInfo portal. For Leeds School of Business Students: if you are pursuing a business major, although you have access to MyCUHub, you will continue scheduling appointments with your academic advisor online at http://leedsly/ugadvising. Scheduling in MyCUHub for business majors will go live this summer, so look for an email from your advisor about the transition. A set of user guides showing you how to use the new tool is available. If you have any questions or concerns regarding MyCUHub, please contact the IT Service Center at help@colorado.edu or 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from a campus phone). var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


From the VC: Standing with Nepal
On behalf of the entire CU-Boulder community, I would like to extend my condolences to the students, faculty, staff and other members of our community who have been personally affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25. This tragedy hits particularly close, as Boulder is home to a sizable Nepalese population. I understand that many are inclined to act in support of those impacted by the earthquake. Last week, a group of students launched the “CU Stands with Nepal” campaign, with the mission of unifying the community to raise funds and sustain the dialogue about Nepal. Their goal is to raise over $30,000 in the next three weeks. If you are interested in supporting the relief effort by donating or volunteering, I recommend you visit their website, custandswithnepal.weebly.com, or contact them at CUStandsWithNepal@gmail.com. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


From the Dean of Students: Take care of yourselves
As the spring semester comes to a close, several events have occurred locally and internationally that affect individuals as well as our campus community. We know that these events, along with the stresses that accompany finals and the end of the semester are often difficult to handle. Please take care of yourselves and if you find you need additional support, contact one of the resources listed below.  If you're graduating, congratulations on completing your degree. If you are returning next fall, have a great summer and I'll see you in August. Sincerely, Christina Gonzales, Dean of Students and Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Campus Resources:    Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) 303-492-6766 Free confidential counseling for CU students Walk-In hours are Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Also has groups and workshops Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) 303-492-3020 Free confidential counseling for CU staff and faculty Provides assistance to faculty and staff for personal or work-related concerns Also has groups and workshops Office of Victim Assistance (OVA) 303-492-8855 Free, confidential counseling, advocacy, information and referrals for ALL CU community members, students, staff, faculty and their significant others Specialize in life disruptive events, including, but not limited to crime, gender violence, grief, bias motivated incident, harassment and violence Report Bias Motivated Incidents, Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct A report of sexual misconduct, discrimination or harassment, crimes or related retaliation may be pursued in different ways. Depending on the nature of the alleged conduct, a complainant or victim may pursue a criminal process, a university process, both processes or neither process. A victim may also decline to notify authorities. Wardenburg’s Psychological Health and Psychiatry (PHP) 303-492-5654 A mental health clinic at Wardenburg Health Center A confidential place for students to come and talk about their concerns Fees may apply Student Support and Case Management Services 303-492-7348 A campus resource dedicated to assisting students who may be in distress or experiencing challenging or difficult life circumstances. Cultural Unity and Engagement Center (CUE) 303-492-5667 Multiculturally responsive programming to promote community building and mentorship opportunities across university affiliate groupings (student/staff/faculty) Diversity Consultations, Workshops, Trainings Support for First Generation students Disability Services 303-492-8671 Provide students with disabilities the tools, reasonable accommodations and support services to participate fully in the academic environment. Learn self-advocacy and create a network of resources. Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Queer (GLBTQ) Resource Center 303-492-1377 Provide skills to create a safer space for GLBT students within the university community Promotes leadership development for GLBT and ally students via student leadership retreats, workshops, and convening the Queer Student Leader Coalition. Provides information dissemination and referral; educational, cultural and social programming; advocacy and voice for the GLBT community International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) 303-492-8057 Institutional responsibility for international students once they are admitted to CU Help departments bring in visiting scholars and researchers to CU Help answer questions concerning their legal status or other issues pertinent to their stay at CU Act as liaison with CU and community members-especially during difficult times Manage bias motivated incidents and educate faculty on the needs of Jewish students Foster inclusiveness and offer support and programming across multiple identities Consult with Legal Counsel as necessary around freedom of speech issues Veteran Services 303-492-7322 Provide a key point of contact for information for the veteran/military community Establish and operate an informal veterans support group Assist in the transition from the military to campus life Develop an informal mentoring program for student veterans Women’s Resource Center (WRC) 303-492-5713 Peer groups for people with shared interests or identities A supportive, women-centered space where students, faculty, staff and community can hang out, network, build community, and gain strength from one another Staff and volunteers engage in policy work to improve women's equity on campus, dedicated to providing information and assistance in order to improve women's ability to self-advocate   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Naval pilot earns soaring praise for honors’ research
Before Courtnie Paschall touched down at the University of Colorado Boulder, she’d graduated from the Naval Academy (‘08), attained the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and undergone years of flight training. Paschall graduates on May 9 with a degree in neuroscience and a minor in electrical engineering. She earned the distinction of graduating summa cum laude and was named the Outstanding Graduate for the College of Arts and Sciences for spring 2015. Paschall graduated from the Naval Academy in 2008 with a bachelor of science in physics and a minor in Mandarin Chinese. She went immediately into flight school, where she learned to pilot fixed-wing planes and helicopters. Click here to read the rest of the story in the College of Arts and Sciences Magazine.Natural Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Biology advising center: Campus space redesigned to better serve students
The College of Arts & Sciences has opened a new advising center for students majoring in the three different biology programs: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Integrative Physiology; and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). Now students majoring in any of those three fields of study have one place to go to meet with their advisors. This new structure also provides a more holistic approach to serving students, by offering access to information, opportunities and resources that cross departmental lines and support the whole student experience. “We found that many students switch majors among these three departments or double major in two of them,” explains Doug Nickel, one of the Biology advisors. “Under the old model, students had to change advisors, a process that was often confusing and inefficient. Now, students can switch or add a major in one of these departments and keep the same advisor." Nickel explains that now with all three of those disciplines under one roof for advising, if a student wants to switch from Integrative Physiology to MCDB, for example, the advisor does not need to change just because the major did.  The relationship that the student has established with that advisor can continue uninterrupted, which helps improve continuity and the connection to a primary resource for support.  And because those advisors all share a space it is easier for them to communicate and share information that helps them more effectively support students pursuing those fields of study. Additionally, when someone is out of the office, there are still other advisors on hand to provide assistance for our students. The new advising suite, a recently renovated space that features bright colors and art on the walls, gives off a welcoming and engaging vibe. When you walk in the door, there is usually a student sitting at the desk to greet you. These student employees are second or third year students who also serve as peer advisors. They can help answer simple advising-related questions, and provide a first point of contact for students taking advantage of the walk-in service. Serving over 2,500 students, this space is the first disciplinary advising space of its kind in the College of Arts & Sciences. “I’m very excited that we have been able to transform a space right in the middle of campus to create a welcoming place where students can walk in and find the resources they need,” says Laura Bonney, Associate Director of the College of Arts & Sciences Academic Advising Center. “We are endeavoring to create a more holistic experience for students as they explore and pursue their academic goals. This is an important step.” College of Arts & Sciences associate dean Ann Carlos explains that this project was not easy, partially because space is very hard to come by on campus. The space was previously being used for MCDB department faculty offices, but MCDB department chair Mark Winey and the rest of the staff graciously restructured their office space in order that the college could create this new advising center. Carlos says there are more projects like this in the works. “In our college, we have set a goal of creating more spaces that are student centered serving student needs,” says Carlos. “This is a perfect example of what we are trying to do: providing students in our programs with better space and more consistent access to advising as well as other forms of academic support that they need.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder announces three finalists for vice chancellor for research
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the three finalists selected for the position of vice chancellor for research. The candidates will visit campus over the coming weeks to meet with students, faculty, staff and university administrators. The finalists for the position are Terri Fiez, director of strategic initiatives and professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at Oregon State University; Robert McGrath, senior vice president at Georgia Tech; and Patricia Rankin, associate vice chancellor for research and a professor of physics at CU-Boulder. “I am delighted with the strong pool of candidates who will soon be coming to campus as finalists for the position of vice chancellor for research,” said James Williams, dean of University Libraries and chair of the national search committee. “This position is mission-critical for the campus, particularly from the perspective of the campus’s research profile and Chancellor Philip DiStefano’s priorities related to student success, revenue generation and institutional reputation.” Public sessions for the three candidates will be held at the following times at Norlin Library in the Center for British and Irish Studies on the fifth floor: ?      Robert McGrath: Wednesday, May 13 at 10 a.m. ?      Patricia Rankin: Monday, May 18 at 10 a.m. ?      Terri Fiez: Thursday, May 21 at 10 a.m. Terri Fiez is director of strategic initiatives and professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at Oregon State University (OSU). Prior to 2014, she was head of the School of EECS. Fiez’s scholarly interests focus on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and approaches to innovative education. She is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellow, a former National Science Foundation Young Investigator awardee, and the recipient of multiple IEEE and OSU curriculum/teaching awards. After securing venture funding, she took a leave of absence in 2008-09 to co-found, launch and serve as CEO of a startup company and since then has helped support several other early stage startup companies. She has three issued patents, one executed license, and has served in numerous professional leadership roles. Fiez has a BS and an MS in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from OSU. Robert McGrath has served as educator, researcher and executive administrator at several major universities and national laboratories. He currently serves as senior vice president at Georgia Tech, and similarly served as associate vice president for research at Penn State University and as senior vice president for Research at Ohio State. McGrath has a strong track record of accomplishments working with federal agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, DoD and DHS, as well as on R&D partnerships with industry, IP management, technology transfer, economic development and job creation. McGrath regularly contributes to the nation’s overall R&D strategy by serving, for example, on the Defense Science Board in 2013, and currently is serving on a task force for the Secretary of Energy assessing National Laboratory management, investments and industry partnerships. McGrath earned a BS in engineering sciences, an MS in physics and an MA in mathematics from Penn State University, and a PhD in nuclear engineering (plasma physics) from the University of Michigan. Patricia Rankin is associate vice chancellor for research and a professor of physics at CU-Boulder. Her research interests range from precision measurements as tests of the Standard Model through efforts to understand the symmetries of nature to how to broaden participation in science and engineering. She came to CU-Boulder in 1988, was tenured in 1995 and became a full professor in 2002. She worked for two years in Washington, D.C., as a program officer for particle physics at the National Science Foundation and has served as associate dean for natural sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and a faculty director in the Office of Faculty Affairs. As principal investigator for CU-Boulder’s NSF Advance Institutional Transformation program she helped develop the campus’s LEAP (Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion) program and consults nationally and internationally on professional development programs. She is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship, a Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, the Elizabeth Gee award, and the “Best Shall Teach” award among others recognizing her contributions to interdisciplinary research and to CU-Boulder. Rankin earned a BS and a PhD in physics from Imperial College, London University. Moore announced in October that Stein Sture will retire in June 2015 after 35 years of service to the campus, including his role as vice chancellor for research during the past nine years. -CU- Contact:James Williams, 303-492-7511james.williams@colorado.edu Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115millerm@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Terri FiezPhoto: Caption: Robert McGrathPhoto: Caption: Patricia Rankin


Your student government: Executive staff positions available
Want to be a part of your student government, work in a great environment and make a difference? Apply to be on the executive staff. There is a wide range of positions, from financial to political to artistic, so take a look at the job postings and get in those applications by applications by May 11. The following four positions are looking to be filled in the next few weeks. Please email applications to custudentgov@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. on May 11. Interviews will take place May 18-20. Positions available: -Chief of Staff -Director of Student Engagement -Director of Sustainability -Director of Homecoming and Event Planning -Student Group Funding Board Chair The following positions will be hiring throughout the summer. Please email your application to custudentgov@colorado.edu by May 11, at 11:59 p.m. and you will be notified of an interview time: -Liaison for Veterans Affairs -Liaison to International Students -Liaison to Graduate and Professional Studies -Director of Finance -Election Commissioner -Director of Multimedia -Director of Communication -Director of Legislative Affairs -Director of Health and Safety -Director of Greek Affairs -Director of Diversity and Inclusion -Director of City and Neighborhood Relations -Director of Academic Affairs For a more detailed description of these positions please check out the CUSG website. All positions are for the 2015-16 academic year. If you have any questions, email april.olliver@colorado.edu. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Campus working toward progress on sexual assault
With the conclusion on Thursday of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and as the campus moves into spring finals, I want to take this opportunity to give you an update on issues surrounding sexual assault prevention and what has been accomplished at CU-Boulder this year. First, let’s be clear: sexual assault and sexual harassment have not been eradicated from our campus community and remain a challenging goal for CU-Boulder. But we are making progress in three main areas: improving the investigation of claims of sexual assault and sexual harassment, providing better access to accommodations and support services during an investigation, and increasing and prioritizing our education and prevention efforts. For more information on OIEC, including how to report any form harassment or discrimination, visit our newly launched website at www.colorado.edu/institutionalequity.com. This year, the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance also: Consolidated all investigations whether involving a student, faculty or staff into one office; Hired three new investigators and a new Director of Education and Prevention; Increased training opportunities for the investigators (including focusing on issues of intimate partner abuse and stalking); Designated Deputy Title IX Coordinators; Presented at numerous town halls, panels, and workshops (including one at the recent CU-Boulder screening of the film The Hunting Ground); Played a significant role in drafting the proposed new CU Sexual Harassment Policy (to be effective in July); Collaborated with campus partners to design and promote the “It’s on Us” sexual assault and consent video campaign; Initiated a new reporting email at cureport@colorado.edu. Partnered with various community entities to help launch the first Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (“SANE”) in Boulder since 2002. In addition to these efforts, our community has responded in some promising ways to the challenge of creating greater awareness about, and greater action to stop, sexual harassment and sexual assault. All 16 fraternity chapters of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) underwent individual training in sexual assault prevention developed by Teresa Wroe of CU-Boulder’s Community Health division – and new Director of Education and Prevention/Deputy Title IX Coordinator for OIEC as of May 18 – a move that drew notice from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who tweeted about the program on April 14, referencing a Daily Camera story that profiled Wroe’s and the IFC’s work together. The training was at the request of the IFC and OIEC and IFC created a partnership to implement it. Teresa Wroe designed a specifically tailored program that addressed IFC’s membership and trained three additional presenters to help deliver the sessions. Our emphasis on the need for bystanders to intervene effectively when they see a situation building that could result in a sexual assault found a great role model in CU-Boulder student Max Demby. On the night of April 3 while walking near the CU Engineering Center, Max quickly responded to screams by a female victim who was about to be sexually assaulted by a campus intruder. Max approached the man and yelled at him to stop, which caused him flee. The man was quickly apprehended by University of Colorado Police and jailed under several felony charges. Max, who also serves as a “Ralphie Handler,” exemplified the kind of awareness and action that all of us must be willing to take to end sexual assault on campus. While our campus continues the public education process on issues such as bystander intervention and understanding the meaning and importance of obtaining consent to have sex, we will continue our efforts to assess the scope of the problem of sexual assault at CU-Boulder. Next October, we will conduct a campus-wide sexual misconduct survey for all students that will zero in on the specific experiences, observations and needs of our campus community regarding sexual assault, sexual harassment, intimate partner abuse (domestic and dating violence), and stalking. We will use the results of that survey to better understand the scope of the problem of sexual assault on our campus, and help us arrive at even better prevention and education solutions. This survey will be similar to one currently being conducted by the Association of American Universities. While the University will continue to engage with the AAU group, we chose not to use that survey after reviewing its questions, which were duplicative of questions we asked in our climate surveys of 2014 (Spring and Fall semester), and which did not provide us the flexibility to customize questions to our community at the level we felt we needed. We nonetheless support the AAU survey, which will aggregate the results of participating universities, providing important national data on sexual assault on campus.  Like the AAU’s survey, ours will be based on the White House’s recommended model, the newly released Office for Civil Rights Title IX Resource Guide and its aggregate results will be made public. As our academic year draws to a close, we want to thank our campus community for responding this year to Chancellor DiStefano’s call – announced in his state of the campus address – for our campus community to work together to end sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus. We’re not there yet, but the journey is continuing with renewed commitment, increasing resources, and greater community response.   Valerie Simons is CU-Boulder’s Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and is the campus’s Title IX Coordinator.  Visit the OIEC website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Before you leave town: End of spring semester reminders
With the end of the spring semester next week, please review the following tips and reminders before leaving for summer break. On-campus residents Students must check out of their residence hall within 24 hours of completing their last final exam, so please plan accordingly. The last meal served for the spring semester (dinner at the C4C) will be Thursday, May 7. Residence halls close for the academic year on Friday, May 8, at 1 p.m. Click here for move-out instructions. Housing & Dining Services partners with the Environmental Center each year to create a reusable items drive. The items collected are given to various local charities including Goodwill, Globe Med, Boulder County Homeless Shelter and Community Food Share to be repurposed. There will be drop stations in the lobby of each residence hall. Don't throw it out, donate it! Graduate and family housing move-out/move-in information. For more information visit the Housing and Dining Services "Residence Hall Move-Out" page. Off-campus residents If you are leaving Boulder for the summer, post your sublet or create a roommate profile on Ralphie’s List, CU’s rental database. Sublease agreements are available for pick up in UMC 313. If you have legal concerns about subleasing, you can schedule an appointment with Off-Campus Housing’s Legal Advisor, Attorney Bruce Sarbaugh. Please donate and recycle your used furniture and belongings. You can also avoid costly trash fines by properly disposing of your items during move out. Download a list of thrift stores and recycling centers. If you are taking a vacation, ask a friend or neighbor to watch your property while you are away. Consider setting your lights to a timer, lock all doors and windows, and make sure your valuables are not visible from the outside. If you are still looking for fall housing, visit Off-Campus Housing for a list of property management companies and apartment complexes. Protect your property from a possible flooding situation – If you live in a flood prone area or a basement apartment, remember to remove items from the floor before you leave. Flood safety information. Boulder has enacted a bear ordinance that requires all residents west of Broadway to keep their trash secured, either in bear resistant containers or in an enclosed area. If you are subletting this summer make sure you property secure your trash. Register your Friday or Saturday night graduation party. Students can register Monday – Thursday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., and on Friday from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., in UMC 313. Party Registration will continue through the summer. OCH&NR will remain open throughout the summer but will operate on summer hours of 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (summer hours are in effect starting Monday, May 11 through Friday, August 14.) Have additional questions? Feel free to stop by Off-Campus Housing & Neighborhood Relations in UMC 313 or contact us via email (och@colorado.edu), phone (303-492-7053), or Twitter (@cuoffcampus). Other reminders Return your library books to avoid fines. Take your bike home with you if you are leaving for the summer. Have a great summer. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Freshmen participate in huge research study on tiny viruses
A new study appearing this week in the scientific journal eLIFE about the rapid evolution of small viruses that infect bacteria includes 59 University of Colorado Boulder co-authors, all of whom conducted research for the paper as freshmen. The paper, which includes more than 2,500 undergraduate authors from 81 institutions worldwide, describes the evolution of a tiny virus known as a bacteriophage, or “phage” for short. Phages consist of strands of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protective protein coat called a capsid. Since they cannot live outside of cells, phages have to commandeer bacteria to reproduce. That reproduction, it turns out, spawns rapid and vast evolution, said CU-Boulder faculty member Christy Fillman of CU-Boulder’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB), a paper co-author. Phages have only a smattering of genes, which are subject to the same forces of genetic change that drive evolution in living organisms. The eLIFE study compared the complete DNA sequences of 627 different mycobacteriophages -- viruses that infect one type of bacterium, called mycobacteria -- that were isolated and analyzed by undergraduates around the world.  By comparing the sequences and arrangement of the bacteriophage genes, the researchers were able to trace the evolutionary history of the viruses, said Fillman.  The collaborative effort, begun in 2008 by University of Pittsburgh Professor Graham Hatfull and supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is called the Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science program (SEA-PHAGES). MCDB has participated the SEA-PHAGES program since 2009, said Fillman, who teaches a course titled “From Dirt to DNA: Phage Genomics Lab I and II” along with Professor Nancy Guild. “Most undergraduates come in not knowing what real research is like, but our students are making a real contribution to science, not just doing a classroom experiment,” Fillman said. The CU-Boulder freshmen have so far isolated 118 different mycobacteriophages, photographed many of them under an electron microscope, and determined the complete DNA sequences for seven of them. Five of the viruses, which the students named JHC117, Perseus, Manad, Newman, and Lilith, are included in the eLIFE study. For more information on the project visit http://phagesdb.org/about/. For more information on CU-Boulder’s MCDB department visit http://mcdb.colorado.edu. Contact: Christy Fillman, 303-492-8559christy.fillman@colorado.edu Paul Muhlrad, MCDB science communications, 303-492-0187paul.muhlrad@colorado.eduNatural Sciences, Research, Academics var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder to hold spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9
The University of Colorado Boulder will hold its spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Folsom Field. Because of ongoing construction on U.S. 36 leading into Boulder and anticipated traffic delays, early arrival is strongly advised. Gates open at 7 a.m. and guests should plan to be seated by 8:15 a.m. The ceremony will be held outdoors in the stadium regardless of the weather. In the event of heavy rain or snow an abbreviated ceremony will be held. For the safety of all guests, only soft-sided bags or containers no larger than 12x12x12 (the size of a purse or small backpack) are permitted at Folsom Field. Clear plastic grocery-type bags are strongly recommended to facilitate security screening at the gates. All persons and packages are subject to screening prior to entry into the stadium. Please report unattended or suspicious bags to police immediately.  The ceremony, which is free and open to the public, will honor 5,927 candidates for degrees including 4,545 bachelor’s degrees, 908 master’s degrees, 149 law degrees and  325 doctoral degrees. Cathleen Black, a former media executive and author, is the keynote speaker for the ceremony. Black served as president and chairman of Hearst Magazines and was an executive with USA Today and New York magazine. Also during the ceremony, four honorary degrees will be awarded. CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard Jessor spent his entire professional career at CU-Boulder (1951-2009) and is the longest serving faculty member in the university’s history. Jessor, who was a founding member of the Institute of Behavioral Science, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. John Darrah, a former senior scientist at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory who helped better equip the U.S. Armed Forces to fight in a nuclear battle and who led the charge to make CU a preeminent institution for space study, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Peter Balsells and Joan Charlotte von Bartheld Balsells, met at CU-Boulder as fellow engineering students, and thus began a lifelong partnership. In 1958 they founded a small manufacturing business, Bal Seal Engineering Company, which grew into a worldwide manufacturer of springs, seals and connectors used in a variety of aeronautical, automotive, electronics, engineering and medical equipment. They went on to establish a fellowship program at universities including CU-Boulder and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Joan Charlotte von Bartheld Balsells died in 1995. Peter Balsells will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree and Joan Charlotte von Bartheld Balsells will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree posthumously. City and campus roads may be congested for approximately one and a half hours before the ceremony and about an hour afterward. Parking lots and gray meters near the Coors Events Center are free for commencement parking. Traffic officers and parking supervisors and attendants will be available to assist campus visitors. Many departments within CU-Boulder’s schools and colleges will hold events to personally recognize their graduates. Students should check with their individual departments for more information. For a schedule of individual ceremonies visit http://www.colorado.edu/commencement/ceremonies/spring/department-recognition-ceremonies. For more information about the commencement ceremony visit http://www.colorado.edu/commencement/ceremonies/spring. To join the conversation and celebrate the accomplishments of CU-Boulder’s newest alumni in social media, people can use #ForeverBuffs on commencement photos and stories, and follow @CUBoulder and @CUBoulderAlumni on Twitter and Instagram, and follow the campuswide celebration of the class of 2015 at https://www.colorado.edu/social/2015-spring-commencement. Contact: Sarah Adderholt, 303-735-0533 Greg Swenson, CU-Boulder media contact, 303-492-3113greg.swenson@colorado.eduCommunity Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck commits $500,000 to be split between two Colorado law schools
University of Colorado Law School joint news release Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck announced a $500,000 gift to be divided between the University of Colorado Law School (CU) and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law (DU). Each school will use its $250,000 gift to create an endowed fellowship program. This gift is the single largest gift from a law firm in the history of both universities. “Our goal is that these endowments enable each university to create a unique fellowship program that simulates a real world legal environment for students, allowing them to gain beneficial hands-on experience and ultimately making them better attorneys,” said Adam Agron, co-managing partner at Brownstein. “At the same time, our endowments support two exceptional law schools from which so many of our lawyers have graduated and from where we continue to recruit our next generation.” When it comes to law schools, nearly 30 percent of Brownstein’s attorneys are alumni of CU (35 attorneys) and DU (36 attorneys) including Agron (DU) and Bruce James, former managing partner (DU), as well as Norm Brownstein (CU) and Steve Farber (CU), founding members of the firm and current members of the firm’s executive committee. In addition to these two law schools, the firm also supports several other law schools across the country. These fellowship programs demonstrate an innovative and collaborative approach between the public and private sector to support the next generation of attorneys creating a bridge for law students between school and practicing law. “Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is a special firm in the pantheon of Colorado Law. Founded by graduates of Colorado Law, the firm, with all of its successes, its tradition of supporting public service, and its national reputation, is a point of pride for the law school,” explained Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School. “We are just delighted that the firm is 'paying it forward' in this very impactful fashion, supporting our students gaining valuable experience over the summer and serving the public.” The University of Colorado Law School has an established summer public service fellowship program that provides summer stipends to students working in the public sector. As the program has grown, Colorado Law has been able to provide stipends to all students working in summer public service jobs. At current stipend rates for public service work in Colorado, this investment will provide distributions to support five such stipends every summer, creating a class of “Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Fellows,” who can benefit from the firm’s generosity and contribute to the firm’s legacy of supporting public service. “Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck continues to be a tremendous partner,” said Martin Katz, dean at Denver Law.  “The firm’s support of this program is a win, win. Our students gain valuable experience, and the Colorado-based corporations where students are placed will receive great legal work within their general counsels’ offices.” The Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Fellowship at Denver Law will expose students to the culture of an in-house legal department and enable the Fellows to better understand the unique needs and circumstances of corporate clients. This program, combined with the schools focus on experiential learning, will ensure graduates are ready to hit the ground running in private or in-house legal practice. DU will begin its fellowship law program as early as fall 2015 and CU will begin to implement its fellowship law program in 2016. DU’s fellowship will focus on the private sector and CU’s fellowship will focus on government.   About Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck  With 14 offices across the western US, plus Washington, DC and Atlantic City, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is where business, law and politics converge. Founded in 1968, Brownstein provides its clients a value that no other western law firm can match—an integrated approach that combines sensible business solutions with a Capitol Hill perspective. The firm’s 250 lawyers and policy professionals have built a reputation for providing multidisciplinary legal counsel that drives results and connects business leaders to the information they need to make decisions. For more information, please visit www.bhfs.com. About the University of Colorado Law School The University of Colorado Law School is a nationally recognized innovator and regional leader in the changing legal landscape. Founded in 1892 at the gateway to the Rocky Mountains in Boulder, Colorado Law delivers high value to its students and serves its communities through the quality of its scholarship, teaching, and curriculum. For more information, please visit colorado.edu/law. About the University of Denver Sturm College of Law The University of Denver Sturm College of Law is a top 100 law school with nationally ranked programs in environmental and natural resources law, legal writing, clinical training, international law and tax law. Our curriculum is innovative and global in its perspective, and our faculty are some of the finest in the nation. They love to teach, and they recognize that the people filling their classrooms today are the same people who will shape tomorrow’s legal landscape. It’s their passion and commitment that makes Denver Law stand out from the rest. For more information, please visit www.law.du.edu. Contacts: Lara Day, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck 303-223-1323 Keri Ungemah, University of Colorado Law School 720-984-0457 Will Jones, University of Denver 303-871-2781 var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Phil Weiser, dean, University of Colorado Law School; Adam Agron, co-managing partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; and Martin Katz, dean, University of Denver Sturm College of Law. (Photo by Michael Martin)


Student life: Master student performs with world-famous 'orchestral academy'
When you’re a master’s candidate, in your final semester, you don’t have a lot of time for yourself. Your days are spent writing, researching, neglecting to sleep. And when you’re working toward your master’s in music, a good chunk of your day is spent practicing. And practicing, and practicing. That said, sometimes an opportunity presents itself that’s so good—an opportunity that will demand weeks of your precious time—that turning it down isn’t an option. Trombone MM candidate Mark Hsieh—dressed in his finest on a Wednesday afternoon, just minutes removed from his oral exam—says he wouldn’t trade the month of March for anything. “Even though now I’m behind in just about all my class work.” For three weeks, Hsieh took his talents to South Beach as a substitute bass trombonist for the New World Symphony, led by artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas. A self-named “orchestral academy,” New World brings together recently graduated musicians (or in Mark’s case, grad students) for a crash course in the life of a professional; thrice weekly performances, seminars with visiting artists and a paycheck fill the term of up to a three-year contract. When you’re a sub, it’s not that long of a commitment, but it’s just as intense. At one point on the trip Hsieh was on the road 15 hours in one day—he says he even had to practice at the airport. “But it’s rejuvenating. It’s a great way to see how the professional world works and have a learning experience at the same time,” Hsieh says. He knew that losing three crucial weeks of his academic career would be worth it; this was Hsieh’s second stint at the symphony. And he got this follow-up gig through a word-of-mouth recommendation—from a 6 year old. “The first time I was here, this little boy came in to our rehearsal and wanted to play an instrument. No one wanted to lend him their horns, but I have nephews who play with mine all the time so I said sure,” Hsieh remembers. “He loved it. He was so engaged. Then I was just on vacation in Miami, and I found out that his mom was so impressed that she talked to the directors of the program, and they invited me back.” Among other benefits of the symphony, Hsieh says temporary positions like his open up all the time because New World understands its role in the lives of its musicians. “They know people are always auditioning for full-time jobs, and they’re open to that.” That makes it both a good jumping off point for more senior members, and a good foot in the door for new grads. Hsieh says for that reason, he’d go back in a heartbeat. “I’ve played in a lot of mid-level orchestras, and this is the best experience I’ve ever had. I’d definitely recommend other students try out. Even just to get on the sub list. “Anything you can do to help you become a better professional is worth it,” says Hsieh, as he loosens his collar and heads off to dive into more of that work he’s behind on. Hsieh’s next steps after completing his master’s will be to apply for DMAs and audition for orchestra positions. That includes following his own advice, and attempting to earn a contract with the New World Symphony. Click here to read more stories about the College of Music. Story by Jessie Bauters, College of Music Hsieh appears second from the right in the photograph above. Photo courtesy of Hsieh.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Your student government: Finish strong
By the University of Colorado Student Government With the end of the year drawing near, and graduation around the corner, all that is left is finals. CUSG is in your corner with resources to help you finish strong during this finals week. Want a quite place to study? Eaton Humanities will be open 24 hours a day from Friday, May 1, to Wednesday, May 6. All you need is your Buff OneCard to get in. Need a FREE place to park on campus? Lot 380 will be free to students from Friday, May 1, to Wednesday, May 6, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Just come to the CUSG Office (UMC 125) with your Buff OneCard to receive your free parking voucher. Want a break from studying? The Buff Pool at the REC opens May 1. Take a study break and enjoy the only pool in the nation shaped like a college mascot. Hungry? Come to the UMC’s annual Late Night Breakfast on May 4, 8 to 11 p.m. in the UMC. Events begin at 8 p.m. and the breakfast is served from 10 to 11 p.m. at the Alferd Packer Grill. Feel free to reach out to CUSG with any questions or concerns you have at studentgov@colorado.edu or 303-492-7473. Click here for more information on CUSG and our cost centers. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder highly rated in QS World University subject rankings
The University of Colorado Boulder was highly rated in a number of subject areas in the latest World University rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS). The highest ranking was in earth and marine sciences, in which CU-Boulder ranked 14th in the world out of 668 institutions and 10th in the nation. CU-Boulder climbed from 31st to 14th in the world in that category -- which includes geology, atmospheric and planetary science, geochemistry, geophysics, oceanography, stratigraphy, and space and planetary science -- in the past three years. Research in all of the subject areas is ongoing in several CU-Boulder academic departments and research institutes. Other highly ranked CU-Boulder disciplines by QS include geography (14th in the nation), civil engineering, environmental sciences, and physics and astronomy (all three in the top 25 nationally) and psychology, communications and media studies, and education (all three in the top 35 nationally). All rank in the top 100 in the world. “This is another example pointing to the high caliber of faculty that CU-Boulder has been attracting for a very long time,” said CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Research Stein Sture. “Our reputation, including our successes in research citations, demonstrates that our faculty and graduate students are doing relevant, innovative work in a number of arenas.” The QS rankings are based on surveys of reputation in the subject area among academics and recruiters of graduates, and on citations to research articles published from 2009 to 2013. The QS group evaluated 3,551 universities and more than 100 million citations for research articles published in 36 subject areas for the 2015 rankings. A global higher education and careers company that has been ranking world universities for a decade, QS has offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., Paris, Singapore, Shanghai and Johannesburg. CU-Boulder also was ranked in a number of other disciplines, including English, history, philosophy, computer science, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biology, chemistry, materials science, mathematics, accounting and finance, business management, and economics. “One of the reasons we attract exceptional undergraduate and graduate students to CU-Boulder is the chance to interact with faculty conducting research that is having a positive impact on society and advancing the frontiers of knowledge,” said Graduate School Dean John Stevenson. “We are known internationally as a university that has traditionally involved our students in research and scholarship at the highest levels, and are pleased to be recognized by QS.” For more information visit http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2015. For more information on CU-Boulder visit http://www.colorado.edu. Contact: Stein Sture, 303-492-2890stein.sture@colorado.edu John Stevenson 303-492-2890john.stevenson@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“This is another example pointing to the high caliber of faculty that CU-Boulder has been attracting for a very long time,” said CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Research Stein Sture. “Our reputation, including our successes in research citations, demonstrates that our faculty and graduate students are doing relevant, innovative work in a number of arenas.”Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Business, Arts & Humanities, Engineering, Education, Journalism var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Sustainability alliance to update community in May 4 town-gown forum
A sustainability alliance formed in 2009 by Boulder County, the city of Boulder, Boulder Valley School District and the University of Colorado Boulder will update the community during a town-gown forum May 4 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the CU-Boulder campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Wittemyer Courtroom in the Wolf Law Building, located at 2450 Kittredge Loop Road. Registration is requested. Doors will open at 3 p.m. “The city, county, Boulder Valley School District and CU-Boulder continue to build our relationships by collaboration to better serve the community,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “The sustainability alliance is an excellent example of this collaboration and I’m pleased to host my colleagues on campus to share important information with the community.” Speakers will include DiStefano; Jane Brautigam, Boulder city manager; Elise Jones, Boulder County commissioner; and Bruce Messinger, Boulder Valley School District superintendent. John Tayer, Boulder Chamber president and CEO, will moderate the panel. Included in the discussion will be a rundown of how the alliance has worked collaboratively to advance environmental sustainability in each organization and the community. Also included will be conversation about each organization’s role and initiatives, progress, challenges and opportunities surrounding sustainability. Introductions and discussion from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. will precede a question-and-answer segment, inviting questions from the audience, from 4:30 to 4:45 p.m. A reception with light refreshments will be held from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. A parking map and parking details are available at http://alumni.colorado.edu/harris/LawSchoolVisitorParking.pdf. Parking on campus is limited and alternative transportation to the forum is recommended. To register for the event visit https://secure.www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/UCO/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=189215. Contact: Kim Calomino, CU-Boulder local government and community relationskim.calomino@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: April 28 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. "Dead Week," as it is ironically known, is upon us once more. What is thus meant to be the calm before the storm is a hurricane of stress, prompted by the myriad of papers and reviews that are currently being stacked sky high on each student’s desk. There is, however, a light at the end of the tunnel, and for many of us this tunnel leads to a permanent exit. For some this will come as a relief, but for many, myself included, an exit from our wonderful campus is a sad and daunting prospect. We say goodbye to our school and the academic year in the midst of hard work and caffeine induced sleep deprivation. But this final effort can be made easier through an escape from studying and writing. The following events can serve to facilitate the transition to finals week, by providing an alternative activity to enjoy as a break from your studies.  Wednesday, April 29 Town Hall Meeting with CU President Bruce Benson. The president of our school is hosting a town hall meeting, which is a public platform in which he will discuss numerous topics such as state funding and tuition increases, among other things. Personally, I think it is fantastic that as students, we have a platform to communicate with those in charge of making decisions that influence our campus experience. For those interested, there is a live stream of Pesident Benson's Town Hall available here, or to find out more information visit the Events Calendar, the meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. ATLAS Spring 2015 Expo. Ever wonder what actually happens in the ATLAS center? Me too, so head down there on Wednesday evening to find out. They will be showcasing their students’ work, in an event that will highlight some amazing kinetic and interactive projects, sculptures, research and other innovative designs. The expo begins at 5 p.m. More information about the ATLAS Spring 2015 Expo can be found here. Thursday, April 30 Ralphie’s Cooking Basics. This is your last chance to take advantage of this free cooking class. On the menu this week is Breakfast for Dinner, which is great, because it validates my obsession with making omelets and hash browns for dinner multiple times per week – take that mum. Enjoy this opportunity for a study break and a free meal by signing up outside Baby Doe’s in the UMC at 4:45 p.m. Places are limited to the first 20 people so get their as soon as you can, also closed toes are a must. Click here for more information about Ralphie's Cooking Basics. On the Rocks Birthday Concert. CU’s only all women’s a cappella group is having their 10th birthday party in Old Main. They will be bringing back alumni as well as unveiling new songs with their current members. Let them serenade with sweet tunes and masterful solos this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Check out Facebook for more information about the On the Rocks Birthday Concert. Karaoke at Club 156. The UMC’s resident nightclub is offering students the opportunity to take their singing in the shower to the next level. Your mum might think you have an exceptional voice, but have you ever tested it out in a real venue? All jokes aside, this sounds like a ton of fun, and a fantastic way to spend your Thursday night while you still have some free time, you even get the chance to use a professional sound system and lighting stage. The singing begins at 8 p.m. Click here for more information about Karaoke at Club 156. Friday, May 1 Buff Pool Party. Remember that Buffalo shaped pool at the Rec Center? Well its finally opening again! Program Council is hosting an “exclusive” pool party for those who sign up the most at their street team tables, so check out the Program Council website for the upcoming events to try and get on that guest list. The party will have a special guest DJ amongst other fun activities. Doors open at 8 p.m. More information about the Buff Pool Party can be obtained here. International Coffee Hour. This is the perfect time to up your caffeine intake, according to many medical journals…not really. But if you are so inclined, head to the International Coffee Hour to explore Boulder’s international community as well as many American students who have studied abroad and want to re-kindle old or develop new friendships. Previously I mentioned over 50 students attended each week, however, I have been reliably informed that over 300 people attend the coffee hour each week. The coffee starts brewing at 4 p.m. Click here for more information about International Coffee Hour. Unbelievabubble Boulder. If you are truly looking for the most Boulder-like alternative to studying, then this event occurring on the 1300 block of Pearl is the one for you. I am not kidding when I say that they will be handing out free bubble wrap which you can pop, accompanied by free bubbles, which you can either blow or pop! Not your usual Friday afternoon but a sure fire way to experience the creativity and exuberance of Boulder culture. The bubbles start blowing at 4 p.m. More information on the Unbelievabubble Boulder can be found here. Saturday, May 2 Boulder Farmer’s Market. Up for grabs are fruits, vegetables, meat and other tasty treats grown and made here in the local area. The famer’s market is always a great place to eat great food and enjoy the best people-watching exhibit America has to offer. Escape the clutches of fluorescent lighting and head down to 13th street on the corner of Canyon for a well-deserved break. More information on the Boulder Farmer's market and its vendors is available here. Monday, May 4 Late Night Breakfast in the UMC. If you’re looking for a reprieve from studying, and an opportunity for a free meal during the stresses of Finals Week, then come down to the UMC’s annual late night breakfast. This semester, in celebration of Star Wars Day, there will be a variety of Star Wars related activities happening throughout the UMC beginning at 8 p.m. The free breakfast will be served in the Alfred Packer Grill from 10 to 11 p.m. Click here for more information about the Late Night Breakfast event. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student Advisory Board seeking applicants
The Dean of Students office is seeking applications for its Student Advisory Board. Students who are passionate about the quality of student life and the co-curricular student experience at CU-Boulder are invited to apply. The Student Advisory Board offers opportunities for students to provide counsel to the Dean of Students and to assist in the development of programs and activities. The Board’s primary goal is to provide advice to the Dean of Students on pressing student issues. Monthly meetings encourage discussion on new initiatives and emergent issues, and occasionally an issue may arise that may require an urgent ad hoc meeting. Advisory board members will improve and enhance their interpersonal skills, develop strong leadership skills and meet and network with students, faculty, administrators, alumni and other members of the community. Responsibilities of DOS Student Advisory Board Members include: Ability to attend a mandatory full day orientation on Saturday, Aug. 29 Attend scheduled monthly meetings and ad hoc meetings Be interested in finding ways to inform student-focused change within the CU-Boulder community  Be knowledgeable about the issues facing students and/or willing to discuss issues with other students  Desire to bring a unique perspective and voice to the table  Student Eligibility All interested CU-Boulder students in good academic standing who will be present and enrolled for both fall and spring semesters of 2015-16, who are engaged in the campus community and interested in looking for ways to inform student-focused change within the CU community are encouraged to apply. We are seeking a broad representation of CU students. Applicants must be available to attend monthly meetings held on the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30 to 7 p.m. *Exception is September when the first meeting will be held on Sept. 16 and January when the meeting will be held Jan. 20 .  The application deadline is May 18, 2015,  at 5 p.m. All eligible students may apply by sending an email to deanofstudents@colorado.edu indicating DOS Advisory Board in the subject line. The email should include:  A completed DOS Advisory Board application A copy of your resumé var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


The Dean of Students' Student Advisory Board seeking applicants
The Dean of Students office is seeking applications for its Student Advisory Board. We are looking for students who are passionate about the quality of student life and the co-curricular student experience at CU. The Student Advisory Board offers opportunities for students to provide counsel to the Dean of Students and to assist in the development of programs and activities. The Board’s primary goal is to provide advice to the Dean of Students on pressing student issues. Monthly meetings encourage discussion on new initiatives and emergent issues, and occasionally an issue may arise that may require an urgent ad hoc meeting. Advisory board members will improve and enhance their interpersonal skills, develop strong leadership skills and meet and network with students, faculty, administrators, alumni and other members of the community. Responsibilities of DOS Student Advisory Board Members include: Ability to attend a mandatory full day orientation on Saturday, Aug. 29 Attend scheduled monthly meetings and ad hoc meetings Be interested in finding ways to inform student-focused change within the CU-Boulder community  Be knowledgeable about the issues facing students and/or willing to discuss issues with other students  Desire to bring a unique perspective and voice to the table  Student Eligibility All interested CU-Boulder students in good academic standing who will be present and enrolled for both fall and spring semesters of 2015-16, who are engaged in the campus community and interested in looking for ways to inform student-focused change within the CU community are encouraged to apply. We are seeking a broad representation of CU students. Applicants must be available to attend monthly meetings held on the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30 to 7 p.m. *Exception is September when the first meeting will be held on Sept. 16 and January when the meeting will be held Jan. 20 .  The application deadline is May 18, 2015,  at 5 p.m. All eligible students may apply by sending an email to deanofstudents@colorado.edu indicating DOS Advisory Board in the subject line. The email should include:  A completed DOS Advisory Board application A copy of your resumé var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New study links drinking behaviors with mortality
A new University of Colorado Boulder study involving some 40,000 people indicates that social and psychological problems caused by drinking generally trump physically hazardous drinking behaviors when it comes to overall mortality rates. The study showed, for instance, that participants who had experienced an intervention by physicians, family members or friends had a 67 percent greater risk of death over the 18-year study period, said sociology Professor Richard Rogers, lead study author. Those who reported cutting down on social or sports activities because of alcohol use had a 46 percent higher risk of death over the same period. In contrast, issues like driving after drinking too much or engaging in other physically risky behaviors did not result in a significant uptick in mortality rates, he said. The new study also showed social risks of drinking -- from losing jobs to having spouses threaten to leave -- were equally or more strongly linked to mortality than physiological consequences of alcohol abuse like withdrawal jitters or becoming physically ill, said Rogers, also a faculty member at CU-Boulder’s Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS). One of the most unexpected findings was that of those who identified themselves as light drinkers -- consuming less than one drink a day -- 48 percent reported having some problem with alcohol in the 12 months prior to the survey. “This was a little surprising to us,” said Rogers, who directs the CU Population Program within IBS. “Overall, light drinking has been shown to be slightly beneficial from a health standpoint, and we didn’t think those people would run into too many overall problems.” A paper on the subject by Rogers, CU-Boulder sociology Professor Jason Boardman and doctoral students Philip Pendergast and Elizabeth Lawrence was recently published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Boardman, Pendergast and Lawrence also are affiliated with the CU Population Center and IBS. The CU-Boulder research team used data collected in 1988 as part of the National Health Interview Study sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study looked at the drinking habits of roughly 40,000 people across the nation, including 41 specific drinking problems. The researchers had access to information about which respondents died between the time of the survey and 2006. The research data allowed the CU-Boulder team to investigate the mortality associated with 41 separate drinking problems including drinking more than intended, unsuccessfully trying to cut back, driving a car after drinking too much, losing ties with friends and family, missing work with hangovers, drinking more to get the same effect, depression and arrests. Rogers said there was substantial variation in drinking problems, noting that among drinkers at the time of the study, 23 percent started drinking without intending to, 20 percent drank longer than expected and 25 percent experienced a strong urge to drink. For those who experienced a strong urge to drink over the past year, 19 percent were light drinkers, 40 percent were moderate drinkers and 57 percent were heavy drinkers. The study was supported in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded CU Population Center.   Some other statistics from the study: Current drinkers who found it difficult to stop once they started had a 15 percent higher risk of death over the follow-up period; those who acknowledged going on a drinking bender during the past 12 months had a 54 percent higher mortality rate; and those who blacked out during the previous 12 months prior to the assessment had a 22 percent higher mortality rate over the 18-year study period. The new study also showed those who reported attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the past year had a 45 percent higher risk of mortality, said Rogers. But those results likely are somewhat misleading in that some of those people could have recently have been diagnosed as alcoholics or were more likely to have severe health, social or legal problems, including required AA attendance. In addition, those who reported attending AA might have had increased risk of mortality due to smoking or may have had other substance abuse problems, he said. “AA is undoubtedly helping some people,” said Rogers. “I think this part of the study is capturing participants who also may have had alcohol-related work problems, substance abuse problems or were mandated to go to AA because of legal issues.” The study included participants 21 years of age and older. The statistics came from face-to-face surveys administered by trained U.S. Census Bureau employees. “What this study really shows is that researchers and policymakers need to look at the nuanced complexities tied to alcohol consumption,” said Rogers. “Alcohol consumption does not have a clear dose-response relationship like smoking, for instance. We have seen that alcohol does have a benefit at low levels in some cases, but it also can create social problems for some individuals who are only light to moderate drinkers.” Contact:Richard Rogers, 303-492-2147richard.rogers@colorado.eduJim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“What this study really shows is that researchers and policymakers need to look at the nuanced complexities tied to alcohol consumption,” aid sociology Professor Richard Rogers, lead study author. “Alcohol consumption does not have a clear dose-response relationship like smoking, for instance. We have seen that alcohol does have a benefit at low levels in some cases, but it also can create social problems for some individuals who are only light to moderate drinkers.”Social Sciences, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder appoints Brian Domitrovic as third Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy
The University of Colorado Boulder has appointed Brian Domitrovic as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the 2015-16 academic year. He is the third person to be appointed to the position. Domitrovic holds a PhD in history from Harvard University, where he also did graduate work in the department of economics.  He earned his bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, studying history and mathematics.  Steven R. Leigh, dean of the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences, praised Domitrovic as a historian and economist.   “He has impressive access to many primary historical materials of direct relevance to contemporary policy issues,” Leigh said. “We look forward to dynamic and productive engagement with our students, faculty and broader community.” An associate professor and chair of the department of history at Sam Houston State University, he has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications.  At CU-Boulder next fall, Domitrovic will teach an upper-division course in economics, “American Economic History,” and a lower-division course called “Great Books” in the Center for Western Civilization. Additionally, he will foster discussion by hosting public events on campus and speaking around the state. Domitrovic said the university’s Conservative Thought and Policy initiative “has brought one of this country’s great intellectual traditions to the forefront of academic discussion and consideration.” In the classroom in the coming year, Domitrovic hopes to address vexing problems in economic thought. “For example: Is the choice really such a stark one as that between individualism and big government? For years, conservatives have held that individualism is as much a phantom as the all-knowing state,” he said. “By all means, it is a top priority to coax the state back into a mode of smallness,” he said. “But as that occurs, a process will develop whereby persons will grow in freedom out of the narrow individualism that in many respects is engendered by the soulless qualities of big government, which is individualism’s foil. “I hope to encourage good discussions on the very prosperous possibilities of not the ‘third way,’ but the ‘second way,’ away from the combination of big government with I’ll-get-mine individualism.” He is the author of Econoclasts: the Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity. In the coming year, he plans to publish more, “above all a book I have co-authored with Larry Kudlow of CNBC-TV, JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity.” Domitrovic describes this book as a history of the John F. Kennedy tax cut of 1964, its origin, context and influence. “It is as well a history of the wellspring of that most halcyon era of American prosperity—the post-World War II era—and an account of how government-shrinking policy has consistently proven a prerequisite to real economic growth across the decades and centuries.” Domitrovic writes a weekly column at Forbes.com under the byline Past & Present. His blog is Supply-Side Economics Today. Domitrovic lives in Texas with his wife and children. For several months, an advisory committee has worked to identify candidates for the visiting-scholar position. The committee has sought a “highly visible” scholar who is “deeply engaged in either the analytical scholarship or practice of conservative thinking and policymaking or both.” The advisory committee includes five faculty members and five community members. Keith Maskus, economics professor of distinction at the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences, chairs the committee. Non-university committee members include David Pyle, founder and CEO of American Career College; Mike Rosen, longtime radio host on AM 850 KOA and Denver Post columnist and political commentator; Bob Greenlee, former Boulder City Council member and mayor and current president of Centennial Investment & Management Company Inc.; CU President Emeritus Hank Brown; and Earl Wright, CEO of AMG National Trust Bank. CU-Boulder faculty members on the committee include David S. Brown, professor and chair of political science; Daniel Kaffine, associate professor of economics; Benjamin Hale, associate professor of philosophy and environmental studies; and Elizabeth Fenn, associate professor and chair of history. Maskus said Domitrovic has quickly risen to the top rank of conservative commentators on American fiscal and monetary policy.  “His work on the supply-side revolution in the Reagan years is widely praised for its precision and depth. We’re really fortunate to attract Professor Domitrovic here and to have him teaching our students,” Maskus said. The Conservative Thought and Policy Program was launched in fall 2013 with the appointment of Steven Hayward as the inaugural visiting scholar in the 2013-14 academic year. Bradley Birzer was appointed as the second scholar for 2014-15. The Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy is a pilot program supported by private funds. More than 20 donors have raised $1 million to support the program. Contact: Steven R. Leigh, 303-492-7294steven.leigh@colorado.edu Brian Domitrovic, 936-294-1474bfd015@gmail.com Bronson Hilliard, 303-735-6183 Clint Talbott, 303-492-6111   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Brian Domitrovic (Photo courtesy of Brian Domitrovic)


Statement from Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano on the safe return of Tyler Allen
On behalf of the entire CU-Boulder community, I am pleased that CU-Boulder student Berry Tyler Allen is safe and has returned to Boulder. My thanks to all the volunteers who worked with Mr. and Mrs. Allen to search for Tyler; the Boulder Police, who the led the investigation into his disappearance, and the CU staff and Boulder community members who have supported his family during this ordeal. The campus and Boulder communities rose to the occasion to support one of our own and demonstrated the care and commitment that defines our university. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Seeking feedback on CU-Boulder accessibility policy
As part of the campus initiative to improve and create a sustainable culture of digital accessibility, a campus policy and set of standards have been drafted and are available for campus review. The policy and standards reinforce CU-Boulder’s commitment to ensuring all students, faculty, and staff are effectively able to achieve their academic and professional goals and aspirations, and lays the groundwork for a program that ensures the digital campus experience is more usable and accessible for all. Please submit feedback via the feedback form. Save The Date: Town Hall Meetings  This summer, Dan Jones, Chief Digital Accessibility Officer (CDAO), will be hosting town hall meetings to educate campus about the progress and future of accessibility of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In these meetings Dan will provide an overview of the program, guidance on how to make your IT resources more accessible and an opportunity for questions and answers. Mark your calendars for one of the following dates: East Campus: Friday, June 5 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. in Computing Center 123 Main Campus: Wednesday, June 10 from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. in Regent 302 With support and guidance from all of you, we will create a nationally recognized culture of digital accessibility. For more information about Accessible Technology at CU-Boulder, please visit the Accessible Technology website.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


MyCUInfo being redesigned for ease-of-use
On April 30, MyCUInfo will undergo an update to make it easier for faculty, staff and students to find the information and resources that they use most. The biggest difference you’ll notice is that the portal will no longer have a Welcome tab where campus messages were posted. Instead, right up front you will have direct access to the information you use most. Most pages will also move from a three-column format to a two-column one. Also the student schedule view is now in a calendar format rather than a list format. If you hold multiple roles on the CU-Boulder campus—for instance you are a student and a student employee—you will still see both student and employee views just as you did before the MyCUInfo redesign. To learn more about the MyCUInfo redesign, please visit OIT News. If you have questions about the MyCUInfo redesign, please contact the IT Service Center at help@colorado.edu or call 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from a campus phone). var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Mountains warming faster than expected as climate changes, scientists report
An international team of scientists is calling for urgent and rigorous monitoring of temperature patterns in mountain regions after compiling evidence that high elevations could be warming faster than previously thought. Without substantially better information, people risk underestimating the severity of a number of already looming environmental challenges, including water shortages and the possible extinction of some alpine flora and fauna, according to the research team, which includes Henry Diaz and Imtiaz Rangwala from CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Both researchers are part of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The team’s report is published in the journal Nature Climate Change. “There is growing evidence that high mountain regions are warming faster than lower elevations and such warming can accelerate many other environmental changes such as glacial melt and vegetation change,” said lead author, Nick Pepin of the University of Portsmouth. But scientists urgently need more and better data to confirm this, because there are so few observations from 11,000 feet or higher, he and his co-authors said. “It’s understandable. Mountains are difficult to study, they are remote and often inaccessible, and it is expensive and often challenging to find ways of effectively monitoring what is happening,” Pepin said. “Mountains are also very complicated landscapes, and have a wide variety of microclimates which makes it hard to see the overall picture.” The most striking evidence that mountain regions are warming more rapidly than surrounding regions comes from the Tibetan plateau, according to the new paper. There, temperatures have risen steadily over the past 50 years and the rate of change is speeding up. But masked by this general climate warming are pronounced differences at different elevations. For example, over the past 20 years temperatures above 13,000 ft (4,000 m) have risen nearly 75 percent faster than temperatures in areas below 6,500 ft (2,000 m).  The picture is more complicated in other regions. In the Rocky Mountains, for example, there are so few data that reach back more than a decade, researchers have not been able to make broad conclusions about warming trends at various altitudes, said CIRES’ Diaz. However sparse, existing monitoring has been a huge help to scientists trying to understand how various physical processes act to change climate at high altitudes, said Rangwala. Records of weather patterns at high altitudes are “extremely sparse,” the researchers found. The density of weather stations above 4,500 m is roughly one-tenth that in areas below that elevation. Long-term data, crucial for detecting patterns, doesn’t yet exist above 5,000 m anywhere in the world. The longest observations above this elevation are 10 years on the summit of Kilimanjaro. The team of scientists came together as part of the Mountain Research Initiative, a mountain global change research effort funded by the Swiss National Foundation. The team includes scientists from the UK, United States, Switzerland, Canada, Ecuador, Pakistan, China, Italy, Austria and Kazakhstan. Between them, they have studied data on mountain temperatures worldwide collected over the past 60-70 years. Improved observations, satellite-based remote sensing and climate model simulations are all needed to gain a true picture of warming in mountain regions, said Raymond Bradley, a climatologist at the University of Massachusetts and one of the report’s co-authors. “We are calling for special efforts to be made to extend scientific observations upwards to the highest summits to capture richer data on what is happening across the world’s mountains,” Bradley said. “We also need a strong effort to find, collate and evaluate observational data that already exists wherever it is in the world. This requires international collaboration.” The world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, stands at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). More than 250 other mountains, including Mount Elbrus in Russia, Denali in Alaska, Mount Aconcagua in Argentina and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa also all top the 5,000-meter (16,000-feet) mark. Contacts:  ?      Imtiaz Rangwala, CIRES scientist in NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, imtiaz.rangwala@noaa.gov, (303)497-6544 ?      Henry Diaz, CIRES scientist in NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, Henry.F.Diaz@noaa.gov ?      Katy Human, kathleen.human@colorado.edu, 303-735-0196Research, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: At 12,218 feet, Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. An international team of scientists, including two from CIRES, is calling for better monitoring of temperature patterns in Earth's highest altitude regions because of compelling evidence that these places are warming faster than others. Photo by Birgit Hassler, CIRES/NOAA


CU-Boulder announces Shakespeare First Folio 2016 exhibition dates
The University of Colorado Boulder, recently named Colorado’s host for the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare national tour, is pleased to announce the First Folio exhibition will be open to the public at the CU Art Museum Aug. 8-31 in 2016. First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare will tour all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, beginning in January 2016. A full list of host sites and tour dates is available at www.folger.edu. The First Folio will be opened to the most quoted line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “to be or not to be.” A multi-panel exhibition exploring Shakespeare’s impact, then and now, will be accompanied by digital content and interactive activities. “This exhibit is an opportunity to bring the campus’s expertise together with community talents and the creative energies of students to explore the world of Shakespeare,” said Deborah Hollis, an associate professor from University Libraries at CU-Boulder. “The citizens of Colorado will be in for a treat with musical, artistic and literary performances and public lectures.”  Creative programming for all ages will explore topics such as comic books, Elizabethan food, and the music, art and science of Shakespeare’s time. The First Folio exhibit and additional programming are being planned by the CU Art Museum, the University Libraries, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and faculty from English, history and theatre and dance.  The First Folio is the first complete collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 seven years after his death. Compiled by two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors, it preserves 36 of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, we would not have 18 of those plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra. “The majority of the work produced by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival is from the First Folio and we are thrilled at the prospect of having it on campus,” said Timothy Orr, producing artistic director for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. “To be able to see the original source of our work, and learn more about it from our partnering campus colleagues, will be really exciting.” Thanks to the First Folio, generations have experienced Shakespeare’s lasting influence on language, culture, theater, music, education and more. There are 233 known copies in the world today, with 82 copies held by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. One of the most valuable printed books in the world, a First Folio sold for $6.2 million in 2001 at Christie’s and another one for $5.2 million in 2006 in London. It originally sold for one British pound (20 shillings)—about $200 today. “At the Folger Shakespeare Library, we’re looking forward to taking the books out of our vaults in 2016 and on the road,” said library Director Michael Witmore. “We’re excited to see the many different ways that communities across the country will be celebrating Shakespeare—in performances, poetry slams, lectures and more.” First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and by the generous support of Google.org and Vinton and Sigrid Cerf. Opportunities are available to sponsor this major exhibition and the Folger’s other Wonder of Will programs commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Learn more at www.folger.edu. About Folger Shakespeare Library Folger Shakespeare Library is a world-renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. It is home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period (1500-1750). The Folger is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; an innovator in the preservation of rare materials; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K–12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs—theatre, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. Learn more at www.folger.edu.  About the American Library Association The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with approximately 58,000 members in academic, public, school, government and special libraries. The mission of the American Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all. ALA’s Public Programs Office provides leadership, resources, training and networking opportunities that help thousands of librarians nationwide develop and host cultural programs for adult, young adult and family audiences. The mission of the ALA Public Programs Office is to promote cultural programming as an essential part of library service in all types of libraries. Projects include book and film discussion series, literary and cultural programs featuring authors and artists, professional development opportunities and traveling exhibitions. School, public, academic and special libraries nationwide benefit from the office’s programming initiatives. Additional information can be found at www.ala.org/programming. About the National Endowment for the Humanities Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov. Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115 Jessica Brunecky, CU Art Museum, 303-492-3008 Lauren Calkins, University Libraries, 303-492-8302  Arts & Humanities var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Title page of the First Folio (Photo courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library)


Faculty, students celebrate Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th anniversary
University of Colorado Boulder astronomers, who helped design and build instruments for and have made hundreds of observations using the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch, are celebrating the observatory’s 25th anniversary. Former CU-Boulder Senior Research Associate Jack Brandt, now retired, led the science team for the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph, one of eight instruments aboard Hubble when it launched April 24, 1990. In 2009, during the final Hubble servicing mission, astronauts installed the $70 million Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), designed by a team led by Professor James Green of CU-Boulder’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy and which included 14 CU-Boulder astronomers. COS was built primarily by Ball Aerospace Systems Group of Boulder. The powerful spectrograph gathers information from ultraviolet light emanating from distant objects like galaxies and quasars to allow scientists to look out into deep space and back in time to reconstruct the physical condition and evolution of the early universe, said Green. The telephone-booth-sized COS is helping scientists better understand the “cosmic web” of material believed to permeate the universe. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years,” said CU-Boulder Professor Michael Shull, a co-investigator on COS and faculty member at CASA. “CU-Boulder not only had a huge role in building Hubble, but also in using it.” The COS science team received 552 orbits of observing time with the observatory, which included use by both graduate and undergraduate students.  Both Shull and Green also are faculty members in CU-Boulder’s Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. COS astronomers use distant quasars as “flashlights” to track light as it passes through the cosmic web of long, narrow filaments of galaxies and intergalactic gas separated by enormous voids, said Green. Astrophysicists have theorized that a single cosmic web filament may stretch for hundreds of millions of light-years, an astonishing length considering a single light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles. Light absorbed by material in the cosmic web is revealing “fingerprints” of matter like hydrogen, helium and heavier elements, allowing scientists to build up a picture of how the gases are distributed and how matter has changed over time as the universe has aged, Green said. The spectrograph breaks light into its individual components much like a prism, revealing the temperature, density, velocity, distance and chemical composition of galaxies, stars and gas clouds, said Shull. The team has chosen hundreds of astronomical targets in all directions of space, which will allow them to build a picture of the way matter is organized in the universe on a grand scale, Shull said. In 2012, a CASA-led team used Hubble to uncover a cluster of galaxies in the initial stages of construction -- the most distant such grouping ever observed in the early universe. In a random sky survey made in near-infrared light, Hubble spied five small galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years away. They are among the brightest galaxies at that epoch and very young, living just 600 million years after the universe’s birth in the Big Bang. In the last several years, the same CU-Boulder team used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to discover and catalog nearly 100 distant galaxies that formed in the first 500 million years after the Big Bang, said Shull. “We are hoping for five more good years with Hubble,” said Shull, who noted that in addition to two new instruments, the orbiting observatory had new batteries and gyroscopes installed during the 2009 servicing mission. The hope by astronomers is that Hubble will continue to operate at least until the scheduled 2018 launch of NASA’s James Webb Telescope, which will be the most powerful orbiting observatory ever. The Hubble Space Telescope is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. For more information on Hubble visit http://hubblesite.org/. For more information on CU-Boulder’s CASA visit http://casa.colorado.edu/. Contact: Jim Green, 303-492-7645james.green@colorado.edu Michael Shull, 303-492-7827michael.shull@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relationsjim.scott@colorado.edu“It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years,” said Professor Michael Shull, a co-investigator on COS and faculty member at CU-Boulder’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy. “CU-Boulder not only had a huge role in building Hubble, but also in using it.”Natural Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Hubble Space Telescope (Illustration credit: European Space Agency)  


Continued business growth anticipated for Colorado in upcoming quarters, says CU-Boulder report
With an increase in business filings in Colorado through the first quarter of 2015 -- including new and renewing entities and trade names -- employment in the state is expected to keep growing during the second and third quarters of the year, according to a University of Colorado Boulder report released today by Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams. The quarterly indicators report, prepared by CU-Boulder’s Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, uses data from the secretary of state’s central business registry. During the first quarter of 2015 a total of 28,115 new businesses formed, up from 26,523 during the same period in 2014. “Coloradans continue to drive our economy upward by adding their ideas to the marketplace,” said Williams. “Our small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities and their growth is encouraging.” Colorado recorded 103,719 new entities during the 12-month period ending in March, up from 102,127 new entities recorded in the 12-month period ending in December 2014. “Despite a drop in employment in Colorado from February to March, other indicators continue to point to a very healthy economy,” said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of CU-Boulder’s Business Research Division. “While new business filings remain impressive, the employment outlook is dampening slightly for 2015.” Existing entity renewals spiked in the first quarter of 2015 at a record 126,282, up from 107,848 in the fourth quarter of last year. Domestic limited liability companies represented the greatest increase in renewals among existing entities. The number of Colorado entities in good standing went up in the first quarter to 571,386, a 7 percent increase compared with the same time in 2014.  Visit the secretary of state’s website at http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/quarterlyReports/index.html to view current and past reports or to sign up to receive reports by email. Contact: Richard Wobbekind, Leeds School, 303-492-1147richard.wobbekind@colorado.edu Brian Lewandowski, Leeds School, 303-492-3307brian.lewandowski@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu Tim Griesmer, Colo. Dept. of State, 303-860-6903tim.griesmer@sos.state.co.usBusiness var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Getting better all the time: JILA strontium atomic clock sets new records
NIST news release In another advance at the far frontiers of timekeeping by National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado Boulder researchers, the latest modification of a record-setting strontium atomic clock has achieved precision and stability levels that now mean the clock would neither gain nor lose one second in some 15 billion years—roughly the age of the universe. Precision timekeeping has broad potential impacts on advanced communications, positioning technologies (such as GPS) and many other technologies. Besides keeping future technologies on schedule, the clock has potential applications that go well beyond simply marking time. Examples include a sensitive altimeter based on changes in gravity and experiments that explore quantum correlations between atoms. As described in Nature Communications, the experimental strontium lattice clock at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and CU-Boulder located on the CU campus, is now more than three times as precise as it was last year, when it set the previous world record. Precision refers to how closely the clock approaches the true resonant frequency at which the strontium atoms oscillate between two electronic energy levels. The clock's stability—how closely each tick matches every other tick—also has been improved by almost 50 percent, another world record. The JILA clock is now good enough to measure tiny changes in the passage of time and the force of gravity at slightly different heights. Einstein predicted these effects in his theories of relativity, which mean, among other things, that clocks tick faster at higher elevations. Many scientists have demonstrated this, but with less sensitive techniques. "Our performance means that we can measure the gravitational shift when you raise the clock just 2 centimeters on the Earth's surface," JILA/NIST Fellow Jun Ye says. "I think we are getting really close to being useful for relativistic geodesy." Ye also is an adjoint professor of physics at CU-Boulder. Relativistic geodesy is the idea of using a network of clocks as gravity sensors to make precise 3D measurements of the shape of the Earth. Ye agrees with other experts that, when clocks can detect a gravitational shift at 1 centimeter differences in height—just a tad better than current performance—they could be used to achieve more frequent geodetic updates than are possible with conventional technologies such as tidal gauges and gravimeters. In the JILA/NIST clock, a few thousand atoms of strontium are held in an "optical lattice," a 30-by-30 micrometer column of about 400 pancake-shaped regions formed by intense laser light. JILA and NIST scientists detect strontium's "ticks" (430 trillion per second) by bathing the atoms in very stable red laser light at the exact frequency that prompts the switch between energy levels. The JILA group made the latest improvements with the help of researchers at NIST's Maryland headquarters and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI). Those researchers contributed improved measurements and calculations to reduce clock errors related to heat from the surrounding environment, called blackbody radiation. The electric field associated with the blackbody radiation alters the atoms' response to laser light, adding uncertainty to the measurement if not controlled. To help measure and maintain the atoms' thermal environment, NIST's Wes Tew and Greg Strouse calibrated two platinum resistance thermometers, which were installed in the clock's vacuum chamber in Colorado. Researchers also built a radiation shield to surround the atom chamber, which allowed clock operation at room temperature rather than much colder, cryogenic temperatures. "The clock operates at normal room temperature," Ye notes. "This is actually one of the strongest points of our approach, in that we can operate the clock in a simple and normal configuration while keeping the blackbody radiation shift uncertainty at a minimum." In addition, JQI theorist Marianna Safronova used the quantum theory of atomic structure to calculate the frequency shift due to blackbody radiation, enabling the JILA team to better correct for the error. Overall, the clock's improved performance tracks NIST scientists' expectations for this area of research, as described in "A New Era in Atomic Clocks" at www.nist.gov/pml/div688/2013_1_17_newera_atomicclocks.cfm. The JILA research is supported by NIST, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation. Contact: Laura Ost, 303-497-4880laura.ost@nist.gov    Natural Sciences, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: JILA's strontium lattice atomic clock now performs better than ever because scientists literally "take the temperature" of the atoms' environment. Two specialized thermometers, calibrated by NIST researchers and visible in the center of the photo, are inserted into the vacuum chamber containing a cloud of ultracold strontium atoms confined by lasers. Credit: Marti/JILA


Faculty in Focus No. 14: The costume technologist
Ted Stark did not set out to be a costume-maker. While he likes to say that the profession actually chose him, it’s been a good fit for Stark. Stark is senior instructor of costume technology in CU-Boulder’s Department of Theatre and Dance and the costume shop manager. As a costume technologist, Stark takes a costume designer’s two-dimensional idea and transforms it into a three-dimensional reality. When constructing a costume from a sketch, he considers body type, fabric, period and silhouette, as well as whether the choreography calls for activities like dancing or fighting onstage. “I look at clothes in a geometric and physical way,” says Stark, who has been with CU-Boulder for 15 years. “You have to think about the way costumes move through space and react to gravity. There are many variables in theater and performance that change from moment to moment.” Motivated by performance and the theater during college, Stark developed a career as a costume technologist after Stark worked in a theater costume shop at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Stark began his professional career as a costume technologist for the Santa Fe Opera and has worked for the Los Angeles Opera and for national companies of Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Civil War. He also runs his own company building costumes for Broadway shows, with the help of student employees. When asked if he considers himself an artist, Stark is emphatic: “Absolutely! A designer can draw the worst design in the world, but if you have a good production team to make the garment, you can still have a beautiful costume on stage.” An instructor of courses in costume construction, Stark wants his students to learn transferrable hands-on skills and to be able to think independently. He strives to not just inspire and motivate his students, but to mentor them to “be better humans.” “In our culture, students who are a product of the No Child Left Behind Act have never done anything with their hands,” says Stark. “They’ve been taught that everything in their lives is about facts and testing. Some students panic when they have to actually make something.” Connecting with students on a personal level is important to Stark. When he was in college and trying to figure out his identity, there was no one he felt comfortable talking to about his struggle to fit in. As a result, he strives to be a sounding board for students who come to him wanting to talk about their own lives. “I am gay,” says Stark. “There’s no two ways about it. So the question of whether it plays into who I am as an individual is a little absurd, because it just is who I am. I certainly don’t announce what my sexuality is in the classroom, but I’m also not shy about it. “Without a doubt the most rewarding part of my job are the relationships I develop with my students,” he says. “More than anything, I hope students take away from their time with me an ability to relate with people in a compassionate and positive way.”  Arts & HumanitiesDepartment of Theatre and Dance var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Boulder police searching for missing CU-Boulder student
Boulder police are searching for 20-year-old Berry Tyler Allen, a University of Colorado Boulder student who was reported missing by his parents on April 18, 2015. The student goes by the name of Tyler. He was last seen on April 11, 2015, and he last communicated with friends via text message on April 16, 2015. He doesn’t own a vehicle or a bicycle. Click here to view photos of Allen. He is described as: White male 140 pounds Blonde hair Blue eyes The case number is 15-4714. Boulder police are actively investigating Allen’s disappearance and are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact Detective Sarah Cantu at 303-441-4328. Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-444-3776. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 from Crime Stoppers. A Facebook page Find Tyler has also been set up to help with the search effort. According to the page, community members are invited to join a trail search at Chautauqua Park on Wednesday, April 22. Check the Facebook page for more details. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: April 21 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. We’re almost there! Graduation beckons for many of us, and a summer filled with opportunities and exploration is in the cards for those of you continuing your education next autumn. I’ll refrain from discussing the onslaught that awaits us in the coming weeks, as the path best walked is one of pure ignorance, at least in my humble opinion. However, there is still plenty of fun to be had before we all depart onto the next chapter of our lives. This week is Be Boulder. Week, and as such, campus is alit with chances to proclaim your love for our hallowed school. As well as celebrating school pride, campus is serving up multiple opportunities for you to meet new people and get involved in your preferred area of campus life. Join your fellow Herd members at a Rockies game, head to Macky Auditorium in order to watch the Boulder Philharmonic or attend the Moonlit Masquerade and brush up on the latest fashion trends modeled by your fellow CU students, I don’t remember getting asked to model though – shame, my version of “blue steel” is legendary.  Wednesday, April 22 CU Environmental Center’s 7th Annual Fashion Swap. This Wednesday, the Environmental Center is offering you the opportunity to explore the world of fashion swapping, which involves the trading of garments in order to freshen up and reinvigorate your wardrobe. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely any Common Projects Low-Tops will make an appearance in the swap pile, but you never know. There could be anything from Vans to Visvim up for grabs. This will take place as part of Earth Day events on campus; the swap will occur on the Terrace of the UMC from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information is available on the Events Calendar. Rooted: Open Mic. The Dennis Small Cultural Center’s weekly “Rooted” program is offering an Open Mic this week. If you are an aspiring musician or singer, this is a great opportunity to practice your skills in a nerve and judgement free environment. Anything from poetry, short stories and other performance pieces are all welcomed. There will be a free dinner and the Open Mic starts at 4:30 p.m. in UMC 457. More information on their website. Thursday, April 23 Yoga, Nature Cure and “Perfect” Health.  In true Boulder tradition, the Center for Asian Studies is presenting a talk on the tradition of Yoga. Many of us practice the art of Yoga, but do we understand its traditions and historical significance to Indian and subsequently our own culture? Joseph Alter searches for the answers to these questions and frames yoga within the framework of personal health in this interesting discussion. This talk will take place in Eaton Humanities 150 and begins at 6:30 p.m. More information on the Events Calendar. Friday, April 24 International Coffee Hour. Thinking about studying or travelling abroad? Why not experience how international students at CU have enjoyed studying and travelling abroad at the International Coffee Hour. Enjoy free coffee supplied by Baby Doe’s and come meet and socialize with over 50 students, each with their own unique background, languages and cultures to share. International Coffee Hour is a recurring event that takes place each week in the UMC in the seating area opposite the Alfred Packer Grill at 4 p.m.  More information here. Sexpressions.  As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Women’s Resource Center is holding a talent show, with performances that will showcase positive expressions of women’s sexuality. In addition to performances, there will be free food, dance contests and other activities, all performed in a safe, sex-positive and affirming environment. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. More information the Events Calendar. College Night at the Rockies. Join the CU Herd as they take you and your fellow Buffs to watch the Rockies battle with the San Francisco Giants. Unless you are busy watching England play the West Indies in the original bat and ball game, head down to the Blake Street Tavern for a pre-game reception at 4 p.m., with the first pitch being thrown at 6:40 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $15 through the Herd’s website, and RTD’s Ride to the Rockies leaves every 10-30 minutes from Boulder. Get more information on the event, tickets and the game on the Herd’s website. Saturday, April 25 Moonlit Masquerade: A Fashion show. The Fashion Design Student Association is serving up a showcase for their designer’s hard work. The show will include a runway type exhibit of handmade dresses and other garments, all modelled by your fellow CU students. The show will take place in Kittredge Commons and begins at 7 p.m. More information on the Events Calendar.   Boulder Philharmonic. This concert series comes to an eventful conclusion as the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra performs Legendary Virtuosity with Cellist Zuill Bailey. I won’t pretend to have heard of this performance or its protagonists, but I am a sucker for live orchestral performances in spite of my musical illiteracy. If you haven’t yet had such an experience with live classical music, I urge you to make your way to Macky this Saturday. Tickets are $5 for students and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. More information on the Events Calendar. Bella Gaia: Beautiful Earth. Bella Gaia is a globally recognized immersive experience created by award-winning director, composer and violinist Kenji Williams. The multimedia show combines high fidelity imagery of the Earth from space, data visualizations and stirring live performances of music and dance from around the world, threaded by an orbiting flight path and stunning NASA imagery from the International Space Station. Tickets are $7 for students and the show will take place this Saturday beginning at 9 p.m. More information and tickets purchases can be made on Fiske’s website. Sunday, April 26 Nepal Night 2015. The Nepalese Student Association features their annual Nepal Night, which is a night filled with music and unique performances that celebrate Nepali culture. This is free for CU students and will feature a performance by 1974 AD, a world famous Nepali fusion rock band. For more information visit the Events Calendar or visit the NSA’s Facebook page. As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Chancellor's Corner: Reporting Bias Motivated Incidents, a call to action
This week when you walk around campus, you might see a series of posters asking you to report Bias Motivated Incidents (BMI’s). The posters, which are part of a CU-Boulder student-led campaign, use very graphic language to bring attention to the need to report acts of bias on our campus. What ought to offend here is not the language on the posters, but the language that is used in perpetuating acts of racism, ethnic intimidation, homophobia and other acts of bias in our campus community. In fact, the quotes on the posters are taken from reports of incidents that have occurred within the Boulder and campus communities.  From hateful messages written on white boards outside of residence hall rooms, to slurs uttered at parties or in public places on and off campus, to physical threats implied or stated directly, BMI’s not only intimidate individuals, they threaten whole communities and classes of people – people who are our classmates, colleagues, friends and welcome members of our community. That is why I am joining the students in asking you to report these incidents by visiting www.colorado.edu/reportit, so we can provide support services and administrative action as appropriate. We also want to track the frequency of violent and non-violent BMI’s to be able to respond to victims with support, as well as gain an accurate sense of the disruptive actions and attitudes that affect our campus climate so that we can refine strategies to improve that climate.  You have heard me state many times that I believe our campus has work to do in improving our climate and culture. That work begins with reporting BMI’s, and with people of conscience and character joining together to stop them. Sincerely, Philip P. DiStefano, Chancellor var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder history chair wins Pulitzer Prize for her book
The chair of the University of Colorado Boulder history department today won the Pulitzer Prize for history for her book Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People. Associate Professor Elizabeth Fenn said she first learned of the prize when she received an email from a New York Times reporter. A short while later, she received official notification from her editor. In the meantime, her phone started ringing and people started showing up at her office door. “I’m stunned, I’m delighted, I’m really, really honored and very humbled by this,” she said. Fenn worked on the book for 10 years. “The book is a history of a remarkable Plains Indian tribe known as the Mandan people, who had villages in what is today North Dakota.” she said. “They are most widely known as the people Lewis and Clark stayed with in the winter of 1804-05. “They had to deal with a whole series of environmental challenges -- drought, infectious disease from Europe including whooping cough, smallpox and measles, and they also had to deal with Norway rats, a new species from China arriving via Europe,” she said. The Pulitzer judges called her work “an engrossing, original narrative showing the Mandans, a Native American tribe in the Dakotas, as a people with a history.” The prize includes $10,000. Fenn specializes in the early American West, focusing on epidemic disease, Native American and environmental history. Her 2001 book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82, unearthed the devastating effects of a smallpox epidemic that coursed across the North American continent during the years of the American Revolution. She is now at work on an expansive biography of Sakagawea, using her life story to illuminate the wider history of the northern plains and Rockies. Fenn is also the co-author, with Peter H. Wood, of Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina before 1770, a popular history of early North Carolina which appeared in 1983. Fenn joined the CU-Boulder faculty in 2012 and also is a faculty affiliate of the CU-Boulder Department of Ethnic Studies. She previously taught at Duke University and earned her PhD at Yale University. In a 2012 story highlighting Fenn in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, Susan Kent, previous chair of CU-Boulder’s Department of History, said the hiring of Fenn and Thomas Andrews further broadened key strengths in the history department. Along with cultural environmental historians Phoebe Young and Paul Sutter the department is now a “powerhouse,” Kent said, adding: “It’s an extraordinary lineup, and enables us to position ourselves as one of the premier institutions in America for the study of environmental and Western/borderlands history.” The Pulitzer Prize finalists in the history category were “Empire of Cotton: A Global History” by Sven Beckert and “An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America” by Nick Bunker. Contact: Elizabeth FennElizabeth.Fenn@Colorado.EDU Peter Caughey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007caughey@colorado.edu  Arts & Humanities var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Elizabeth Fenn


Researchers produce first atlas of airborne microbes across United States
A University of Colorado Boulder and North Carolina State University-led team has produced the first atlas of airborne microbes across the continental U.S., a feat that has implications for better understanding health and disease in humans, animals and crops. The researchers collected outdoor dust samples from roughly 1,200 homes in all 50 states from both urban and rural areas using a powerful DNA sequencing technique to identify specific bacteria and fungal species. While standard, culture-based surveys are able to detect only a handful of different species, the high-tech molecular technique revealed that an average dust sample from the study contained roughly 4,700 different bacterial species and about 1,400 fungal species. The total number of bacterial species identified in the study was more than 110,000, along with more than 55,000 fungal species, many unknown to science. But not all bacteria and fungi are harmful – many have health benefits, researchers now know. “We inhale thousands of airborne microbes every hour we spend outdoors, some of which can cause illnesses or trigger allergic disorders,” said lead study author and CU-Boulder Associate Professor Noah Fierer of the ecology and evolutionary biology department. “This study provides the first glimpse of the continental-scale distributions of microorganisms in the atmosphere, giving us the baseline data to ask all sorts of interesting questions.” It might now be possible to correlate specific areas in cities or states where people are especially sensitive to fungal allergies or asthma, for example, with areas that have particular fungal types regularly swirling in the outdoor air, said Fierer. A paper on the subject was published in the April 20 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors include CU-Boulder’s Albert Barberan and Jonathan Leff, NCSU’s Rob Dunn and Holly Menninger and the University of California, San Francisco’s Katherine Pollard and Joshua Ladau. Several patterns emerged during the study, said Fierer, also a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). The team found a “bicoastal” pattern showing that microbial communities from homes on the East Coast and West Coast were more similar to each other than those from homes in the nation’s interior. Airborne microbes are capable of being transported phenomenal distances – aerosols in Saharan dust clouds from Africa, for instance, have been shown to impact the ecology of lakes in Spain and coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea. While the microbial communities in the study were highly variable in composition across America, their geographic patterns are associated in large part with variability in climate and soils, Fierer said. Volunteers collected the samples as part of Wild Life in Our Homes project, a national citizen-scientist effort coordinated by NCSU. Participants from all 50 states used kits mailed to them to swab the dust from the upper door trim on the outside surface of an exterior door for bacteria and fungal samples. Door trim is an ideal site: It’s found on virtually every home and collects outdoor aerosols with little or no direct contact by home occupants. While there is the perception that those living in the country breathe in far different types of bacteria and fungi than those living in cities, that does not seem to be the case, said the study authors. Even though urban and rural samples of dust were not distinct from each other, the study does suggest urbanization leads to at least some degree of homogenization of airborne microbe types. “If I go from a rural area near Raleigh, North Carolina, to downtown Raleigh, I don’t see a big difference in airborne microbial life between the two places,” said Dunn, a biological sciences associate professor at NCSU. “But if I go from Raleigh to New York City, the microbial life is even more similar. So there are subtle differences here.” The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Microbiology of the Built Environment program and the National Science Foundation funded the study. Fierer likened the new United States microbial map to botanical maps of the country assembled by U.S. scientists more than 150 years ago. “Going into this study, we didn’t even know answers to basic questions like whether the airborne bacteria and fungi in Denver were different from those in San Francisco,” said CU-Boulder co-author Albert Barberan, a CIRES postdoctoral researcher. “But we saw certain patterns, and now we have the methods and tools to answer new questions.” The PNAS paper is a companion study to one published last week in the journal PLOS ONE by the NCSU and CU-Boulder researchers showing fungal DNA can be used to track the origin of dust samples, making it a potential forensic tool for use by law enforcement officials or archaeologists. Given a swab of dust from anywhere in the country, the team can identify its geographic origin, sometimes within 60 miles or less. In 2010, Fierer led another CU-Boulder study that showed unique bacterial signatures from a person’s hand left behind on objects like computer keyboards and computer mice might also be effective as a forensics tool to confirm DNA and fingerprint analyses. “Working with the public in our research is one of our lab’s guiding principles,” said Dunn. “One of the biggest challenges moving forward to manage our planet sensibly is to engage the public to help us study and understand the life around us. “While there historically has been a glass wall through which citizens watched scientists at work, we want to take down the glass and have scientists and citizens communicate back and forth, altering the way each group thinks about the world,” Dunn said. The research involved isolating and amplifying tiny bits of microbial DNA, then sequencing that DNA to identify the different bacteria and fungal species found in each dust sample. Contact: Noah Fierer, 303-492-5615noah.fierer@colorado.edu Albert Barberan, 303-492-4968albert.barberan@colorado.edu Rob Dunn, 919-632-1216rob_dunn@ncsu.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“We inhale thousands of airborne microbes every hour we spend outdoors, some of which can cause illnesses or trigger allergic disorders,” said lead study author and CU-Boulder Associate Professor Noah Fierer of the ecology and evolutionary biology department. “This study provides the first glimpse of the continental-scale distributions of microorganisms in the atmosphere, giving us the baseline data to ask all sorts of interesting questions.”Natural Sciences, Environment, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer recipients named
The Offices of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Dean of the Graduate School are pleased to extend congratulations to the three winners of the 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer. The selection committee, which comprised nine previous Distinguished Research Lecturers and two senior campus administrators holding faculty appointments, were unanimous in their decision to award three 2015 Distinguished Research Lectureships this year.  The Distinguished Research Lectureship is among the highest honors bestowed by the faculty on a fellow faculty member at CU-Boulder. This year's winners are Zoya Popovic from the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Diane McKnight from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Douglas Seals from the Department of Integrative Physiology. Save the dates for these important and engaging lectures: Zoya Popovic, “The Wireless World: 50 cell phones sold per second!” Sept. 16, 4 p.m., UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom Diane McKnight, “The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Ecosystems waiting for water.”  Oct. 29, 4 p.m., UMC Room 235 Douglas Seals, "Can We Achieve Optimal Longevity?  From Cells to the Community: The New Translational Physiology of Healthy Aging.” March 17, 2016, 4 p.m., UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom For more information on the Distinguished Research Lecture, visit our website at http://www.colorado.edu/vcr/fundingawards/distinguished-research-lectureLearning & Teaching var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Two CU-Boulder professors named President’s Teaching Scholars
CU System news release Two faculty members at the University of Colorado Boulder have been named 2015 President’s Teaching Scholars, a systemwide designation that recognizes CU educators who skillfully integrate teaching and research at an exceptional level. The title of President’s Teaching Scholar signifies CU’s highest recognition of excellence in and commitment to learning and teaching, as well as active, substantial contributions to scholarly work. CU President Bruce D. Benson solicits annual nominations of faculty for the designation, which is a lifetime appointment. This year’s class of scholars: -      Roseanna Neupauer, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty Director for Civil Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, CU-Boulder -      Valerie Otero, Ph.D., Professor of Science Education, School of Education, CU-Boulder Neupauer’s research focuses on groundwater hydrology, contamination and remediation, all key in the sustainable use and protection of the planet’s largest accessible freshwater source. She uses mathematical models to improve existing models of groundwater management and remediation. Her 30-plus journal publications include 15 in the field’s leading journal, Water Resources Research. On the CU-Boulder faculty since 2005, her many honors include the national Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2006), the national ExCEEd New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (2006) and the Boulder Faculty Assembly’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2011). She mentors not only her students but junior faculty in her college and across the country. “Dr. Neupauer is an active and energetic scholar; a caring and inspirational teacher and mentor; and a constructive colleague with a passion for fostering the highest standards of scholarship and pedagogy in the academic environment surrounding her,” wrote Harihar Rajaram in his nominating letter. A physics education researcher, Otero explores the dynamic nature of the learning environment and its relationship with the evolution of learners’ ideas. Her teaching interests are in the areas of science teacher education, laboratory-based physics classrooms, history and philosophy of physics education, and learning theory. She mentors faculty and K-12 science teachers in the community to help them build learning environments that empower students. At CU since 2001, she serves as executive director of the Colorado Learning Assistant Program and is co-director and co-founder of the Center for STEM Learning. Her many awards include the national Woman Physicist Accomplishment Award and the Boulder Faculty Assembly Award for Excellence (both 2013). “Valerie is committed to education at all levels,” wrote Steven J. Pollock in his nominating letter. “She cares deeply about students, about science education, and about educational change. And, she puts her energy into action.” Contact: Jay Dedrick, 303-860-5707Jay.Dedrick@cu.edu      Engineering, Education var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Roseanna NeupauerPhoto: Caption: Valerie Otero


Be Boulder. Week April 20-24
By the CUSG Freshman Council The University of Colorado Boulder is a beautiful campus, surrounded by the even more beautiful Flatirons and city of Boulder. It is a university that helped NASA launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission; it is a top ranked research institution, along with having nearly 13,500 students active in community service each year. CU-Boulder was also the first university to have a zero-waste football stadium and the first student-run recycling center. CU-Boulder makes incredible advances in research, environmental sustainability and bettering the community every year. However, the image of CU-Boulder is not one of academic prestige or community service, it is one of college kids who love to party all of the time and take advantage of amendment 64’s legalization of marijuana. This image of CU-Boulder as a party school overshadows all the significant things being done on campus, and doesn’t give credit to all the students working extremely hard to achieve academic excellence, or the ones campaigning across campus trying to make the world a better place. These students deserve to graduate from the University of Colorado with a degree from a school people recognize for merit and excellence—not partying. Rebranding the university is an important issue, because the image of a top party school is one that the university has long been combating. Which is why we as freshmen in CUSG decided it was time for the students to join the fight. CU is a place that loves academics, student wellness, environmental sustainability, Buff Pride and above all love our fellow Buffs. We created Be Boulder. Week as an event where each day highlights the things that make CU-Boulder such an incredible university. Each day’s events are designed to be fun and interactive, and encourage students to be prideful of the excellence achieved here at CU-Boulder. Students need to see all the achievements that CU has accomplished, and Be Boulder Week aims to showcase this. Although CU-Boulder holds a reputation for being a party school, to us students this university is so much more. The time has come to redefine CU-Boulder. Beginning with Be Boulder. Week, we would like to reintroduce you to The University of Colorado Boulder, a university of excellence. Be Boulder. Week: Monday, April 20: "Academic Day" 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Astrophysics will be at the UMC fountains with activities, in addition to free giveaways in the Norlin Commons during the same time.  Tuesday, April 21: "Wellness Day" 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Free massages and aromatherapy at Farrand Field. 5 to 6 p.m.: Free Yoga on Farrand Field. Wednesday, April 22: "Earth Day" 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Bike-generated smoothies outside the Rec Center.  1 to 5 p.m.: CUSG Fair in the UMC.  6:30 p.m.: Open Mic Night in the UMC Gallery.  Thursday, April 23: "Buff Pride Day" 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Tailgate on Farrand Field with Chip; discounts all day on the Hill, #FindRalphie, and a "Cash Cab." Friday, April 24: "Day Without Hate" Everyone wear white! Tabling from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UMC fountains; handing out Hershey kisses, writing anonymous love letters to strangers, making a paper chain, playing music and taking pictures! Learn more on the CUSG Facebook page, Twitter: @CUSGBoulder, and Instagram: @CUSGBOulder. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents approves new engineering degrees, name change to studio art degrees
Beginning in Fall 2015, students enrolled in the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science will be able to earn an MS and a PhD in Environmental Engineering, following a 9-0 vote today of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. At the February board meeting on the Boulder campus, Professor Jana Millford from CU-Boulder’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science presented the proposal to the board. Professor Millford explained that Environmental Engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the protection of human health from environmental factors, as well as the protection of environments from the effects of human activities. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics projects strong growth in this field,” said Millford. “These focused degrees will help prepare students for careers in this demanding and rewarding part of the Colorado economy.” The board also approved by consent agenda the following items: Following the unanimous recommendation of the studio art faculty, the board voted to change the name of three degrees offered by CU-Boulder’s department of Art & Art History from “studio art” to “art practices.” The degrees affected include a BA, a BFA and an MFA. The board voted to approve a tenure appointment for CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business professor Jeffrey Reuer. Employee Services has previously updated references of “officers and exempt professionals” and “OEP” to “university staff” in all applicable administrative policy statements.The board approved an authorization to change those same terms in regent laws and policies. In other board meeting news: The board heard a proposal from CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore to change the status of CU-Boulder’s Women and Gender Studies from “program” to “department." Though some regents had questions about whether the proposed change would come with additional costs, Provost Moore answered that the change would be cost neutral. The board is expected to vote on the measure at the next meeting in June. The board heard from CU Vice President for Communication Ken McConnellogue about the university’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiative, an effort to build a university-wide database, populated by the university’s existing systems of record, which will provide the university with a single consolidated record for every affiliate of the university. Patrick O’Rourke, Vice President, University Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Regents, brought forward guidelines and criteria for legal/risk reporting for the board’s consideration. The guidelines serve to identify a non-exhaustive list of criteria that the university administration can use in determining whether a particular matter should be reported to the Board of Regents. The board asked for time to review the guidelines. The board voted 7-2 to approve revisions to regent policy which prescribe guidelines for the university’s presidential search process. This change requires that two regents serve on the presidential search committee and precludes the sitting board chair from serving as chair of the presidential search committee. The next meeting will be held on June 22-23, 2015 at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student life: A passion for aerospace engineering
When he was a child, Siddhesh Naik’s mother colored his imagination with ancient myths about Roman eponyms of the sky. Those fascinations remained with him through childhood and ultimately led him to CU-Boulder to study aerospace engineering.   During the four years Naik spent at the University of Mumbai, India, studying mechanical engineering, he became fixated with the European space mission Rosetta and the craft’s programmed orbit of 11 years that guided it toward Comet 67P.   “How did they know exactly what was going to happen?” Naik wondered. “That spacecraft is going to sleep for a certain period and then it’s going to wake up. I wanted to know how that works.”   Naik graduated and moved to Boulder in 2013 to gain a true understanding of the mechanics driving that mission’s design. He joined CU’s aerospace engineering graduate program and LASP to work on the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS), a 4-year project funded by NASA to develop a nano-satellite, or CubeSat, measuring that will launch in late 2015 to study the sun’s solar flares.   “This was the ideal thread for me to do what I wanted to do,“ said Naik. “I came to CU's astrodynamics program because CU is one of the leaders in astrodynamics and satellite navigation,” he explained.    After Naik spent his first fall and spring semester with the team, MinXSS’s seasoned solar physicist and project manager Tom Woods hired him as the mechanical lead over summer 2014.    “After being on the project for two semesters, I loved it so much that I stayed on for a third semester,” Naik said.    He collaborated with LASP mentors and other students to design and construct the satellite.   “The best thing is that you have to work in a team of 12 people, with different backgrounds and technical skill sets,” said Naik. “It’s just a great experience.”   At the beginning of his second year in the program, Naik became inspired to study GPS navigation. The work of Kristine Larson, a CU-Boulder professor of satellite navigation and remote sensing, caught his eye. Larson studies high-precision tracking systems that use Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry, a process of measuring the reflections of navigation signals sent from satellites to Earth as they bounce off of a desired landscape, to detect spontaneous volcanic ash plumes known to disrupt aircraft control. Naik joined Larson’s lab to analyze those measurements. He is using data generated from GPS receivers presently stationed near volcanoes to develop new algorithms that can be used to locate volcanic plumes.   “I had a look at data from Mount Redoubt in Alaska. Now, I’m looking at Mount Etna in Italy,” said Naik. He may also assess volcanic activity in New Zealand, Iceland and Japan.    Naik’s enthusiasm for GNSS-R and Larson’s research grew, so he decided to pursue a Ph.D. in the field of remote sensing. After the dissertation, Naik added, he envisions opening his own business by developing an innovative tracking system, like one that locates a lost set of keys.    Naik also has served as vice president of CU’s Students for the Exploration Development of Space, an outreach group promoting space education and student involvement in space exploration. Founded by researchers from MIT and Princeton University in 1980, SEDS is an international organization with student chapters growing in countries like India and Canada. In 2011, the group was the first to invite Bill Nye to speak at SEDS USA’s annual conference, Space Vision, where students and young professionals come together to deliberate the future of aerospace science. The club also sponsored fellow student group Colorado Boulder Rocketry Association in the SEDS USA Rocketry Challenge last year — which they won.   “CUSEDS is one of the strongest chapters in the SEDS family in the U.S.,” said Naik, who added that the club wouldn't be as successful without CU’s continued support. “There are not many chapters in the country which have this kind of solid backing.”   Naik also spends his free time volunteering for the international nonprofit Association for India’s Development Colorado Chapter, which raises money for community groups in India who improve rural education and alleviate poverty.   “When I decided to do aerospace in the U.S., everybody back in India said I was stupid,” recalled Naik. “They said you’re never going to find a job, so you’re never going to be funded.”    But Naik overcame such odds—and he wants to share his secrets with prospective international students.    “Be willing to take that risk,” he said. “Something will work out...if you’re willing to take that one step forward.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Liquid crystal bubbles experiment arrives at International Space Station
An experiment led by the University of Colorado Boulder arrived at the International Space Station today and will look into the fluid dynamics of liquid crystals that may lead to benefits both on Earth and in space. A new physical science investigation on ISS, the Observation and Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS), will examine the behavior of liquid crystals in microgravity, said CU-Boulder physics Professor Noel Clark, principal investigator on the experiment. Specifically, the research team is observing the overall motion and merging of microscopic layers that form “smectic islands” on the surface of bubbles. The investigation may shine light on how microgravity affects the properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals are used in television and laptop screens, cellphones and a variety of other electronics with flat panel displays. “OASIS is the first study of smectic liquid crystal materials in microgravity, and may well be the first study of any liquid crystal material in microgravity,” said Clark. The OASIS experiment will take place in the Microgravity Science Glovebox onboard ISS, which enables a wide range of experiments in a fully sealed and controlled environment. Clark heads the Soft Materials Research Center (SMRC) headquartered on campus, one of 12 Materials Research and Science Engineering Centers selected by the National Science Foundation for renewed funding in February 2015. The CU-Boulder center will be supported by a $12 million NSF grant over six years. While OASIS is focused on basic physical phenomena, the findings may have a long-term impact on technology and human health. Most living things either are or once were in a liquid crystal state, and all biological liquid crystals are formed by aggregates of molecules in a solvent, like water, said Clark. Perhaps the most important example of a biological liquid crystal is the cell membrane. “Since many of the processes critical for the life of the cell take place in the plasma membrane or in the membranes of organelles, the physics of transport, diffusion and aggregation of particles in thin, fluid membranes is of fundamental interest, with clear relevance to the life sciences,” Clark said. The OASIS mission is the culmination of almost 20 years of ground-based research in the liquid crystal laboratories of the CU-Boulder Department of Physics. Physics research faculty Joe Maclennan and Matthew Glaser are co-principal investigators on OASIS and senior scientist Cheol Park is the project manager. Since the inception of the smectic bubble project, four graduate students -- Darren Link, Apichart Pattaporkratana, Duong Nguyen and Zhiyuan Qi -- and seven undergraduates enrolled in the physics honors program -- Markus Atkinson, Aaron Goldfain, Kate Wachs, Kyle Meienberg, Kyle Ferguson and Kaitlin Parsons -- have been involved in research related to OASIS. Recent years also have seen the inclusion of experimental collaborators from the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany who will investigate the dynamics and self-organization of fluid droplets ink-jetted onto the bubbles in microgravity, and theorists from the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The experiment is funded by NASA. A video of smectic islands forming on a thin liquid crystal bubble is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7NODqYm3jI&feature=youtu.be. Contact: Noel Clark, 303-492-6420noel.clark@colorado.edu Joe Maclennan, 303-492-7543jem@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu Natural Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Microscopic detail of liquid crystal islands tethered like necklaces when an external electric field is applied near the very thin film surface (Image credit: Liquid Crystal Physics Group/University of Colorado Boulder)Photo: Caption:  Within minutes the small islands/domains on this very thin bubble prepared in the laboratory form into larger domains and are pulled down by gravity. The bubble film is extremely thin and one cannot see the edges (Image courtesy NASA)  


Rainy College Friday doesn’t dampen higher ed interest
Learn more about College Friday events and giveaways Celebrating 'College Friday,' 23 students from Denver and Aurora High schools visited CU-Boulder for a campus tour and to learn about leadership. The event, sponsored by the Crowley Foundation, served to expose youth interested in higher education to opportunities available on campus. The event was hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement and led by David Aragon, executive director of student success. “Bringing students to campus and partnering with organizations like the Crowley Foundation makes a huge difference in helping our youth get a better idea what’s possible for themselves in the future,” Aragon said. “We’re excited to have them see campus, hear from students and meet professors.” The Crowley Foundation was founded in 2009 by Kenneth D. Crowley Sr. and his wife Jean Crowley. Today was the second time the foundation has visited CU. “We’re here to allow the students to see CU’s beautiful campus, since it’s College Friday,” said Jean Crowley. “Each year our organization offers free college preparatory programs which includes campus tours.” The Crowley Foundation seeks to promote student success by instilling emotional, intellectual and social skills that support youth. The foundation also provides ACT and SAT prep to students. “It’s exciting for me because they work in the Park Hill community in Denver; they reach an important population of students,” Aragon said. “CU-Boulder needs to be working and partnering with organizations like the Crowleys.” For George Washington High School freshman Savaun Cheeks, the program has encouraged him to explore the possibilities. “We have this program that teaches us about the college and different opportunities that CU has. I’m really interested in sports medicine,” Cheeks said. “I like to play football and basketball, and I want to play in college.” Supporting students like Cheeks is exactly what the Crowley Foundation aims to do. For a foundation whose core values are family and leadership, influencing the lives of other people is most important. “We maintain relationships with our recipients. We pass along our core values of family, leadership, integrity, authenticity and service,”Jean Crowley said. “We want to pay it forward and leave an impact to help students who want to go to college but don’t know the steps they need to take.” College Friday is a program of College in Colorado, which was initiated by the Department of Higher Education (DHE) and is charged with helping all Coloradans explore career and education pathways. The College In Colorado team reaches out to students, parents, educators and workforce centers through ongoing events and training opportunities, as well as providing practical tools to assist Colorado students in furthering their education past high school.Serving Colorado. Engaged in the World. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Astronomy Day celebrates the wonder of the universe
If you’ve ever gazed into the night sky and wondered at the magnitude of the universe, you have an opportunity for a closer look of the cosmos during Astronomy Day being held this Saturday at CU-Boulder. Since 2002, Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory, located on the campus, have opened their doors to the public for a free Astronomy Day celebration.  During the daylong celebration of all things space related, a variety of activities will be available for youngsters and adults. Activities include tours, live talks by scientists, demonstrations, displays, Science on a Sphere explorations, and of course, star gazing with observatory telescopes during the day and night. Since the observatory is not open to the public like the planetarium is, this is a great way to learn more about it. The annual event allows the planetarium and the observatory to give back to the community, to increase public awareness of space and astronomy and to provide an opportunity to explore the universe, says Matt Benjamin (BS ’05, AstroPhys), education programs manager at the planetarium. “We’re opening up everything we do at the planetarium and the observatory and letting it all loose for one day,” says Benjamin. “One day won’t explain the universe. We want to ignite a passion for exploration and wanting to know the unknown.” Scientists from CU-Boulder and national research labs will be on hand to talk about their work and space missions, such as MAVEN, a mission to Mars; and New Horizons, which is headed to Pluto. Their talks will highlight how CU-Boulder is at the forefront of space exploration. Activities will run the gamut from launching model rockets, to a Pink Floyd laser show of The Wall, to a feature talk on relativity by Jeffrey Bennett, author of the popular children’s book, Max Goes to the Moon. There will be prizes given away and the chance to win a telescope. “Stay for 10 minutes or 10 hours,” says Benjamin. “We want people to come away with a feeling of awe and wonder for the universe. That’s why we do this every year.” Fiske Planetarium will be open from noon until 8 p.m. Sommers-Bausch Observatory, located behind the planetarium will be open from noon to 10 p.m. There is no cost for the daylong event.  Community OutreachCommunity & Culture, Serving Colorado. Engaged in the World.Visit the Fiske website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents rejects energy company divestment
The University of Colorado Board of Regents on Thursday voted 7-2 to maintain the university’s investment policies and not divest from energy companies. The measure approved by the Board also contained a provision commissioning a report on investment strategies reflecting “CU’s commitment to sustainability” and deliverable to the Board at its November 2015 meeting. The move capped months of dialogue between a select group of regents and members of “Fossil Free CU,” a group that includes students, faculty and staff from CU-Boulder and other CU campuses, who have lobbied the regents since last year to divest the university’s stocks from energy companies. On Thursday, the Board entertained a long public discussion with supporters and detractors of the proposal to divest. Bob Moody, chair of the Denver Energy Network, told the Board that the energy sector provides a “huge economic benefit of energy to our city and state.” “The energy industry occupies 20 percent of the office space in downtown Denver. This is an economic decision, not a political issue to be made by radical extremists,” Moody said. Brian Miguel, a CU-Boulder environmental studies major and business minor, reminded the Board that energy and environmental issues “will continue to be an issue” and added “market-based measures aren’t always for the best.” The Board also heard from experts in green investment strategies on the possibility of converting investments into oil and gas free portfolios. “Fossil fuels are no longer going to be the source of easy returns on investment that they have been historically," said Garvin Jabusch, an investment officer at Green Alpha Advisors. “Divesting doesn’t represent extremist viewpoints, but smart investment in the future,” Jabusch said.  In discussion prior to the vote, board members debated the value of oil and gas to the state, the role of the Board in taking positions on issues that faculty could find a detriment to academic freedom, and the need for the board to continue to regularly receive investment advice. Regent Sue Sharkey, who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, expressed her opposition to divesting from energy companies. “It is a mistake to think that this university divesting from fossil fuels is going to make a difference on climate change,” said Sharkey. “To use the future of our university for a political left wing message is wrong.” Regent John Carson, who represents the 6th Congressional district, reminded the audience that the board is forbidden to direct politically driven investment policies. “Regent policy states that the Board of Regents must adopt a position of neutrality on social or political matters unless it is detrimental to the university or threatens academic freedom,” explained Carson. Regent Irene Griego, from the 7th Congressional District and one of two Regents to vote against the resolution, acknowledged the need for the board to continue to listen to concerns brought forward on this issue. “It is important as a board that we are aware of what our public concerns are. We have a responsibility to research and be open to learn on an ongoing basis, and to be accountable to the university and the state of Colorado,” said Griego. “And it is critical that we do not work in a silo,” she said. During the discussion prior to the vote, Regent Michael Carrigan of the 1st Congressional District offered an amendment to the resolution that the university continue its current investment policies but that the university “will include an analysis of investment strategies consistent with regent policy 13-A and reflecting CU’s commitment to sustainability and to provide an initial report to the Board of Regents at its November 2015 meeting.” “I believe this amendment is something that shows that we are willing to look into this issue further, and we are relying on the expertise of the investment advisory committee and the treasurer to report back to us about other options,” said Carrigan. After the passing of the resolution, Regent Shoemaker introduced a new resolution to form a Sustainable Investment Advisory Committee, which would advise the board on future conversations about investment. “This is not a resolution asking the university to divest,” said Shoemaker. “It is a moderate middle ground resolution because I believe that the right economic decision for this university is to move out of fossil fuels and to move toward renewables.” The resolution to form the new advisory committee failed on a 6 to 3 vote. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Test better: How to remember that stuff you forgot
Finals are on the horizon—how are you preparing? Get the most from your studying techniques and test-taking strategies with this month’s issue of Student Health 101. Check out the short-term fixes and long-term solutions in our guide to managing your time and maximizing results. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


After successful mission to Mercury, spacecraft on a crash course with history
NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury carrying an $8.7 million University of Colorado Boulder instrument is slated to run out of fuel and crash into the planet in the coming days after a wildly successful, four-year orbiting mission chock full of discoveries. The mission began in 2004, when the MESSENGER spacecraft launched from Florida on a seven year, 4.7 billion mile journey that involved 15 loops around the sun before the spacecraft settled in Mercury’s orbit in March 2011. Since then the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS), built by CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, has been making measurements of Mercury’s surface and its tenuous atmosphere, called the exosphere. “The spacecraft is finally running out of fuel, and at this point it’s just sort of skimming the planet’s surface,” said Senior Research Scientist William McClintock of LASP, the principal investigator of the MASCS instrument for the mission. It could crash onto Mercury’s surface or run into towering cliff-like features known as scarps that are evidence of a planet-wide contraction as the object cooled, he said. “A lot of people didn’t give this spacecraft much of a chance of even getting to Mercury, let alone going into orbit and then gathering data for four years instead of the original scheduled one-year mission.” said McClintock. “In the end, most of what we considered to be gospel about Mercury turned out to be a little different than we thought.” Mercury is about two-thirds of the way closer to the sun than Earth and has been visited by only one other spacecraft, NASA’s Mariner 10, in 1974 and 1975. About half the size of a compact car, MESSENGER is equipped with a large sunshade and is toting a camera, a magnetometer, an altimeter and four spectrometers. One surprise to the CU-Boulder scientists was the behavior of the thin, tenuous atmosphere of Mercury known as the exosphere. “We thought the exosphere would be highly variable and episodic, and we discovered quite the opposite,” said McClintock. “We found it was very seasonal, like our climate on Earth. We saw the same patterns year after year, which was a big surprise.” A number of wild discoveries have come from the MESSENGER mission: Mercury may have as much as 1 trillion metric tons of ice tucked in the dark recesses of its craters, despite its 800 degree Fahrenheit surface temperatures; dust from comets may have painted its surface dark with carbon; some of its craters were once filled with lava; it has a lopsided magnetic field and a gigantic iron core. Despite the large iron core, very little of the element was found on the surface, said Greg Holsclaw, a LASP researcher who helped develop the MASCS instrument. “Despite clear evidence of volcanic activity, the abundance of iron was found to be very low,” he said. “This, combined with the presence of materials that vaporize at relatively low temperatures, indicates Mercury experienced a formation history unlike any other planet.” During the mission, McClintock and his colleagues used MASCS to make the first detection of magnesium in the planet’s exosphere. The team also determined magnesium, calcium and sodium, the major elements observed with MASCS, show distinctive and different spatial patterns that repeat every Mercury year. LASP Director Daniel Baker, also a co-investigator on the MESSENGER mission, is studying Mercury’s magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind including violent “sub-storms” that occur in the planet’s vicinity. “MESSENGER has taught us more in four years of orbiting our sun’s nearest neighbor than we’ve learned in the prior several centuries put together,” Baker said. “We have come to understand much more deeply the geology, chemistry, atmospheric aspects and the space environment of a truly fascinating ‘miniature’ world.” Baker said CU-Boulder’s involvement in the MESSENGER mission has helped attract bright and energetic faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. Even undergraduates have been participating in the mission including senior Ryan Dewey, a 2014 Goldwater Scholarship winner who sought out Baker as a sophomore because he wanted to be at the forefront of the MESSENGER discoveries. “Ryan is an exceptional student who has worked on Mercury science at a level often reserved for advanced graduate students,” said Baker, noting Dewey was lead author on a 2013 scientific paper dealing with the interactions of Mercury’s magnetosphere and its space environment. “I know this work will serve him well as he moves on to graduate school and a professional career after that.” The fate of MESSENGER is not in doubt, said McClintock. “Before long it’s going to be in pieces scattered across the surface of Mercury. But I don’t think anyone who has worked on the project will ever forget it,” he said. “It has been an extremely exciting mission, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” CU-Boulder’s LASP has designed and built instruments that have visited or are en route to every planet in the solar system. As the MESSENGER mission to Mercury winds down, LASP has a student-built dust counter on NASA’s New Horizons mission, which launched in 2006 and will make its closest flyby of Pluto -- 7,000 miles -- on July 14. LASP also built instruments for NASA spacecraft now at Mars and Saturn. The Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University manages the MESSENGER mission for NASA. Sean Solomon from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, is the MESSENGER principal investigator. For more information about MESSENGER visit http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/. For more information about LASP, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/. Contact: William McClintock, 303-492-8407william.mcclintock@lasp.colorado.edu Daniel Baker, 303-492-0591daniel.baker@lasp.colorado.edu Gregory Holsclaw, 303-735-0480gregory.holsclaw@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“The spacecraft is finally running out of fuel, and at this point it’s just sort of skimming the planet’s surface,” said Senior Research Scientist William McClintock of LASP, the principal investigator of the MASCS instrument for the mission. “A lot of people didn’t give this spacecraft much of a chance of even getting to Mercury, let alone going into orbit and then gathering data for four years instead of the original scheduled one-year mission. In the end, most of what we considered to be gospel about Mercury turned out to be a little different than we thought.”Natural Sciences, Engineering, Aerospace, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Illustration of NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury


CU-Boulder seeks a new director of faculty relations
CU-Boulder director of faculty relations John Frazee has announced his retirement, and the university is looking for a new person to take on this unique role. The director of faculty relations works with faculty members, department chairs and deans across academic units on campus, helping to resolve issues of conflict and conduct in the work lives of faculty. Twila Upchurch Alexander, CU-Boulder professional recruiter, says that this position, although uncommon, is likely a perfect fit for someone on our campus. “We are hoping that there is a faculty member on our campus with academic administration experience, who would want to leverage their consulting and influencing skills in this role.” Frazee stresses that the university is looking for someone with both faculty and administrative experience who understands the challenges of both roles and who recognizes that conflict is inherent to the academic mission of a university—something that shouldn’t necessarily be eliminated but rather resolved productively. “In different phases of my career, I had served as a faculty member and then later as a director, dean, and an academic VP,” Frazee explains. “In my different administrative roles, I came to understand just how much of my time I would need to spend ensuring that conflicts and other personnel issues within my unit were being productively resolved.” Frazee explains that this part of the job—addressing issues of conflict and conduct in all their variety and complexity—is one for which academic administrators often feel underprepared. “I thought that when I became a dean, I would be able to focus more on other types of work, but instead I found that I was dealing with these issues more than ever,” says Frazee. “The idea of the director of faculty relations position is to designate one person who can serve as a resource to resolve issues among the faculty and who can draw from institutional knowledge and experience.” Frazee adds that having someone serve in this role can reduce the load on deans and department chairs, allowing them to focus more of their time on the strategic leadership of their colleges and departments. “I get to work all across the university, helping our faculty be their best. It gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction. Truth be told, I feel that I’ve been able to make more of a difference in this role than in any of my previous roles.” Frazee explains that going in, he assumed that serving as director of faculty relations would involve a lot of formal conflict mediation. Over time, however, the position evolved. He now spends most of his time serving as a kind of internal consultant to department chairs and deans and coaching faculty members individually on issues that they’re facing, helping people resolve their own issues before they need to call in a mediator. “It’s all about building relationships with people,” says Frazee. “I seek to understand issues, build trust with the individuals involved and help them come up with effective solutions to their unique problems.” “The faculty life is a good life. The administrative side is very satisfying as well,” says Frazee. “Each path has very prescribed trajectories. I jumped off of both of those paths when I took this job, and it has been an extremely meaningful third career for me, both a new challenge and an extraordinary opportunity to serve a great university,” says Frazee. “Uncommon as this role is in higher education, this job is made for somebody.” If you are interested in learning more about this role, or if you know someone who would make an excellent fit, contact Twila Upchurch Alexander at twila.upchurchalexander@colorado.edu. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder Professor Fred Anderson named 2015 Hazel Barnes Prize winner
Professor Fred Anderson of the University of Colorado Boulder history department has been awarded the 2015 Hazel Barnes Prize, the most distinguished award a faculty member can receive from the university. Since 1992, the Hazel Barnes Prize has been awarded each year to a CU-Boulder faculty member who best exemplifies the enriching interrelationship between teaching and research, and whose work has had a significant impact on students, faculty, colleagues and the university. “Professor Anderson’s combination of scholarly rigor and his passion for mentoring and engaging students is inspiring to all of us,” said Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “Colleagues and former students across the nation are effusive in describing the positive impact he has had on their lives, both professionally and personally. He demonstrates what it means to be both a distinguished scholar and a superb teacher.” The prize includes a $20,000 cash award and an engraved University medal. The medal will be presented at the May 9 spring commencement. Anderson also will be recognized at a reception in the fall that will include former Hazel Barnes Prize recipients, family members, colleagues and students, and will be invited to be the December commencement speaker. Nominators from CU-Boulder and other major universities described Anderson as “the quintessential scholar-teacher” a “historian’s historian” and “one of the single top historians of early America.” Anderson joined the CU-Boulder faculty in 1983. He earned two degrees in history from Harvard University, a PhD in 1981 and a master’s degree in 1973. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University with highest distinction in 1971. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged from the Army Reserve as a captain in 1981. Anderson specializes in early American history. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Crucible of War: the Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, for which he won the Francis Parkman Prize for the best nonfiction work of history on an American theme. The 862-page book is described as a “truly field-shaping work” and Prince Philip of Great Britain was photographed carrying a copy in his hand after leaving a hospital following an illness a few years ago. “The secret of his success lies in his conviction that people need to think hard about war and empire: His goal is neither to indoctrinate or overwhelm students but to prompt them to consider questions they take for granted, if they consider them at all,” one nominator wrote. Several former CU-Boulder undergraduate honors students who worked with Anderson wrote letters in support of his award nomination. Anderson was director of the Honors Program in the College of Arts and Sciences between 2009 and 2012. “Professor Anderson proved a skillful and compassionate discussion leader who took great pains to include all students in the conversation,” wrote a former member of his honors thesis seminar who is now a tenured professor of history at another university. “He was especially dedicated to managing the gender dynamic of the classroom so that quieter female students, myself included, felt empowered to speak.” Anderson has received dozens of awards and honors for his scholarship including Guggenheim, Rockefeller and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. He currently is working on a volume for the prestigious Oxford History of the United States and has given about 125 public and invited lectures. In 2010, he was named a Professor of Distinction within the College of Arts and Sciences. “Few historians are able genuinely to collaborate with other authors in the way that Anderson does, and to do so while also producing remarkable solo books as well,” a nominator wrote. “I believe this special ability speaks to Fred’s intellectual generosity and self-assuredness and that these same qualities help to explain why he is such an effective and deeply admired teacher.” And another nominator added, “If there is a more loyal, decent, responsible and simply good human being, I have not met him or her.” The Hazel Barnes Prize is named in honor of philosophy Professor Emerita Hazel Barnes, who taught at CU-Boulder from 1943 to 1986 and is noted for her interpretations of the works of French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. She died in 2008 at the age of 92. For more information on the Hazel Barnes Prize and a list of recipients visithttp://chancellor.colorado.edu/hazel-barnes-prize. Contact: Fred Anderson, 303-492-4397fred.anderson@colorado.edu Peter Caughey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007caughey@colorado.edu  Arts & Humanities var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Fred Anderson (Photo by Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado)


Renowned behavioral scientist to discuss impact of nurturing environments on April 27 in Boulder
Pioneering behavioral scientist Anthony Biglan will discuss how creating nurturing environments is key to raising better young citizens and building a healthier, happier and more prosperous Colorado and society as a whole on Monday, April 27. Hosted by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder, the public is invited to hear Biglan’s talk on “Nurturing Human Well-Being in Colorado” at 7 p.m. in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building at 3415 Colorado Ave. on CU-Boulder’s East Campus. The event is free but space is limited. Attendees should register in advance at http://www.nurturinghumanwellbeing.eventbrite.com. Biglan is a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute and author of the recently released book “The Nurture Effect: How Science and Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World.” Over the past 30 years, he has conducted extensive research on the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior. Many of the programs detailed in Biglan’s research and in his book directly align with the research and initiatives of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU-Boulder, said Beverly Kingston, the center’s director. “Dr. Biglan’s research hits home in Colorado where our center and the prevention community are working to identify and effectively implement proven programs, practices and policies that contribute to creating the conditions that will lead human beings to thrive,” Kingston said. “Most people don’t realize how much we actually know about what really works to prevent violence and promote positive youth development. “We are thrilled to have Dr. Biglan in Colorado to advance these efforts and share them with the public for even greater impact.” The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence is a research program of the Institute of Behavioral Science at CU-Boulder. It was founded in 1992 and aims to bridge the gap between research and practice to ensure that the best that is known from prevention research reaches those who need it most. It offers resources and technical assistance to those committed to understanding and preventing violence and problem behaviors and promoting positive youth development. Biglan’s visit to Colorado is co-hosted by CU-Boulder’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence and Colorado State University’s Prevention Research Center. Biglan also will deliver a public talk in Fort Collins on Tuesday, April 28, at 7 p.m. in the Columbine Room of the Lincoln Center. The talk is free, but attendees should register in advance at https://advancing.colostate.edu/events/hdfs/tonybiglancommunitytalk. For more information contact BiglanLecture@colostate.edu or call 970-491-5558. For more information about the event on April 27 visit http://www.nurturinghumanwellbeing.eventbrite.com or contact the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at cspv@colorado.edu or 303-492-1032. Contact: Beverly Kingston, CSPVbeverly.kingston@colorado.edu Bill Woodward, CSPVbill.woodward@colorado.edu Hannah Fletcher, Outreach and Engagement, 303-492-3949hannah.fletcher@colorado.edu“Dr. Biglan’s research hits home in Colorado where our center and the prevention community are working to identify and effectively implement proven programs, practices and policies that contribute to creating the conditions that will lead human beings to thrive,” said Beverly Kingston, director of he Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU-Boulder. “Most people don’t realize how much we actually know about what really works to prevent violence and promote positive youth development. We are thrilled to have Dr. Biglan in Colorado to advance these efforts and share them with the public for even greater impact.”Social Sciences, Community Outreach, P-12 Outreach, Civic Engagement, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU student wins prestigious Goldwater Scholarship
University of Colorado Boulder student Andrew Nelson has been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The scholarship is worth up to $7,500 and recognizes sophomores and juniors who have achieved high academic merit and who are expected to be leaders in their fields. Nelson is among only 260 Goldwater Scholars selected from a pool of 1,206 mathematics, science and engineering students from universities and colleges nationwide. “In winning the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, Andrew represents the high quality of the math, science and engineering programs at CU,” said Deborah Viles, CU-Boulder’s top scholarship director. “His talent as well as the varied experiences and opportunities he’s had at CU combine to make him an emerging leader in his field. We’re very proud of Andrew, and proud that CU continues its long history of Goldwater winners.” CU-Boulder has had at least one Goldwater Scholar every year since 2005, and Nelson is CU-Boulder’s 37th Goldwater Scholar since the award’s inception in 1989. Nelson, a junior engineering physics major who grew up in Boulder, became interested in studying fusion as an energy source after attending a campus talk hosted by the Department of Physics and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he also worked as a student in a laboratory. “We have a really, really strong physics department, and learning everything I need to know in my classes has made it really easy to apply that knowledge to research in a lab,” Nelson said. “My position at NIST also helped me learn a lot of lab skills that you wouldn’t necessarily get in class.” Over the course of 50-plus years, CU-Boulder has formed highly productive research partnerships with national laboratories, including NIST, located in the Boulder area. Collaborative efforts include large joint institutes with hundreds of scientists as well as university departmental appointments of adjoint faculty from the national laboratories. The national labs also provide numerous internships for undergraduates and graduate students. Nelson spent a semester last year working on proton fast ignition at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany to gain experience in the highly specialized field. As an undergraduate, he also has been a co-author on two scientific papers. Outside of his schoolwork and research, Nelson is president of the campus chapter of Engineers Without Borders, with which he traveled to Rwanda last summer to build a rainwater catchment system for a small village. He also plays Ultimate Frisbee for CU-Boulder’s club sports team Mambird, which won the national championship last year. “CU-Boulder has so many clubs and programs to join, it has really been huge for me to have these outlets and to hang out with people that I can really relate to,” Nelson said. Nelson plans to pursue a PhD in plasma physics where he hopes to conduct research related to developing nuclear fusion technologies as a practical and reliable commercial energy source. Viles said she encourages high-achieving students with strong research backgrounds to apply for a Goldwater Scholarship next year. To apply, interested students should contact Viles at deborah.viles@colorado.edu for more information.CU Scholarships var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New technique could slash energy used to produce many plastics
A new material developed at the University of Colorado Boulder could radically reduce the energy needed to produce a wide variety of plastic products, from grocery bags and cling wrap to replacement hips and bulletproof vests. Approximately 80 million metric tons of polyethylene is produced globally each year, making it the most common plastic in the world. An essential building block for manufacturing polyethylene is ethylene, which must be separated from a nearly identical chemical, ethane, before it can be captured and used. The similarities between ethylene and ethane have made the purification process difficult and costly. Today, an extremely energy-intensive distillation technique is typically used. In a new study recently published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a team of CU-Boulder researchers demonstrates that a new material made of molecules containing silver ions could vastly reduce the amount of energy needed to separate ethylene and ethane. “This silver ion can be thought of as working like a hand,” said Matthew Cowan, a CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the paper. “This ‘hand’ can tell the difference between ethylene and ethane and it ‘grabs’ the ethylene out of the mixture. When all the ethylene has been grabbed, the ethane is removed and the hand releases the ethylene.” The new material—which has 13 times more separating power than previous materials used to separate ethylene and ethane—requires much less energy than the traditional distillation technique. In the United States alone, it now takes more than 46 million megawatt-hours of electricity a year to produce ethylene, about the same amount of energy produced by seven average-sized nuclear power plants. Despite their potential for saving energy, silver ions can be more sensitive to contaminants, a problem that would have to be addressed before the technique could be commercially viable. The gas mixtures of ethylene and ethane are a byproduct from petroleum refineries, and they can contain impurities that could deactivate the silver ion “hands.” But researchers are hopeful that the molecule they are packaging the silver ions into may be able to protect them from contaminants. Other co-authors of the paper are William McDanel, Hans Funke, Yuki Kohno, Douglas Gin and Richard Noble, all of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in CU-Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. Research was funded by the Membrane Science, Engineering and Technology Center, a National Science Foundation industry/university cooperative research center. Contact: Matthew Cowan, 720-353-2814Matthew.Cowan@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-6431Jim.Scott@colorado.edu“This silver ion can be thought of as working like a hand,” said Matthew Cowan, a CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and lead author of the paper. “This ‘hand’ can tell the difference between ethylene and ethane and it ‘grabs’ the ethylene out of the mixture. When all the ethylene has been grabbed, the ethane is removed and the hand releases the ethylene.”Engineering, Research, Energy var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: April 14 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Last week’s events had a distinctly cultural tone, with the Conference of World Affairs and the CU International Festival taking center stage in what was a week devoted to the unity and diversity of campus Life. This week’s events adopt a similar emphasis, with a little more brevity thrown in by the Program Council and other student organizations. The Vietnamese Student Association puts on their annual cultural show in the Glenn Miller Ballroom and the Caribbean Student Association gives the song “Buffalo Soldier” a new meaning, as they invite all their fellow “Buffaloes” to celebrate the impending end of semester with a showcase of reggae music. Wednesday, April 15 Cannabis Symposium. The Students for Sensible Drug Policy presents the second annual Cannabis Symposium. With the recent legalization of the drug taking effect in Colorado, the SSDP attempts to educate and debate the controversial drug and how taxation and consumption can both benefit and hinder our society. This event takes place in the Wolf Law building and is free and open to the public. More information on the events calendar. Film Screening: Trainwreck. Ever had the chance to meet a Hollywood star? Program Council is giving you that opportunity this Thursday as they host a pre-screening of Trainwreck, including an opportunity to meet and talk with Amy Schumer, the star of the film. The meet and greet will take place in The Connection from 6-7 p.m., the screening of the film takes place in Chemistry 142 and begins at 10 p.m. Only the first 150 people will be accepted into the meet and greet, so get there quickly. More information is available on the events calendar. Thursday, April 16 Film Screening: Titanic. “I’m so cold” said Rose….”I can’t feel my body.” Well, sorry Rose, not much that can be done about that. But, if you’re cold this Thursday, warm up and escape the outdoors in Chemistry 142 as the Distinguished Speakers Board, in preparation for Robert Ballard’s arrival, presents a screening of Rose and Jack’s love affair aboard the Titanic. This event is free and open to students with doors opening at 6:30 p.m., seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. More information is available on the events calendar. Friday, April 17 In-Service Day Children’s Workshop. Have children who are off school on Friday? The CU Museum of Natural history has got you covered. They are offering the opportunity for children to spend the day at the museum discovering the interactive exhibit on fossilized tracks. This is an educational and fun experience for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Fees are $60 per child, and include morning and afternoon snacks; there is a 10 percent discount for CU faculty, staff and students. More information is available on the calendar. Meditating Asia: 2015 CAS Annual Symposium. This Friday the Center for Asian Studies presents the fourth edition of their annual “Meditating Asia” symposium. The focus of this event will tailor toward the political side of Asians in America and their influence in both the political and social aspects of our culture. Keynote speakers such as Endy Bayuni of the Jakarta Post will host and present in panel discussions debating environmental, political and media issues pertinent to Asian Americans. This event will take place in Norlin Library and begins at 10 a.m. running until 5 p.m. Once again, Check the CU Events Calendar for more information. Reggae Splash. This end of year musical showcase is hosted by the Caribbean Students Association and is taking place on the south facing UMC terrace. Featured guests include the Selasee and the Fafa family, policulture and many more special guests. Enjoy an evening of live music and a celebration of Caribbean culture. Having grown up in the Caribbean myself, I implore you to come by and celebrate with what I believe to be one of the most vibrant and rich cultures on the planet. More information on the Events Calendar. Battle of the Bands. Program Council and the Dennis Small Cultural Center present this year’s Battle of the Bands competition. Come and watch CU’s best musicians and artists compete for a number of prizes. Finalists include: MysterE School, the Horse Paws, gold Metra, Revival and many more. Tickets are free and the event will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. More information here. Saturday, April 18 Buffoons Spring Concert. The Buffoons, a male A capella group, is hosting a release party in Old Main for their new spring release. They have been working hard on expanding their musical repertoire and refining their recordings. This event is free and begins at 7 p.m. More information here. Sunday, April 19 Vietnamese Cultural Show. This year the Vietnamese Student Association will host two guest speakers, Kavi Vu and Riche Le, who will showcase and celebrate Vietnamese culture here in the United States. The theme of this year's show is "Hai Th? Gi?i, M?t Gia ?ình" - this means "Two Worlds, One Family." In their skit, they will tell the story about a brother and sister as they endure the hardships of war and learn the meaning of family. This is a free event and that will feature both performances and food, and it will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. More information is available on the events calendar. Tuesday, April 21 An Evening with Robert Ballard. Last month the Distinguished Speakers Board brought Buzz Aldrin to campus. This month, Robert Ballard, the man who discovered the Titanic is coming to campus. Hopefully you attended the Titanic screening so you will be fully up to date with the Titanic’s sinking – the film was 100 percent accurate right? Mr. Ballard will be presenting on his most recent deep sea explorations in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. General admission is free for CU students. More information on the events calendar As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder student wins prestigious national Goldwater Scholarship
University of Colorado Boulder student Andrew Nelson has been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The scholarship is worth up to $7,500 and recognizes sophomores and juniors who have achieved high academic merit and who are expected to be leaders in their fields. The CU-Boulder student is among only 260 Goldwater Scholars selected from a pool of 1,206 mathematics, science and engineering students from universities and colleges nationwide. “In winning the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, Andrew represents the high quality of the math, science and engineering programs at CU,” said Deborah Viles, CU-Boulder’s top scholarship director. “His talent as well as the varied experiences and opportunities he’s had at CU combine to make him an emerging leader in his field. We’re very proud of Andrew, and proud that CU continues its long history of Goldwater winners.” CU-Boulder has had at least one Goldwater Scholar every year since 2005, and Nelson is CU-Boulder’s 37th Goldwater Scholar since the award’s inception in 1989. Nelson, a junior engineering physics major who grew up in Boulder, became interested in studying fusion as an energy source after attending a campus talk hosted by the Department of Physics and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he also worked as a student in a laboratory. “We have a really, really strong physics department, and learning everything I need to know in my classes has made it really easy to apply that knowledge to research in a lab,” Nelson said. “My position at NIST also helped me learn a lot of lab skills that you wouldn’t necessarily get in class.” Nelson spent a semester last year working on proton fast ignition at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany to gain experience in the highly specialized field. As an undergraduate, he also has been a co-author on two scientific papers. Outside of his schoolwork and research, Nelson is president of the campus chapter of Engineers Without Borders, with which he traveled to Rwanda last summer to build a rainwater catchment system for a small village. He also plays Ultimate Frisbee for CU-Boulder’s club sports team Mambird, which won the national championship last year. “CU-Boulder has so many clubs and programs to join, it has really been huge for me to have these outlets and to hang out with people that I can really relate to,” Nelson said. Nelson plans to pursue a PhD in plasma physics where he hopes to conduct research related to developing nuclear fusion technologies as a practical and reliable commercial energy source. Viles said she encourages high-achieving students with strong research backgrounds to apply for a Goldwater Scholarship next year. To apply, interested students should contact Viles at deborah.viles@colorado.edu for more information. Contact: Deborah Viles, 303-735-6801 Greg Swenson, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3113“In winning the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, Andrew represents the high quality of the math, science and engineering programs at CU,” said Deborah Viles, CU-Boulder’s top scholarship director. “His talent as well as the varied experiences and opportunities he’s had at CU combine to make him an emerging leader in his field. We’re very proud of Andrew, and proud that CU continues its long history of Goldwater winners.”Natural Sciences, Sports, Research, Academics, Outreach, Global Engagement, Energy var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: CU-Boulder junior Andrew Nelson. Nelson, an engineering physics major, was awarded a 2015 Goldwater Scholarship. (Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)


MyCUHub: new campus advising tool launches soon
Imagine you are a CU-Boulder sophomore majoring in one of CU-Boulder's Biology majors, but since arriving on campus you decided that what you really want to do is teach high school biology. You talk to your advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences, and the two of you discuss your first steps in the field of education. When you later go to meet with an advisor in the School of Education, he is able to pick up exactly where you left off with your Arts & Sciences advisor, talking about your next steps toward gaining a teaching licensure. The conversation with your new advisor builds on the previous discussions you've already had with different advisors, allowing you to move on to the next phase of academic advising without having to start over again. Until now, the university has historically taken a more segmented approach to advising students and providing other support services. Different advising systems are used across the university by different colleges and departments. If a student wishes to leave one program and pursue another on the CU-Boulder campus, the handoffs can be tricky to navigate, and when a student is assigned a new advisor because they changed majors, they have to tell their story all over again. MyCUHub will improve continuity and communication across campus offices and create a more holistic experience for students. In fact, this example illustrates how the university manages its interactions with any individual, with one college knowing about a student's academic activities, the Athletic Department knowing which CU sports teams you support, but lacking a crystal clear "institutional view" of the many relationships you have with the university. That's where a Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) comes in. The University of Colorado is working to implement a CRM system that catalogs the many different interactions that an individual has with the university, like: scheduling advising appointments signing up to attend an event on campus and receiving notifications about the event participating in campus activities networking with peers Next steps for advising In May 2015, CU-Boulder will release the Advising and Student Success application that will pull information from Campus Solutions, Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS), and Singularity (Imaging and Document Management) into one enterprise tool that can be utilized by most advisors on campus. It will also create a unified calendaring system to aid advisors and students in seeing advising appointment availability and communicating student needs or requests for assistance. This platform will be available to all undergraduate advisors on the Boulder campus. With the implementation of the new platform, the existing Arts and Sciences Advising (AAC) portal will be retired in May 2015 for advising, but will remain operational for Orientation until that functionality is created in the CRM platform. CU CRM progress to date The Office of Industry Collaboration (OIC) began working in the CRM production system in October 2014. With this tool, OIC is able to engage with, track and follow through on connections made between companies, departments, schools, and individuals, thus streamlining processes and enabling information to be managed in a single, unified system, allowing for better strategic coordination, resulting in increased opportunities for both the business community and CU. This summer, the CU eComm program, spanning all campuses as well as system and advancement offices, will roll out outbound email and event management to engage alumni, donors, students, faculty and staff. An online community will also be available for Alumni as part of the eComm program.Over the next several years, the CU CRM program will continue to be rolled out in the form of various projects across the university’s campuses. Each unit who wishes to roll out a project within the CRM platform will work with the CRM program team to share their business requirements so that the tools developed truly support the unique needs of the unit and their audiences. Further CRM initiatives will be announced later in 2015. How to engage If you have questions about this project, or to learn more about how CRM can help your college, department or unit, contact Kyle Kirves, Senior Project Manager, Office of Information Technology, at kyle.kirves@colorado.edu. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Staff Council Spotlight: Jason Shelton, Employee Relations
Staff Council represents, informs and educates staff employees by serving as a liaison between employees and Boulder campus, University system and State administration. We also recommend proposals to the administration that are designed to improve morale and advocate for the rights of staff employees.  We are pleased to continue our Employee Spotlight series to highlight the diverse stories of our employees. This spotlight focuses on Jason Shelton, Senior Employee Relations Consultant in the Division of Human Resources. What is your job title and the nature of your role here at CU? I am a senior employee relations consultant in Employee Relations in the Division of Human Resources. My role is to advise supervisors and employees on leave issues (Family Medical Leave, Parental Leave and disability benefits), Performance Management (evaluations) and disciplinary issues – on one hand, how to help people become better employees and supervisors, on the other hand helping supervisors set clear expectations and hold employees accountable for these expectations. I’ve worked at CU for over 18 years. I started out in the Office of Admission where I worked with Student Ambassadors and visit programs. Next, I moved to Academic Advising where I advised Open Option students. While advising, I studied for my law degree at the University of Denver. My interest in law led me to explore the administrative side of the university and I eventually made the transition to my current office in Employee Relations. What is your educational and professional background? What led you to CU? I grew up in Littleton [Colorado] and attended high school where the majority of my peers went to CU. At the time, ironically enough, I absolutely refused to go to CU and practically begged my parents to go out of state. Fortunately, I had a great college experience at Princeton University and better still, my east coast experience helped me appreciate what Colorado had to offer. After a brief stint in graduate school in North Carolina and a terrible Dilbert-like job in the mortgage industry, I was offered the opportunity to work at CU, fell in love with Boulder and have been here ever since.    I’ve always had a passion for the college experience. Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved the idea of university life and the energy that a college campus brings. So, I think that’s always been sort of like my driving goal. What do you find inspiring or gratifying in your work? I love the problem-solving aspect of my work. People come to Employee Relations because they have a problem or issue that they need to talk through or simply can’t solve themselves. I’m a helper and I actually enjoy taking on difficult issues. [Also], it is incredibly rewarding to be able to have a positive impact on people’s lives. Particularly in the leave area when an individual has been met with devastating, often health-related, news regarding themselves or a loved one, they’re immediately faced with job decisions, insurance companies, medical issues, [and] benefits. In our role, we often find ourselves in the center of things in an attempt to make things go as smoothly as possible [and] hopefully provide a bit of stability. We do care – and the vast majority of the time we can make things better. Our department as a whole is going through a big period of transition. [We] just hired a new Chief Human Resources Officer and we’re actually looking to really revamp what we do. For now, we’re just starting in on new initiatives, but we have a lot of…new energy and that’s always exciting to be a part of that. CU-Boulder has that new “Be Boulder.” branding identity initiative to highlight the positive impacts and achievements of the university (“Be Innovative,” “Be Together,” etc). How would you fill in the blank? I suppose as someone who works in Human Resources, I’m almost obligated to say “Be Resourceful.” Still, “resourceful” was one of the first words that came to mind.  There are so many great resources on this campus, people to help work through a problem, to help you be more productive in your work or research, or even just to help you try something new. I would say that you really never have to be alone in this town or on campus, and I’ve just been so pleasantly surprised about what’s out there as information and who is available and willing to help.  Learn more about Staff Council var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Fiscal year 2016 parking rate increase
Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) has announced a planned increase in campus parking permit rates effective July 1, 2015.   Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) is an auxiliary operation of the university and as such receives no direct university or state funding, necessitating the recovery of all expenses related to the operation of the department. As you can imagine, this occasionally necessitates some unpopular decisions in order to maintain the fiscal balance required to support the operation.   PTS leadership met with its rate review committee on February 20th and recommended instituting a $2/month increase to the faculty/staff proximate permit rate, and a 4 percent increase to all other parking permits (student, motorcycle, ADA, and business permits) for FY 2016. This recommendation received final approval by Vice Chancellor for Administration Steven Thweatt.   The parking permit increase will help offset the additional cost to construct new parking on campus, to meet current and emerging parking needs as the campus grows. Fortunately the bond debt for Euclid, Regent and the Police and Parking building was retired this year, so that the new debt service will replace those obligations and prevent an even higher rate increase. The bond debt for Folsom and C4C parking garages will overlap through the next 20 years.   Previous year pressures to keep increases down have resulted in a depletion of PTS’s operating reserves and challenged its ability to meet the required debt service-to-net income ratio. Next year’s increase and those in subsequent years will allow PTS to begin rebuilding these reserve requirements. Last year, the permit rate was increased $0.75 per month and in FY 2014 a $1.25/month increase was implemented.   PTS permit parking rates are well-below the parking market in the Denver-Boulder area and in comparison with other Pac-12 institutions. Permit parking at CU-Boulder is only 26-50% of the cost of what drivers will find in the Denver-Boulder area, and ranks 8th for average permit parking rate when compared to other Pac-12 institutions.   Faculty/Staff payroll deduct permit holders who choose to cancel their parking permit may do so by returning the permit to PTS by 5 pm on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. This will allow time to process the necessary halt to any payroll deductions related to the permit fees. If you do cancel your privileges, a temporary permit can be issued through June 30, 2015.   For more information regarding this change, please visit the PTS website (http://www.colorado.edu/pts/parking-permits) or call 303-492-7384.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Mapping guides show how your retirement investments will be treated in July
When the University of Colorado modernizes the funds offered within its retirement Plans this summer, employees with accounts through Fidelity and Vanguard can expect their funds to transfer into the new investment lineup without having to lift a finger. Many TIAA-CREF participants can expect the same. In fact, these CU 401(a) and 403(b) plan participants can see the exact funds into which they’ll be reinvested by reviewing the Plans’ mapping guides, available at www.cu.edu/nestegg/transitioning. These mapping strategy guides offer a side-by-side view of current funds and their like counterparts within the Plans’ new investment lineup. The mapping strategies follow Department of Labor guidelines and were developed by Innovest Portfolio Solutions, the university’s independent retirement plan consultant. When reviewing the guides, check to see which of your current investments will automatically transfer into like funds within the new lineup in July. Those that do will be placed into a newly issued TIAA-CREF CU Retirement Plan account that same month. Some account balances won’t automatically transfer. Account balances that meet the following criteria will not automatically transfer into the new investment lineup: investments in TIAA-CREF annuities, 403(b) Plan investments with American Century, Dreyfus, DWS, MetLife and VALIC The mapping guides can help participants with these investments find comparable ones in the new lineup—either in which they can direct future Plan contributions or transfer their existing assets. After the transition in July, any contributions these participants make to their Plan(s) through payroll deduction will flow into a new TIAA-CREF Plan account. Those contributions will then be invested in the Plan’s target date funds. Participants who would like to change how their funds are invested can do so beginning June 15 through the CU-TIAA-CREF website, www.tiaa-cref.org/cu, or in July, following the transition. Those wishing to transfer assets may contact TIAA-CREF at 1-800-842-2252 to schedule an appointment to fill out paperwork.    Story courtesy Valerie Skillern, University of ColoradoEmployee Services website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Career Services: 'Just in Time Fair' April 15-16
CU-Boulder Career Services is bringing more than 140 organizations to campus to meet students and alumni for two specialized days during the "Just in Time Fair," April 15-16, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UMC. The first day, April 15, is focused on technical organizations and positions. The second day, April 16, is an all campus day with organizations and positions ranging from non-profits to sales and education. Students should come prepared with resumes, but know that many employers on these days ask applicants to apply online. Students can use the fair to: Network and meet with representatives Help employers put a face to the application Learn more about various positions and organizations Be sure to dress appropriately in business or business casual because first impressions make a big impact on potential new employers. See what a career fair looks like here. CU-Boulder students and alumni from all majors/fields and experience levels are welcome to attend this free event. No pre-registration is necessary. Companies attending include: Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, CenturyLink, City Year, EchoStar, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fidelity Investments, GE Healthcare, Intel Corporation, Jeppesen/Boeing, Level3 Communications, Oracle, Sandia National Laboratories, Teach For America, Walmart, Wells Fargo Bank, Xcel Energy and more. April 15, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Technical Day Industries or organizations with technical positions including: computer science, engineering, information systems/technology, research, consulting, and other fields with a technical or scientific focus. View organizations attending Day 1. April 16, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., All Campus Day Industries or organizations with a non-technical focus for example: accounting, banking, government, human services, management, retail, sales, and other fields without a scientific or technical focus. View organizations attending Day 2. For more information about how to prepare for the career fair click here. Prepare for the JIT Fair: Employer Resume Reviews (Technical), Monday, April 13, 1:30-3:30 p.m., C4C S350 Resume Review (Non-technical), Tuesday, April 14, 5:30-7 p.m., C4C S350 Drop-Ins (resume review & brief career questions), Mondays - Thursdays 1:30-3:45 p.m., Career Services C4C N352. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Your student government: Preliminary election results announced
By the University of Colorado Student Government The University of Colorado Student Government is pleased to announce the preliminary results of the spring 2015 elections for your student government.   Your CUSG Tri-Executives, who will lead the executive branch of CUSG: Boneth Ahaneku, John Lurquin, Joseph Soto (UNITE) Your CUSG Representatives at Large, who will represent the entire student body in Legislative Council: Austin McCleery (UNITE) Austin Rugh (UNITE) Bea Lacombe (UNITE) Gabby Hawkins (UNITE) Study Abroad Student Question: Not passed (vote threshold not passed): Yes 839 (90 percent) No 95 (10 percent) Your Arts and Sciences Student Government Representatives, who will represent the College of Arts and Sciences: Reatea Kifletsion (UNITE) Luna Ly (UNITE) Danny Rosenstein (UNITE) Subada Soti (UNITE) Your Arts and Sciences Student Government Co-Senators, who will represent the Arts and Sciences Student Government in Legislative Council: Madalena DeAndrea & Samantha Webster (UNITE) Your University of Colorado Engineering Council President, who will lead the Engineering Council: Hoang Dinh (UNITE) Your University of Colorado Engineering Council Vice Presidents, who will assist in leading the Engineering Council: Lea Connors (UNITE) Samantha Guillies (UNITE) Your University of Colorado Engineering Council Representatives, who will represent the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences: Owen Brown (UNITE) Ben Cloud (UNITE) Katherine Mosley (UNITE) Ashley Nelson (UNITE) Samantha Privett (UNITE) Bridger Ruyle (UNITE) Aleka Stevens (UNITE) Apurva Subramanian (UNITE) Matthew Thompson (UNITE) Your University of Colorado Engineering Council Co-Senators, who will represent the Engineering Council in Legislative Council: Royce Brosseau and Moon Yin (UNITE) Infractions must be filled by Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at 5 p.m. via Election Commissioner KJ Larson at katharine.larson@colorado.edu. The infraction hearing will be Wednesday April 15, 2015. If there are no infractions filled these results will become official April 23. For more information about the elections in general, visit the CUSG elections website. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Being an effective bystander: Ralphie Handler earns praise for intervening in campus sex assault
Max Demby was walking home from University Hill last Friday night and, fortunately, detoured from his normal route. He walked through the Engineering Center plaza and heard the screams of a female CU student who was being sexually assaulted by a man. “I didn’t think twice,” Max said. “There was no doubt in my mind that I had to stop this.” Max approached the man and yelled at him to stop. The suspect ran away. CU Police officers found the suspect a short time later and placed him under arrest. The suspect remains at Boulder County Jail and faces several felony charges. CU-Boulder Police Chief Melissa Zak praised Max’s actions in looking out for a fellow Buff. Max is an accounting senior who is also a Ralphie Handler. “Max is a hero for the quick actions he took to prevent this assault from becoming far worse,” Zak said. “The university is repeatedly messaging to students that they need to be effective bystanders in a variety of situations. Max did that. His actions, as well as the courage of the victims in this investigation, reflect the greatest values of our students in caring for one another and having the courage to act and report to law enforcement. They are all deserving of credit and admiration.” There are ways to increase your ability to be an effective bystander, just like Max and other Buffs on our campus. If you see something that makes you feel uncomfortable, there are several steps you can take based on your comfort level. They include: You can temporarily distract the person. Do something to interrupt a situation. Ask a friend to help. Get someone in authority to step in.   Pictured, Max Demby, center, with CU mascot Ralphie and fellow Ralphie handlers. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New tool for academic advising: MyCUHub
Imagine you are a CU-Boulder sophomore majoring in one of our Biology majors, but since arriving on campus you decided that what you really want to do is teach high school biology. You talk to your advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences, and the two of you discuss step one and step two classes in the field of education. When you later go to meet with an advisor in the School of Education, he is able to pick up exactly where you left off with your Arts & Sciences advisor, talking about your next steps toward gaining a teaching licensure. The conversation with your new advisor builds on the discussions you've already had with previous advisors, allowing you to move on to the next phase of academic advising without having to start over again. Until now, the university has taken a more segmented approach to advising students and providing other support services. There are several different advising systems used across the university by different colleges and departments. If a student wishes to leave one program and pursue another on the CU-Boulder campus, the handoffs can be tricky to navigate, and when a student is assigned a new advisor because they changed majors, they have to tell their story all over again. The new MyCUHub will improve continuity and communication across campus offices and create a more holistic experience for students. So what is MyCUHub exactly?Think of the new MyCUHub advising system as a hybrid between a calendar, email and social media tools that you use specifically for communicating with members of your "success team" (advisors, mentors, etc.). It allows you to: schedule and receive reminders about your upcoming appointments ask your advisor for assistance when you need it It allows your advisor to send you appointment reminders reach out to you when they have ideas for how to keep you on track towards your graduation goals assign you tasks and send reminders (e.g., “Please remember to work on your resume with the career center”) follow a complete view of your student experience (e.g., in addition to your coursework, are you also in ROTC? Club sports?) The purpose of this is to help you and your advisor work together more effectively and efficiently to manage your academic plan. And because so much will be accomplished through the tool itself, you will be able to get right to business when you meet face-to-face. How do I get started?Once it is launched, you will be able to access MyCUHub from the "registration" section of MyCUInfo. For more information about MyCUHub, visit the MyCUHub website. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Fungi thrived in flooded Colorado homes months after waters receded, says CU-Boulder study
Basements that flooded after heavy rains deluged the Colorado Front Range in September 2013 had higher levels of airborne mold and other fungi months after the waters receded compared with basements that didn’t flood, according to a study by the University of Colorado Boulder. The researchers found about twice as much fungal DNA in flooded homes than in non-flooded homes, despite the fact that most of the flooded basements they sampled had already been remediated, a process which often includes throwing out old furniture, replacing drywall and flooring, and treating dried surfaces with chemicals that deter microbial growth. The findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology and funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, also show that the types of fungi—and airborne bacteria—found in flooded homes were different than those in non-flooded homes. “It was surprising to find that months after the flood had happened, and homes had for the most part been remediated, the microbial ecology in the flooded homes was still very different compared to the non-flooded homes,” said Shelly Miller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and co-author of the paper. “It suggests that returning a home to its state before a flood will take a longer time, or a different remediation approach than was typically used in the homes we studied.”  Miller and the other study authors, including CU-Boulder microbiologist Noah Fierer, were also surprised that the differences in the bacteria and fungi found indoors were detected even though the humidity registered the same in both flooded and non-flooded basements by the time the samples were taken. Fierer, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, was inspired to do the study while walking through his south Boulder neighborhood after the September floods, which occurred after 15 inches of rain fell in parts of the city. Many of the basements that flooded in Boulder did so because of rising groundwater levels, not because of creeks overtopping their banks, which meant that each property’s drainage and geography affected whether that particular house was affected. “The Boulder flood was very patchy,” Fierer said. “I was walking down our street and half the homes had basement flooding and half didn’t.” This gave the researchers a unique opportunity to compare flooded and non-flooded homes in the same area at the same time. Other studies of changes in fungi and bacteria in flooded homes have compared indoor air with nearby outdoor air or simply tracked changes to indoor air quality over time. For the new study, the researchers sampled the air in 36 flooded and 14 non-flooded basements in south Boulder for a month and then compared the results. The new study is also an improvement over many past studies in that it uses a relatively new DNA sequencing technique to determine the types and abundance of microbes found in the air. This technique allows for much more accurate results compared with older methods, which relied on culturing samples and seeing what grew. Scientists now know that as much as 99 percent of microorganisms are difficult to culture and, therefore, wouldn’t be counted using such a method. The diversity of bacteria and fungi identified using the DNA-based approach illustrate that there is a huge diversity of microbes that live with us in our homes—whether flooded or not—according to Fierer. “People don’t want to think about that, but it’s true,” Fierer said. “And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. These aren’t necessarily pathogens or allergens.” Some of the fungi found at increased levels in homes that had flooded are known allergens, Fierer said, but even so, it’s not necessarily cause for alarm. Because Colorado is such a dry place, it’s possible that the levels of fungi are still below what you might find in wetter regions of the country, for example. While more research is needed in that area, the authors say it’s important to begin looking at airborne bacteria and fungi as a component of air quality, a measure that has typically only included chemicals and particulate matter. The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Contact: Noah Fierer, 303-492-5615Noah.Fierer@colorado.edu Shelly Miller, 303-492-0587 Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196Kathleen.Human@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-6431Jim.Scott@colorado.edu“It was surprising to find that months after the flood had happened, and homes had for the most part been remediated, the microbial ecology in the flooded homes was still very different compared to the non-flooded homes,” said Shelly Miller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at CU-Boulder and co-author of the paper. “It suggests that returning a home to its state before a flood will take a longer time, or a different remediation approach than was typically used in the homes we studied.” Natural Sciences, Engineering, Community Outreach, Civic Engagement, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Former CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Joanne Emerson hangs an air sampling device from the basement ceiling of a Boulder home. A new study co-authored by CIRES Fellow and CU-Boulder Associate Professor Noah Fierer found that fungi thrived in flooded Colorado homes months after waters receded. Credit: David Oonk/CIRES


Staff Council Update: 2015 State Capitol trek
Boulder Campus Staff Council (SC) finds time once a year to visit the State Capitol. It is here that legislators debate a wide variety of issues - including many that touch the Boulder campus - like funding for capital projects and the “Long” bill. Staff Council finds that understanding the basics of the political process in Denver can go a long way toward building employee engagement. Employees and campus have a voice, and by staying informed we can better guide our individual actions as they uniquely impact our work.  University of Colorado Office of Government Relations State team Heather Fields and Kirsten Schuchman met 11 members of Staff Council and their two guests. Both Heather and Kirsten perform a wide variety of tasks to ensure that the University of Colorado maintains a presence in the State legislative process. Examples include ensuring representatives and senators receive accurate information regarding operations, and counting votes in order to assist strategic planning for the CU system. Representative Jonathan Singer (House District 11) had time to speak with the council, mentioning that Friday’s session in the Chamber is typically shorter so the representatives can get back to their districts and serve their constituents.  He also commented on the Capital Development Committee’s responsibility for prioritizing the order in which fund recipients are allocated. According to Tanya Kelly-Bowry, vice president of Government Relations, $6.3 million has been allocated for CU-Boulder capital development and $15 million for CU-Boulder’s Systems Biotech Building.   Members Nick O’Connor, Robyn Copeland, Aileen Harker, Sharon Vieyra, Zahra Crowley, Vonda Maki, Denise Thomas, Greg Roers, Gregg Lundgren, Brian Drake and Joe Branchaw, were in attendance.  Learn more about Staff Council var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder names founding dean of new College of Media, Communication and Information
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the appointment of Lori Bergen, dean of the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as dean of the new College of Media, Communication and Information. Bergen will begin her duties as dean on July 20, 2015. “Lori Bergen exemplifies the desired qualities of a founding dean,” Moore said. “She not only has a distinguished record of leadership, teaching, scholarly research and creative work, but in her short time on campus, she has articulated a strong and clear vision for the future of the college.” Last June, the Board of Regents approved formation of the college, which includes departments of advertising, public relations and media design; communication; critical media practices; journalism; information science; media studies; and the graduate program in intermedia art, writing and performance. “I am excited by the chance to lead this new college -- a distinctive, innovative and entrepreneurial enterprise where students will engage with world-class faculty to learn, create and analyze media content in all its many forms,” Bergen said. “The college will establish a new standard for teaching and scholarship in communication, media and information, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that.” A national leader in journalism education, Bergen is president-elect of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the largest nonprofit, international educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society. Bergen joined Marquette in 2009 after serving as director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University, as associate director of the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University, and as a faculty member at Southwest Texas State and Wichita State universities earlier in her career. As dean at Marquette, she spearheaded innovative academic initiatives that include the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism and the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, projects focused on improving student learning through partnerships with professionals to create high-impact journalism. During her tenure as dean, the Diederich College has received over $20 million in support for student scholarships and other initiatives. Bergen has received fellowships and grants from the Poynter Institute, the American Society of News Editors, Kaiser Family Health Foundation, Menninger Foundation, National Association of Broadcasters and Radio Television and Digital News Foundation. Her research on the interaction of auditory and visual working memory as a way to understand how visual clutter affects memory for news story facts was featured on the Discovery Channel and in The New York Times. She co-authored Media Violence and Aggression: Science and Ideology, a book on children and media violence, and other research has appeared in the Newspaper Research Journal, Journal of Health Communication, Human Communication Research, Journal of Advertising and Mass Communication & Society. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and political science and a master’s degree in journalism from Kansas State University, and a PhD in mass communication with a minor in organizational behavior from Indiana University-Bloomington. Christopher Braider oversaw the effort to create the new college and has been serving as the transitional dean for the 2014-15 academic year. “I want to thank Christopher Braider for his strong leadership the last four years as he led the journalism faculty and program through transition and laid a solid groundwork for the new College of Media, Communication and Information,” Moore said.    Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115  Journalism var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Lori Bergen


Student life: A passion for the Conference on World Affairs
For senior Annika Erickson-Pearson, using time in college to find her passion is vital. She has made it her full-time job to discover just that. “In college, you’re really free to do a lot and to stick your hand in every bucket. You’re going to find something that you’re willing to stay up until two-o’clock in the morning for,” Erickson-Pearson said. “That’s when you know you’ve found your passion.” The international affairs major from Littleton has spent the last eight months planning for this week’s annual Conference on World Affairs. Every year, the conference features panelists from all over the world to discuss topics ranging from climate change to song-making. Such an acclaimed event takes time to plan, which is why CU-Boulder students and community members have dedicated countless hours to prepare for the event. Despite the busy schedule and crazy days, Erickson-Pearson says it was all worth it. “I’ve never had anyone tell me that going to CWA was a waste of time,” she said. “It’s always a whirlwind of a week, but there’s a reason I come back.” Erickson-Pearson got involved with CWA on her second day at CU-Boulder and has been heavily involved since. She has held a number of positions from serving as the international affairs sub-committee student editor, to acting as this year’s interim advisory board chair. Engaging with the participants is what she is most excited about.   “They want to be here and they want to meet students. They want to get to know us and are so generous.” Erickson-Pearson said. Though she appreciates the opportunity for professional advice, Erickson-Pearson says she gets marriage advice too, which is a bonus. The conference is unlike others and attracts speakers without monetary incentive. In fact, participants pay their own way to Boulder. They do so to be a part of honest discussions on real issues, according to Erickson-Pearson. “The conversations that happen are unlike anything else. There are a lot of conferences where people are paid to discuss things with people only in their field,” Erickson-Pearson said. “That’s great, but that’s not what we do.” Not only has CWA provided Erickson-Pearson with knowledge and perspectives of participants, but it has also provided great relationships with CWA volunteers. “I have really found the CWA community members to be just phenomenal. The cohort of people who put on the conference are truly some of the most terrific people I’ve met,” Erickson-Pearson said. “It’s a real family.” Faculty members offer resources and support throughout the CWA planning process. Entrepreneurship Professor George Deriso is one of the faculty members who has provided useful tips. “Professor Deriso from the business school is wonderful,” Erickson-Pearson said. “He comes and talks to the student community about how to talk to participants.” Erickson-Pearson encourages students to attend the conference, which started Monday and goes through Friday. Students get priority seating.   “Our tagline is ‘Bringing the World to Boulder,’ and you have more access to these incredible, honest topics ranging from reproductive responsibility to the dating world in college,” Erickson-Pearson said. “We even have a panel about Tinder. It’s just that these people have such interesting perspectives.” Erickson-Pearson adds that CWA is a unique way to engage with Boulder. “Boulder is really cool! There are a bunch of really incredible and intelligent people who have lived their lives doing incredible things,” Erickson-Pearson said. “CWA is a great way to access that.” While Erickson-Pearson has loved volunteering for CWA, she advises students to utilize extra time in college to find something to be passionate about. “We have tons of student organizations. Take advantage of the people here and get out into the community.” Erickson-Pearson said. While preparing for her graduation in May, Erickson-Pearson weighs her options as to what she will pursue professionally. As long as she is serving the community, she’ll be happy. Erickson-Pearson said. “I am fielding a variety of options and opportunities ranging from teaching English in France, to working for a socially conscious start up in Boulder,” Erickson-Pearson said. “If what I’m doing is not somehow serving the greater community, then there’s something fundamentally wrong.”Conference on World Affairs var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: April 7 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Monday‘s Game of Thrones premier was one to remember, with lines stretching around the UMC fountain area. A quick word of warning to those who went - no spoilers! Some of us were too busy dealing with our chocolate hangovers from Easter Sunday. This week, campus’ attention turns to more pertinent and historical issues than those occurring in Westeros. Topics such as healthcare, immigration and many others are the focus of this year’s 67th edition of the Conference of World Affairs. While exploring and debating global issues, the 25th annual CU International Festival gives you an alternative opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our own campus, by showcasing cultural performances, foods and people from over 40 different nationalities. Wednesday, April 8 8-Ball Billiards Tournaments. Fancy yourself as the next Ronny White? Test your skills at The Connection’s monthly 8-Ball tournament. Sign up begins at 6 p.m. and the tournament begins at 7 p.m. Entry fees are $5 per person. The tournament will take place in The Connection at the UMC, More information on the tournament here. Conference of World Affairs. The 67th edition of this series is as exciting and busy as ever; panel discussions and distinguished speakers will debate current issues from Monday, April 6, until Friday, April 10. Events will take place in Macky Auditorium and the UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom. Click here for a full schedule. Some personal favorites include “Video Games as an Olympic Sport," taking place on Wednesday, this should make for an interesting debate. As well as “Jon Stewart and the End of a Colb-era” taking place on Friday. Thursday, April 9 April 2015 Blood Drive. The April Bonfils Blood Drive will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Recreation Center. This is a fantastic opportunity for those able to give back and donate; blood donation being a key characteristic of modern healthcare, your donation has the potential to save someone’s life. Appointments can be made but walk-ins are also welcome. More information is available on the Events Calendar. The Story of Massive Stars. This week’s highlighted event at the Fiske Planetarium will take a look at the life of stars from birth to black holes, a vital and fascinating evolution that is the foundation of life on Earth and throughout the universe. This show will take place on both April 9 and 10; however, the Thursday showing is free for students with a valid Buff OneCard. Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for the general public on Friday. Tickets are available for purchase on the Planetarium Website. Friday, April 10 Crafternoon.  The Women’s Resource Center is one of our campus’ greatest assets. They provide a safe and caring environment to join your fellow students in discussions, lectures, socializing and other fun activities. Join them this Friday for an afternoon of T-shirt and tank transformations. Crafternoon will take place from 2-3 p.m. in UMC 416, More information on the Events Calendar. Mario Kart Video Game Tournament. We all know someone who claims to be the ultimate Mario Kart player. Put their ego to the test this Friday at The Connection’s bi-weekly video game tournament. Enjoy this classic amongst your peers. There is a $5 entry fee and play begins at 7 p.m. More information is available on the Events Calendar. Jesus Christ Superstar. Yes, I’m sure he was. The Theatre and Dance Department wants to show you how this Friday in their version of the famed musical. This show will take place at the University Theatre and tickets start at $19. Commentators have praised this musical as one of the greatest of our age; CU’s rendition will be likewise as spectacular, Click here for tickets. Saturday, April 11 CU International Festival 2015. Taking place in the UMC Ballroom, this year’s International Festival is set to be the best yet. By showcasing each country’s culture with booths, performances, food samples and interactive cultural activities, the International Festival gives you an opportunity to share your culture, traditions and heritage with the greater Boulder community. This one is not to be missed, and is free and open to everyone. Visit the Events Calendar and the Festival’s Website for more information. Sunday, April 12 Spring Swing. Join the CU Concert Jazz Ensemble and two-time Grammy Award winning saxophonist Ernie Watts for a swinging return to the Big Band era. The program will feature music from the ensemble’s new recording, a tribute to the greatest bands and composers of the era, including Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and more. This will take place at Macky Auditorium and begins at 2 p.m., tickets start at $10. Click here for tickets. Monday, April 13 I Love Mondays. Join the UMC next Monday for an afternoon of fun; this week’s agenda includes state craft. This is an opportunity to get rid of those Monday blues by socializing and relaxing with your fellow students. I’m not one-hundred percent sure what state craft is, but regardless, it sounds fun! This event is free and a great way to start off your week. It runs from 2-3 p.m. in the North Dining Room on the first floor of the UMC. Click here for more information. As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder scientists, colleagues probe methane emission mystery in Four Corners region
This is a joint release of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), NOAA, NASA and the University of Michigan (U-M). A team of scientific investigators is now in the Four Corners region of the U.S. Southwest, aiming to uncover reasons for a mysterious methane hotspot detected from space by a European satellite. The joint project is working to solve the mystery from the air, on the ground, and with mobile laboratories.  “If we can verify the methane emissions found by the satellite, and identify the various sources, then decision makers will have critical information for any actions they are considering,” says Gabrielle Pétron, a scientist from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, working in NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) and one of the mission’s investigators. Part of President Obama’s recent Climate Action Plan calls for reductions in U.S. methane emissions. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last fall, a team of researchers reported that this Southwest hotspot of methane was the largest U.S. methane signal viewed from space. An instrument on a European Space Agency satellite measuring greenhouse gases showed a persistent atmospheric hotspot in the area between 2003 and 2009, which was also detected by light aircraft measurements in the summer of 2014. For the current study, the Japanese GOSAT Satellite, which measures methane, has been re-programmed to focus on the Four Corners region. The satellite observations were not detailed enough to reveal the sources of the methane in the hotspot. Likely candidates include venting from oil and gas activities, including a process called liquid unloading for coalbed methane extraction; active coal mines; and natural seeps. Researchers from CIRES, NOAA and the University of Michigan (U-M) planned a field campaign called TOPDOWN (Twin Otter Projects Defining Oil Well and Natural gas emissions) 2015 to bring instruments to the region this spring to investigate possible sources of the methane hotspot, and now they will be joined by others from NASA and elsewhere. “This is a grassroots effort which has brought in funding from multiple agencies to multiple investigators to better understand methane emissions from the Four Corners using an array of methods,” said Eric Kort, one of the mission’s investigators from U-M. The team will take a closer look at this region using airborne and ground-based instruments. The groups are coordinating their measurements, but each partner agency will deploy its own suite of instruments.  From the end of March through May 1, NOAA, CIRES and U-M researchers will cover the Four Corners area with many platforms and instruments. A NOAA Twin Otter will quantify methane emissions from the region. Two mobile labs—vans outfitted with sophisticated chemical detection instruments—will target specific areas identified by the aircraft to further characterize sources responsible for methane signals. A highly maneuverable, single-engine Mooney TLS airplane will survey the region to locate large methane signals and focus on particular methane plumes to quantify emissions at the facility-level. As part of another NOAA field campaign, the SONGNEX (Shale Oil and Natural Gas Nexus) 2015 field mission, the NOAA P3 aircraft also will sweep over the area for one or two research flights, capturing information on a suite of chemicals associated with air quality and climate. Winds over the region will be monitored by an array of upward-viewing NOAA wind profilers and a laser wind-measuring instrument.   From April 17 through April 24, a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will fly two complementary remote-sensing instruments on two Twin Otter research aircraft. The Next-Generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRISng), which observes spectra of reflected sunlight, flies at a higher altitude and will be used to map methane in detail over the entire region. Using this information and ground measurements from the other research teams, the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) will fly over suspected methane sources, making additional, highly sensitive measurements of methane. With the combined resources, the investigators hope to quantify the region’s overall methane emissions and pinpoint contributions from different sources. They will track changes over the course of the monthlong effort and study how meteorology transports emissions through the region. “This joint campaign is a win-win for all participants,” said Christian Frankenberg, a JPL scientist who is heading NASA’s part of the effort. “It is a unique opportunity to characterize the region’s methane budget using both remote sensing and local measurements in a coordinated effort.” The TOPDOWN 2015 mission is primarily funded by NOAA, with additional support from the National Science Foundation (Air Water Gas), NASA and the Bureau of Land Management.  The research team includes scientists from CIRES, NOAA ESRL’s Global Monitoring Division, Chemical Sciences Division, Physical Sciences Division, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU-Boulder, the University of Michigan, Bureau of Land Management and the state of New Mexico. CIRES is a partnership of NOAA and CU-Boulder. Contacts: Gabrielle Petron, CIRES scientist, Gabrielle.Petron@noaa.gov, 303-497-4890Karin Vergoth, CIRES communications, karin.vergoth@colorado.edu, 303-497-5125 Russ Schnell, NOAA scientist, Russell.C.Schnell@noaa.gov, 303-497-6733 Monica Allen, NOAA communications, monica.allen@noaa.gov, 301-734-1123  Alan Buis, NASA JPL media relations, Alan.Buis@nasa.gov, 818-354-0474“If we can verify the methane emissions found by the satellite, and identify the various sources, then decision makers will have critical information for any actions they are considering,” says Gabrielle Pétron, a scientist from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.Environment, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New study hints at spontaneous appearance of primordial DNA
The self-organization properties of DNA-like molecular fragments four billion years ago may have guided their own growth into repeating chemical chains long enough to act as a basis for primitive life, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Milan. While studies of ancient mineral formations contain evidence for the evolution of bacteria from 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago -- just half a billion years after the stabilization of Earth's crust -- what might have preceded the formation of such unicellular organisms is still a mystery. The new findings suggest a novel scenario for the non-biological origins of nucleic acids, which are the building blocks of living organisms, said CU-Boulder physics Professor Noel Clark, a study co-author. A paper on the subject led by Tommaso Bellini of the University of Milan was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications. Other CU-Boulder co-authors of the study include Professor David Walba, Research Associate Yougwooo Yi and Research Assistant Gregory P. Smith. The study was funded by the Grant PRIN Program of the Italian Ministries of Education, Universities and Research and by the U.S. National Science Foundation.   The discovery in the 1980’s of the ability of RNA to chemically alter its own structure by CU-Boulder Nobel laureate and Distinguished Professor Tom Cech and his research team led to the development of the concept of an “RNA world” in which primordial life was a pool of RNA chains capable of synthesizing other chains from simpler molecules available in the environment. While there now is consensus among origin-of-life researchers that RNA chains are too specialized to have been created as a product of random chemical reactions, the new findings suggest a viable alternative, said Clark. The new research demonstrates that the spontaneous self-assembly of DNA fragments just a few nanometers in length into ordered liquid crystal phases has the ability to drive the formation of chemical bonds that connect together short DNA chains to form long ones, without the aid of biological mechanisms. Liquid crystals are a form of matter that has properties between those of conventional liquids and those of a solid crystal -- a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, for example, but its molecules may be oriented more like a crystal. “Our observations are suggestive of what may have happened on the early Earth when the first DNA-like molecular fragments appeared,” said Clark. For several years the research group has been exploring the hypothesis that the way in which DNA emerged in the early Earth lies in its structural properties and its ability to self-organize. In the pre-RNA world, the spontaneous self-assembly of fragments of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) may have acted as a template for their chemical joining into polymers, which are substances composed of a large number of repeating units. “The new findings show that in the presence of appropriate chemical conditions, the spontaneous self assembly of small DNA fragments into stacks of short duplexes greatly favors their binding into longer polymers, thereby providing a pre-RNA route to the RNA world,” said Clark. The CU-Boulder authors are part of the Soft Materials Research Center (SMRC) headquartered on campus, one of 12 Materials Research and Science Engineering Centers selected by the National Science Foundation for funding in February 2015. The CU-Boulder center was founded with a $12 million NSF grant over six years. Clark is the SMRC center director and Walba is the associate director.   Other paper co-authors include the University of Milan’s Tommaso P. Fraccia, Giuliano Zanchetta and Elvezia Paraboschi and the University of Parma’s Giorgio Dieci. Parma University is located in Parma, Italy. Contact: Noel Clark, 303-492-6420noel.clark@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“Our observations are suggestive of what may have happened on the early Earth when the first DNA-like molecular fragments appeared,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor Noel Clark, a study co-author.Natural Sciences, Research var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: The image shows a droplet of condensed nano-DNA and within it smaller drops of its liquid crystal phase which show up in polarized light on the left. The liquid crystal droplets act as “micro-reactors" where short DNA can join together into long polymer chains without the aid of biological mechanisms. Image courtesy Noel Clark, University of Colorado


HR Corner: Director of HR Business Partners position opportunity
The Division of Human Resources has opened a search for a Director of the new HR Business Partner (HRBP) function. This position will supervise the campus HR Business Partners, and is responsible for the development, growth, and successful functioning of the nascent HR Business Partner function. Currently, we are seeking candidates from within the CU-Boulder campus only. As a direct report to the Chief HR Officer, the HRBP Director will play an important role as a strategic advisor within the campus’ central HR function, as well as to college and division leadership and their respective management teams. Along with the senior managers of the units, s/he will play a lead role in the identification and selection of new HR Business Partners. As a member of the campus’ HR leadership team, the HRBP director will collaborate with others to create highly effective channels of communication and flow of information, both to and from each of the campus’ units. Among the success requirements for this position are: The ability to develop and maintain credibility with senior level administrators, (including strong business acumen, and interpersonal & written communication). Demonstrable knowledge of human resources concepts, applicable laws, employee development techniques, and conflict management. Demonstrable success addressing complex business issues. Apply by Friday, April 17, 2015. More information can be found through https://www.jobsatcu.com/postings/98512  Visit the HR website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Campus Q&A: Abby Benson, CU Government Relations
After spending the past three years in CU’s Washington, D.C. office, Abby Benson is back on the CU-Boulder campus, now serving as Associate VP of Government Relations. We sat down with her to discuss the role of Government Relations at the university, and why campus programs benefit from working with her team. Why is Government Relations important for CU-Boulder? As the flagship campus of the University of Colorado, CU-Boulder has an obligation to serve as a steward of government resources and to participate in local and national dialogues that are important to our state and our nation. The CU Office of Government Relations (OGR) aims to help all CU campuses inform our elected officials about efforts to educate Colorado’s students, while conducting important research and outreach that contributes to the local, state, and national economy. We do this by building effective relationships and partnerships with our State and Federal elected officials government executives. Although OGR is a System office, with a team located in both Colorado and Washington and led by CU Vice President for Government Relations Tanya Kelly-Bowry, we work closely with the leadership of each CU campus to meet its specific needs. What is your role at the University of Colorado? I oversee policy for OGR, and serve as the lead point of contact for CU-Boulder on both State and Federal issues. Jordan Beezley, who just joined CU-Boulder last month, serves as the campus legislative liaison to OGR. We also work very closely with CU-Boulder Strategic Relations to ensure consistent external communications. In particular, we coordinate our efforts with Kim Calomino, the Manager of Local Government and Community Relations, who is CU-Boulder’s lead point of contact for engagement with local government, chambers of commerce and industry associations. Our collective aim is to provide feedback on proposed legislation, policy and budget proposals, and arrange visits for campus leadership, faculty, and students to meet with decision-makers throughout Colorado and in Washington, D.C. We also arrange campus visits for officials so they can see firsthand the exciting things happening at CU-Boulder. On the national level, I also represent CU-Boulder as a member of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) Council of Government Affairs and the Association of American Universities (AAU) Council on Federal Relations, two major national organizations representing their member institutions in Washington, D.C. What should a campus unit do if we want to invite an elected official to an event, or if an elected official contacts them? We encourage all members of the CU-Boulder community to contact us if they are engaged with an elected official or government executive. A good first step if you’re contacted by or would like to invite a State or Federal official to campus is to contact Jordan Beezley, CU-Boulder’s Legislative Liaison. If you’re interested in reaching out to the local government or a chamber of commerce or industry association, contact Kim Calomino, Manager of Local Government and Community Relations. Jordan, Kim, and I will work together to ensure you have the most effective interaction possible. In some cases, we are also required to report this information to comply with state and federal regulations. The government relations website, www.cu.edu/office-government-relations, provides information about these rules and regulations, including university guidelines on inviting elected officials to campuses, campaign-related activities by members of the University community and much more. The website is also updated regularly with state and federal legislative issues that we are working on.  What do you want the CU-Boulder community to know about you? I first moved to Washington, D.C. while serving as an officer in the United States Coast Guard. I worked on maritime transportation policy, and then transitioned to the Coast Guard budget office where I began my work with Congress. When I left the Coast Guard, I was eager to get back to my roots in science–I have degrees in geology, transportation, and logistics–and have grown really passionate about science policy. I think I have the best job out there, representing such an amazing institution and engaging in state and federal policy dialogues relevant to CU-Boulder. And after living by the ocean for so long, my husband and I are enjoying the change of scenery in Boulder! Contact Abby Benson at abby.benson@cu.edu, Jordan Beezley at jordan.beezley@colorado.edu, or Kim Calomino at Kim.Calomino@colorado.edu.  Visit the OGR website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU Engage: Conversations on Ethical and Equitable Community Engagement
Join CU Engage on April 23, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in UMC 415-417 for Conversations on Ethical and Equitable Community Engagement. Beth Osnes, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance who has extensive experience collaborating with community groups, will share the story of her path in coming to understand best practices for ethical and equitable community engagement. She will then lead the group through a creative framework to: identify our values (individually and collectively) that are the foundation of community engagement; critique models of community engagement we are trying to move beyond; imagine the new model for engagement we hope to achieve; devise actions that can move us from the old model to the new model.  Together we will consider these actions, anticipate likely obstacles, and generate solutions. A lively conversation will be facilitated that allows participants to share their experiences and goals for doing engaged work that benefits both our students and our community partners. This is the second in an ongoing series organized by CU Engage about ethical and equitable community engagement. (The first session was led by a team of students who presented a talk focused about the community engagement experiences and perspectives of CU Boulder Students of Color). All are welcome.Community & Culture var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Faculty, students revved up about Large Hadron Collider restart
University of Colorado Boulder faculty and students are primed to get back in action following the Easter restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful atom smasher located near Geneva, Switzerland, after a two-year hiatus. Following intensive upgrades and repairs, proton beams from the LHC once again began flying around a 17-mile underground loop below the Swiss-French border at nearly the speed of light. In 2012 the international research team -- which includes 10 CU-Boulder faculty, students and technicians -- used the particle collisions in the LHC to discover the elusive Higgs boson, a particle believed by physicists to endow the universe with mass. The CU-Boulder high-energy physics team is involved with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), one of two massive particle detectors in the LHC and which weighs more than 12,500 tons. The CU team helped design and build the CMS forward pixel detectors -- the “eyes” of the device -- that help researchers measure the direction and momentum of subatomic particles following collisions, providing clues to their origin and structure. William Ford, who recently retired from CU-Boulder as a physics professor but remains active in the LHC program, said four CU-Boulder graduate students working on the project -- Frank Jensen, Andrew Johnson, Mike Krohn and Troy Mulholland -- are eager to get their hands on new data. “They have published papers on earlier LHC data and tuned their techniques, and the real opportunity comes now as the LHS approaches its full design energy,” said Ford. In addition to Ford, other CU-Boulder faculty and staff involved in the project include CU-Boulder physics Professor John Cumalat, physics Associate Professor Kevin Stenson and physics Professor Attendant Rank Steve Wagner. The CU-Boulder team also includes technical staff members Douglas Johnson and Eric Erdos. During the LHC’s second run, particles will collide at a staggering 13 teraelectronvolts, which is 60 percent higher than any particle accelerator has achieved before. The particle collisions, hundreds of millions of them every second, are expected to lead scientists into unexplored realms of physics and could yield extraordinary insights into the nature of the physical universe. “As we increase the energy we will certainly learn more about the properties of the Higgs particle, and maybe there will be other Higgs particles,” said Cumalat. “The next couple of years of accumulating and analyzing data should be very exciting.” Fifteen years in the making, the $10 billion LHC involves an estimated 10,000 people from 60 countries, including more than 1,700 scientists, engineers and technicians from 94 American universities supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. Contact: John Cumalat, 303-492-8604john.p.cumalat@colorado.edu William Ford, 303-492-6149wtford@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“As we increase the energy we will certainly learn more about the properties of the Higgs particle, and maybe there will be other Higgs particles,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor John Cumalat. “The next couple of years of accumulating and analyzing data should be very exciting.”Natural Sciences, Research, Academics var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Large Hadron Collider. Image courtesy of CERN


True grit: How to push through and move forward
Resilience means pushing forward through the stress and overcoming a difficult situation. So, how do you improve that skillset? This month in Student Health 101 online magazine, we’ve got seven steps to building up your resilience, from learning to adapt to working with your natural abilities. Click here to check out this month's Student Health 101 online magazine. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Your student government: Spring 2015 elections April 6-9
By the University of Colorado Student Government Attention students: The spring 2015 University of Colorado Student Government elections will take place next week, April 6-9. Log on to MyCUinfo to cast your votes for CUSG Tri-Execuives, Representatives-at-Large, ASSG Co-Senators, ASSG Representatives and UCEC candidates. This spring, UNITE will be the only formal ticket running against independent candidates. Voting is still extremely important, however, because there is a referenda question that will redefine “students” in the constitution to include students who are studying abroad. We have more than 900 students who study abroad each year, so this would be a big step forward for our Student Government. Remember that the people you elect to CUSG are responsible for over $32 million each year. They run the Rec Center, UMC and the Environmental Center. They are student’s number one advocate, and the most direct way to make change on campus and at the state level. They are bringing the Dalai Lama to CU-Boulder in the fall and they continue to represent students with our Regents. Voting only takes a couple of minutes and it is one of the best ways to make sure your voice is heard on campus! var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Chancellor's Memo: Campus will have normal operations on April 20
Dear CU-Boulder students, faculty and staff: April 20 is fast approaching and some of you may have questions regarding campus operations for that day. For the past three years, CU-Boulder closed the campus to non-affiliates on April 20 to avoid the disruptive gatherings that attracted thousands of attendees from around the state and the country in earlier years. And fortunately, those types of gatherings have not occurred since 2011. I told you last year that I hoped campus closures would not be necessary in the near-future and that we could go about our daily business on April 20 as we would any other day. That time has come. On this April 20, the campus will remain open to students, faculty, staff and visitors, as it would normally be. The only exception to this will be the lawn areas of the Norlin Quad, which will be closed that afternoon. Depending on other factors, additional fields may also be closed. Those who ignore the barriers and cross onto the Norlin lawn or any additional closed fields can face a citation or arrest for trespassing. While you may see a presence of campus police enforcing the closure areas, officers will not be checking IDs of those on campus like they have in past years. We’ve made this decision in consultation with key campus stakeholders, including the CU Student Government. Eliminating the unauthorized 4/20 gathering was never about curtailing free speech or taking a stance on drug policy. Actually, as voters in additional states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, we think it’s a key time to continue discussions on this important topic. In support of that effort, for the second consecutive year, I will be talking about the history of 4/20 and CU-Boulder’s marijuana policies in a Cannabis Symposium on campus later this month. Furthermore, at next week’s Conference on World Affairs, federal and state drug policies will be the primary topic for three sessions. Why is this year the right time to open the campus? After three years of closing the campus to non-affiliates, the public understands that we are serious about eliminating this gathering that disrupted the academic mission of the university. At the same time, there are now several sanctioned events occurring April 18-20 around the Denver metro region for people to attend. We have made great strides over the past three years, and I thank all of you for your patience and cooperation in helping us toward that goal. If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, we encourage you to contact us at 420feedback@colorado.edu. Sincerely, Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor University of Colorado Boulder var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Riders have opportunity to provide input on proposed RTD U.S. 36 service plan and fares
RTD recently released its proposed service plan for its FasTracks Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system planned to open on U.S. Highway 36 in January 2016. CU-Boulder RTD riders have the opportunity to provide input on the proposed service plan and proposed revisions to the fare system. The Boulder meeting has already occurred, but there is one remaining public meeting you can attend, or you may submit written comments by e-mail. Deadline for all comment is May 1, with the RTD board set to act on the plan May 21. Impacts of the proposed service plan changes that may affect CU-Boulder include: Adds no new peak-hour express service to campus along Broadway; most had expected improved peak-hour express service with construction of the FasTracks U.S. 36 BRT express lanes. Eliminates existing 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. express service between Denver and CU/Downtown Boulder. Eliminates the current S route that brings commuters north from Denver Union Station and communities along U.S. 36, directly to CU-Boulder’s East Campus along Arapahoe. Eliminates existing direct AB SkyRide service to DIA south of the Flatirons Park-n-Ride at NW Parkway, impacting residents of Broomfield and Westminster. Eliminates plan to add express service to the growing CU East Campus from Table Mesa Park-n-Ride as the 209X. Provides no corridor service to or from the new Boulder Junction Station (near 33rd and Pearl Streets) between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. weekdays; no weekend or evenings. Provides no SkyRide service to DIA from the new Boulder Junction Station. Provides no direct service between Boulder Junction and Denver Union Station. The new RTD BRT vehicles have less bike-on-board capacity than their previous regional coaches. (6 bikes instead of 8) “Express” BRT service would be priced at the higher “Regional” fare. The comment deadline is May 1. You can email your comments about the plan to service.changes@rtd-denver.com with "U.S. 36 Service Plan" as the subject line. Please copy your RTD Director on your emailed comments – find your Director’s email at “LOOKUP YOUR DIRECTOR.” For an overview of the proposed service plan and information on the public meetings, go to http://www.rtd-denver.com/servicechanges-us36.shtml RTD has also released the results of its Fare Study. It is a plan to revise the structure of the entire fare system prior to opening four new FasTracks corridors in 2016. At the same time, RTD plans to implement an overall fare increase. 15 public meetings will be held throughout the entire Transportation District, one in each RTD Director’s electoral district, starting March 23, wrapping up April 8, with final comments due by April 8. Their plan would reduce fares on much of RTD’s rail service while increasing fares on most of their bus services. For an overview of the proposed rate changes and information on the public meetings, go to http://www.rtd-denver.com/fare-recommendation.shtml To review CU-Boulder’s position about the proposed changes to both the service plan and fare, download the PDF, “University of Colorado Boulder response to RTD FasTracks Proposed Service Plan.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


2015-2016 Outreach and Engagement Award proposals due April 20
Boulder campus faculty are invited to submit proposals for 2015-2016 outreach and engagement funds to be awarded by the CU-Boulder Outreach Committee in June 2015. Proposed outreach projects should extend faculty members’ research, teaching, and creative work.   Individual faculty applicants may request up to $8,000 for each project; interdisciplinary or interdepartmental faculty groups may request up to $24,000 for a single, collaborative outreach project.   New this year, the Office for Outreach and Engagement and CU Engage are collaborating to offer the inaugural Integrated Community-based Award. This special award supports faculty and their graduate students who are engaged in community-based research through mutually beneficial university-community partnerships. Available funding mirrors individual and interdisciplinary/interdepartmental group awards plus additional funding for one graduate fellow.    The 2015-2016 proposal guidelines for individual, group, and integrated awards can be found at http://outreachawards.colorado.edu/, where you will also find information about additional outreach and engagement funding opportunities including the new Graduate Fellowship in Community-based Research, created by CU Engage to train a generation of scholars in the practices and principles of community-based research.   All proposals and applications must be submitted by Monday, April 20, 2015. The online submission forms will be available the week of April 6. Please review the guidelines in advance of your submission, and send any questions via email to outreach@colorado.edu.   The CU-Boulder Outreach Committee, comprised of faculty and community members from many disciplines, oversees the award process. Last year, the committee awarded funds to 35 individual and interdisciplinary outreach and engagement projects that served communities, K-12 constituents and citizens with limited access to university programs.   Since 1999, the committee has supported more than 600 faculty projects. These awards are made possible through contributions made by the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of the Provost and the Division of Continuing Education.   Outreach and engagement is defined as the ways faculty, staff, and students collaborate with external groups in mutually beneficial partnerships that are grounded in scholarship and consistent with our role and mission as a comprehensive, public research university. Applicants are encouraged to review the campus definition of outreach and engagement before applying: http://outreach.colorado.edu/about/outreach-definition.   Visit the Outreach Awards website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Spring Town Hall addresses campus climate, funding - provides community conversation point
More than 350 students, faculty and staff joined the 2015 Spring Town Hall on the CU-Boulder campus today. Whether attending in-person or watching via streamed video, the audience heard directly from the campus’ top leadership, including Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, Senior Vice Chancellor and CFO Kelly Fox and Provost Russell Moore. Moderators were CUSG executive Juedon Kebede and CU-Boulder Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program Sharon Collinge, who led the panel in a discussion on topics ranging from the campus culture and climate, to student success and future funding of the institution. Following the discussion, leadership also answered questions from the audience and some which were emailed previously. The answers covered topics ranging from the faculty and staff tuition benefit, online education and investment in athletics facilities balanced with academic and student space. When asked about student success and what it means to him, DiStefano said, "I want to see us graduate 80 percent of our students within six years by 2020, and I want them to leave with a degree and hopefully very little debt," for which he received a round of applause. Moore identified a number of initiatives underway on campus to help our students succeed, including an updated approach to new student orientation. “We’re taking a multi-faceted approach. We’re taking pages from the best practices from other universities, and we’re trying to implement them in a coordinated fashion across the campus,” said Moore. Moore said the new process will be more technology-assisted and high-touch so that we can make it easier for students to enroll and become engaged on campus. Moore also pointed to a new, campuswide approach to academic advising and a faculty mentorship program as other exciting initiatives that the university is undertaking to support student success. The panelists discussed the recent Board of Regents vote to raise resident tuition by 2.9 percent, as well as the broader topic of the university’s funding from the state, tuition and other forms of revenue. DiStefano expressed his gratitude to the state Legislature for the continued support, but emphasized that CU-Boulder must be serious about actively seeking alternative sources of revenue. “We have other ways of increasing revenue besides state funding and tuition,” DiStefano said, “let’s be innovative and entrepreneurial and aggressive and continue to identify ways to increase revenue so that we can offset any of the loss of revenue from the state.” DiStefano said the campus has already been doing well on that front. “We’ve raised an additional $10 million this year through private fundraising, industry research, and other sources. We’re continuing to identify new ways to generate more revenue.” Fox addressed how the campus sets current fiscal priorities. “We put together a strategic budget process a couple years ago, so that really has brought all the leadership together to help identify what the priorities for investing are. The first priorities for fiscal year 2016 include investing in faculty and staff salaries with a compensation pool of 3 percent. Other investments are around our enrollment initiatives and retention strategies, and we are addressing deferred maintenance to some our very aging facilities and we need to take a very strategic approach to how you start investing in these issues.” Moore explained that there are three primary considerations given to any financial decision: will it enhance our reputation as a great national research university, will it promote student success, and will it help us create alternate revenue sources. DiStefano reminded the group that while athletic fundraising for new facility upgrades was exceeding $70 million, “we have invested $850 to 860 million in the last five to 10 years in our academic and student space, and we don’t talk about that enough. We’ve added 2 million square feet in the last eight years.” Moore also discussed the shifting of departments from main campus to the newer buildings on the East Campus. “Departments are not moving out there in silos,” he said. “They are in these buildings and collaborating and acting in an interdisciplinary way.” The trio also discussed an interdisciplinary approach to student success, and new student welcome, as keys to increasing future graduation rates and diverse campus. In closing, the Chancellor discussed the new panel discussion format, “One of the things that I wanted to accomplish with this format is for our faculty, staff and students to see how we work together as a team… It’s really a team approach how we work together, how we improve the campus, get ideas from across the campus, and move our campus forward.” For those unable to attend the event, a recording of the livestream is available online. Follow-up questions are always welcome at chancellor@colorado.edu, and we would love to hear your feedback on the new panel format. If you sent a question and it was not answered at the Town Hall, please look for a personal response in the coming days. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Colorado second-quarter business confidence remains positive, says CU-Boulder index
The confidence of Colorado business leaders remains optimistic, increasing slightly going into the second quarter of 2015, according to the Leeds Business Confidence Index (LBCI) released today by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. For the past eight quarters, confidence has been more stable than ever in the index’s 11-year history.   “People are not only evaluating the economy and saying, ‘things look good,’ but they’re very confident quarter after quarter that their beliefs are very solid,” said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Leeds School’s Business Research Division, which conducts the LBCI. “They’re on firm ground. This really bodes well for not only just the next quarter or two, but for the longer term.” Just before the second quarter of 2015, the LBCI posted an overall reading of 61.7, up from 60.8 at the top of the first quarter. Expectations measured positive -- at 50 or higher -- for all of the metrics within the index, which include the national economy, state economy, industry sales, industry profits, capital expenditures and hiring plans. The favorable standings represent 14 consecutive quarters of positive expectations, according to the LBCI. Underscoring stability, the standard deviation of the LBCI -- or variation from the average reading -- has been a mere 0.8 over the past eight quarters compared with 7.9 each previous quarter in the report’s history Overall, optimism in sales expectations is the highest metric in the index at 64.3, up from 61.8 last quarter. The reading on hiring expectations, which was the least bullish last quarter, represents the biggest boost this quarter. It’s at 62.1 heading into the second quarter of 2015, up by 3.9 points from 58.2 last quarter. Metrics on capital expenditures are the least bullish and decreased very slightly to 59.3, down from 59.4 last quarter. Profits expectations are at 60.7 just before the second quarter, up from 59 last quarter. At its lowest rate since January 2008, Colorado’s unemployment level held steady year-over-year at 4.2 percent in February 2015. This compares with a national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in February 2015. Year-over-year employment growth was recorded in every Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of the state with Greeley (+8.2 percent) seeing the biggest increase. Greeley is followed by the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield (+4.2 percent) and Pueblo (+3.9 percent) MSAs. Employment growth also was recorded in the Fort Collins-Loveland (+2.2 percent), Boulder (+1.9 percent), Colorado Springs (+1.8 percent) and Grand Junction (+1.8 percent) MSAs. Statewide, the biggest employment gains in February compared with the same month in 2014 were in the construction, mining and logging, and education and health services sectors. For more information about the Leeds School’s Business Research Division and the second quarter report visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/brd. Business var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: 


Faculty in Focus No. 13: The Humorist
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Three guys walk into a bar….   Humor and laughter are universal. But just what is humor? And what, exactly, makes us laugh? Peter McGraw, a psychologist by training and now professor of marketing at the Leeds School of Business, has traveled the world on a far-reaching quest for the secret underlying humor. He’s so serious about dissecting comedy that he founded a laboratory where he studies what makes things funny and the implications of humor for business. Considered an expert in the interdisciplinary fields of emotion and behavioral economics, he has become a thought leader in establishing the study of humor as a serious research endeavor (ironic as that may sound). “It’s an age-old question—one that people way smarter than me have tried to answer—What makes things funn?” he says. “Plato and Aristotle contemplated the meaning of comedy, but we have something that they didn't. We can run experiments and answer questions that philosophers can’t answer.” McGraw founded the Humor Research Lab, or HuRL, an experiential laboratory at the Leeds School focused on the study of all things humorous. With his Humor Research Team of undergraduate and graduate students (known as HuRT), McGraw conducts a variety of experiments. The researchers use online panels, both national and international, to examine differences in perception of what is funny by culture or location. They also bring people into the lab and tell them jokes or show a movie to get their feedback. “To study this thing that is so complex and vast, a laboratory is necessary, but it’s not sufficient,” he says. “Oftentimes, my experiences out on the road spur questions we answer in the lab.” Telling a joke is all about timing, particularly so with jokes about tragedies. McGraw's recently co-authored study on Hurricane Sandy found that jokes weren’t funny when people were in the midst of dealing with the damage. After some time had passed, however, those jokes became funny. When more time passed, they became not funny again, but boring and irrelevant. “No one tells Michael Jackson jokes anymore,” he points out. His broad search for the secret behind humor resulted in the book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, which he co-wrote with Joel Warner, a Denver writer. “A scientist studying comedy may be amusing, but it’s easy to make the case for why it’s important in business,” says McGraw. “People like funny brands. They pay attention to funny advertisements. At the lab, we’re doing some work on the ways that brands can use humor as a marketing tactic.” McGraw recently had a paper about using humor in public service announcements accepted for publication in the Journal of Marketing Behavior. Although a funny PSA may benefit a social marketer by grabbing people’s attention, the downside is that it might not be taken seriously and people could tend to see the problem it is addressing as not being a real problem. One of the interesting things about McGraw’s work is that he’s ventured outside the laboratory to try standup comedy. And how did that go? “Not well,” he cracks. Not one to give up so easily, he is trying again. A tall, lanky professor wearing a sweater vest walks into a comedy club…BusinessLeeds School of Business Humor Research Lab var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder hosting Colorado Communities scanning event and consultations with historical experts
The University of Colorado Boulder is celebrating Colorado history with a three-day scanning event for the Colorado Communities historical website and free consultations with experts on family history and genealogy. The event is part of the Colorado Communities initiative, which is creating a website to document Colorado local history over the last century through photos, documents and other artifacts contributed by citizens. Hosted by the University Libraries and CU Heritage Center, the free community scanning will be at the University Memorial Center Dalton Trumbo Fountain Court April 7 through April 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The website will feature primary sources that document the people, places and events that not only made the headlines, but also quietly shaped the lives of everyday citizens. It also will offer interactive timelines and maps allowing users to explore the collection as well as essays that place the materials in historical context. This digital collection will be of particular interest to students, educators, researchers, genealogists and others who explore various aspects of the state’s past. Community members interested in participating are encouraged to bring up to five items for scanning. Suggested materials include photographs, letters, documents, postcards, scrapbooks or other memorabilia related to Colorado history over the last century. Participants do not need to part with the originals; technicians will scan the artifacts or download digital photos on-site. Contributors will receive a copy of the digitized materials and the Colorado Communities team will keep one for inclusion in the website. The following activities also will be held in connection with the scanning event: Your Colorado Treasures Tuesday, April 7, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Terry King, senior appraiser at Connoisseur Appraisers, will be on hand to evaluate memorabilia, portable antiques and fine art. Your Colorado Story Wednesday, April 8, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coloradans who don’t have pieces to digitize can still participate in the project by sharing stories about life in Colorado or family lore at an audio-video station. These digital recordings also will be included on the Colorado Communities website. Your Colorado Quest Thursday, April 9, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jen Baldwin, genealogist and family historian (www.ancestraljourney.net), will be present to answer questions about conducting family and local history research. Parking on campus is limited. Pay parking may be available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark or along 18th Street. For more information about the scanning event contact Holley Long at holley.long@colorado.edu or 303-492-7513. Contact: Lauren Calkins, University Libraries, 303-492-8302Community Outreach, Civic Engagement var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Facebook app encourages individuals to get in touch with their DNA
Have you ever wondered if your dad’s fight with prostate cancer means you could face the same reality? Or perhaps your family has several members who have struggled with obesity and you wonder if it’s something you inherited or if it’s caused by the environment. Good news: researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the University of Colorado Boulder have an app for that. A new project that officially launches March 31 called Genes for Good gives participants the chance to learn more about their health, behavior and ancestors. In return, those who fully participate provide genetics researchers with valuable data that can be used to better understand the origins of disease, which could lead one day to better treatments, prevention and cures. “It’s really a research study that offers us a chance to engage with lots of people and get better information on behavior, environment and so on,” said Goncalo Abecasis, chair of the U-M School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics and the Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics. Genes for Good uses a Facebook app. Users fill out various health and behavior surveys. Once a certain amount of data is submitted each participant is sent a spit kit to use to provide a saliva sample for genetic analysis. Scott Vrieze, a co-investigator at the University of Michigan before becoming an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU-Boulder, said this approach to providing genetic information to people is different from the commercial products. “We’re a research group, not a company, so our goals involve scientific understanding, not profit,” he said. “More concretely, participants can have their DNA analyzed, with the results of that analysis, their genotype, returned to them free of cost. Participants can also track components of their health and activity over time and compare themselves to others in the study.” The data collected through various questionnaires and results from the saliva samples will give genetic researchers more information to build on existing data. Abecasis and his lab have been involved in numerous genetic studies, and their work has contributed to a better understanding of diabetes, heart disease, addiction, obesity, macular degeneration, psoriasis and more. “Facebook is a place where people already spend considerable time,” Abecasis said. “We put a very short question in Facebook streams to remind people to submit information. We hope people will find it engaging and stick with it.” Vrieze said that even though they are using a very public program, the user’s personal data is secure. “While Genes for Good is available through Facebook, it’s important to note that Facebook or any other social media platform does not have access to the information participants provide,” Vrieze said. The information is encrypted with a secure University of Michigan server, according to the researchers. “Science has always been a social endeavor, but traditionally only for researchers,” said Vrieze, who also is a fellow in CU-Boulder’s Institute for Behavioral Genetics. “Facebook and other social media platforms are simple ways to engage large numbers of people and, if those people like it, they can immediately share with friends and families.” Like all apps in Facebook, however, privacy settings within the program determine if friends or the public are aware that the participant is using the app. “Understanding the genetics of complex behaviors and diseases will benefit immensely from massive samples of dedicated participants,” Vrieze said. An eventual goal is to make the platform and resulting data widely available to the scientific community at no cost, so that others may develop new measures or new analyses. Personal identifiers, such as names and phone numbers, will not be shared. Participants can choose to do the profile only, but those who provide a saliva sample will get information on ancestry and their genetic profile. For more information on Genes for Good visit http://genesforgood.sph.umich.edu. Contact: Scott Vrieze, 303-492-1743scott.vrieze@colorado.edu Laurel Thomas Gnagey, University of Michigan public relations, 734-647-1841ltgnagey@umich.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“We’re a research group, not a company, so our goals involve scientific understanding, not profit,” said Scott Vrieze, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU-Boulder. “More concretely, participants can have their DNA analyzed, with the results of that analysis, their genotype, returned to them free of cost. Participants can also track components of their health and activity over time and compare themselves to others in the study.”Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Civic Engagement, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: March 31 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Welcome back to school! I’m sure you all had a wonderful Spring Break and are ready to get back to work. Who am I kidding? We all wish Spring Break could last for just one more week. In any case, campus is once again filled with life as we bath in the Colorado sunshine and get ready for the dreaded finals week. There is only a month left for us graduating seniors, and only a month left for those of you eagerly awaiting your summer vacation. Let us make the most of the time we have left in order to savor the experience of life at CU Boulder. This week we have an array of activities at our fingertips. If the weather holds true, then I urge you to get outside. However, if the forecasts are correct, which they rarely are, we could be in for an onslaught of wintery weather. Either way, I’m certain the following ten events will give you something to fill your spare time. Tuesday, March 31 Branch out: Operation – I’m Perfect. Branch out is one the Dennis Small Cultural Center’s weekly programs aiming to serve the student body with engaging and culturally educational programming. This week, the DSCC is presenting a self-empowering workshop on the perceptions of beauty. Join Brenda La and CollaborAsian for this interesting debate on one of our more controversial social constructions. Event takes place in UMC 457 and begins at 6 p.m. More information here. Wednesday, April 1 Spring Town Hall. Join Chancellor DiStefano, Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox and Provost Russ Moore for a town hall style meeting which will include a panel type discussion. This is your time, as a CU Student, to voice your opinions and questions directly to the people who make the major decisions which affect your college experience.  Send in your questions ahead of time to chancellor@colorado.edu to ensure they will be asked by the moderators. We are fortunate to have the ability to question those in charge, and as such it is important that we take advantage of these opportunities. The meeting starts at 3 p.m. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. More information here. Resumes & Networking. I know I know, you’re tired of hearing about networking and writing resumes, but it’s important to learn about both if you are either close to graduating or looking for an internship. Eighty percent of jobs are found through networking believe it or not, so learn about the process and how having a sculpted resume can increase your chances of landing that perfect job. This brief class starts at 5:30 p.m. and will take place in Norlin E303. More information here.       Thursday, April 2 Ralphie’s Cooking Basics. As per usual the UMC kitchen will be providing free cooking lessons to students in desperate need. This week “weeknight dinners” are on the menu. This seems deliberately vague, so there is the potential for you to learn how to cook beef wellington to mac n’ cheese. Head to the UMC outside Baby Doe’s at 4:45 p.m. to find out more. Make sure you wear closed toes and space is limited to the first twenty people, so get there early! More information on their website.   Buffalo Nites. The last edition of the UMC’s Buffalo Nites will involve tie-dying. Come and hang out, relax and socialize in the UMC gallery with your fellow students Tie-dying equipment will be provided and this event is entirely free. Buffalo Nites will start at 7 p.m. and take place in the UMC’s Gallery. More information can be found on the Events Calendar and their Website. An Evening with Valarie Kaur.  The Cultural Events Board is proud to present Valarie Kaur, the first out-of-state Sikh American to come and speak on our campus. She will be discussing and paneling questions regarding the hate crimes committed against Sikh and Muslim Americans following 9/11. Kaur is an accredited film-maker, civil rights lawyer and a national Sikh leader, her voice holds weight amongst her social community as well as the academic world, having gained degrees from both Stanford and Harvard. This event will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom, doors open at 6:30 p.m. More information can be found on the Events Calendar. Friday, April 3 Jump N’ Jive Spring Formal. Join Boulder Swing Dance for an evening of dancing. All are welcome, as this formal will cater to those of all dancing abilities. Come to dance, have fun, meet new people and listen to the awesome Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles Jazz Band as they provide the music for this one of a kind soiree. Tickets are free for CU Students and the dancing begins at 7 p.m. More information can be found on the Events Calendar or their Facebook webpage. Saturday, April 4 ASA’s Tour of Africa. Previously this event was scheduled for mid-February. However, the snow had other plans, and the ASA is once again ready to host their annual tour of Africa. Celebrate and learn about various African cultures and communities in this showcase of African music, artwork and food. This event is free and open to everyone; it will take place in the lower gym of the recreation center and begins at 5:30 p.m. More information here. Flatirons Music Conference. The first annual Flatirons Music Conference is an initiative to offer a comprehensive day of learning, networking and opportunities and collaboration. This is an opportunity for musicians seeking a career in the industry to get their foot in the proverbial door, it’s also an opportunity to meet like-minded people and further develop your musical skills. This conference will take place off campus at “Spark Boulder’ and starts at 11 a.m., more information can be found on the events calendar and their website. Monday, April 6 Game of Thrones Season 5 Pre-Screening. If you haven’t read the books and are frothing to see what happens next, get a head start as the program Council invites you to a free screening of the opening episode of Game of Thrones Season 5 before it officially airs on HBO. This way you can give HBOGO and the UTorrent a breather when both sites get overrun following the official airing of this first episode.  Tickets are given on a first come first serve basis, so get there quick if you would like to attend. The screening will take place in Chem 140 and starts at 8 p.m. I suggest you get there by 7 p.m. to ensure yourself a seat! More information can be found on Program Council’s website. As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder program seeks to bring national and international entrepreneurs to campus
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship this fall will pilot a new Entrepreneurs In Residence (EIR) program to bring mentorship to students and allow entrepreneurs domestically and from around the world to be part of Colorado’s vibrant startup community. The program joins an array of established startup resources at CU-Boulder available to the campus community. “CU-Boulder is proud to be one of the nation’s top entrepreneurial universities,” said Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor of CU-Boulder. “The Entrepreneurs In Residence program will further build our momentum, which includes a range of activities across the campus, and will bring entrepreneurs from around the world to CU-Boulder.” The unique pilot is being launched with support from Brad Feld, a managing director at the Foundry Group venture capital firm, co-founder of Techstars and a leader in Colorado’s startup community. Up to four seasoned or emerging entrepreneur-applicants from around the world, as well as the U.S., will be considered for the program in its first year. The selected entrepreneurs’ duties will entail up to 20 hours of work per week on campus and a stipend of up to $25,000 per academic year. Consistent with university policy and applicable law, entrepreneurs in the program will be free to work on their existing entrepreneurial ventures or start a new company in one of the best entrepreneurial communities in the world. The selected entrepreneurs, who initially will be offered one-year appointments that could extend to a total of three years -- will be mentors, meeting one-on-one with enterprising CU-Boulder students, faculty and staff across campus to give guidance on everything from creating a business model to raising capital, building prototypes and acquiring customers. They also will involve themselves in community engagement, contributing to other programs on campus, such as the New Venture Challenge, and engaging the entrepreneurial community. “The EIR program promises to bring top international talent to Boulder, enriching the campus and the startup community,” said Feld. “With the level of entrepreneurial energy in Boulder and Colorado more generally, the EIR program is well positioned to succeed and better connect the campus to the overall ecosystem.” Noncitizens selected for the program will be sponsored by CU-Boulder as their employer, making them eligible to apply for an H-1B visa or other appropriate visa. The H-1B visa permits foreigners to work in specialty occupations in the United States on a temporary basis. With its ability to support additional H-1B visa classifications, the CU-Boulder EIR program is one of only a handful of known programs of its kind in the country. “The EIR program will bring outside talent to campus to mentor students engaged in a range of projects requiring an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School and executive director and founder of Silicon Flatirons. “It will also offer a unique opportunity to EIRs both to work on their companies in a tremendous community and, for those seeking authorization to stay in the United States, CU-Boulder’s EIR program will enable them to do so.” Silicon Flatirons also hosts the Colorado Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, which is supported by a $3 million grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to mentor emerging entrepreneurial companies, and Startup Colorado, which builds relationships and programming across the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. The EIR program is open to entrepreneurs with graduate and undergraduate degrees preferably in technical or business disciplines. Applicants will be judged on their entrepreneurial experience, leadership capabilities, the promise of their current or envisioned company and their ability to serve as a mentor.  Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning April 1. Initial consideration will begin in late May with a goal of bringing the first entrepreneurs-in-residence to campus this fall. For application details and requirements email John Delva at john-scott.delva@colorado.edu. For more program information contact Phil Weiser at phil.weiser@colorado.edu. Contact: Phil Weiser, 303-735-2733phil.weiser@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.eduGlobal Engagement var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Chancellor's Corner: Spring Town Hall is this Wednesday
Welcome back to campus after what I hope was a rejuvenating break. As we dive into the end of this academic year with renewed vigor, I want to personally invite you to attend the 2015 Spring Town Hall on Wednesday, April 1, at 3 p.m. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom in the UMC. I believe the conversations we have at these sessions and the information we share are important to building a strong community across the campus and aligning us around common goals. This year we are taking a completely new approach to the Spring Town Hall. I have invited Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox and Provost Russ Moore to join me in a new, informal, panel discussion format. CUSG executive Juedon Kebede and CU-Boulder Professor and Environmental Studies Coordinator Sharon Collinge will act as moderators and ask us questions about the campus, our finances, our key initiatives and many other topics. We invite your questions. The campus is engaged in many exciting challenges and opportunities, and we’d be happy to try to answer any questions you might have about those. Please send your questions to chancellor@colorado.edu and we will provide as many of them as possible to the moderators. The event will also be streamed live and an archive will be available immediately after the event. So please come, bring a fellow student or CU-Boulder colleague with you, and let’s continue the conversation. Be sure to stay for the reception following the event at 4 p.m. in the ballroom. I look forward to seeing you there. Sincerely, Philip P. DiStefano, ChancellorWatch the livestream var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents sets tuition rates for the 2015-16 school year
The University of Colorado Board of Regents Monday morning voted 8-1 to approve a resident tuition increase of 2.9 percent at CU-Boulder, the lowest for resident student tuition approved by the board since 2006, when it raised tuition 2.51 percent for residents. Non-resident undergraduate students will see a 3.0% increase, and international undergraduate students a 3.1% increase. The Regents heard the tuition presentation from CU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Todd Saliman and entertained a lengthy discussion on related topics, including the structure and purpose of differential tuition for CU-Boulder’s colleges and schools, investment into merit-based and need-based scholarships, and the future of tuition and budget planning amid the unpredictability of the state’s economy and finances. “We can’t accurately predict what the future holds in terms of the state’s economy and state funding,” said Saliman. “We’d like to keep tuition as low as possible. The chancellors’ commitment is to keep tuition as low as possible.” Board members reiterated appreciation for increased support from the State of Colorado, saying it enabled the campus to keep tuition increases to a minimum. Regent Sue Sharkey said that that with the vote to approve tuition, the university is sending a clear message to the state legislature. “One of the reasons this is happening is due to the strong support from the State Legislature to higher education. The university is working hard to keep tuition down in response to their work,” Sharkey said. “With three percent, I don’t know of anything except the price of gas that’s lower. I’m comfortable with where our campuses have come in (with their budget requests),” said Regent Glen Gallegos of Grand Junction. Regent John Carson, who represents the 6th Congressional District, said his constituents were mainly concerned about tuition increases. He said his main issue on tuition is ensuring accessibility to a CU degree for middle-class families. “I gather from the materials that the plan in the out years is to hold to a steady three percent cap? Is this just going to be a one-year-at-a-time endeavor, or are we going to set meaningful caps on where tuition is going to go? Even though three percent is lower than some other institutions, it’s still too high for me,” Carson said. The board also voted 8-1 to approve an increase undergraduate student fees by $154 at CU-Boulder. These fees include course and instruction fees, housing and dining service fees and student activity fees. The board also voted 9-0 to approve a three percent salary increase pool for classified staff (a one percent cost of living and 2 percent merit increase) and a three percent salary increase pool for faculty and exempt staff. For more information, view the full 2015-16 Budget Proposal slides. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Shell-shocked: Ocean acidification likely hampers tiny shell builders in Southern Ocean
A University of Colorado Boulder study shows a ubiquitous type of phytoplankton -- tiny organisms that are the base of the marine food web – appears to be suffering from the effects of ocean acidification caused by climate change. According to the study authors, the single-celled organism under study is a type of “calcifying” plankton called a coccolithophore, which makes energy from sunlight and builds microscopic calcium carbonate shells, or plates, to produce a chalky suit of armor. The researchers used satellites tuned to observe the amount of calcium carbonate present in the surface of the Southern Ocean produced by Emiliania huxleyi, one of the most common species of coccolithophores in the region. The coccolithophore E. huxleyi is important in the marine carbon cycle and is responsible for nearly half of all calcium carbonate production in the ocean, said lead study author Natalie Freeman, a doctoral student in the CU-Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC). The new study indicates there has been a 24 percent decline in the amount of calcium carbonate produced in large areas of the Southern Ocean over the past 17 years. The researchers used satellite measurements and statistical methods to calculate the calcification rate – the amount of calcium carbonate these organisms produced per day in surface ocean waters. Across the entire Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, there was about a 4 percent reduction in calcification rate during the summer months from 1998 to 2014. In addition, the researchers found a 9 percent reduction in calcification during that period in large regions of the Pacific and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. “This is the first study to use satellites to measure the change in the amount of calcium carbonate and the calcification rates of the Southern Ocean,” said Freeman. “Both have decreased in large portions of the Southern Ocean basin, which is what one might expect considering the ongoing acidification of the world’s oceans.” A paper on the subject by Freeman and CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Nicole Lovenduski of ATOC was published online in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded the research. The new study also includes data collected from ships to show that the observed decline in calcification occurs simultaneously with a loss in the amount of carbonate ions. Carbonate ions, a key ingredient in coccolithophore shells, are being significantly depleted via ocean acidification when the world’s oceans absorb atmospheric CO2. The Global Carbon Project, an international environmental organization, estimates roughly 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from factories, cars, power plants and other human sources were absorbed in 2013 by the world’s oceans. NOAA scientists have estimated that global oceans have become up to 30 percent more acidic since the Industrial Revolution. “While we generally expect acidification to negatively impact coccolithophore calcification and growth, other environmental stressors such as warming may have influenced these processes,” said Lovenduski. The two researchers, who also are affiliated with CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, used data collected by the SeaWiFS and MODIS satellite instruments. “These results suggest that large-scale shifts in the ocean carbon cycle are already occurring and highlight organism and marine ecosystem vulnerability in a changing climate,” wrote the CU-Boulder researchers in GRL. The Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic absorb more human sourced CO2 from the atmosphere than other oceans, and the Southern Ocean is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification because of its naturally low numbers of carbonate ions. “This study has implications for how sensitive these coccolithophores are to a changing climate, and how their calcification might influence the marine carbon cycle.” In a changing climate, the response of these organisms and the ecosystems they support is still unknown. But all signs suggest that acidification will likely place these organisms under increased pressure, threatening them in different ways, including the ability of some cocolithophores to build and maintain a shell, according to the CU-Boulder researchers. Contact: Natalie Freeman, 303-735-1337 natalie.freeman@colorado.edu Nicole Lovenduski 303-492-5259nicole.lovenduski@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“This is the first study to use satellites to measure the change in the amount of calcium carbonate and the calcification rates of the Southern Ocean,” said doctoral student Natalie Freeman in the CU-Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC). “Both have decreased in large portions of the Southern Ocean basin, which is what one might expect considering the ongoing acidification of the world’s oceans.” Natural SciencesDiscovery & Innovation, Discoveries & Achievements, Graduate Education, Research Collaborations, Student Research, Faculty Excellence var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Microscopic coccolithophores like this species, Emiliania huxleyi, among the ocean's most common phytoplankton, appear to be declining in the Southern Ocean, a possible result of a changing climate. Image courtesy Alison Taylor, University of North Carolina Wilmington Microscopy Facility/Wikimedia Commons


Your student government: Spring Town Hall
By the University of Colorado Student Government Are you interested in building a stronger Buff community? Do you want to help unify the goals of administration and students? Well you are in luck, because the Chancellor’s annual Spring Town Hall is coming up April 1, at 3 p.m. in the newly renovated Glenn Miller Ballroom. This year the Spring Town Hall will be in a new, informal, panel format with Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox and Provost Russell Moore joining Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. Your CUSG Tri-Executive Juedon Kebede and CU-Boulder Professor and Environmental Studies Coordinator Sharon Collinge will act as moderators in this informal discussion about campus, finances, key initiatives and many other topics. If you have questions you would like asked during the panel email them to chancellor@colorado.edu and they will provide as many of the questions as possible to the moderators. The event will be followed by a reception at 4 p.m. in the Ballroom. Bring a friend and be apart of the conversation as we move towards a stronger Buff community! var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Study: Western forests decimated by pine beetles not more likely to burn
Western U.S. forests killed by the mountain pine beetle epidemic are no more at risk to burn than healthy Western forests, according to new findings by the University of Colorado Boulder that fly in the face of both public perception and policy. The CU-Boulder study authors looked at the three peak years of Western wildfires since 2002, using maps produced by federal land management agencies. The researchers superimposed maps of areas burned in the West in 2006, 2007 and 2012 on maps of areas identified as infested by mountain pine beetles. The area of forests burned during those three years combined were responsible for 46 percent of the total area burned in the West from 2002 to 2013. “The bottom line is that forests infested by the mountain pine beetle are not more likely to burn at a regional scale,” said CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Sarah Hart, lead study author. “We found that alterations in the forest infested by the mountain pine beetle are not as important in fires as overriding drivers like climate and topography.” A paper on the subject is being published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study was funded by the Wilburforce Foundation and the National Science Foundation. The Wilburforce Foundation is a private, philanthropic group that funds conservation science in the Western U.S. and western Canada.   Co-authors on the new study include CU-Boulder Research Scientist Tania Schoennagel of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, CU-Boulder geography Professor Thomas Veblen and CU-Boulder doctoral student Teresa Chapman. The impetus for the study was in part the severe and extensive native bark beetle outbreaks in response to warming temperatures and drought over the past 15 years that have caused dramatic tree mortality from Alaska to the American Southwest, said Hart. Mountain pine beetles killed more than 24,700 square miles of forest across the Western U.S. in that time period, an area nearly as large as Lake Superior. “The question was still out there about whether bark beetle outbreaks really have affected subsequent fires,” Hart said. “We wanted to take a broad-scale, top-down approach and look at all of the fires across the Western U.S. and see the emergent effects of bark beetle kill on fires.” Previous studies examining the effect of bark beetles on wildfire activity have been much smaller in scale, assessing the impact of the insects on one or only a few fires, said Hart. This is the first study to look at trends from multiple years across the entire Western U.S. While several of the small studies indicated bark beetle activity was not a significant factor, some computer modeling studies concluded the opposite. The CU-Boulder team used ground, airplane and satellite data from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to produce maps of both beetle infestation and the extent of wildfire burns across the West. The two factors that appear to play the most important roles in larger Western forest fires include climate change -- temperatures in the West have risen by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970 as a result of increasing greenhouse gases -- and a prolonged Western drought, which has been ongoing since 2002. “What we are seeing in this study is that at broad scales, fire does not necessarily follow mountain pine beetles,” said Schoennagel. “It’s well known, however, that fire does follow drought.” The 2014 Farm Bill allocated $200 million to reduce the risk of insect outbreak, disease and subsequent wildfire across roughly 70,000 square miles of National Forest land in the West, said Hart. “We believe the government needs to be smart about how these funds are spent based on what the science is telling us,” she said. “If the money is spent on increasing the safety of firefighters, for example, or protecting homes at risk of burning from forest fires, we think that makes sense.” Firefighting in forests that have been killed by mountain pine beetles will continue to be a big challenge, said Schoennagel. But thinning such forests in an attempt to mitigate the chance of burning is probably not an effective strategy. “I think what is really powerful about our study is its broad scale,” said Hart. “It is pretty conclusive that we are not seeing an increase in areas burned even as we see an increase in the mountain pine beetle outbreaks,” she said. “These results refute the assumption that increased bark beetle activity has increased area burned,” wrote the researchers in PNAS. “Therefore, policy discussions should focus on societal adaptation to the effect of the underlying drivers: warmer temperatures and increased drought.” Contacts: Sarah Hart, 720-980-9264 sarah.hart@colorado.edu Tania Schoennagel, 303-818-5166tania.schoennagel@colorado.edu Thomas Veblen, 303-492-8528thomas.veblen@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu   “The bottom line is that forests infested by the mountain pine beetle are not more likely to burn at a regional scale,” said CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Sarah Hart, lead study author. “We found that alterations in the forest infested by the mountain pine beetle are not as important in fires as overriding drivers like climate and topography.”Natural Sciences, Environment, Institutes, Natural SciencesDiscovery & Innovation, Discoveries & Achievements, Graduate Education, Faculty Excellence, Graduate Education, Research & Creative Works, Research & Creative Works var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: High Park Fire, Colorado 2012 Courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture


Explorer who discovered RMS Titanic wreckage to speak at CU
Ocean explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in 1985, will speak at CU-Boulder on Tuesday, April 21, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and Ballard will begin speaking at 7 p.m. Seating for the free, public event, which is being hosted by the Distinguished Speakers Board, will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. In his speech, titled “Adventures in Deep Sea Exploration: Living the Dream”, Ballard will present his most recent work in deep water archaeology and the technology of "tele-presence." He will share his findings from numerous expeditions where he search for, located and documented sites of historical significance. Making discoveries that have captured the imagination of the public, Ballard has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship KMS Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (sunk in World War II during the Battle of Midway) and John F. Kennedy’s boat, PT-109. In addition to being a National Geographic Society Explorer-In-Residence and a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Ballard is president of the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET). Having spent 30 years at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he helped develop telecommunications technology to create tele-presence for his education initiative, which allows hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren to accompany him from afar on undersea explorations around the globe each year. He has a Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Rhode Island and in 2001 returned to the Graduate School of Oceanography where he is presently a tenured professor of oceanography and director of the Center for Ocean Exploration. There will be a Q&A portion with the audience following the speech. The Distinguished Speakers Board is a student-run cost center of the CU Student Government with the mission to bring the world’s greatest minds to the CU Boulder campus. For more information about the event, or event accommodations, please contact the Distinguished Speakers Board at DSBchair@gmail.com or visit the group's Facebook page. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Plan accordingly: Many IT services unavailable tonight
Many campus IT Services will be unavailable from 10 p.m. tonight until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. The outage was extended due to electrical contractors needing additional time. We anticipate that major services will be available starting at 9 a.m. We appreciate your patience as we work through this complex initiative. Please understand an outage of this size impacts many moving parts, including over 140 services. MyCUInfo will remain available until midnight to ensure students can add/drop classes before the deadline. Read more. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Research on small cellular changes may lead to big cancer solutions
Among cancers, scientists have spent their entire research careers looking for cellular similarities that may lead to a single cure for many cancers –– the rare chance to have a single answer to a multifaceted problem. In 1997, scientists discovered a gene that they believed was the key to cellular immortality. Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase, or TERT, is a catalytic piece of telomerase, and while cellular immortality sounds like a good idea, it is actually how cancerous tumors grow and proliferate in cancer patients. In the late nineties, the unanswered question was whether or not TERT was a cancer-causing gene. Scientists spent the next decade hunting for the mutations that activate it but no one was able to find mutations in TERT. Two years ago, two groups of researchers discovered that TERT didn’t have any mutations at all. Instead, the mutations were occurring in the regulatory region that controls the expression of the gene. These mutations showed up in melanoma, and in many cancers found in the brain, liver and bladder.  “It was at that point that I realized we had all the tools and expertise in our lab to understand the mechanisms of these mutations. What my lab did with our collaborators at CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus was to trace the effect of the mutation from the DNA to the increased RNA levels, to the increased protein levels, to the increased telomerase levels,” says BioFrontiers Director Tom Cech, who recently published his team’s findings in the journal, Science. “We were able to show this effect in 23 bladder cancer cell lines by comparing those with mutations to those without mutations.” Bladder cancer cell lines were available at Anschutz and Cech’s research team worked with colleagues there, including Dan Theodorescu, Director of the CU Cancer Center, to use those lines because their cellular workings could be applied to a variety of different cancers. Bladder cancer itself is no small threat. The National Institutes of Health report that this cancer caused more than 15,000 deaths in 2014 alone, and nearly 75,000 new cases were diagnosed in the same year. Treatment for this type of cancer is not easy either, involving some combination of chemotherapy, biological therapy with bacteria or completely removing the bladder. One of the most valuable parts of the study was the team of collaborators doing the research including: Staff Scientist, Art Zaug; Postdoctoral Researcher, Sumit Borah; Graduate Student Linghe Xi, and an undergraduate with a triple major in biology, biochemistry and neuroscience, Natasha Powell. This team worked across the two CU campuses to gain access to unique bladder cancer cell lines available at the Anschutz Medical Campus. The team in the Cech lab also had a process for measuring the number of TERT protein molecules and the very small changes in enzyme activity within cells.  Using these tools the research team pushed beyond the current limitations of technology in measuring molecular changes within cells. Computer analysis of the data further confirmed that a finding of high telomerase levels could predict whether a patient’s bladder cancer was fatal or survivable. At some point in the future, doctors may be able to measure telomerase activity in cancer patients and prescribe a treatment schedule according to the severity of the cancer. Using this technique, telomerase could be a biomarker for certain cancers and Cech hopes his research will give medical diagnostic companies the knowledge they need to develop a test that could be used easily in a doctor’s office. “We hope that this research will stimulate drug companies to find telomerase inhibitors to slow and change cancer to a more treatable version. We’re also interested in seeing if this research applies to other types of cancers, which would create an opportunity where a single drug could impact many different kinds of cancers,” says Cech.  Natural Sciences, InstitutesDiscovery & Innovation, Serving Colorado. Engaged in the World.Learn more about BioFrontiers var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Majority of forested land carved up by human development, says new study involving CU-Boulder
Seventy percent of forested lands remaining in the world are within a half mile of the forest edge, where encroaching urban, suburban or agricultural influences can cause any number of harmful effects, according to a new study involving scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder. The research team, led by North Carolina State University, did a global survey of habitat fragmentation—the division of habitats into smaller and more isolated patches—and found the degree of fragmentation points to trouble for a number of the world’s ecosystems, from forests to savannahs to grasslands, and the plants and animals living in them. The study also tracked seven major experiments on five continents that examine habitat fragmentation and finds that fragmented habitats reduce the diversity of plants and animals by 13 to 75 percent, with the largest negative effects found in the smallest and most isolated patches. The study, which involved about two dozen researchers across the globe, is reported today in a paper published in Science Advances. Kendi Davies and Brett Melbourne, assistant professors in CU-Boulder’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and co-authors of the study, have been tracking the fates of species in a 30-year-long experiment at Wog Wog in southeast Australia, along with Australian researchers. “Big, long-term experiments in ecology are critical because we can draw very strong conclusions,” Davies said. The researchers assembled a map of global forest cover and found very few forest lands unencumbered by some type of human development. “The results were astounding,” said Dr. Nick Haddad, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at NC State and the corresponding author of the paper. “Nearly 20 percent of the world’s remaining forest is the distance of a football field—or about 100 meters—away from a forest edge. Seventy percent of forest lands are within a half-mile of a forest edge. That means almost no forest can really be considered wilderness.” The seven major experiments on fragmented habitats tracked by the study cover many different types of ecosystems. The experiments combined to show a disheartening trend. Fragmentation causes losses of plants and animals, changes how ecosystems function, reduces the amounts of nutrients retained and the amount of carbon sequestered, and has other deleterious effects. “The initial negative effects were unsurprising,” Haddad said. “But I was blown away by the fact that these negative effects became even more negative with time. Some results showed a 50 percent or higher decline in plant and animals species over an average of just 20 years, for example. And the trajectory is still spiraling downward.” The researchers point to some possible ways of mitigating the negative effects of fragmentation: conserving and maintaining larger areas of habitat; utilizing landscape corridors, or connected fragments that have shown to be effective in achieving higher biodiversity and better ecosystem function; increasing the efficiency of agriculture; and focusing on urban design efficiencies. The studies were supported by the National Science Foundation.EnvironmentKendi Davies, 303-492-7035Kendi.Davies@colorado.edu Brett Melbourne, 303-492-8961Brett.Melbourne@colorado.edu Laura Snider, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-735-0528Laura.Snider@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: Spring break
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Spring break has finally arrived, and for those of you not making it out to Cabo or Cancun this year do not despair; Colorado has plenty to offer. Whether you’re looking for outdoor adventures or something to distract you from the inevitable beach photos clouding your Facebook news feed, the following ten things will provide plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy your week off.  This list includes both indoor and outdoor adventures, with the hope that everyone’s needs are accommodated. Visit the Rocky Mountain National Park or indulge your secret passion for fine art at the Boulder Arts Week. Whatever your fancy, Colorado has something to satisfy your needs.   Visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Located just outside beautiful Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most breathtaking locations in Colorado. At more than 400 square miles, the park offers a bounty of outdoor recreation opportunities. There are over 300 miles of hiking trails, as well as snow shoeing and cross country skiing opportunities. If you do intend to try your hand at snow shoeing or other winter sports, remember that the park does not rent gear; this must be obtained beforehand either in the town of Estes Park or back in Boulder. If you are more comfortable keeping to the confines of municipal life, the town of Estes Park also provides ample opportunities for fun and exploration. Rates and park opening times can be found on their website. They also have awesome webcams so you can check on the weather conditions before you go. The Great Sand Dunes. The tallest sand dunes in North America are one of the more unique experiences Colorado has to offer. Located southwest of Pueblo, the sand dunes are literally, a huge collection of sand dunes that facilitate many different outdoor options. Things to do range from hiking and backpacking to sandboarding and even horseback riding. Do be aware that spring in Colorado can create unpredictable and potentially tumultuous weather conditions, some facilities are currently closed. Be sure to check their website for alerts before you plan your visit. This is also more likely to be a multi-day visit, so plan your stay and resources accordingly. Campsites and other lodging information can be found here. Garden of the Gods. Located on the west side of Colorado Springs and at the foot of the snow-capped Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods is a dramatic representation of Colorado’s diverse beauty. If you simply want to explore nature without the hassle of major physical exertion, Garden of the Gods is your go-to nature experience. Three hundred foot sandstone rock formations accompany the dramatic backdrop of Colorado’s Front Range; if the weather holds out this day trip can be one of your most memorable spring break excursions. Find out more information on their website. Pikes Peak Cog Railway. This historical fixture of America’s most famous mountain provides spectacular views and a unique experience up Pikes Peak. Since 1891 this railway has ascended the 14,115 foot mountain. The train winds past waterfalls, through aspen and pine forest to reveal the breathtaking scenery of the Front Range. I would advise planning ahead and booking your places in advance. You can do so through their website. Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. Whilst museums may not be everyone’s cup of tea, they do offer a rich experience for many people including myself. The Air and Space Museum has an extensive collection of both aircraft and military exhibits that educate and inspire people of all ages to discover the wonders of past and present aviation endeavors. March 21 is “Cockpit Demo Day”, more information can be found on their website. Boulder Arts Week. Beginning on March 27 and running until April 4, Boulder Arts Week is an exciting opportunity to share your own work and experience the work of others. Last year’s inaugural event hosted over 14,000 people, with the hope that this year’s tally will be equally as impressive. Events range from exhibitions to parties, and many include your fellow CU students. Of particular note is the “Art at the Riverside” event. Beginning at 6 p.m. on March 28 at The Riverside on Broadway, CU Students Shae Meyer, Daniel Stolberg, Sam Cikauskas and Dylan Gebbia-Richards will showcase their talents at this free art exhibition. Indulge your secret passion for fine art and find more events on the Boulder Art Week’s official calendar.  Any sports fans out there? If you haven’t yet experienced the tenacity of the Colorado sporting experience, I encourage you to make your way to the Pepsi Center next week. The Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche call the Pepsi Center home, and there are multiple home games occurring next week. For full scheduling information and tickets visit their online calendar. Also of note are the Colorado Rapids. Colorado’s Major League Soccer team takes on the newly created New York City football team, emphasis on the correct pronunciation of the sport’s nomenclature. This Saturday, March 21, they play at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Tickets are relatively cheap and are available through their website. Celestial Seasonings Factory Tour. Celestial Seasonings, one of Boulder’s most renowned businesses, offers free factory tours. If you are looking for something to occupy your time in Boulder, but don’t want to overspend or don’t have the resources to travel too far, this is a great opportunity to spend your time exploring the business and products of one of Colorado’s most successful startups. Tours take place Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information on their website. Banjo Billy’s Bus Tour. An old school bus tricked out to like a "hillbilly shack" gives guided tours of Boulder, exposing the history of Boulder’s haunted hotels and even the haunting tales of Macky Auditorium’s intriguing past. Clearly, take this tour with a grain of salt, nevertheless this is a riveting experience and a great way to spend an evening meeting new people and exploring a side of Boulder you have likely not seen before. Ticketing and more information is available on their website. Take a Walking Tour of Denver. You may not realize it, but Denver has a very storied and interesting past. From underground tunnels to a haunted Capitol Hill, this two-hour tour will detail all of Denver’s history in an accessible and enjoyable format. Multiple types of tours can be arranged, simply organize and reserve your spot through Denver History Tour’s website. Be aware that Denver, like any city, has a rich cultural history. As such, some tours highlight the darker side of Denver, possibly not appropriate if you are taking young children. The website’s descriptions offer insight into the content of the tours so be sure to read up before you book. Enjoy your break, delay that House of Cards marathon we know you were planning on having and explore the variety of fun opportunities at your disposal this coming week. As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu, and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU Money Sense: Free 'staycation' ideas for spring break
By CU Money Sense Spring break is right around the corner—do you have plans yet? Traveling can be expensive. Instead, grab some friends and plan a “staycation” right in Boulder. Here's a few ideas on how to have a frugal spring break "staycation" without breaking the bank. Free staycation ideas: Attend an author reading/signing at a local bookstore. Check out movies from the library and have a movie night at home (try picking a theme: documentaries, foreign, thrillers, mysteries, etc.). Graduating soon or want a summer internship? Craft your resume and get your references lined up. Visit www.meetup.com to get together with other like-minded people who also want to hang out. Throw an old-fashioned game night and play your favorite board games (Monopoly, Twister and Scrabble to name a few). Check out the Buff Bulletin board, the CU-Boulder Events Calendar and the Daily Camera for free cultural events. Get your finances in order; work on a budget, sign up for mint.com to track your spending. Visit CU Money Sense for more ideas on how to get and keep your money organized. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Staff Council Update: Helpful information regarding staff logins and name changes
Staff Council recently looked into login name changes because a number of staff members have inquired about changing their logins due to personal name changes. The good news is that employees can likely change their logins if they have had legal name changes; OIT and UIS will determine on a case-by-case basis if an individual login can be modified. Types of logins that may be changed by OIT include Identikey, Desire 2 Learn, Office 365 and Google Docs logins. UIS handles the finance system and HRMS logins. Login name changes can be performed when a university affiliate's name has been changed officially with the university or when the randomly generated login is offensive. However, login name changes are complex. Those requesting a login name change will not have access to IT services while the login name change is being performed (around an hour and a half) and the change could result in some loss of email (although rare). When the login name change is complete, that person will need to activate their account again in CUIdM and set a new password. Login name changes must to be scheduled in advance for business hours Monday through Thursday. They cannot be performed on Fridays or the day before a holiday. The current format for CU-Boulder logins is the first two letters of the given name and first two letters of the surname plus four random numbers. Some individuals currently have an older style login name based on the first initial and your former last name. This style of login name is no longer available. You can find more information here.Staff Council website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs now accessible from anywhere
When the University of Colorado Boulder’s annual Conference on World Affairs— featuring 200 panel discussions, performances and plenaries—returns to campus for the 67th time April 6-10, you won’t need to be in Boulder to enjoy it. This year the CWA will not just be bringing the world to Boulder but bringing CWA to the world. Audio recordings from all 200 sessions will be posted within 24 hours of the live event to the conference website, www.colorado.edu/cwa, for on-demand listening. Live stream videos of events in Macky Auditorium, the University Memorial Center (UMC) center ballroom and UMC room 235 also will be available on the CWA website. Additionally, recordings may be purchased from National Conference Recording Services at ncrsusa.com or in UMC 245 during the week. The ability to virtually access audio recordings will bring the more than 100 conference participants—who pay their own way to travel to Boulder from around the country and the globe—to curious people far beyond Boulder’s borders. Scattered throughout the schedule of the week’s 200 events are sessions on race, Iran, patriotism, jazz, space exploration, health care, drug policy, film, poverty and many other topics. Unlike other conferences that set an agenda for speakers, the CWA panels are created from topics sent in by the participants. The full CWA schedule is now available online at www.colorado.edu/cwa. Gordon Adams, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., and a CWA veteran, says the conference is the standout event in his year. “It is the only meeting in the country where I can feed my right and left brains simultaneously,” he said. “It is a cornucopia of gifts, from culture and the arts to science, politics and economics, provided by some of the most entertaining and intelligent people I know. Where else can I read poetry in the morning, solve the federal budget crisis in the afternoon, and the next day do it all over again?” New York Post associate editorial page editor Robert George, who describes the CWA as his “intellectual spring break,” will mark his eighth year of participation at this year’s conference. “That’s what the Conference on World Affairs has become for me,” he said, “a place to engage in lively conversation with some of the brightest people around.” George will serve on panels ranging from “Jon Stewart and the End of a Colb-era” to “We Met on Tinder: Dating and the Decline of Monogamy” at this year’s event. “I’ve been fortunate to be part of panels on humor, improv, comic books, popular music, television, etc.—truly everything possible,” George said. This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Leonard Pitts Jr., syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald. His address, “In a Single Garment of Destiny,” will be given on Monday, April 6, at 11:30 a.m. in Macky Auditorium. The keynote address will be preceded by CWA’s colorful, annual opening procession. Led by Pitts and CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, the procession will advance at 11:10 a.m. through the avenue of international flags on display in Norlin Quad and into Macky Auditorium, where DiStefano will introduce Pitts. Other highlights from the 2015 schedule include: —Nuclear nonproliferation expert Valerie Plame Wilson’s plenary address, “Do You Wish You Didn’t Know: Snowden, Privacy and Democracy,” in Macky Auditorium on Wednesday, April 8, at 1 p.m. —Senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute Seth Shostak and New York Times best-selling author and astrophysicist David Brin’s debate, “Contacting Extraterrestrials: Beware!” in Macky Auditorium on Wednesday, April 8, at 2 p.m.     —Television host Richard Alley’s Walter Orr Roberts Distinguished Lecture, “Ways Forward on Climate and Energy: Getting Good From What We Do and Don’t Know,” in Macky Auditorium on Wednesday, April 8, at 3 p.m. —HIV experts Joel Gallant and Charlie van der Horst’s talk, “Response to Infectious Disease,” in Muenzinger E050 on Wednesday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m. —Sarah Weddington, author and attorney on the 1973 landmark Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade, delivers the Molly Ivins Freedom Fightin’ Memorial Plenary, “Walk the Talk: Everyday Leadership,” in Macky Auditorium on Friday, April 10, at 2:30 p.m. —The Ebert Cinema Interruptus, hosted by author and broadcaster David Bender, will dissect A Face in the Crowd from Tuesday through Friday, April 7-10. The interruptus takes place each day at 4 p.m. in Macky Auditorium. An uninterrupted screening of the film will take place in Macky Auditorium on Monday, April 6, at 4 p.m. CWA attendees are encouraged to use public transportation, as there is no event parking on campus. Free parking is offered on the third level of the Macy’s parking structure at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping mall in Boulder, located at the southwest corner of 30th and Walnut streets. Free rides to campus on the HOP bus are available during CWA week. The HOP will run on its normal route arriving every 7 to 10 minutes between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The two stops nearest the Macy’s parking structure are at the intersection of 29th Street and Walnut Street and the intersection of 30th Street and Walnut Street. Media Contact: Piper Jackson-Sevy, 303-492-2515cwapress@colorado.edu      Serving Colorado. Engaged in the World., Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: The keynote address of the 67th annual Conference on World Affairs will be delivered by Leonard Pitts Jr., syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald, on Monday, April 6, at 11:30 a.m. in Macky Auditorium.


NASA spacecraft detects aurora and mysterious dust cloud around Mars
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere. The presence of dust at orbital altitudes from about 93 miles (150 kilometers) to 190 miles (300 kilometers) above the surface was not predicted.  Although the source and composition of the dust are unknown, there is no hazard to MAVEN and other spacecraft orbiting Mars. “If the dust originates from the atmosphere, this suggests that we are missing some fundamental process in the Martian atmosphere,” said University of Colorado Boulder Research Associate Laila Andersson of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). The cloud was detected by the spacecraft’s Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument and has been present the whole time MAVEN has been in operation.  It is unknown if the cloud is a temporary phenomenon or something long lasting. The cloud density is greatest at lower altitudes. However, even in the densest areas it is still very thin. So far no indication of its presence has been seen in observations from any of the MAVEN instruments. It’s unknown if the cloud is a temporary phenomenon or something long lasting, but it has been detected the whole time that MAVEN has been taking data in orbit around Mars. So far, no indication of its presence has been seen in observations from any of the other MAVEN instruments. Possible sources for the observed dust cloud include dust wafted up from the atmosphere; dust coming from Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars; dust moving in the solar wind away from the sun; or debris orbiting the sun from comets. However, no known process on Mars can explain the appearance of dust in the observed locations from any of these sources. MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) observed what scientists have named “Christmas lights.” For five days just before Dec. 25, MAVEN saw a bright ultraviolet auroral glow spanning Mars’ northern hemisphere. Auroras, known on Earth as northern or southern lights, are caused by energetic particles like electrons crashing down into the atmosphere and causing the gas to glow. “What’s especially surprising about the aurora we saw is how deep in the atmosphere it occurs -- much deeper than at Earth or elsewhere on Mars,” said CU-Boulder Research Associate Arnaud Stiepen of LASP, an IUVS team member. “The electrons producing it must be really energetic,” he said. “We weren’t expecting any aurora in the region we were observing, so it was a great present for us,” said CU-Boulder Professor Nick Schneider of LASP, lead IUVS scientist. “It was probably too faint for the rovers to see, but future astronauts might enjoy such a spectacle.” The source of the energetic particles appears to be the sun. MAVEN’s Solar Energetic Particle instrument detected a huge surge in energetic electrons at the onset of the aurora. Billions of years ago, Mars lost a global protective magnetic field like Earth has, so solar particles can directly strike the atmosphere. The electrons producing the aurora have about 100 times more energy than one gets from a spark of house current, so they can penetrate deeply in the atmosphere. The findings are being presented at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Society Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. MAVEN was launched toward Mars on Nov. 18, 2013, to help solve the mystery of how the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere and much of its water. The spacecraft arrived at Mars on Sept. 21 and is four months into its one-Earth-year primary mission. “The MAVEN science instruments all are performing nominally, and the data coming out of the mission are excellent,” said CU-Boulder Professor Bruce Jakosky of LASP, the principal investigator for the mission. MAVEN is part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program, which includes the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet. NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developing the human spaceflight capabilities needed for its journey to Mars or a future round-trip mission to the Red Planet in the 2030s. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project. Partner institutions include Lockheed Martin, the University of California, Berkeley, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Contact: Laila Andersson, 303-492-1689laila.andersson@colorado.edu Bruce Jakosky, 303-492-8004bruce.jakosky@lasp.colorado.edu Nick Schneider, 303-492-7672nick.schneider@lasp.colorado.edu Jim Scott, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“What’s especially surprising about the aurora we saw is how deep in the atmosphere it occurs -- much deeper than at Earth or elsewhere on Mars,” said CU-Boulder Research Associate Arnaud Stiepen of LASP, an IUVS team member. “The electrons producing it must be really energetic,” he said.Aerospace, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder study: Beetles beat out extinction
Today’s rich variety of beetles may be due to an historically low extinction rate rather than a high rate of new species emerging, according to a new study. These findings were revealed by combing through the fossil record. “Much of the work to understand why beetles are diverse has really focused on what promotes speciation,” says lead author Dena Smith, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology and Associate Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. “By looking at the fossil history of the group, we can see that extinction, or rather lack of extinction may be just as important, if not more important, than origination. Perhaps we should be focusing more on why beetles are so resistant to extinction.” Smith’s study with her coauthor, Jonathan Marcot, Research Assistant Professor of Animal Biology at the University of Illinois, will appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. To fully explore the evolution of the insect order, Coleoptera, Smith and Marcot used publications that document the fossil record of beetles from international literature as far back as the early 19th century and open access database projects including the EDNA Fossil Insect Database and the Catalogue of Fossil Coleoptera. The team constructed a database of 5,553 beetle species from 221 unique locations. Given the patchy nature of the data at the species level, they performed analyses at the family level and found that the majority of families that are living today also preserved in the fossil record. The study explores beetles as far back as their origins in the Permian period, 284 million years ago. When compared to the fossil record of other animal groups such as clams, corals, and vertebrates, beetles have among the lowest family-level extinction rates ever calculated. In fact, no known families in the largest beetle subgroup, Polyphaga, go extinct in their evolutionary history. The negligible beetle extinction rate is likely caused by their flexible diets, particularly in the Polyphaga, which include algae, plants, and other animals. “There are several things about beetles that make them extremely flexible and able to adapt to changing situations,” Smith says. She points to beetles’ ability to metamorphose—a trait shared by many insects—when considering their environmental flexibility. Soft-bodied larvae vary greatly from winged, exoskeleton-ensconced adults. “This means that they can take advantage of very different types of habitats as a larva and then as an adult,” she adds. “Adult beetles can be highly mobile and research that has focused on glacial-interglacial cycles has shown that they can move quickly in response to any climate fluctuations.” The study explores beetles as far back as their origins in the Permian period, 284 million years ago. Both authors emphasize that illustrating such a history would not have been possible without the fossil record—an often underutilized resource in exploring the evolution of insects. “I think people have been hesitant to jump into studying insect fossils because there has been the misperception that they are so fragile and rarely fossilize,” Smith says. “I am hoping that this study demonstrates that the fossil record is quite good and can be used in many ways to study the evolution of this diverse and important group.” Marcot adds, “Not only have these groups gone un-studied, but there are certain things that we can learn from the fossil record that we just can’t learn any place else." Other insect groups might be similar to Coleoptera in terms of their extinction resistance, and Smith hopes that their work will inspire other entomologists to delve into the fossil record of their favorite insect. For now she is actively working to digitize more fossil specimens, paving the way for future studies to be conducted on a finer scale. The project, known as the Fossil Insect Collaborative and funded by the National Science Foundation, is expected to make available more than half a million fossil insect specimens from the major U.S. collections—many with associated images—in a searchable online database. “Being a curator of a museum collection, I know that there are many species in our cabinets that have not yet been studied and described,” Smith says. “Once we are able to bring those specimens out of the cabinets and make them more accessible to the broader research community, I think we will be able to look at species level patterns and other really interested questions about the macroevolutionary history of insect groups.”Natural SciencesDena Smith, 303-735-2011Dena.Smith@colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114Jim.Scott@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: The rich diversity seen in modern-day beetles could have more to do with extinction resistance than a high rate of new species originations. Photo courtesy of Deena Smith.


CU-Boulder’s Patty Limerick to review nearly 40 years as University Fool on April 1
University of Colorado Professor Patty Limerick will review nearly four decades of service as University Fool and reflect on the value of humor on April Fools’ Day. On Wednesday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Wittemyer Courtroom of the Wolf Law Building on the Boulder campus, the history professor and Official University of Colorado Fool, and also Official Fool Emerita of Yale University and Harvard University, will speak on “Fool’s Enterprise: A Personal History.” The event is free and open to the public. The role of the Fool has deep origins in human society.  In the past, kings and queens recognized the value—really, the necessity—of appointing Fools who would speak openly and even festively of uncomfortable matters that would otherwise proliferate and fester. By breaking the spell of caution, timidity and fear that held others under its power, Fools dissipated and dispelled a society’s accumulation of bad luck. Composed of the world’s strangest blend of wisdom and nonsense this tradition fell into disuse because of a mistaken notion that Fools were no longer needed in democracies. In the mid-1970s, a graduate student named Patty Nelson (who would soon acquire the providentially silly surname “Limerick”) undertook to restore and reactivate this important social role. When she declared her candidacy for the position of Yale University Fool, this historic occasion earned recognition in The New York Times and The International Herald-Tribune. In the early 1980s, with her national and international reputation for folly secured, Patty Limerick easily rose to the top of the Fool Pool at Harvard, and then, soon after her relocation to Boulder, at the University of Colorado. In an illustrated talk on April Fools’ Day 2015, Limerick will review nearly four decades of adventure and misadventure as a self-confessed, officially appointed, highly credentialed Fool. The reminiscing will lead to reflections on the value of humor in reducing social tension and friction and in imagining creative solutions to the problems of and pressures on higher education. Cupcakes will be served, and recognition will be given to the writers of the best limericks celebrating the innumerable ways that Fools serve and improve society. The event will announce and launch the new “Center of the American West’s Humor Initiative” in an appropriately eccentric and laughable manner. The Center of the American West’s Humor Initiative was created to celebrate those individuals whose temperaments support a central conviction of the Center of the American West: A dose of good humor is essential to constructive public discussion, and not coincidentally, to public health. Its centerpiece is the Distinguished Visiting Fool for a Day Award that will be presented once a year on the CU-Boulder campus. CU-Boulder’s Center of the American West works on a variety of regional issues, including water management, relationships between federal agencies and communities, land planning, Native identity, recent art and literature, and the balance of power between tradition and innovation in Western life. The center takes as its mission the creation of forums for the respectful exchange of ideas in pursuit of solutions to the region’s difficulties. The center believes that an understanding of the historical origins of the West’s problems, an emphasis on the common interests of all parties, and a dose of good humor are essential to constructive public discussion.  Limerick is the faculty director and chair of the board of the Center of the American West. For more information, visit the Center of the American West’s website at http://www.centerwest.org or call 303-492-4879. Contact: Patty Limerick, 303-492-4879  Jessica Brawner, 303-492-4879Arts & Humanities, Community Outreach, Civic Engagement var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Before you leave town: Spring break reminders
With spring break quickly approaching, please take a moment to review some reminders. On-campus residents Spring break starts on Saturday, March 21 and ends on Sunday, March 29. The residence halls will remain open and students may stay in their own room during the break period. Some residence hall services will be limited and dining halls will be closed during the break period. Dining Halls Closing Schedule On Friday, March 20 WeatherTech Cafe closes at 2 a.m. Darley, Libby, Sewall dining centers close at 2 p.m. C4C Dining Center closes at 8 p.m. 2.1.3, Zeller's, CU on the Run close at 2 p.m.  The Bakery will close at 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 26. All dining centers will reopen for breakfast on Monday, March 30. If you are leaving for the break: Close and lock windows. Residence life staff might be enter a room where a student has not signed up to stay during the break, and where a window is found to be left open. The staff will close the window to conserve energy and to help maintain safety and security. Pull drapes or close blinds. Unplug electrical appliances except for micro-fridges. For micro-fridges, clean out and set to lowest setting. Turn radiator thermostats to a lower setting (e.g. setting level 2) where applicable. Williams Village: individual room controls should be left with the fan on “low” and the temperature setting “high.” Pick items up off the floor in case an emergency repair is needed. Remove all small items of high value from the room. Turn out the lights. Lock the door and deadbolt the lock. If you are staying during the break: Make sure to check in with your RA to let them know that you will be staying through break. Keep your room door and windows locked when the room is unoccupied and when you go to bed. Be sure to deadbolt your lock. Do not prop open outside entrance doors or security doors. Do not let anyone into the building unless the person is your guest. Be careful not to let persons you are not familiar with follow you into the building. Be alert for strangers in the building, and call the police (911) and your hall office if you are concerned or see anything suspicious. Residence hall staff members are “on duty” and their names will be posted in the usual manner. Contact the hall office if there are any questions. Beginning Friday, March 20, resident advisors will be asked to routinely lock any student room door that is found to be unlocked while the room is empty. Resident advisors will also be checking for open windows. While you are staying on campus, keep your window closed and locked as much as possible. Be sure to sign up to let the staff know you will be staying during the break. Open windows in rooms will be closed by the staff where someone has not signed up to stay for the break. For more information visit the Housing and Dining Services website. Libraries Campus libraries will be open during break with special hours. For information on library hours click here. Parking  If you have a current permit you may park in the lot where your permit is valid. Williams Village permit holders in WV Zone, lot 623 and lot 630 will be allowed to park in RG Zone while displaying their permit. Questions? Call 303-492-7384. Traveling to DIA Your CU student bus pass allows you to ride to and from Denver International Airport free. The skyRide (route AB) departs hourly from CU. Buff Bus The Buff Bus will be running on a limited schedule during break. Please check the Parking & Transportation page or Twitter (@CUBuffBus) for exact times. UMC is open during spring break The UMC is open special hours during spring break. Visit the UMC homepage for the detailed dates and times. University Offices - will be closed on Friday, March 27, for a university holiday. Off-campus residents Ask a friend or neighbor to watch your property while you are away. If you live in a basement apartment, remember to remove items from the floor before you leave in case of extreme rainfall or potential leaks while you are away. Make sure all windows and doors are locked. Most intruders enter through unlocked doors and windows. Move expensive items like laptops away from windows where they may be visible. Do not post or leave messages that you and your roommates will be away from your house for the week. If you are staying, never tell someone you are home alone. It's also important to find someone willing to clear snow off your property. Snow must be removed within 24 hours of a snow fall. Ask a friend to collect your mail and pick up newspapers and/or any trash in your yard. Don’t leave pets by themselves. Find someone to take care of them while you are away. If everyone in your unit will be leaving for break, consider putting lights on a timer to provide the appearance of the unit being occupied. Have a safe break! var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: March 17 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Hopefully I find you this week with a farmer’s tan and a plethora of memories created following a fabulous weekend. In a rather typical fashion, our workloads have been ramped up, making spring break seem further away. However, don’t forget we have only a number of days before our well-deserved week off. If you happen to find some time to yourself this week, CU-Boulder once again provides exciting opportunities to explore new areas of campus and new personal interests. If you simply can’t wait for Game of Thrones, the CU Classics Club is here to satisfy your historical needs. The CU Energy Club will hold its annual Energy Frontiers Conference and don't miss a local discussion of the Cowspiracy. Wednesday, March 18 Feeling both charitable and bold? This Wednesday, the HERD and CUSG are hosting a "Shave for the Brave" fundraising event. You can participate by agreeing to shave your head, or by simply donating to the organization in support of children’s cancer research. This is a fantastic opportunity to give back and support a deserving cause. This will take place from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. in the UMC fountain area. More information here. Chataqua Education Series: Standardized Testing & Special Needs. We do not frequently highlight lectures or seminars in this article. However, the subject of this talk is of particular intrigue, for standardized testing and the debate relating to its usefulness is a hotly debated issue in this day and age. Have an opinion? Join the discussion, which will take place at the Chataqua Community House at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. More information here. Thursday, March 19 Energy Frontiers Conference 2015. This conference Taking place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom this coming Thursday, the Energy Frontiers conference is an opportunity to join the discussion about sustainable energy and the future of the energy industry. This event is free and open to all; however, they do ask that you register at EnergyFrontiers.Cuenergy.org. Full details and itinerary can be obtained on the Events Calendar. Ralphie’s Cooking Basics. This week in the UMC kitchen, Ralphie’s Cooking Basics will guide you through the process of making Chili Rellenos. This is an opportunity to hone your culinary and deep frying skills in order to impress that special someone, after all, who wouldn’t enjoy a deep fried chili stuffed with cheese? Closed toed shoes are a must, and spots are allocated on a first come first serve basis. Meet outside the Baby doe’s café at 4:45 p.m., the class goes until 6 p.m.  More information here.  Cowspiracy. No, that is not a typo. This week join the CU Center for Values and Social policy for a free screening of Cowspiracy: the Sustainability Secret. Following the screening there will be a panel presentation that discusses the effects of cows and meat farming on the global climate. Free vegan food will be provided; this event will take place in Mathematics 100 and begins at 6:30 p.m. More information here. Can’t wait for Game of Thrones? The Classics Club is here to satisfy your need for cinematic lust and violence with a screening of Rome. This thrilling HBO mini-series details the death of Julius Caesar and the rise of his successor, Augustus. Screening begins at 7 p.m. at Eaton Humanities 1B70, snacks and drinks will be provided. More information here. Friday, March 20 Calling all gamers. Video Game tournament! The Connection! is back for its fifth installment of the bi-weekly video game tournament. On the screen this week is the iconic Super Smash Bros. Relive your childhood on an updated console, and join your fellow gamers for the opportunity to win a number of prizes. Pro tip: smashing “B” repeatedly usually does the trick. This tournament takes place in The Connection! as per usual, and begins at 7 p.m. More information here. Catching a Comet. Last year, humanity slingshot a probe onto a comet. This year, the Fiske Planetarium will explain how this was done. Joel Parker, a scientist from the Rosetta mission, will give you a glimpse of what happened and what will happen in the coming months. If you have any interest at all in space, this is a must see. The Thursday showing is free for all CU Students with a Buff OneCard, the Friday showing will be $7 for students and $10 for the public. More information here. Saturday, March 21 Ever heard of Paddle Board Yoga? Me neither, but now we both have. Sign up has begun for this series of yoga classes provided by the Recreation Center. The classes will occur throughout the month of April, but get signed up now while places are still available. This class will provide you with the opportunity to practice yoga on water, it sounds fun and if you haven’t given yoga a try before, this will be a great chance to have some fun and introduce yourself to the discipline. Sign up here. Jerry Quiller Classic. This Saturday, the CU Track and Field team will host an early season meet. If you’ve never experienced college athletics before, this will be a great opportunity to celebrate school pride and appreciate the tenacity and athleticism displayed in Pac 12 athletics. The meet will take place at Potts Field, located just past 30th street and Colorado. More information can be found here. As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


HR Corner: A Respectful Working Environment and Emotional Intelligence
The Office of Organizational and Employee Development (OED) invites CU-Boulder employees to attend our upcoming seminars and workshops. Promoting a Respectful Working Environment and Emotional Intelligence are April's featured seminars. All programs are offered free of charge to CU-Boulder employees. Register now — space is limited and sessions are filling up fast.   OED Seminar: Promoting a Respectful Working Environment April 8, 1 to 4 p.m. in ARC 346, East Campus   Presenters: • Tom Sebok, Director, Ombuds Office • Jessica Kuchta-Miller, Associate Ombuds, Ombuds Office   Nearly everyone would say they want a “respectful” working environment. But what does that look like? And what does it take to develop and/or maintain such an environment? In this interactive three-hour workshop participants will examine the roots, behaviors, and benefits of a respectful working environment. They will experience key aspects of a process designed to help groups identify respectful workplace norms for communication – especially when engaged in conflict. And, they will view and discuss a video presentation about one of the biggest communication challenges: giving and receiving criticism in the workplace.   To register, please visit the training portal at this link or call 303-492-8103.    OED Seminar: Emotional Intelligence April 16, 1 to 3:30 p.m., ARC 346, East Campus   Presenters: • Lauren Harris, Senior Training Specialist, Office of Organizational and Employee Development • Amy Elizabeth Moreno, Senior Training Specialist, Office of Organizational and Employee Development   Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships. EI has been shown to increase job performance, productivity, and personal excellence. Come to this 2.5-hour seminar to explore this important ability and gain skills to improve your own emotional intelligence.   To register, please visit the training portal at this link or call 303-492-8103. The next Emotional Intelligence seminar will be offered in November 2015.   Did you know that Organizational and Employee Development is available for department or unit trainings? Please call 303-492-2479 to discuss your training needs.    To learn more about the programs and services offered by Organizational and Employee Development, we encourage you to visit http://hr.colorado.edu/training/Pages/default.aspx.    Department of Human Resources var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Finalists announced in Continuing Education dean search
Three finalists have been chosen in a national search for the new dean of the University of Colorado Boulder Division of Continuing Education and associate vice chancellor for Summer Session and Outreach and Engagement. The candidates will visit campus over the coming weeks to meet with students, faculty, staff and university administrators. The finalists for the position are Fred Holman, vice provost of extended studies, University of Nevada, Reno; Keith Maskus, professor of economics and College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Distinction University of Colorado Boulder; and Sara Thompson, associate provost of New Program Initiatives and dean, Metropolitan School of Professional Studies, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. “I am delighted with the three finalists who will be visiting the campus for interviews,” said James Williams, dean of University Libraries and chair of the national search committee. “They have excellent backgrounds and experience in continuing education and outreach, and the search committee looks forward to the opportunity for campus conversations with them on the future of this mission-critical position.” Public sessions for the three candidates will be held at the following times: Keith Maskus: Friday, March 20 at 10 a.m. in IBS 155-A Sara Thompson: Friday, April 1 at 10 a.m. in IBS 155-A Fred Holman: Thursday, April 9 at 2 p.m. in Norlin Library, N410 Fred Holman was appointed vice provost of extended studies at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2004. In this position, Holman has overall leadership and responsibility for delivering academic credit and non-credit outreach programs, customized training and other educational activities to the public. Prior to his appointment at Nevada, Holman served as dean of continuing and adult education at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, from 1996 to 2004, as well as dean of graduate and continuing education at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa (1991-96), dean of Continuing Education at St. Ambrose (1986-91) and associate dean of continuing education and director of conferences and institutes at St. Ambrose (1983-86). A 1975 graduate of William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Holman received his MA in history from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, as well as his PhD in higher education administration from the University of Iowa. Keith E. Maskus is professor of economics and former associate dean for social sciences at the CU-Boulder. He has been a lead economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. He is also a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a fellow at the Kiel Institute for World Economics, and an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Bocconi and a visiting scholar at the CES-Ifo Institute at the University of Munich and the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University. He also serves as a consultant for the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organization and recently chaired a panel of the National Research Council on intellectual property management in standards-setting organizations. Maskus received his PhD in economics from the University of Michigan in 1981 and has written extensively about various aspects of international trade. His current research focuses on the international economic aspects of protecting intellectual property rights. Sara Thompson has been an entrepreneurial academic leader for over 20 years. She is currently dean of the Metropolitan School of Professional Studies and associate provost at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. Thompson championed CUA’s first fully online degree programs and collaborated across the university to create several new part-time professional master’s programs. Enrollment in the Metropolitan School tripled under her leadership. Her educational background includes a PhD in educational/industrial psychology from Marquette University and an MBA in Marketing from the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder. In addition, she has been a faculty member and director of business programs with the University of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University. CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore announced in October that Anne Heinz, dean of continuing education and associate vice chancellor for Summer Session and Outreach and Engagement, will retire effective June 30, 2015, after 26 years at the university. Pictured L-R: Sara Thompson, Keith Maskus and Fred Holman. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Eleven CU-Boulder faculty members honored with NSF CAREER Awards
Eleven University of Colorado Boulder researchers, including an unprecedented number of engineers, have received the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards. The recently announced winners include seven so far this year—all from the College of Engineering and Applied Science—and four from 2014. The research awards, which usually amount to about $500,000 over five years, “support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research,” according to NSF. “We are excited to have such a large number of award winners,” said Stein Sture, CU-Boulder vice chancellor for research. “These honors reflect the outstanding quality of the young faculty we attract to our campus.” The award winners so far in 2015 are Aaron Clauset and Tom Yeh, both of the Department of Computer Science; Greg Rieker of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Shideh Dashti and Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, both of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering; Alireeza Doostan of the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences; and Joel Kaar of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. The 2014 winners are Alaa Ahmed of the Department of Integrative Physiology; Kendi Davies of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Robin Dowell of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology; and Jason Marden of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. To see photos of the winners and read brief descriptions of the research projects being funded by these NSF CAREER Awards, visit https://www.colorado.edu/2014-15-nsf-career-award-winners. Contact: Stein Sture, vice chancellor for research, 303-492-2890Stein.Sture@colorado.edu Laura Snider, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-735-0528Laura.Snider@colorado.edu“We are excited to have such a large number of award winners,” said Stein Sture, CU-Boulder vice chancellor for research. “These honors reflect the outstanding quality of the young faculty we attract to our campus.”Natural Sciences, Engineering, Computational Science & Engineering var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ski team wins 20th national championship
The University of Colorado ski team put individual accomplishments aside Saturday, skiing with a strategy with limited risks to get all of its racers through the slalom, and the end result saw the Buffaloes bring home the title at the 62nd annual NCAA Skiing Championship.   It is the school’s 20th national championship in skiing – 11 men’s, one women’s and now eight since the sport went coed in 1983; all eight of those have come under the direction of head coach Richard Rokos, who completed his 25th season coaching the Buffaloes this winter. Rokos’ teams have now won more national championships at Colorado than any other coach, as he snapped a tie with Bill Marolt (seven in skiing, all in a row from 1972-78), and current cross country coach Mark Wetmore, who has seen his men’s teams win five titles and the women two.    The Buffaloes led after the first and third days of competition this week – Utah had a small four-point edge at the midway point – and Colorado carried a seven-point lead over the Utes into the slalom races. But in the end, CU pulled away and won with 505 points, besting defending champion Denver by 27 points, as the Pioneers made a run with five top five finishes and finished with 478 points. Utah slipped into third with 471, while Vermont (443) and New Mexico (402) rounded out the top five. Colorado pulled off the win with just two top 10 finishes Saturday – but more important, all six of its skiers handled the challenges of the slalom and five did finish in the top 15, earning the Buffs enough points to keep their predators at bay. Read the whole story at CUBuffs.com  Sports var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Health and safety tips
By Christina Gonzales, Dean of StudentsMelissa Zak, Chief, CU Police Department As spring approaches, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of some health and safety tips to keep in mind. Remember to use the buddy system. Always walk with somebody, don't leave friends alone while out at night, and remember to tell your friends, family and/or roommates where you are going. If you are out at night, remember it is harder for drivers to see you. Dress for the weather and wear lighter colors. Police officers and other emergency services personnel work to keep the community safe. Your assistance in maintaining a safe environment is appreciated. People who want to exploit others often take advantage of the party environment and hope to go unnoticed. So if you doubt someone's motives or are concerned about your or someone else's safety, keep an eye on the situation and know when to make the hard call for help. If you ever think a friend is in danger due to alcohol or other drugs, call 9-1-1. Remember to be a good neighbor and keep your noise levels down. If you are hosting a party off-campus, please remember to sign up for the Party Registration Program. If you plan to leave town for spring break, practice the same safety protocols you follow in Boulder, which includes traveling in groups, looking out for friends, keeping hydrated, knowing your limits and complying with the law. Have a fun and safe spring! var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Conservative Thought and Policy finalist to visit March 16
The University of Colorado Boulder has announced Brian Domitrovic as a finalist for the position of Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy in the 2015-16 academic year. Domitrovic will visit the CU-Boulder campus on Monday, March 16, and will give a public talk. He will discuss “A Secret History of Tax Cuts: The Democratic Connection” at 5:15 p.m. in Eaton Humanities Room 250.  Domitrovic’s talk will include some material that he and co-author Larry Kudlow chronicle in a yet-to-be published book on the JFK tax cuts. The event is free and open to the public. Domitrovic holds a PhD in history from Harvard University, where he also did graduate work in the economics department.  He earned his bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, studying history and mathematics. An associate professor and chairman of the department of history at Sam Houston State University, he has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications. Read more at the College of Arts & Sciences website. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student life: What's your spring break style?
Spring break is almost here. Time to figure out what a real break is to you. CU students say they do things like spend time with family, catch up on sleep, see a movie or check out a trail they haven't had the time for. Some students study for MCATs, GREs, or LSATS. The true art of spring break is knowing what is going to be rejuvenating for you.Take the spring break quiz here to find your style and then check out the list of resources. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder announces new payment plans
In an ongoing effort to help students and families plan, prepare and pay for their education, the University of Colorado Boulder is implementing new tuition and fee payment plans for the upcoming academic year including fall, spring, summer and annual plans. Offered through the Bursar’s Office and administered by NelNet Business Solutions, these plans offer undergraduates, graduate students, and their families the option to spread payment of the tuition and fee bill over several months without incurring interest. “We’ve heard from families that additional flexibility would help when it comes to paying tuition and fees,” said Kelly Fox, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer. “In certain situations, students or families have the money available over the course of a semester, but it’s harder to come up with one payment.”   The new plans allow students and authorized payers the choice of three to five payments depending on the semester as well as a plan for summer. Initial response from a pilot of the plan this semester has been very positive, Fox said, including feedback that the flexibility could allow students in certain situations to accept lower loan amounts.   For the pilot, information was posted on the website but not advertised. Over 1,000 students enrolled and participated for the spring semester. The enrollment fee of $25 per plan for a semester or $45 for the annual plan (fall, spring and summer) covers the cost of offering the plan through NelNet Business Solutions. While a two-payment plan has been available for several decades, the new plan offers families additional options in terms of more monthly installments at a lower cost. The previous plan allowed the bill to be paid in two installments for fall and spring semesters with a 1 percent finance charge on the deferred amount. It was not available for summer. More information and instructions on how to enroll is available at bursar.colorado.edu/payments/payment-plans. Contact: Malinda Miller-Huey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3115“We’ve heard from families that additional flexibility would help when it comes to paying tuition and fees,” said Kelly Fox, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer. “In certain situations, students or families have the money available over the course of a semester, but it’s harder to come up with one payment.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Chancellor's Corner: A whole new look for Spring Town Hall, April 1
Please come join us April 1 at 3 p.m. in the newly renovated Glenn Miller Ballroom for our annual Spring Town Hall event. This year we are taking a completely new approach. I have invited Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox and Provost Russ Moore to join me in a new, informal, panel discussion format. And no, that date is not an April fools joke. I believe the conversations we have at these sessions and the information we share are important to building a strong community across the campus and aligning us around common goals. CUSG executive Juedon Kebede and CU-Boulder Professor and Environmental Studies Coordinator Sharon Collinge will act as moderators and ask us questions about the campus, our finances, our key initiatives and many other topics. We invite your questions. The campus is engaged in many exciting challenges and opportunities, and we’d be happy to try to answer any questions you might have about those. Please send your questions to chancellor@colorado.edu and we will provide as many of them as possible to the moderators. So please come, bring a fellow student or CU-Boulder colleague with you, and let’s continue the conversation. Be sure to stay for the reception following the event at 4 p.m. in the ballroom, I look forward to seeing you there! Sincerely, Philip P. DiStefano  var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Eklund Opera Program to Rock—and Doris—Mozart’s 'Così fan tutte,' March 13-15
Meagan Mahlberg (Mus’08,MA’11) knew bliss would come, and almost precisely when. It was late fall and the 28-year-old soprano was preparing for her role in CU-Boulder’s spring production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Group rehearsals had barely begun. Orchestral accompaniment was months away. But she’d done her homework and sensed already that her second-act aria would deliver a drawn-out moment of pure transcendence as scores of musicians reached full throttle and she drew out a high note in a hall seating thousands. Mozart’s Così fan tutte When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 13-14; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 15 Where: Macky Auditorium, University of Colorado Boulder campus Tickets: $14-$38 at cupresents.org or 303-492-8008 “She’s essentially asking for forgiveness from her fiancé, maybe from God, maybe from herself,” Mahlberg says of her character, Fiordiligi, a young lover losing a battle against temptation. “She’s already realized she’s going to betray.” Dramatic, athletic, fantastic and, above all, musical, opera induces the immersive state of total engagement that drives Mahlberg. One of four singers enrolled in the College of Music’s professional certificate program in opera and solo vocal performance, she’s already performed in more than a dozen fully-staged productions, including professional work in Boulder and New York. “I am trying to make a life out of this,” she says. A preview of an upcoming Coloradan magazine story about the Cosi cast and the singers' aspirations is available at www.coloradanmagazine.org.  Music var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Free online course from CU-Boulder tackles water issues in the American West
How has the scarcity of water in the American West resulted in so much controversy? A free online course offered beginning April 1 by experts at the University of Colorado Boulder will answer that question and take students on a virtual journey, following water as it makes its way from snow-capped peaks to the taps in the drier valleys across the Western United States. Water in the Western United States, CU-Boulder’s latest massive open online course, or MOOC, will unfold over four and a half weeks, allowing students the opportunity to explore the scientific, legal, political and cultural issues impacting water and climate in the West. During the course, students will use the history of water use in the Colorado River Basin as a case study and explore some of the controversial water issues facing the region today, from the increased demand created by hydraulic fracturing to the impacts of climate change to the needs of a growing population. The course, which does not require any prior knowledge, is being taught by Anne Gold, climate literacy and geoscience education specialist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and Eric Gordon, program manager of the Western Water Assessment (WWA), part of CIRES on the CU-Boulder campus. “This is a relatively quick and easy way to learn where your water supply comes from and what affects it,” Gordon said. Gordon and Gold worked with more than a dozen other experts in water management, policy and research to create a series of short video lectures. Students can watch each week’s videos on their own schedules, and they will participate in various exercises and activities, just as they would if they were in a live classroom. “You get content from the best experts that are out there in little 10-minute bites,” Gold said. “This is designed to be a short, approachable course about something that’s pretty complex.” Educators, who can earn graduate-level credit by signing up for a parallel course through CU-Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education, are especially encouraged to participate. Water in the Western United States is being offered through Coursera, an educational platform that partners with universities and institutions worldwide to offer free online courses. The course has been recognized by the White House Office of Science and Technology as a project that supports the president’s Climate Education and Literacy Initiative. CIRES is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For a full syllabus or to sign up for the course, visit https://www.coursera.org/course/waterwestus.Anne Gold, CIRES, 303-735-5514Anne.U.Gold@colorado.edu Eric Gordon, WWA, 303-497-4947esgordon@colorado.edu Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196Kathleen.Human@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


How has a lack of water fueled controversy in the West? Learn more in free class
How has the scarcity of water in the American West resulted in so much controversy? A free online course offered beginning April 1 by experts at the University of Colorado Boulder will answer that question and take students on a virtual journey, following water as it makes its way from snow-capped peaks to the taps in the drier valleys across the Western United States. Water in the Western United States, CU-Boulder’s latest massive open online course, or MOOC, will unfold over four and a half weeks, allowing students the opportunity to explore the scientific, legal, political and cultural issues impacting water and climate in the West. During the course, students will use the history of water use in the Colorado River Basin as a case study and explore some of the controversial water issues facing the region today, from the increased demand created by hydraulic fracturing to the impacts of climate change to the needs of a growing population. The course, which does not require any prior knowledge, is being taught by Anne Gold, climate literacy and geoscience education specialist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and Eric Gordon, program manager of the Western Water Assessment (WWA), part of CIRES on the CU-Boulder campus. “This is a relatively quick and easy way to learn where your water supply comes from and what affects it,” Gordon said. Gordon and Gold worked with more than a dozen other experts in water management, policy and research to create a series of short video lectures. Students can watch each week’s videos on their own schedules, and they will participate in various exercises and activities, just as they would if they were in a live classroom. “You get content from the best experts that are out there in little 10-minute bites,” Gold said. “This is designed to be a short, approachable course about something that’s pretty complex.” Educators, who can earn graduate-level credit by signing up for a parallel course through CU-Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education, are especially encouraged to participate. Water in the Western United States is being offered through Coursera, an educational platform that partners with universities and institutions worldwide to offer free online courses. The course has been recognized by the White House Office of Science and Technology as a project that supports the president’s Climate Education and Literacy Initiative. CIRES is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For a full syllabus or to sign up for the course, visit https://www.coursera.org/course/waterwestus.See more CU-Boulder MOOCs var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


New study shows Saturn moon's ocean may have hydrothermal activity
A new study by a team of Cassini mission scientists led by the University of Colorado Boulder have found that microscopic grains of rock detected near Saturn imply hydrothermal activity is taking place within the moon Enceladus. The grains are the first clear indication of an icy moon having hydrothermal activity, in which seawater infiltrates and reacts with a rocky crust, emerging as a heated, mineral-laden solution. The finding adds to the tantalizing possibility that Enceladus, one of at least 60 Saturn moons or moonlets and which displays remarkable geologic activity including geysers, could contain environments suitable for living organisms. The results are being published March 12 in the journal Nature. The surprising new result follows an extensive, four-year analysis of data from the spacecraft, computer simulations and laboratory experiments. From their examination, the researchers determined the tiny grains most likely form when hot water containing dissolved minerals from the moon's rocky interior travels upward, coming into contact with cooler water. Temperatures required for the interactions that produce the tiny rock grains would be at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius). "It's very exciting that we can use these tiny grains of rock, spewed into space by geysers, to tell us about conditions on -- and beneath -- the ocean floor of an icy moon," said Research Associate Sean Hsu at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, lead author on the paper. Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument has repeatedly detected miniscule rock particles, rich in the element silicon, near Saturn since 2004. By process of elimination, the CDA team concluded these particles must be grains of silica, which is found on Earth in sand and the mineral quartz. The consistent size of the grains observed by Cassini -- the largest of which were 6 to 9 nanometers -- was the clue that told the researchers a specific process likely was responsible. On Earth, the most common way to form silica grains of this size is hydrothermal activity involving a specific range of conditions: namely, when slightly alkaline water with modest salinity that is super-saturated with silica undergoes a big drop in temperature. "We methodically searched for alternate explanations for the nano-silca grains, but every new result pointed to a single, most likely origin," said Frank Postberg, a Cassini CDA team scientist at Heidelberg University in Germany, and a co-author on the paper. Hsu and Postberg worked closely with colleagues at the University of Tokyo who performed the detailed laboratory experiments that validated the hydrothermal activity hypothesis. The Japanese team, led by Yasuhito Sekine, verified the conditions under which silica grains form at the same size Cassini detected. The researchers think these conditions may exist at the seafloor on Enceladus, where hot water from the interior meets the relatively cold water at the ocean bottom. The Nature paper co-authors also included CU-Boulder Professor Mihaly Horanyi and Assistant Professor Sascha Kempf of LASP. Both also are faculty members in CU-Boulder's physics department and co-investigators of the Cassini CDA. According to Kempf, the puzzle of the Enceladus plumes -- first identified not long after the Cassini spacecraft reached the realm of Saturn in 2004 -- has been solved, at least to some extent. "Ten years ago it was a big mystery why the nano-grains were made of silica rather than water ice," Kempf said. "Now we know the observations were correct. We know where the silica particles are coming from, and why we are seeing them. We learned something very unexpected, which is why I really like this study." The extremely small size of the silica particles also suggests that they travel upward relatively quickly from their hydrothermal origin to the near-surface sources of the moon's now famous geysers. From seafloor to outer space, a distance of about 30 miles (50 kilometers), the grains spend a few months to a few years in transit, otherwise they would grow to much larger sizes. Cassini first revealed active geology on Enceladus in 2005 with evidence of an icy spray issuing from the moon's south polar region and higher-than-expected temperatures in the icy surface there. The mission soon revealed a towering plume of water ice and vapor, salts and organic materials that issues from relatively warm fractures on the wrinkled surface. Gravity measurements published in 2014 strongly suggest the presence of a 6-mile-deep (10-kilometer) ocean beneath an ice shell about 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) thick. The authors point out that Cassini's gravity measurements suggest Enceladus' rocky core is quite porous, which would allow water from the ocean to percolate into the interior. This would provide a huge surface area where rock and water could interact. "It's possible much of this interesting hot water chemistry occurs deep inside the moon's core," Hsu said. CU-Boulder has had a significant role in the Cassini mission since its launch in 1997. CU-Boulder Professor Larry Esposito of LASP is the principal investigator on a $12.5 million instrument suite flying on the Cassini spacecraft known as the UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). Esposito and colleagues have used UVIS to make a number of important findings about Saturn’s rings and moons during the mission. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. The Cassini cosmic dust analyzer was provided by the German Aerospace Center.  The instrument team is based at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. For more information about Cassini visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini. For more information on LASP visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/. Contact: Sean Hsu, 720-470-3148sean.hsu@lasp.colorado.edu Sascha Kempf, 303-735-2120sascha.kempf@lasp.colorado.edu Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu                              "It's very exciting that we can use these tiny grains of rock, spewed into space by geysers, to tell us about conditions on -- and beneath -- the ocean floor of an icy moon," said Research Associate Sean Hsu at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, lead author on the paper.Natural Sciences, Engineering, Research, Aerospace, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: A team led by CU-Boulder has shown that Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is spewing tiny silica grains, an indication hydrothermal activity is occurring in its ice-covered ocean. Such extreme environments are known to be suitable for life on Earth. Photo courtesy NASA/JPL


Ten things to do this week: March 10 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso.  Once again the CU-Boulder campus is littered with sunshine, it is of no coincidence then that we are also flush with options to spend our time this week. Our campus is an epicenter for cultural exploration and celebration. Through a variety of ways, including showcases, fashion shows, talent shows and food tastings, the university and your fellow students provide us with an array of activities that celebrate and explore the diversity of our student body.  This week I encourage you, if you have not already, to step outside of your comfort zone and immerse yourself in an area of campus life you would usually ignore. The Cultural Events Board is the proud sponsor of many of the following events; enjoy some comedy from a Hollywood acclaimed comedian, Eddie Huang comes to discuss his award winning book Fresh off the Boat, or head to the newly renovated Glenn Miller Ballroom to experience a “Culture Shock.”   Tuesday, March 10 An evening of comedy with Ahmed Ahmed. Ahmed Ahmed is an actor, producer, comedian and everything in-between. He is currently the star of TBS’s hit TV series Sullivan and Son. Don’t miss this opportunity to spend an evening with one of Hollywood’s finest funny men, who recently toured with the great Vince Vaughn on his “wild West” comedy tour. Tickets are free and open to the public; the event will take place in Old main at 7 p.m. More information here. Wednesday, March 11 "For the Health of it." This Wednesday, join the Women’s Resource Center for a presentation focusing on health disparities among marginalized groups of women of color. This is a fantastic opportunity to broaden your cultural understanding of marginalized groups in the United States in a welcoming and safe environment. This talk will take place in UMC 416 from 4-5 p.m. More information here.   Thursday, March 12 Disruption screening. Living in Boulder we are surrounded by the beauty that is nature. However, we often forget about the threat of climate change to our environment. The Environmental Center brings these issues to the forefront with a screening of Disruption, which showcases an unflinching look at the devastating consequences of our inaction in regards to climate change. This event will take place in Hellems 252 and begins at 5:30 p.m. More information here.  An evening with Paul Farmer. Spend your Thursday learning about the extensive career of Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician who has dedicated his life to improving the healthcare conditions of the world’s poorest people. Join myself and the Cultural Events Board in discovering the importance of providing healthcare to those who needs it most. This event will take place in the newly renovated Glenn Miller Ballroom in the UMC. Tickets are free and open to everyone. As a side note: Attending this event will fulfill the diversity training requirement for CU-Boulder student employees. More information here.  NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto. Head down to the Fiske Planetarium to uncover the fascinating journey of NASA’s New Horizon’s nine year journey to Pluto, which will land on July 14 of this year. The Thursday showing will be presented by mission team member Fran Bagenal; the show begins at 7.p.m. The Thursday showing is free for CU students, and the Friday showing is $7. More information can be found here.  Friday, March 13 The Department of History invites you to celebrate the diversity of gender and biological sex at the Ninth Annual TRANSforming Gender Conference. Once again, this is an opportunity to experience and learn about a side of campus and American culture that you may be unaware of or unaccustomed to. This event takes place over the course of two days, and features keynote speakers as well as panels and workshops. Tickets are free and information on speakers and schedules can be found here.  International Coffee Hour. Thinking about studying or travelling abroad? Why not experience how international students at CU have enjoyed studying and travelling abroad at the International Coffee Hour. Enjoy free coffee supplied by Baby Doe’s and come meet and socialize with more than 50 students, each with their own unique background, languages and cultures to share. International Coffee Hour is a recurring event that takes place each week in the UMC in the seating area opposite the Alfred Packer Grill at 4 p.m. More information here. Collaborasian and the Cultural Events Board present Fresh off the Boat: A night with Eddie Huang. Eddie Huang is a bestselling author, and current producer of his own TV show on ABC. Join him this Friday, at 5:30 p.m. in Ramaley C250 as he shares his own experiences with battling racial stereotypes and discusses his recent works. More information here. Saturday, March 14 Culture Shock: The seventh annual multicultural talent showcase. Celebrate the diversity of talent and culture at CU as the Cultural Events Board presents Boulder’s largest annual talent show. Not only will there be local talent, but Andrew Garcia, JR Aquino and Brian Puspos will feature as the guest performers. Garcia is a former American Idol contestant. Check him out on YouTube is you haven’t already, his take on Michael Jackson is particularly impressive. The show begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the UMC. Tickets are free and open to everyone. More information here.  If you are still struggling to find something that peaks your interest, I would be remiss if I did not suggest exploring Boulder’s outdoor options. Boulder was recently rated the “No. 1 sports town in America,” and there are plenitude of different options right on our doorstep. The Boulder Running Company does weekly road runs on Wednesday nights at 6 p.m., as well Sunday morning trail runs at 8 a.m. Boulder B-Cycles are available to rent as well as more advanced rental options from University Bicycles (they even have "Fatboy Bikes"). Take some time out of your weekend to explore. As a friend who recently left Boulder remarked yesterday, “appreciate Boulder while you are there, once you leave you realize how lucky you really were to live there.” This weekend is as good an opportunity as ever; the weather will be great and you deserve some relaxation before we enter the last push toward the end of the semester.   Have Some Fun!  As always, if you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Students set for space mission: Command performance
When NASA’s $1.1 billion Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission thunders off the launch pad from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday night, there are going to be some very busy University of Colorado Boulder undergraduates. Comprised of four identical, octagonal spacecraft flying in a pyramid formation, the MMS mission is designed to better understand the physical processes of geomagnetic storms, solar flares and other energetic phenomena throughout the universe. The goal is to study magnetic reconnection, the primary process by which energy is transferred from the solar wind to Earth’s protective magnetic space environment, said CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Daniel Baker, Science Operations Center (SOC) lead scientist for MMS. The four spacecraft each are carrying 25 instruments that will record enormous amounts of data. And 20 undergraduates will be working side-by-side with professionals at the MMS Science Operations Center located at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, uploading commands and assessing the health of each of the 100 instruments. LASP Mission Operations and Data Systems Director Bill Possel said the students — some of whom even created software tools to help upload commands to the spacecraft — will work four-hour shifts in the SOC as they monitor the spacecraft 24/7 during the six-month checkout period. The mission, expected to be worth more than $15 million to CU-Boulder in NASA funding, is slated to run at least another two years after that. “This is one of NASA’s flagship missions, and our students have the opportunity to be the first people ever to send commands and monitor the health of MMS instruments,” said Possel. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The student controllers go through an intensive 10-week training program followed by practical and written tests, he said. Aerospace engineering sciences student Evan Grazer, a junior who is on the MMS instrument control team and also helped to develop software for the mission, said the students have been conducting “dry runs” to get ready. “We are the ones who will be at the consoles, sending instrument commands and working closely with the flight controllers, so we want to learn how to be as effective as possible,” he said. While scientists are very interested in the basic science behind magnetic reconnection, understanding more about it also should help them better understand space weather events on Earth. This includes the effects of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can contain billions of tons of solar particles that explode off the sun’s surface and hammer Earth, interfering with GPS satellites, power grids, radio communications and threatening astronaut health, said Baker, who also is LASP’s director. “The spacecraft will be taking continuous, high-resolution data, but we can’t have it all sent back to Earth because of the extremely high volume,” said SOC Manager Chris Pankratz, who began working at LASP as a student satellite controller in the 1980s. “Instead, we will scan low-resolution data for ‘thumbprints’ of magnetic reconnection events — essentially needles in a haystack — then command the spacecraft to send down the corresponding high-resolution data samples.” Another MMS student controller, junior Maggie Williams of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, previously worked on a student satellite project at the CU-Boulder-headquartered Colorado Space Grant Consortium. “When I came to CU-Boulder I didn’t know about these kinds of opportunities,” she said. “I feel very fortunate.” The instruments can produce a 3-D image of electron plasma by recording points of data more than 10 times faster than the blink of an eye.  “We have been waiting for the past 70 years for a ‘smoking gun’ observation of this magnetic reconnection process,” said Baker. “Now we will be able to see electrons and protons move around the magnetic field, and finally observe the mechanisms by which the magnetic reconnection process takes place.” For the mission, LASP also contributed an electronics package known as the Digital Fields Board, which is the “brains” of the Electric Field and Waves Suite on board each spacecraft. During the first half of the mission, the MMS spacecraft will fly in a highly elliptical orbit between about 4,400 miles and 47,000 miles in altitude. The spacecraft orbits will eventually be extended to about 93,000 miles above Earth. The science operations team at LASP will be in close contact with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which will be controlling the spacecraft. “I knew about CU-Boulder’s reputation in the space sciences,” said Esteben Rodriguez, a junior in aerospace engineering sciences from South Dakota who is on the MMS instrument control team. “What I didn’t know was this is one of the few places in the world where undergraduates can get real mission operations experience.”AerospaceLearn more about LASP mission operations var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder graduate programs rated highly by US News & World Report
University of Colorado graduate programs hold dozens of spots in the latest annual rankings from U.S. News & World Report, whose survey spotlights excellence in higher education across the country. All four CU campuses are recognized for research and teaching achievement in the fields of health care, engineering, law, education and business. Below is a sampling of CU’s rankings from the 2016 edition of Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News Media Group), as made available in advance by U.S. News (full lists available on March 10). Some rankings include ties with other institutions: University of Colorado Boulder No. 1: CU-Boulder’s atomic/molecular/optical physics program maintains the top spot nationally. Top 10: Other CU-Boulder programs ranking in the top 10 are environmental law (fifth), ceramics (eighth), quantum physics (eighth), geology (ninth), physical chemistry (ninth) and aerospace engineering (10th). Another 28 CU-Boulder schools and programs hold places on the national rankings within their fields: chemical engineering (16), education policy (16), clinical psychology (18), environmental engineering (18), physics (18), civil engineering (21), earth sciences (23), chemistry (24), speech-language pathology (25), audiology (27) School of Education (29), biological sciences (30), psychology (30), College of Engineering and Applied Science (34), mechanical engineering (35), electrical engineering (37), computer engineering (38), computer science (40), Law School (40), political science (45), mathematics (46), sociology (46), English (50), history (50), Leeds School of Business (52 for part-time MBA schools), economics (53), fine arts (53) and the Leeds School of Business (86). Not all disciplines are ranked by the publication. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine Top 10: The school ranks eighth nationally for primary care, with the specialties of pediatrics (fifth) and family medicine (seventh) also ranking high. The physician assistant program ranks fifth. The School of Medicine ranks 35th overall for research. College of Nursing Top 10: The online nursing degree ranks fifth. The nursing master’s degree is 30th. University of Colorado Denver Top 10: The online criminal justice program ranks ninth. Other schools and programs ranking: health care management (two spots: 18th, in partnership with the Network for Healthcare Management; and 23rd), School of Public Affairs (29), Department of Integrative Biology (Biological Sciences Ph.D. program) (75), the Business School’s part-time MBA program (91) and the School of Education and Human Development (96). University of Colorado Colorado Springs Top 20: The online engineering degree ranks 20th. Also ranking are the online business MBA (40), nursing master’s degree (75) and part-time MBA (130). Rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program quality, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. These data come from surveys of more than 1,900 programs and more than 13,700 academics and professionals. The publication aims to provide a tool to students and parents who are comparing college programs at accredited public and private universities in the United States. The 2016 Best Graduate Schools includes rankings in five of the largest professional graduate school disciplines (business, law, education, engineering, and medicine), as well as part-time MBA and part-time law school programs. For the first time, U.S. News also is ranking master's programs in nursing based on both statistical and reputational data.  Detailed statistical data collected about each nursing school will be displayed on searchable directory pages on usnews.com, as well as in the "Best Graduate Schools 2016" print guidebook, on sale at newsstands on April 7. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder graduate programs rate highly
CU System news release University of Colorado graduate programs hold dozens of spots in the latest annual rankings from U.S. News & World Report, whose survey spotlights excellence in higher education across the country. All four CU campuses are recognized for research and teaching achievement in the fields of health care, engineering, law, education and business. Below is a sampling of CU’s rankings from the 2016 edition of Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News Media Group), as made available in advance by U.S. News (full lists available on March 10). Some rankings include ties with other institutions: University of Colorado Boulder No. 1: CU-Boulder’s atomic/molecular/optical physics program maintains the top spot nationally. Top 10: Other CU-Boulder programs ranking in the top 10 are environmental law (fifth), ceramics (eighth), quantum physics (eighth), geology (ninth), physical chemistry (ninth) and aerospace engineering (10th). Another 28 CU-Boulder schools and programs hold places on the national rankings within their fields: chemical engineering (16), education policy (16), clinical psychology (18), environmental engineering (18), physics (18), civil engineering (21), earth sciences (23), chemistry (24), speech-language pathology (25), audiology (27) School of Education (29), biological sciences (30), psychology (30), College of Engineering and Applied Science (34), mechanical engineering (35), electrical engineering (37), computer engineering (38), computer science (40), Law School (40), political science (45), mathematics (46), sociology (46), English (50), history (50), Leeds School of Business (52 for part-time MBA schools), economics (53), fine arts (53) and the Leeds School of Business (86). Not all disciplines are ranked by the publication. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine Top 10: The school ranks eighth nationally for primary care, with the specialties of pediatrics (fifth) and family medicine (seventh) also ranking high. The physician assistant program ranks fifth. The School of Medicine ranks 35th overall for research. College of Nursing Top 10: The online nursing degree ranks fifth. The nursing master’s degree is 30th. University of Colorado Denver Top 10: The online criminal justice program ranks ninth. Other schools and programs ranking: health care management (two spots: 18th, in partnership with the Network for Healthcare Management; and 23rd), School of Public Affairs (29), Department of Integrative Biology (Biological Sciences Ph.D. program) (75), the Business School’s part-time MBA program (91) and the School of Education and Human Development (96). University of Colorado Colorado Springs Top 20: The online engineering degree ranks 20th. Also ranking are the online business MBA (40), nursing master’s degree (75) and part-time MBA (130). Rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program quality, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. These data come from surveys of more than 1,900 programs and more than 13,700 academics and professionals. The publication aims to provide a tool to students and parents who are comparing college programs at accredited public and private universities in the United States. The 2016 Best Graduate Schools includes rankings in five of the largest professional graduate school disciplines (business, law, education, engineering, and medicine), as well as part-time MBA and part-time law school programs. For the first time, U.S. News also is ranking master's programs in nursing based on both statistical and reputational data.  Detailed statistical data collected about each nursing school will be displayed on searchable directory pages on usnews.com, as well as in the "Best Graduate Schools 2016" print guidebook, on sale at newsstands on April 7. Contact: Jay Dedrick, 303-860-5707, JayDedrick@cu.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Inaugural 'Fresh Minds' event showcases graduate research
Join the CU-Boulder Graduate School for the premier of Fresh Minds: New Graduate Student Research on March 13, 3:30-5 p.m. in the Center for Irish and British Studies. This event showcases five-minute (or less) presentations from recipients of the Dean's Research Grants - some of CU-Boulder's top graduate students. A great event to learn more about what our graduate students are doing, as well as an opportunity to see how to present research clearly and concisely to the public. Participants include: Adriann Kroepsch Adrianne Kroepsch is a Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental Studies program and a graduate instructor and research assistant at the Center of the American West. Kroepsch studies energy and water governance in the American West, with a focus on Colorado's Front Range and Four Corners regions. She received her M.A. in Geography from CU-Boulder in 2011, supported by a Chancellor's Fellowship. Before graduate school, Kroepsch was a journalist in Washington, D.C., where she covered science and technology policy for Congressional Quarterly and other publications. She earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Cornell University in Science and Technology Studies in 2003. When she isn't working on her dissertation, Kroepsch enjoys skiing and hiking with her husband, Corey, and dog, Karma. Alex Corey Alex Corey is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the English Department and works in the field of American studies. Corey explores the intersection of literature, music and popular culture in the United States during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. In his dissertation, “Unruly Intimacies: U.S. Literature and Music from Ragtime to Modal Jazz,” he questions how popular music’s seductive force has fostered attachments within and beyond social boundaries. Corey also serves as the lab manager for the Laboratory for Race and Popular Culture (RAP Lab) at CU-Boulder under Director Adam Bradley and works as the program coordinator for the Futures of American Studies Institute at Dartmouth College under Director Donald Pease. Amanda Hund Amanda Hund is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department and she is working to understand how parasites cause populations to diverge and become separate species.  Her research focuses on several barn swallows subspecies and aims to understand how evolving with local parasite communities drives female preferences for different male ornaments. Hund's graduate work has brought her to the Czech Republic, Israel and Egypt where she has worked and made friends with amazing scientists. She earned her B.A. in biology from Carleton College in Minnesota. Andrew Detch After graduating from CU-Boulder in 2008 cum laude with a B.A. in Classics, Andrew Detch received an M.A. from Brown University in 2009 and taught middle school and high school for two years in Colorado Springs. He returned to CU-Boulder in 2011 and is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. student focusing on the history of the eighteenth-century Atlantic World. In particular, his work examines the ways in which peoples throughout the Atlantic World interacted during the “Age of Democratic Revolutions” from 1765-1804. His dissertation examines how a shared symbolic lexicon both defined the arena of revolution and drew people together in trans-national cultural coalitions, which are often marginalized in today’s nationalistic histories of the revolutionary era. Brittany Demmitt Brittany Demmitt is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology program. She is currently studying environmental and host genetic associations with the oral microbiome. Generous funding from the Dean’s Graduate Student Research Grant has allowed her to analyze individuals who use tobacco, marijuana and methamphetamine and the associated changes with their oral microbiome.  Dave Smith Dave Smith grew up in Columbus, Ohio where he also attended the Ohio State University. In 2010, he earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. While an undergrad, he spent a lot of time in the lab and really enjoyed it. After graduating, he continued to work in the lab for another year before starting graduate school at CU-Boulder. His interest in structural biology (and the outdoors) solidified his choice to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry at CU-Boulder. After his first year, his research interests shifted towards the immune system. Eric Stewart Eric Stewart is a multimedia artist and educator who combines visual anthropology with experimental film to ask: How the does the past write itself into the landscape and how does the tradition of landscape painting and photography construct contemporary ways of looking at this written record? Through chemical and physical manipulations of the surface of 16mm film, Stewart examines the history of landscape, place and cultural identity in the American West.  He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a current MFA Candidate in the Department of Film and Film Studies at CU-Boulder. Helen McCreery Helen McCreery studies how complex group behavior emerges in ant colonies. Ants are remarkably good at problem solving, and this ability is largely due to their cooperation. McCreery studies how they become coordinated in a particular task: cooperative transport, which is when a group of ants gets together to move something really heavy. She's interested in the behavioral rules that individuals use that cause the whole group to become coordinated. John Darcy John Darcy graduated with a degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from CU in 2010. Shortly thereafter, he realized he hated everything about medicine while doing an internship. He took a year off to work in various labs, eventually finding himself in Australia, taking photos of mosses and fungi. Having found his true calling in the microbial realm, Darcy was accepted into CU's EBIO Ph.D. program in 2011. He is in his 4th year now, developing mathematical models to better understand the geospatial distributions of different microbes. Mike Ortiz Michael Ortiz specializes in the history of the British Empire and Modern Europe. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, he graduated with a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. from Florida Atlantic University before enrolling at the CU-Boulder in 2011. He is currently working on a dissertation examining the Indian Independence Movement through the lens of global anti-fascism.   Sarah Hernandez Sarah Hernandez is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. She is a doctoral candidate in the English Department. Her research interests focus upon contemporary Native American literature and criticism. Her dissertation tentatively titled, “Colonizing the Dakota Literary Tradition,” traces the evolution of the Dakota literary tradition from an oral to a written form. Dakota literature is often regarded as an extinct oral storytelling tradition. Hernandez's dissertation will demonstrate that the Dakota literary tradition is not extinct, but rather has been re-imagined in a modern form as literature.  She is currently using the Dean’s Graduate Student Research Grant to conduct archival research at the Minnesota Historical Society, the Dakota Indian Foundation and the American Philosophical Society. These three trips will allow her to examine how early Christian missionaries such as Reverend Stephen Return Riggs colonized ohunkakan (i.e., the Dakota oral storytelling tradition) and how modern/contemporary Dakota writers and scholars such as Ella Deloria and Elizabeth Cook-Lynn have reclaimed and revitalized these stories. This dissertation is the first to bring to bear a deeply archival and linguistic frame to these long overlooked and unquestioned works. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder brain model learns to think like a gambler
During a famous roulette game in a Monte Carlo casino in 1913, black came up 26 times in a row. After about 15 repetitions, the players began betting heavily on red, likely believing that such a long streak just couldn’t continue. The gambler’s fallacy—the idea that past events, a streak of black in roulette, for example, can impact the likelihood of a future random event, whether black or red will come up after the next spin—has long been thought to illustrate human irrationality. But new research that relies on a brain model created at the University of Colorado Boulder finds that when humans fall into the gambler’s fallacy, their brains may actually be acting with some logic after all. The new study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that the human brain may in fact be sensitive to a subtle pattern that shows up in otherwise random sequences—a pattern that may not be obvious to our conscious minds. “Our brains are constantly soaking up all kinds of things that we don’t even know about—that are little irregularities in the world,” said Randall O’Reilly, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU-Boulder and a co-author of the paper. “Nobody, if you ask them, would tell you this structure is there, but your brain knows.” The structure that exists in a chain of random events—like tossing a “fair coin” over and over—has to do with whether the sequence alternates (heads-tails or tails-heads, for example) or repeats (heads-heads or tails-tails, for example.) A fair coin is any coin that’s as likely to come up heads as tails in any given toss. While each individual toss has a 50 percent chance of coming up heads or tails, statisticians have found that over time the sequence of heads and tails has a subtle pattern to it: Repetitions tend to bunch together with greater spacing between them. For the study, the research team, led by Texas A&M Health Science Center, used CU-Boulder’s computer model of neurons to see if the brain could pick up the subtle pattern. They found that over time, the brain did indeed pick up the structure in the sequence, learning that series of alternations tend to go on for longer periods of time than series of repetitions. “In other words, these neurons behaved just like the gamblers in a casino: When the outcome of a fair coin toss is a head, they are more likely to predict that the following toss will be a tail than to predict it will be a head, despite the fact that either pattern is equally probable,” said Yanlong Sun, an assistant professor at Texas A&M and lead author of the paper. The research was partially funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research, and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Other co-authors of the paper are Jack Smith and Hongbin Wang, of Texas A&M; Rajan Bhattacharyya, of HRL Laboratories LLC; and Xun Liu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Natural Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


IT services unavailable the first Saturday of Spring Break
Due to damage from a natural gas explosion at the Computing Center this past fall, Facilities Management will need to turn off power to the Computing Center to thoroughly inspect impacted electrical components. This maintenance is necessary to prevent unexpected campus outages occurring in the future. Starting at 10 p.m. on Friday, March 20, most campus IT Services will be unavailable, including CU-Boulder hosted websites (www.colorado.eduand associated sites) and faculty and staff Exchange email and calendar accounts until 8 a.m. Saturday, March 21. MyCUInfo will remain available until midnight to ensure students can add/drop classes before the deadline. CU-Boulder Network (wired and wireless), as well as Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps and Desire2Learn (D2L) will remain available. For more information, including a list of services impacted, visit the OIT News website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Get your academic act together: Mind tricks for meeting your deadlines
When you have papers and midterms piling up, procrastination starts looking like the best option. But there are plenty of tricks to help you get going - and stay productive all semester. Learn to break up your assignments, schedule homework time during the day, and get help when you need it with this month’s issue of Student Health 101 online magazine.  var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Great turnout for Be Boulder. in San Francisco event
With the goal of engaging alumni, parents and donors by bringing the university to them, the CU-Boulder Alumni Association, Chancellor’s Office, President’s Office and Office of Advancement are hosting Be Boulder. events across the country. These events highlight alums in each city we travel to, while also featuring CU-Boulder faculty members. The events also support Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano’s initiative to improve the university’s reputation by emphasizing our world-class academics and demonstrating the value of a CU-Boulder degree. On Thursday evening, more than 150 attended the Be Boulder. in San Francisco event that featured a presentation from CU-Boulder faculty member Eve-Lyn Hinckley, who has completed extensive research in Napa and Sonoma Counties on water management and sustainability in addition to pesticide use in the wine industry. Alums Jody Harris of Cultivar Wines and Ron Nicholsen of Kelham Vineyards also spoke about water issues facing the industry and what it means for consumers. Look for more Be Boulder. events this summer in New York City and Chicago as we remind the world how great our institution’s professors, alums and students are.   Courtesy of the CU-Boulder Alumni Association. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Seven-night full closure of Eastbound and Westbound US 36, March 8-14
As part of the US 36 Express Lanes Project, a seven-night full closure of eastbound and westbound US 36, from Church Ranch Boulevard to Wadsworth Parkway, is necessary to complete work on the Promenade and BNSF Railway bridges. This closure is scheduled at the following times: March 8, 9 p.m.-5:30 a.m. March 9-12, 10 p.m.-5:30 a.m. March 13 and 14, 10 p.m.-8 a.m. The US 36 & Broomfield Park-n-Ride and the US 36 & Church Ranch Park-n-Ride will be temporarily relocated. RTD routes and bus schedules will not be impacted during this closure. RTD patrons will continue to use the RTD Park-n- Ride lots and follow the posted directional signs to the temporary stops. For RTD information, call 303-299-6000. The detour is below, and signage will be in the area to guide the traveling public. Detour Description: Westbound traffic will be detoured onto the westbound on-ramp to 104th Avenue/Church Ranch Boulevard. Traffic will be directed south to Church Ranch Boulevard to Wadsworth Parkway. Travelers will gain access back onto US 36 via the westbound on-ramp to US 36. Eastbound traffic will be detoured onto the eastbound off-ramp at Wadsworth Parkway. Traffic will then be directed south on Wadsworth Parkway to the Church Ranch Boulevard exit. At Church Ranch, traffic will be directed back onto the mainline at the eastbound on-ramp to US 36. For more information visit www.us36expresslanes.com or call the project hotline at 303-404-7042. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Finkelstein named CU’s first Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador
CU System news release Inspired by the past and building toward the future, a new outreach program at the University of Colorado is tapping educators to promote discussion of teaching and learning in schools and communities across the state. Receiving the honor of being named the inaugural Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador is Noah Finkelstein, Ph.D., President’s Teaching Scholar and professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador award honors the memory of professor Klaus Timmerhaus, a member of the faculty of chemical and biological engineering at CU-Boulder from 1953 until his retirement in 1995. Timmerhaus received many honors, including being named to the National Academy of Engineering and being selected to the first group of President’s Teaching Scholars at the university. An active and enthusiastic advocate of teaching, Timmerhaus provided a bequest to support designated faculty members in promoting discussion of education throughout Colorado. After a lengthy selection process, Finkelstein was chosen because of his enthusiasm and accomplishments in teaching and learning, his leadership in his field of study, his success at advising and encouraging students, and his willingness to represent the enterprise of teaching and learning at CU. “I’m profoundly honored by this award, and the explicit recognition and attention to education as a core enterprise of the University of Colorado,” Finkelstein said. “I seek to carry on Klaus Timmerhaus’ remarkable commitment to and legacy of engaging all Coloradans in education.” This year, the Timmerhaus awardee was selected from the Boulder campus, but in subsequent years, faculty across the four-campus system will be eligible to be honored with the ambassadorship, which includes a $25,000 award. During each two-year appointment, ambassadors will present talks about education and learning throughout Colorado at a variety of venues; audiences will include state lawmakers, the CU Board of Regents, educators, the media and the general public. In consultation with the Timmerhaus Award Committee – which consists of teaching scholars from the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU-Boulder; Klaus’ daughter, Carol Getty; and Klaus’ granddaughter, Kristina Getty – Finkelstein’s first order of business is to coordinate plans for travel around the state speaking about the essential role of education. “Never has education mattered more for the lives of individuals or the collective welfare of society,” Finkelstein said. “Engaging through the state of Colorado, I seek to celebrate our tremendous successes, advance our educational capacities and support those efforts and communities that are committed to advancing education for our citizens and state.” Finkelstein has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles since coming to CU in 2003. His accolades include being named a systemwide Presidential Teaching Scholar (2012), the Outstanding Faculty Graduate Faculty Advising Award (2010), the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award (2007), first place in the National Science Foundation (NSF)/Science Magazine’s International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge (2007), an NSF CAREER Award (2005), and many other national awards from the NSF including one to build a Center for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Learning at CU. His leadership extends to national policy, having testified before Congress regarding the state of STEM education and now serving on the Board of Trustees for the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits more than 1,000 institutions of higher education across the country. Contact: Jay Dedrick, (303) 860-5707Jay.Dedrick@cu.edu                                                               Learning & Teaching var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Noah Finkelstein


Evidence indicates Yucatan Peninsula likely hit by tsunami 1,500 years ago
The eastern coastline of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a mecca for tourists, may have been walloped by a tsunami between 1,500 and 900 years ago, says a new study involving Mexico’s Centro Ecological Akumal (CEA) and the University of Colorado Boulder. There are several lines of evidence for an ancient tsunami, foremost a large, wedge-shaped berm about 15 feet above sea level paved with washing machine-sized stones, said the researchers. Set back in places more than a quarter of a mile from shore, the berm stretches for at least 30 miles, alternating between rocky headlands and crescent beaches as it tracks the outline of the Caribbean coast near the plush resorts of Playa del Carmen and Cancun. Radiocarbon dates of peat beneath the extensive berm indicate a tsunami, which may have consisted of two or even three giant waves, likely slammed the coastline sometime after A.D. 450. In addition, ruins of Post-Classic Mayan structures built between A.D. 900 and 1200 were found atop parts of the berm, indicating the tsunami occurred prior to that time. “I was quite shocked when I first walked these headlands and saw this large berm paved with boulders running long distances in both directions,” said CEA scientist Charles Shaw. “My initial thought was that a huge wave came through here in the past, and it must have packed quite a punch.” A paper on the subject by Shaw and Larry Benson, an adjunct curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, was published online this week in the Journal of Coastal Research. The boulders that cover the face and top of the berm are composed of coral and fine-grained limestone, said Benson. “The force required to rip this reef material from the seafloor and deposit it that far above the shoreline had to have been tremendous,” he said. “We think the tsunami wave height was at least 15 feet and potentially much higher than that.” In addition, the researchers have found “outlier berms,” spanning some 125 miles along the Yucatan coastline that suggest the tsunami impacted a very large region. “I think there is a chance this tsunami affected the entire Yucatan coast,” said Benson. The berm is composed of two layers of coarse sand as well as both small and large boulders. The beaches between the headland areas contain mostly sandy carbonate material with small boulders that likely were eroded from nearby bays during the event, said Shaw. It is not clear what might have caused the tsunami, which can be triggered by a variety of events ranging from earthquakes and underwater landslides to volcanic eruptions and oceanic meteor strikes. While scientists have found evidence a “super-typhoon” deposited rocky berms on the Australian coastline, the sediments in those berms occur in well-sorted bands, while the Yucatan berm is composed of coarse, unlayered sands suggesting different processes were involved in sediment deposition. “If hurricanes can build these types of berms, why is there only a single berm off the Yucatan coast given the numerous hurricanes that have made landfall there over the past century?” said Shaw. “That is a big part of our argument for a tsunami wave. We think we have the pieces of evidence we need for this event to have occurred.” Benson and Shaw suggest the tsunami could be more accurately dated by coring mangrove swamp sediments found along the coast in order to locate the carbonate sand deposited by the massive wave, then radiocarbon dating the peaty material above and below the sand. One implication of the Yucatan tsunami is the potential destruction another one could cause. While the geologic evidence indicates tsunamis in the region are rare -- only 37 recorded in the Caribbean basin since 1492 -- the Yucatan coastline, which was only lightly populated by Mayans 1,500 years ago, is now home to a number of lavish resort communities and villages inhabited by some 1.4 million people. “If such an event occurs in the future, it would wreak havoc along the built-up coastline, probably with a great loss of life,” said Benson. But it’s far more likely that powerful hurricanes like the Class 5 Hurricane Gilbert that made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1988, killing 433 people in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico and causing more than $7 billion in damage, will slam the coastline, said the researchers. Shaw’s research was funded by the CEA, which was founded in 1993 in Akumal to produce and promote strategies for ecosystem management in the region through research, education and policy. Benson’s research was funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey. Benson is a former USGS scientist. Contact: Charles Shaw, 831-884-5635yucatanchas@hotmail.com  Larry Benson, 720-459-8315 or 303-449-5529great.basin666@gmail.com Jim Scott, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114jim.scott@colorado.edu“The force required to rip this reef material from the seafloor and deposit it that far above the shoreline had to have been tremendous,” said CU-Boulder scientist Larry Benson. “We think the tsunami wave height was at least 15 feet and potentially much higher than that.” Social Sciences, Research, Academics, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Illustration by Samantha Davies, University of Colorado


CU-Boulder researchers propose a novel mechanism to explain the region’s high elevation
No one really knows how the High Plains got so high. About 70 million years ago, eastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western Kansas and western Nebraska were near sea level. Since then, the region has risen about 2 kilometers, leading to some head scratching at geology conferences.   Now researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed a new way to explain the uplift: Water trapped deep below Earth’s crust may have flooded the lower crust, creating buoyancy and lift. The research appears online this week in the journal Geology and could represent a new mechanism for elevating broad regions of continental crust. “The High Plains are perplexing because there is no deformation—such as major faults or volcanic activity—in the area to explain how this big, vast area got elevated,” said lead author Craig Jones, a CIRES fellow and associate professor of geology at CU-Boulder. “What we suggest is that by hydrating the lower crust, it became more buoyant, and the whole thing came up.” “It’s like flooding Colorado from below,” Jones said. Jones and his colleagues propose the water came from the subducting Farallon oceanic plate under the Pacific Ocean 75 to 45 million years ago. This slab slid underneath the North American continental plate, bringing with it a tremendous amount of water bound in minerals. Trapped and under great pressure and heat, the water was released from the oceanic plate and moved up through the mantle and toward the lower crust. There, it hydrated lower crust minerals, converting dense ones, like garnet, into lighter ones, such as mica and amphibole. “If you get rid of the dense garnet in the lower crust, you get more elevation because the crust becomes more buoyant,” Jones said. “It’s like blowing the water out of a ballast tank in a submarine.” Jones had the lightbulb moment for this idea when colleagues, including co-author Kevin Mahan, were describing xenoliths (pieces of crust ejected by volcanic eruptions) from across Wyoming and Montana. The researchers were reviewing the xenoliths’ composition and noticed something striking. Xenoliths near the Canadian border were very rich in garnet. But farther south, the xenoliths were progressively more hydrated, the garnet replaced by mica and other less-dense minerals. In southern Wyoming, all the garnet was gone. Upon hearing these findings, Jones blurted out, “You’ve solved why Wyoming is higher than Montana,” a puzzle that other theories haven’t been able to explain. At the time, Mahan, a CU-Boulder assistant professor of geological sciences, noted that the alteration of garnet was thought to be far too ancient, from more than a billion years ago, to fit the theory. But since then, he and another co-author, former CU-Boulder graduate student Lesley Butcher, dated the metamorphism of one xenolith sample from the Colorado Plateau and discovered it had been hydrated “only” 40-70 million years ago. Past seismic studies also support the new mechanism. These studies show that from the High Plains of Colorado to eastern Kansas, the crustal thickness or density correlates with a decline in elevation, from about 2 kilometers in the west to near sea level in the east. A similar change is seen from northern Colorado north to the Canadian border. In other words, as the crust gets less hydrated, the elevation of the Great Plains also gets lower. “You could say it’s just by happenstance that we seem to have thicker more buoyant crust in higher-elevation Colorado than in lower-elevation central Kansas,” Jones said, “but why would crust buoyancy magically correlate today with topography if that wasn’t what created the topography?” Still, Jones is quick to point out that this mechanism “is not the answer, but a possible answer. It’s a starting point that gives other researchers a sense of what to look for to test it,” he said. CIRES is a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the CU-Boulder. Other co-authors of the new Geology paper, “Continental uplift through crustal hydration,” are William Levandowski and Lang Farmer, both of CIRES and CU-Boulder’s Department of Geological Sciences. Journalists may obtain a copy of the paper by contacting Kea Giles at kgiles@geosociety.org. For an animation or to see images, visit http://cires.colorado.edu/news/press/highplains/.Natural Sciences, Institutes, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES)Craig Jones, 303-492-6994 cjones@Colorado.edu  Kevin Mahan, 303-492-2755Kevin.Mahan@Colorado.edu  Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196 Kathleen.human@colorado.edu var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Why is Denver a mile high?
No one really knows how the High Plains got so high. About 70 million years ago, eastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western Kansas and western Nebraska were near sea level. Since then, the region has risen about 2 kilometers, leading to some head scratching at geology conferences.   Now researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed a new way to explain the uplift: Water trapped deep below Earth’s crust may have flooded the lower crust, creating buoyancy and lift. The research appears online this week in the journal Geology and could represent a new mechanism for elevating broad regions of continental crust. “The High Plains are perplexing because there is no deformation—such as major faults or volcanic activity—in the area to explain how this big, vast area got elevated,” said lead author Craig Jones, a CIRES fellow and associate professor of geology at CU-Boulder. “What we suggest is that by hydrating the lower crust, it became more buoyant, and the whole thing came up.” “It’s like flooding Colorado from below,” Jones said. Jones and his colleagues propose the water came from the subducting Farallon oceanic plate under the Pacific Ocean 75 to 45 million years ago. This slab slid underneath the North American continental plate, bringing with it a tremendous amount of water bound in minerals. Trapped and under great pressure and heat, the water was released from the oceanic plate and moved up through the mantle and toward the lower crust. There, it hydrated lower crust minerals, converting dense ones, like garnet, into lighter ones, such as mica and amphibole. “If you get rid of the dense garnet in the lower crust, you get more elevation because the crust becomes more buoyant,” Jones said. “It’s like blowing the water out of a ballast tank in a submarine.” Jones had the lightbulb moment for this idea when colleagues, including co-author Kevin Mahan, were describing xenoliths (pieces of crust ejected by volcanic eruptions) from across Wyoming and Montana. The researchers were reviewing the xenoliths’ composition and noticed something striking. Xenoliths near the Canadian border were very rich in garnet. But farther south, the xenoliths were progressively more hydrated, the garnet replaced by mica and other less-dense minerals. In southern Wyoming, all the garnet was gone. Upon hearing these findings, Jones blurted out, “You’ve solved why Wyoming is higher than Montana,” a puzzle that other theories haven’t been able to explain. Read more at http://cires.colorado.edu/news/press/highplains/.Learn more about CIRES var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student life: Funding and planning student group events
The second installment of the Student Group Summit Series will take place on Thursday, March 5, 4:30-6 p.m. in the UMC Gallery. This workshop will cover the topic: Finances and Event Basics. Student groups will learn about some of the ways to secure funding for their group, along with basic financial tips and campus policies related to student group finances. Student group leaders will also learn some basic tips and tricks to hosting events on campus. A variety of delicious snacks will be provided for attendees as well. For more information about this workshop, as well as information on how to register, please click here. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Doctoral student receives Thomas Jefferson Award for exemplary service, leadership
CU System news release Two students and two faculty members from the University of Colorado community have been named recipients of the 2015 Thomas Jefferson Award, among the highest honors given at CU, the state’s largest institution of higher education. The awardees were chosen for embodying and advancing the ideals of Jefferson, the third U.S. president and a Founding Father who greatly influenced American arts, sciences, education and public affairs. The Jefferson Award recognizes CU faculty, staff and students who demonstrate excellence in the performance of regular academic responsibilities while contributing outstanding service to the broader community. The 2015 honorees are: Students: Michael Dominguez, Ph.D. candidate, University of Colorado Boulder. Expected graduation June 2015. A leader in the School of Education as a graduate student, graduate research assistant and instructor, he draws on a variety of disciplines in making literacy education meaningful for young people while engaging them in the community. He is director of a summer program he co-developed – Aquetza: Youth Leadership, Education and Community Empowerment – which teaches heritage and history via literary writing, theater, ethnic studies and critical thinking. The program also establishes a pipeline for an underserved population – Chicano and Latino youth from Colorado – into higher education. He teaches reading and literacy development and supervises student teachers in their field-based work; has been a leader and organizer with a graduate student group, GSCC (Graduate Students of Color Collective); and has served as adviser to the Education Diversity Scholars group. Amber L. Ortiz, Ph.D. candidate, CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Expected graduation 2018. She conducts immunology research with Laurel Lenz, Ph.D., in the CU Anschutz Immunology Graduate Program. A frequent volunteer for events spotlighting STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields and higher education, she is a persuasive student recruiter who encourages the pursuit of graduate-level degrees in STEM fields. Having helped many minority students pursue such goals, she launched a student chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) at CU Anschutz. She is eager to share her journey from growing up in a small farming community in New Mexico to thriving as a highly successful Ph.D. student. In her free time she also manages artistic pursuits, from creating visual art to playing violin to participating in dance competitions. Faculty: Donald C. Bross, Ph.D., J.D., professor of pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus. A nationally influential scholar in health care, ethics and the law, he is a faculty member of the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. His authorship of child protection law is widely regarded, providing models for tools that authorities in many states use in identifying and helping abused children. He teaches medical students, pediatric fellows, child psychiatry fellows, and child welfare and legal professionals active in the Colorado Department of Human Services. He is co-editor-in-chief of a major international journal on child abuse and neglect, and has written dozens of peer-reviewed papers, books and more. He incorporated the National Association of Counsel for Children in 1977, and has continued to support its work in a variety of pro bono roles. He earned his law degree from CU-Boulder. Robert von Dassanowsky, Ph.D., professor of German and film studies, University of Colorado Colorado Springs. An internationally renowned scholar, he is tenured in two departments – Visual and Performing Arts, and Language and Cultures – and has served as chair of both. His research and instruction areas in film, literary and cultural studies cover many aspects of Europe and North America. That work and his experience as an independent film producer have made him a sought-after speaker, consultant and film festival curator. Among those events is the annual UCCS Student Short Film Festival and Awards, which he co-founded and serves as faculty adviser. He has published numerous books, plays, critical articles and reviews, and is a foundation director, delegate of the European Academy, fellow of the Royal History Society and a past Carnegie/CASE U.S. Professor of the Year for Colorado. A committee of CU faculty, staff and students selects winners. Recipients receive an engraved plaque and a $2,000 honorarium. The Thomas Jefferson Award was established at the University of Virginia in 1951 by the Robert Earll McConnell Foundation to honor teaching faculty who exemplified the humanistic ideals associated with Jefferson. By 1962, six other institutions – including CU – had established a Jefferson Award. In 1980, the university added a student category; in 1988, the staff category was approved. Funding for the awards is derived from earnings on an endowment provided by the McConnell Foundation and from a bequest by Harrison Blair, a CU alumnus. Contact: Jay Dedrick, (303) 860-5707Jay.Dedrick@cu.edu  Education, Community Outreach var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: Michael Dominguez


Connecting with our students before their very first day. The entering student experience, reimagined
The university is committed to helping our students be successful and realized that this help needs to start before they even arrive. So, we are taking a bold, reimagined approach to the Class of 2019’s new student experience. CU-Boulder Today sat down with William Kuskin, Associate Vice Provost for Education Innovation, to talk about upcoming changes to our campus’ orientation process and how we can engage our incoming freshmen in the life of the campus.   What kinds of changes are coming?   We’re making big changes to the path our enrolling students follow to CU-Boulder. We’re asking our students to Be Boulder, and that means we have to Be Boulder as well, taking an approach in which we transform how students are integrated into academic life even as we challenge them to transform themselves.   With this in mind, we saw an opportunity to improve the orientation experience by introducing an innovative new model that leverages our campus online course technology to create a more personalized advising and registration experience. This new approach combines a series of electronic communications with social media to keep new students and families informed while connecting them with each other.    Why are we making these changes now?   While overall orientation feedback has been positive in previous years and we’ve accomplished the practical tasks of getting students advised and registered for classes, we’ve received consistent feedback from incoming families that the traditional two-day format is overwhelming in terms of the amount of content shared, and is hard to digest and recall afterwards.    We believe the changes will improve the student/advisor relationship, provide more opportunities to absorb and refer back to information they need in the transition to college and will enhance each student’s overall journey to become part of the CU-Boulder community.   Can you give some specific examples of this new model?   Confirmed students and family members will receive emails from our admissions office later this spring with information that will start them on their  journey. A New Student Welcome Programs website will serve as the online “home” and will provide incoming students with links into each phase of the journey. For those students who may not have access to the internet we are creating a personal experience to assist in their journey to CU-Boulder.     Each step along the way will be reinforced by regular email and social media content, as well as a special series of CU-Boulder Today editions focused on relevant tips, features and “to-do’s” for incoming students and their families. This material will be designed to meet the unique needs of all our students and their families, aiding in our ability to ensure the success of our students. Each student will complete the online orientation course, engage in a one-on-one advising appointment with their advisor and register online for courses (with support available, as necessary).    Additionally, we know many families value an on-campus experience before the start of the term, so then can choose to attend an optional New Student Welcome Day during the summer.   So New Student Welcome Day is the new orientation day?   Orientation day has become every day. We are using social media, live chat and videoconferencing capabilities to meet students where they live, answer their questions and guide them through their transition to members of our community.    Through Desire 2 Learn modules and digital engagement, our students and their families will be guided through the beginning of their academic journey at their own pace, in a way that makes sure that they have the information they need to succeed on our campus.   Any domestic student and their family members can attend a New Student Welcome Day, however this is an optional in-person experience for those who wish to visit campus. International students will continue to have an extended orientation experience the week before classes begin. All of our incoming students will continue to participate in Week of Welcome activities, and our first-year students will then transition into mentoring relationships with faculty and advisors to give them additional individualized attention and help them chart a course for success.   If campus departments have questions about their role in the new process, should they contact you?   We have a dedicated team working together to create this new student journey, and we look forward to everyone’s participation in welcoming our students to campus. Many of our campus units are already thoroughly involved in this new vision, as we have been working together since the fall semester. If anyone has additional questions or ideas, I invite them to share their input via our form at www.colorado.edu/welcomeinput.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder University Libraries to host exhibit and events on 100th anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park
University Libraries at the University of Colorado Boulder is hosting an exhibit and multiple events to honor the 100th anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library is featuring a new exhibit, “Expressions of Rocky Mountain National Park: A Centennial Celebration,” featuring a selection of art, maps, and companion writings and objects showcasing the park’s natural wonders and 100-year history. It will be on display through Aug. 13. The featured items range from early cartography, descriptive letters, photographs and area specimens to contemporary art, recreational maps and poems. Artists Christopher Brown and Elizabeth Black offer recent interpretations of Rocky Mountain National Park and Denver collector Wesley Brown has contributed unusual and important maps from the early days of the park. Christopher Brown and Black will speak about their art, and Wesley Brown will discuss a few of the major park maps in the exhibit at a reception and gallery talk on April 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library. Ralph Carlyle Prather’s magnificent panoramic drawing of Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park from 1922 will be on display at the exhibit reception and at selected viewing times throughout the course of the exhibit. Artifacts from the earth sciences and map library also will be displayed along with relevant artifacts from the CU Herbarium, the CU Museum of Natural History and the Department of Special Collections and Preservation in University Libraries. On March 5, a panel of CU-Boulder researchers will discuss “One Park, Many Perspectives: An Exploration of Rocky Mountain National Park at its Centenary” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Center for British and Irish Studies at Norlin Library. A reception will be held in the same room prior to the event from 4 to 4:30 p.m. CU-Boulder researchers in the fields of history, geological sciences, environmental studies and linguistics will share how their research relates to the history, environment and culture of Rocky Mountain National Park. Representatives from University Libraries will present surprising finds and historical materials in their collections that relate to the centenary. The panel presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries and is an officially recognized anniversary event by the National Park Service. For more information about the “Expressions of Rocky Mountain National Park: A Centennial Celebration” exhibit and gallery talk, please contact Melissa Harden at maplib@colorado.edu or 303-735-3111. To learn about the “One Park, Many Perspectives: An Exploration of Rocky Mountain National Park at its Centenary” panel event, please visit http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/RMNP or contact Mary Jane Campbell at 303-492-7511. News media contact: Lauren Calkins, University Libraries, 303-492-8302  Community OutreachCommunity & Culture var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student life: CU's Got Talent show Feb. 27
Join CU Late Night for the first annual CU's Got Talent show on Friday, Feb. 27, at 8 p.m. in Old Main. The event will feature student performers including hip hop artists, Indian classical dancers, acoustic and percussive guitar players, a banjo player and powerful vocalists that you won't want to miss. The event is free and open to the public. Student performers include: Sammy Riesmeyer: Percussive guitarist  Aly Cavalier: Singer Sravya karumanchi: Indian classical dancer Kyle Applequist: Acoustic guitarist/singer Owen McLaughlin: Plays banjo and sings instrumental tunes ~ modern pop/rock music Boulder Bhangru Crew: Perform a culture dance from Northern India called “Bhangra” with an added a modern twist of hip hop Luke Lemons: Guitarist and singer Donaven Smith: Singer Sam Frakes: Singer/songwriter who also plays accompanying guitar Yousef Alsahr: Dubstep dancer. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week: Feb. 24 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Winter is finally back. After our brief reprieve from the cold in January, the snow has returned and the snowshoes are back out in force. Luckily for us, Boulder is well-equipped to deal with winter weather, and therefore there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy yourself this week. Whatever your fancy, Boulder is here to accommodate. This week Program Council takes us into space, and the South Asian Student Association takes over the Rec Center with one of the year’s best cultural showcases. If getting out into the Baltic conditions is more to your liking, why not take advantage of CU-Boulder’s fantastic outdoor program. Wednesday, Feb. 25 Did you know Boulder has an ever-growing international population? Celebrate with one of our largest international groups at the Kuwait National Celebration Day. This event will take place in VAC room 1B20, and is a celebration of Kuwait’s culture and liberation day. More information here. Thursday, Feb. 26 Karaoke Nights at Club 156 in The Connection at the UMC. Miss the previous Karaoke night? No problem, indulge yourself and come sing along to some fun tunes with the help of a professional sound system and lighting stage this Thursday at 8 p.m. in Club 156. Tickets are free and open to everyone. For more information visit The Connection's Website. “Higher Education” Stand-Up comedy show. Ever been to a stand up comedy show? Me neither, so why not tick that off your list this Thursday in Hellems 201, as the Boulder Stand-Up comedy club continues with their ninth episode in their Higher Education series. More information can be found at the event page. Friday, Feb. 27 Program Council presents Gravity, in 3D. Join your fellow students for a free screening of Gravity in Chem. 140  at 9 p.m. This is a fantastic opportunity to let loose and stay warm, as Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star in this riveting drama. More information can be found here. Saturday, Feb. 28 Join the South Asian Student Association for the 8th annual SASA show. This Saturday, the SASA and Left Right Tim will showcase all the amazing cultural information and spectacles associated with South Asia, through performances, comedy and free food. This is one event you do not want to pass up on this weekend; the show starts at 5:30 p.m. and is located in the Rec Center, more information here. Giant Musical Fantasia. No, not the film, but something much better. This Saturday, the Boulder Laptop Orchestra (BLOrk) will serenade your eardrums with music spanning several centuries. Featuring 12th century composer Hildegard of Bingen, BLOrk will use wind instruments accompanied by electronic instruments to deliver a beautifully orchestrated and varied musical performance. Take a break from the monotonous drone of Tiesto and try this new take on traditional music. Event will start at 7:30 p.m. and take place in the ATLAS building, more information on the Events Calendar. The Sieve of all Parts. "In this solo performance, MFA Dance candidate Mandy Greenlee explores her inner physical landscape to unveil a world of characters that emerge from her heart, ovaries and other organs to illuminate ideas of separation — from the self, the body and one another." I’ll take their word for it, since I know little about dance. But for those of you that do, this should satisfy your intellectual and entertainment needs, more information on this performance here. Extreme Bowling at the UMC’s Connection. Easily the best bowling lane venue in Boulder (it’s the only one), The Connection has black lights, colored pins and colored lane lights. It’s the perfect location for a Saturday night hangout. Lanes open at 7 p.m. and close at midnight. More information on their website. Sunday, March 1 “Pinch, Punch, first of the Month” Is that just an English thing? Anyways, if you’re insane and somehow get bored of Netflix, why not rent some gear from the CU Outdoor Program? The weather this weekend should be ideal for some snowshoeing. Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park and Eldora Ski area are all on our doorstep, and provide plentiful options for snowshoeing. Get out there and enjoy the Rockies. Outdoor Program information can be found on their website. Avalanche hazard information can be found here. Men’s Basketball vs. Arizona State. This Sunday the Buffs take on Arizona State in a hotly contested match at 6:30 p.m. in the Coors Events Center. The Buffs are coming off a two-game losing streak this past week, and are looking to ride their talent to two wins against two Arizona schools. Tickets start at $5 for students and $15 for the public, available online here, or for purchase at the door. Bring cash if you wish to purchase a student ticket at the door. As always, if you have any ideas or events you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the other great things to via the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Finkelstein named Faculty Advisor to OIT
Faculty and students continue to rely more and more on the integration of academic technologies into the teaching and learning experience. It is therefore critical that the university maintain a stable IT environment that can grow rapidly to accommodate the myriad ways faculty and students rely on technologies to enhance the academic experience. Delivering the technologies needed to support the teaching and research mission of the campus in this environment requires that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) nurture strong connections with the faculty. OIT depends on these connections to better understand how faculty members work and how technology can help them. Though they have regular venues for short-term interactions with faculty members, OIT realized — through self-study and contact with peer institutions — that the university could further benefit from prolonged opportunities for dialog, prototyping and exploration with faculty members about how technologies can enable and extend their teaching. Enter Noah Finkelstein, a CU-Boulder professor of Physics, who has accepted a new position as a faculty advisor for OIT. This position will allow Finkelstein to engage in longer-term dialogs and projects with OIT. His appointment is for a five-month pilot period, and it is anticipated that he will serve at least through the 2015-16 academic year. Nationally, Finkelstein currently serves on both the Board of Trustees for the Higher Learning Commission, and the Technical Advisory Board for the Association of American Universities STEM Education Initiative, among other national boards. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Presidential Teaching Scholar for the University of Colorado system. Larry Levine, AVC for IT and the campus’ Chief Information Officer (CIO), is delighted that Finkelstein has accepted this appointment. “I approached the Provost with the idea of asking Noah to serve as strategic academic advisor to my position and to OIT, and I was encouraged to receive Provost Moore’s endorsement and support. Noah’s leadership as a director of the Center for STEM Learning on campus, as well as his lengthy list of achievements in innovative teaching, being a Presidents Teaching Learning Scholar, an ATLAS fellow, and his recent Timmerhaus award demonstrates his commitment to educational excellence in a systematic, collaborative and disciplined manner.” Finkelstein will help shape OIT’s strategic direction as it relates to supporting teaching with technology, academic technology tools, and classroom and academic spaces. “This is a crucial time for the faculty voice to be directly injected into the strategic decisions that the CIO is making,” Finkelstein said. “Working with AVC Levine and the staff of OIT affords the unique opportunity to help shape such directions. As the faculty collectively engage in systematic, scalable and sustainable educational transformations, the use of IT and collaboration with OIT’s IT professionals will be essential.” var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Student's vision becomes a 'Global Student Initiative'
When Leslie Dong was 13 years old she traveled to China with her mother and siblings where they spent three years immersed in Chinese culture and learned to speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. After that time spent in China, Dong knew she wanted to do something involving the country. "Going to China, a country that was so different than the U.S., really changed how I viewed what I could be," said Dong, a University of Colorado Boulder senior from Loiusville, Colo. An international affairs and Asian studies major, Dong recently launched the Global Student Initiative (GSI) in an effort to expand cross-cultural collaboration and leadership skills to students of all backgrounds at CU-Boulder and in China. The student-led organization helps foster communication and interaction between students from different places of the world, particularly China. Dong surprised even herself by managing to set up GSI’s pilot program at CU-Boulder in just two months. Working as an instructor and advisor to both teams, she has been able to take advantage of support from CU-Boulder departments and programs that have helped her take a vision and turn it into a campus program. In particular, the Center for Asian Studies, the Newton Chair in Leadership, Study Abroad and International Affairs were instrumental in helping her establish the initiative when she returned from studying abroad. "I came back with a huge idea that I wanted to implement," Dong said. "Everything was already set up in China, it was funded and students were recruited. But I had nothing at CU. All of these departments did everything they could to help me find the right direction and place for this program."  GSI’s exchange program is composed of two teams -- one from China and one from CU-Boulder -- which work together to create a 14-day exchange program. Each team gets to host the other students in their country for seven days and have the opportunity to participate in academic lectures, business visits and sightseeing. The theme for this year’s teams is 21st Century Challenges and Globalization where students will learn about economic, environmental and health care issues. This summer, Chinese students will come to Boulder where they plan to do local business visits while CU-Boulder students will visit migrant schools in Beijing, China. The program is open to all undergraduate students, regardless of their major or prior experience and currently. Eleven CU-Boulder students are participating -- including students from physics, business and journalism -- and 11 students from China. "I think the best part of the program is we can put Chinese and American students together who come from completely different backgrounds," Dong said. "They're from different places and speak different languages, but they all have a common goal, which is working together on this project." Students on both teams are in charge of planning, networking, finding sponsors and budgeting the trip. Throughout the year the students communicate via Skype and an app called WeChat that allows them to stay connected. Dong has also set each student up with a "pen pal" so they can talk to each other before they meet in China during the summer. "While learning about the Chinese culture, CU students also receive hands-on experience running a student exchange program," she said. "Part of my vision for the program is to help students gain practical skills and leadership experience, while also having a cross-cultural experience." Getting everyone trained and up to speed on how to run an exchange program is challenging, Dong said, but in the end, she wants the students to be the ones driving it. "Participating in the GSI project has given me expertise that I would never had obtained anywhere else," said Ileen Arianne den Ouden, a CU-Boulder senior majoring in international affairs. "Coming into the project we knew that this experience would require an understanding that the process itself, as a staff member, had a learning curve. The hard work, long hours and obstacles we have encountered throughout this process, has been worth it when looking at the great community that is being built among the GSI participants." At the end of the year, the students will write a professional program proposal and present it to a board of CU-Boulder faculty members. After graduation, Dong plans to stay in Boulder to develop the program into a successful business. Long term, she hopes to expand the exchange program to include universities throughout the United States and China, as well as potentially launching more programs centered around different majors that would be more discipline focused. "The overall goal is to help bring cultures together," Dong said. "Hopefully students from both countries form bonds that can last beyond their time in the program and even after school." Students can learn more at http://globalstudentinitiative.com or by emailing gsi.leadership@gmail.com.Community & Culture var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Moses named fellow of the American Educational Research Association
CU-Boulder School of Education Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Professor Michele Moses is among 23 top scholars named in today’s release of the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) 2015 fellows. In an organization of over 25,000 members, the new scholars join only 579 current and emeritus fellows previously recognized for their leading contributions within and beyond their fields of research.  AERA Fellows are carefully selected for their substantial, sustained, and interdisciplinary research accomplishments. The rigorous process requires initial nomination by peers outside of the nominee’s home institution, selection by the AERA Fellows Committee, and approval by the AERA Council. AERA Executive Director Felice Levine explains, “We want to honor those who have really made significant contributions to research and have advanced knowledge … beyond the niche of [one’s] own specialty.” Professor Moses, who was also recently elected to the board of The John Dewey Society, is a philosopher of education concerned with advancing equal opportunity through more equitable education policies, especially with regard to access to higher education. As a Fulbright Scholar, she has analyzed affirmative action policies across six continents. Her work as a National Academy of Education/ Spencer Fellow has led to her most recent book, Living with Moral Disagreement: The Enduring Controversy about Affirmative Action (University of Chicago Press, 2016). Moses also has been recognized with CU’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award and The Best Should Teach Gold Award. “Professor Moses exemplifies the level of scholarship required of the prestigious honor of being named an AERA Fellow,” said School of Education Dean Lorrie Shepard. “It requires not only nationally-recognized excellence in research, but also distinguished contributions in teaching, mentorship, and outreach.” Moses joins several CU-Boulder colleagues who have been recognized with this honor. As of last year, the proportion of the School of Education’s faculty that has been named fellows of AERA was second only to Stanford. Dean Shepard notes this distinction as evidence of the School of Education’s outstanding faculty and their national recognition in education research.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Strehle-Henson appointed interim managing associate university counsel
University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano has appointed Elvira “Elvie” Strehle-Henson as interim managing associate university counsel for the CU-Boulder campus. Strehle-Henson replaces Charles “Charlie” Sweet, who will be serving as vice chancellor for strategic initiatives at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. “While we will miss Charlie’s guidance on the Boulder campus, I understand his desire to dedicate himself to strategic projects on the Colorado Springs campus,” said Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, “and I’m delighted that Elvie has agreed to serve as the interim managing associate university counsel.” Strehle-Henson has been with the University of Colorado since 1989. She began working for the Office of University Counsel as a law clerk in the Litigation Office in Denver. In 1991, she was promoted to assistant university counsel on the Boulder campus, and also worked as senior assistant university counsel, associate university counsel, and then senior associate university counsel.  She served as interim managing senior associate university counsel for the Boulder campus for several months in 2008-09, and again in the summer of 2014. Before practicing law, Elvie worked for Storage Technology Corporation in Broomfield and Louisville in the Production and Inventory Control and Field Engineering units. She has a bachelor’s degree with a double major in history and English and a law degree, both from CU-Boulder. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Staff Council Spotlight: Barret Bukauskas, Finance and Accounting Program Manager
Barret Bukauskas is a Finance and Accounting Program Manager for the Arts & Sciences Financial Services Center (FSC). The FSC is part of a larger unit called the A&S Finance and Payroll Administration (FPA) which “provides financial and procurement support to the units in the College of Arts & Sciences; provided by skilled technicians that specialize in the work that they do.” Staff Council sat down with Barret to learn a little more about him, how to run successful units and teams, and the work that the FSC does and how they are working to improve processes in the College of Arts & Sciences. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I moved out to Colorado in ‘94. Right now I’m married, no kids, unless you count the five furry children. As far as work goes, I worked at Denver International Airport for about ten years in customer service and ground transportation. I left that to work in admin at the Colorado Department of Corrections before I transferred here in 2010 as an Account Tech II. I promoted shortly thereafter and in July 2012 took on the role as Account Tech IV and became an FSC supervisor. I’m happy that I started out as I did and worked my way up. It was a huge help to me, learning how to do the job correctly from strong leaders in our group, then applying those same expectations when I became the supervisor myself. I think I gained more respect from my peers that way, because they understood that I’ve been there myself. What do you like best about working at CU and at the FSC specifically? I would have to say first and foremost I like the people that I work with. We have a very fun group here. They’re all fantastic at what they do and when you’re good at what you do that leaves time for more collaboration and having fun as well. I have a lot of respect for them and they make my job easier. What has been your favorite accomplishment while employed at CU, what are you most proud of? Frankly, what makes me most proud in this job is the accomplishments that the staff have made. If I’m setting up the people that I work with to succeed and get that notoriety, that’s what I’m most proud of. What would you say is the key to running an effective team? I think the key to running an effective team is being honest with myself about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the staff that report to me. I think the key is to set up employees with the best chance to succeed, and that’s with their strengths. Because if your employees are confident in the work that they’re doing and they’re succeeding and they’re accomplishing things they’re happier, happier to be at work. And when you put people into projects where you utilize their strengths, that project sees success every time. Where do you see the FSC heading in the next few years? I can’t really say where we’ll be in a few years, but we’re always looking for opportunities to modernize, self-analyze and improve within our unit. And that helps to improve everything else. So I know that there will be changes, I know there will be improvements; generally, going in more of a digital direction instead of using paper. Using DocuSign is a perfect example of this. We want to be the first to adopt a system like that so we can work more efficiently and so we can help influence the departments around us to do the same. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder Cultural Events Board announces spring speakers
The Cultural Events Board today announced that Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician; Valarie Kaur, a civil rights lawyer and documentary filmmaker; and Angela Davis, an author, activist and scholar, will visit the University of Colorado Boulder campus as part of its spring speaker series. Farmer has dedicated his life to improving the health care conditions of the world’s poorest people. He is the founder of the international non-profit Partners in Health, author of several books on health care and human rights issues due to social inequality, and recipient of numerous honors for his humanitarian work around the world. Kaur is widely recognized for her award-winning films and multimedia campaigns that shine light on a wide range of social issues including hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans, racial profiling and gun violence. She was named a 2013 Person of the Year by India Abroad for her leadership and service. Davis’ activism and scholarship over the last decades has focused on economic, racial and gender justice. She is among the most influential speakers for social justice in the nation and helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex.” Davis has authored eight books and lectured throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and South American on social problems associated with the incarceration, criminalization and racial discrimination of those in poor communities. Farmer is scheduled to speak on March 12, Kaur is scheduled for April 2 and Davis will speak on April 23. Specific times and locations will be released a few weeks before each event is scheduled to take place. The mission of the Cultural Events Board is to provide opportunities and events which help students enrich their educational experience and expand their understanding of culture, diversity and social awareness. If you have any questions about the events, please contact the Cultural Events Board Speakers Coordinator at speakers.coordinator.ceb@gmail.com. For further information regarding the Cultural Events Board at CU-Boulder, or any of the events we sponsor on campus, visit http://www.colorado.edu/ceb, or look for the group on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at Cultural Events Board.   var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Making more monuments: Just like modern cities, ancient settlements got more productive as they grew
Living in bigger, denser settlements allowed the inhabitants of ancient cities to be more productive, just as is true for modern urbanites, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Santa Fe Institute. As modern cities grow, they obey certain rules. As the population increases, for example, the settled area becomes denser instead of sprawling outward. This allows people to live closer together, use infrastructure more intensively, interact more frequently, and as a result, produce more per person. In a paper published last year, the research team—led by Scott Ortman, an assistant professor in CU-Boulder’s Department of Anthropology—found that this set of rules, known as urban scaling, appears to apply to ancient cities as well as modern ones. In that study, the researchers analyzed how artifacts were scattered and how houses were distributed to show that ancient cities also became denser as the population grew. Now, the researchers have expanded this work to show that inhabitants of ancient settlements also became more productive as the size and density of their settlements grew, just as in modern cities. The new findings are being published today in the journal Science Advances. “As the population of a community or settlement grows, the total production of that group grows even faster,” Ortman said. “Urban scaling theory makes the argument that the increase in productivity emerges from the increased rate of social interactions that occur. It’s cheaper for people to interact with each other because they are physically closer.” For the study, Ortman and his colleagues, including SFI’s Luis Bettencourt, tabulated measurements of ancient settlements, temples and houses in the pre-Hispanic Basin of Mexico, what is now Mexico City and nearby regions. In the 1960s—before Mexico City’s population exploded—surveyors examined all its ancient settlements, spanning 2,000 years and four cultural eras in pre-contact Mesoamerica. Using this survey data, the research team analyzed the dimensions of hundreds of temples and thousands of houses from about 4,000 settlements ranging from villages to imperial capitals to estimate populations and densities, construction rates of monuments, and household productivities. Their results indicate that the more populous the settlement, the more productive it was, and the rate at which productivity increased was exactly the same as in modern cities. “It was amazing and unbelievable,” says Ortman. “We’ve been raised on a steady diet telling us that, thanks to capitalism, industrialization, and democracy, the modern world is radically different from worlds of the past. What we found here is that the fundamental drivers of robust socioeconomic patterns in modern cities precede all that.” Bettencourt adds: “Our results suggest that the general ingredients of productivity and population density in human societies run much deeper and have everything to do with the challenges and opportunities of organizing human social networks.”Social Sciences, Social Sciences var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents hears proposal for 3 percent salary pool, approves new environmental degree
A roundup of items from the Feb. 20 Board of Regents meeting: Three percent salary pool proposed for faculty, university staff, classified employees Campus leaders have proposed a 3 percent salary pool for faculty, university staff and classified employees. The Board of Regents plans to vote on a compensation increase pool at its March 30 meeting. Campus leaders have proposed that faculty and university staff be eligible for a 3 percent merit pool. Under the proposal, classified employees would receive a 1 percent cost-of-living increase and be eligible for a 2 percent merit pool. For more details, see the 2015-16 Budget Priorities presentation given to the Regents. CU-Boulder leaders propose 3 percent tuition increase The University of Colorado Board of Regents today heard a proposal to increase tuition by 3 percent – the lowest tuition increase for resident undergraduates the campus has brought forward in nine years. When coupled with a proposal to reduce student fees, this would bring the net increase for a full-time resident undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences to 2.8 percent. Campus leaders are not planning a larger tuition increase because of an expected state budget allocation increase of 10 percent. The CU-Boulder campus is projecting a slight enrollment increase for the 2015-16 school year, growing to 30,363 students from the current enrollment of 30,323. The Board of Regents plans to vote on tuition and student fees at its March 30 meeting. For more details, see the 2015-16 Budget Priorities presentation given to the Regents. The Masters of the Environment (MENV) The Board of Regents voted 9-0 today to approve a new Masters of the Environment (MENV) degree. This interdisciplinary, professional degree program is intended for new or early career professionals. The 17-month, 36-credit program will be broad and inclusive; will be populated by students from a wide range of backgrounds, professions and disciplines and will focus on applications and problem-solving. Provost Russell Moore explained that this new professional degree is intended to help graduate students who are prepared to meet the immediate needs of Colorado’s economy. “These degrees are expected to culminate in jobs immediately upon completion and to help CU-Boulder better prepare students for careers that are needed right now,” Moore said. “These decisions are market-driven, and they are responsive to industry demand.” Moore explained that the new degree program will employ classroom methodologies, distance learning methodologies, internship methodologies and a hybrid of all three models. Masters of Science and Doctor in Philosophy in Environmental Engineering The board also heard discussions to add new master’s and doctorate degrees in Environmental Engineering beginning in Fall 2015. The board will vote on these degrees at its next meeting on March 30. Professor Jana Millford from CU-Boulder’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science presented the proposal to the board. She explained that Environmental Engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the protection of human health from environmental factors, as well as the protection of environments from the effects of human activities. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics projects strong growth in this field,” said Millford. “These focused degrees will help prepare students for careers in this demanding and rewarding part of the Colorado economy.” Millford added that the faculty she represents are excited about these new degrees. “We believe that these degrees will help us recruit students to our already successful Environmental Engineering programs at CU-Boulder,” she said. Chancellor DiStefano, staff discuss advising progress In his update to the board, Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano shared what CU-Boulder is doing to retain more students from year to year as they progress toward their degree. DiStefano explained that one of CU-Boulder’s key goals is to have a new advising system interconnected across all schools and colleges. Shelly Bacon, assistant dean of advising for Arts & Sciences, added that advisors today add different value than when their primary job was to grant students permission to sign up for a particular course. “The value that advisors bring today is helping to pull all the pieces together,” she said. “We want students to experience both curricular and co-curricular activities, and students don’t know what all those opportunities are. They rely on advisors to help them understand all the opportunities CU provides to them.” Bacon also explained that the new system, called MyCUHub, will enable advisors to perform targeted outreach to students who would most benefit from a meeting with an advisor. “MyCUHub will make that doable with the click of a button,” Bacon said. Online Initiatives (Academic Affairs) The Regents also heard a presentation by the campus chancellors on a plan to bring forward a system-wide online education platform in the fall. The platform will focus on delivering pre-collegiate classes to high school students around the state, some limited degree-completion options, some professional masters degrees and select Ph.D. programs.  The campus provosts are working together to define what will be made available. More information will be brought forward to the Regents in July. Fossil Free CU presentation More than 50 students representing Fossil Free CU attended to support a movement encouraging the university to divest from fossil fuel industries. Student representatives argued that the fossil fuel industry is declining and that it is more economically advantageous to invest in green energy industries. The regents commended the group for its passion and respectful dialogue, and reiterated willingness to continue the conversation. Regent Michael Carrigan echoed these sentiments, encouraging them to understand that “change does not come quickly.” Regent Linda Shoemaker shared that she believes climate change is the defining issue of today’s college students’ generation. Shoemaker said she would support reasonable divestment from fossil fuels, but that she does not believe that the students’ proposal is realistic at this time. Board of Regents website var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Board of Regents hears proposal for lowest tuition increase in 9 years, approves new environmental degree
The University of Colorado Board of Regents today heard a proposal to increase tuition by 3 percent – the lowest tuition increase for resident undergraduates the campus has brought forward in nine years. The Regents also approved a new degree on the CU-Boulder campus: a Masters of the Environment in the College of Arts and Sciences. Below is a roundup of news items from the Feb. 20 Board of Regents meeting: CU-Boulder leaders propose 3 percent tuition increase The University of Colorado Board of Regents today heard a proposal to increase tuition by 3 percent – the lowest tuition increase for resident undergraduates the campus has brought forward in nine years. When coupled with a proposal to reduce student fees, this would bring the net increase for a full-time resident undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences to 2.8 percent. Campus leaders are not planning a larger tuition increase because of an expected state budget allocation increase of 10 percent. The CU-Boulder campus is projecting a slight enrollment increase for the 2015-16 school year, growing to 30,363 students from the current enrollment of 30,323. The Board of Regents plans to vote on tuition and student fees at its March 30 meeting. For more details, see the 2015-16 Budget Priorities presentation given to the Regents. Three percent salary pool proposed for faculty, university staff, classified employees Campus leaders have proposed a 3 percent salary pool for faculty, university staff and classified employees. The Board of Regents plans to vote on a compensation increase pool at its March 30 meeting. Campus leaders have proposed that faculty and university staff be eligible for a 3 percent merit pool. Under the proposal, classified employees would receive a 1 percent cost-of-living increase and be eligible for a 2 percent merit pool. For more details, see the 2015-16 Budget Priorities presentation given to the Regents. The Masters of the Environment (MENV) The Board of Regents voted 9-0 today to approve a new Masters of the Environment (MENV) degree. This interdisciplinary, professional degree program is intended for new or early career professionals. The 17-month, 36-credit program will be broad and inclusive; will be populated by students from a wide range of backgrounds, professions and disciplines and will focus on applications and problem-solving. Provost Russell Moore explained that this new professional degree is intended to help graduate students who are prepared to meet the immediate needs of Colorado’s economy. “These degrees are expected to culminate in jobs immediately upon completion and to help CU-Boulder better prepare students for careers that are needed right now,” Moore said. “These decisions are market-driven, and they are responsive to industry demand.” Moore explained that the new degree program will employ classroom methodologies, distance learning methodologies, internship methodologies and a hybrid of all three models. Masters of Science and Doctor in Philosophy in Environmental Engineering The board also heard discussions to add new master’s and doctorate degrees in Environmental Engineering beginning in Fall 2015. The board will vote on these degrees at its next meeting on March 30. Professor Jana Millford from CU-Boulder’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science presented the proposal to the board. She explained that Environmental Engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the protection of human health from environmental factors, as well as the protection of environments from the effects of human activities. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics projects strong growth in this field,” said Millford. “These focused degrees will help prepare students for careers in this demanding and rewarding part of the Colorado economy.” Millford added that the faculty she represents are excited about these new degrees. “We believe that these degrees will help us recruit students to our already successful Environmental Engineering programs at CU-Boulder,” she said. Chancellor DiStefano, staff discuss advising progress In his update to the board, Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano shared what CU-Boulder is doing to retain more students from year to year as they progress toward their degree. DiStefano explained that one of CU-Boulder’s key goals is to have a new advising system interconnected across all schools and colleges. Shelly Bacon, assistant dean of advising for Arts & Sciences, added that advisors today add different value than when their primary job was to grant students permission to sign up for a particular course. “The value that advisors bring today is helping to pull all the pieces together,” she said. “We want students to experience both curricular and co-curricular activities, and students don’t know what all those opportunities are. They rely on advisors to help them understand all the opportunities CU provides to them.” Bacon also explained that the new system, called MyCUHub, will enable advisors to perform targeted outreach to students who would most benefit from a meeting with an advisor. “MyCUHub will make that doable with the click of a button,” Bacon said. Online Initiatives (Academic Affairs) The Regents also heard a presentation by the campus chancellors on a plan to bring forward a system-wide online education platform in the fall. The platform will focus on delivering pre-collegiate classes to high school students around the state, some limited degree-completion options, some professional masters degrees and select Ph.D. programs.  The campus provosts are working together to define what will be made available. More information will be brought forward to the Regents in July. Fossil Free CU presentation More than 50 students representing Fossil Free CU attended to support a movement encouraging the university to divest from fossil fuel industries. Student representatives argued that the fossil fuel industry is declining and that it is more economically advantageous to invest in green energy industries. The regents commended the group for its passion and respectful dialogue, and reiterated willingness to continue the conversation. Regent Michael Carrigan echoed these sentiments, encouraging them to understand that “change does not come quickly.” Regent Linda Shoemaker shared that she believes climate change is the defining issue of today’s college students’ generation. Shoemaker said she would support reasonable divestment from fossil fuels, but that she does not believe that the students’ proposal is realistic at this time.  var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Google recognizes two CU-Boulder programs that use creativity to teach kids to code
Two University of Colorado Boulder programs that teach kids to code have received Google RISE Awards to support their efforts to attract girls and underrepresented minorities to computer science. The two programs are the Scalable Game Design project, which hooks kids on coding by empowering them to build their own video games, and AspireIT, which connects high school and college women with K-12 girls interested in computing. Scalable Game Design, based in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, received a $100,000 Google RISE Partnership Award to work with Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey to bring the program to more than 3,500 students in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Scalable Game Design—which has already introduced more than 10,000 American students to computer science—also will develop Spanish instructional materials for use by students in the United States. Computer science skills are increasingly important for a wide range of career opportunities. In Mexico, access to technology and education in computer science is challenging for all students in Mexico, but especially girls.  “This project will send a powerful message to students in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, that they are part of a global learning environment and job market, and that their unique world views are valued,” said Scalable Game Design program manager Yasko Endo. AspireIT, a program of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) based in CU-Boulder’s Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute, will use its $150,000 award to continue to work toward the goal of engaging 10,000 middle school girls in learning computing concepts by 2018. In pursuit of their goal, AspireIT program leaders teach younger girls the fundamentals in programming and computational thinking in fun, creative environments. AspireIT has launched 70 programs since 2013 providing an estimated 115,000 hours of computing education to nearly 2,000 girls in 23 states. “This program not only benefits the young girls by introducing them to technology, but also challenges the program leaders to become role models who reverse the effects of stereotypes,” said AspireIT Program Manager Jennifer Manning. With the aim of helping students of all backgrounds access computer science education, Google has given RISE Awards to more than 200 organizations since 2010. Thirty-seven organizations received a total of $1.5 million in funding from the 2015 round of awards. “As a company started by two students with a curiosity for creating technology, we recognize the role Google can play in exposing youth to computer science,” said Roxana Shirkhoda, K-12 Outreach Program Manager for Google. “It is critical for students, particularly girls, underrepresented minorities and students of low economic backgrounds, to recognize they have the power to not only consume technology—but create it. We’re invigorated by the work of the 2015 RISE Award winners and look forward to partnering with them to inspire the next generation of computer scientists around the world.” Contact: Yasko Endo, Scalable Game Design, 303-492-7852Yasko.Endo@colorado.edu Jennifer Manning, NCWIT AspireIT, 503-754-2349Jennifer.Manning@ncwit.org Laura Snider, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-735-0528Laura.Snider@colorado.edu“This project will send a powerful message to students in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, that they are part of a global learning environment and job market, and that their unique world views are valued,” said Scalable Game Design program manager Yasko Endo.Engineering, Academics, Outreach, Community Outreach, Global Engagement, P-12 Outreach, Civic Engagement, Computational Science & Engineering, Institutes var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


'The Book's Undoing: Dieter Roth's Artist's Books' exhibit
The Book’s Undoing: Dieter Roth’s Artist’s Books exhibit is on display now through May 15 at the University of Colorado Boulder Special Collections Reading Room in Norlin Library. The show features Dieter Roth’s Gesammelte Werke (Collected Works), a 26-volume self-published catalog of reconstructed versions of his books. Dieter Roth (1930-1998) was a poet, artist, and master printmaker. Born in Hannover, Germany to a Swiss father and German mother, Roth was evacuated at age 13 from war-torn Germany to Zürich. He began a pursuit of art and poetry during the several years he was separated from his parents. Roth’s interests would lead him to collaborate with concrete poet Eugen Gomringer, artist Daniel Spoerri, and many other influential figures in the decades after World War II. His acute fascination with poetry, design, and print compelled him to experiment with books and bookmaking. Roth’s innovative use of the book as an artistic medium has contributed to his reputation as one of the most original and imaginative post-war European book artists. Many of his books function as diaries documenting his daily activities and obsessive creative outpouring. Others, made by collaging accumulated studio waste, serve as tribute to his life and artistic pursuits. Launched in 1969, Gesammelte Werke took Roth over 10 years to complete and involved collecting, editing, revising, expanding, and in some cases embellishing his unique and previously published works. Gesammelte Werke is not a chronological presentation of Roth’s activities, but rather an artistic archival undertaking. The Book’s Undoing: Dieter Roth’s Artist’s Books was curated by German PhD candidate Maggie Rosenau, who is also enrolled in the Museum Studies Certification Program. The exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and an opening reception will be held Wednesday, March 11 at 4 p.m. in the Norlin Library Special Collections Reading Room.   Pictured, curator Maggie Rosenau with Rosenau Volume 9. Photo credit: Michael Harris.Norlin Special Collections var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Ten things to do this week, Feb. 17 edition
Ten things to do this week. This is a weekly column highlighting events on campus and in Boulder by Samuel Fuller, history major and resident event virtuoso. Stay warm and enjoy some indoor fun this weekend. Channel your inner Patches O’Houlihan and dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge, or fill up your chalk bag and grab your climbing shoes to compete in the spring 2015 Climbing Competition. If sports aren’t quite your area of interest, explore the diversity of our campus, as both the Chinese Student’s Association and the African Student’s Association showcase their respective cultures in two unique ways. This coming week’s events are a testament to the diversity of interests we have at CU. Last week, the Colorado Front Range serenaded us in sunshine; however, the outlook looks slightly less bright for the foreseeable future. As the snow beckons, bundle up and try something new as CU-Boulder gives you multiple different ways to explore what all our facilities have to offer. Wednesday, Feb. 18 Film Screening: “Winter in the Blood.” This Wednesday, the Center of the American West presents an evening with Montana filmmakers Andrew Smith and Alex Smith. “Winter in the Blood” is an adaption of James Welch’s seminal novel of the same name, and explores a new viewpoint of native life that “leaves ‘feathers or leather’ clichés behind.” The screening will take place in Eaton Humanities room 1B50 and begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are not required and this event is free. For more information visit: Center for the American West Thursday, Feb. 19 Club 156 presents Rose Quarts and Bearsohmy. Celebrate thirsty Thursday with an evening of live electronic music. Get your trap arms ready as both Rose Quartz and Bearsohmy will bring their electrifying music to our campus for an evening of bass-filled fun. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here or in person at The Connection in the UMC. Prefer a more refined form of entertainment? The Theater and Dance Department presents “Tartuffe." French playwright Moliere’s comic masterpiece skewers religious hypocrisy, mindless piety and sexual deceit in this adaption of his original production. This event will take place at the University Theatre and begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $17 and can be obtained here. Friday, Feb. 20 Calling all Gamers! This week The Connection at the UMC is hosting their bi-weekly Video Game Tournament; this week’s game is NHL 2015. Sign up starts at 6 p.m., with play beginning at 7 p.m. Entry fee is $5 with prizes available for all the top finishers. For more information click here. Cancel your expensive Friday plans and head to the Fiske Planetarium for a showing of the “Craziest Creatures on Earth.” Join CU Alumnus Graham Lau as he hosts a showcase of our planets biodiversity, exploring the craziest creatures on earth through the use of Fiske’s one of a kind 8K projection equipment. This is free for current CU students with a valid Buff OneCard, tickets are available to purchase for the public for $10 here. The show begins at 7 p.m. sharp and lasts for one hour. Saturday, Feb. 21 For all the parents: Need to entertain your children this weekend? Join the CU History Museum for Family Day: Teeny Tiny Things. Explore the world of things too small to see with the naked eye. Explore and use microscopes and other technology to delve deep into the world of the microscopic. This event is free for both you and your family. Exhibition opens at 10 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. For more information, visit the Events Calendar. Grab your fellow “Average Joes” and channel your inner Patches O’Houlihan. Learn to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge in The Herd’s “If you can Dodge a Wrench” dodgeball tournament. Located in the Carlson Gymnasium, The Herd is giving you the opportunity to wear your leather chaps and horse bits in this 16 team dodgeball tournament. Entry fees are $50 per team, or $35 if you are all Herd members. Prizes will be given to the best dressed teams and the tournament winners will receive $1,000. ESPN “The Ocho” is unable to televise the event, but Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks may make a special appearance. More information here. Load up on chalk and bring your climbing “A” game for the Rec Center’s Spring 2015 Climbing Competition. This competition is open to all students; entry can be obtained for $15 for climbing gym pass holders, and $25 for those with Rec Center memberships. Heats will start at 2 p.m. and the finals will take place from 7-8 p.m. More information here. Celebrate the Chinese New Year with the CSSA’s Chinese New Year GALA at Macky Auditorium. Overseas students, Boulder residents and all are welcome at this celebration of traditional Chinese culture. The doors will open at 6 p.m., and the showcase will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are free for students and $5 for the community. Tickets can be obtained at the CSSA table in the UMC from 12-3 p.m. until Thursday. Explore Boulder’s African community via the ASA’s Tour of Africa. Presented by Left Right Tim, celebrate and learn about various African cultures and communities in this showcase of African music, artwork and food. This event is free and open to everyone; it will take place in the lower gym of the recreation center and begins at 5:30 p.m. More information here. If you have any ideas or events that you would like to be included in future articles, feel free to email us at: eventscalendareditor@colorado.edu and don’t forget to check out all the great things to do at the CU-Boulder Events Calendar. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


CU-Boulder ranks No. 6 nationally for Peace Corps volunteers
The University of Colorado Boulder is ranked No. 6 in the nation for graduates serving as Peace Corps volunteers with 62 alumni currently serving around the world, the Peace Corps announced today. In the annual Top Colleges list, CU-Boulder has held a position in the top eight nationally among large institutions for the past 13 years, ranking in the top three for nine of those years. CU-Boulder also has been the state leader among Colorado institutions of similar size each year since 2003. “We’re excited to see this evidence of global awareness and action among CU-Boulder students,” said Ben Kirshner, faculty director of CU Engage: Center for Community-Based Learning and Research. “Peace Corps volunteers show that ethically oriented community engagement can cross national borders.” CU-Boulder is the fifth-highest volunteer-producing university of all time with 2,411 undergraduate alumni having served in the program since it was established in 1961. “University of Colorado Boulder always provides highly qualified and competitive applicants who are committed to service and to making a difference in their local communities and communities abroad,” said Mike McKay, Peace Corps Southwest regional manager. “We’re grateful for their partnership and continued commitment to the Peace Corps and to public service.” This year’s rankings follow historic reforms implemented by Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, who spoke at CU-Boulder in 2013 and 2014. The recent changes to simplify and personalize the application and selection processes resulted in a 22-year application high for the agency in 2014, according to Peace Corps officials. Topping the large-schools category of the list, the University of Washington ranked No. 1 with 72 volunteers. The University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked No. 2 with 69 volunteers and the University of Florida ranked No. 3 with 66 volunteers. The Ohio State University ranked No. 4 with 64 volunteers and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities ranked No. 5 with 63 volunteers. The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing schools annually according to the size of the student body. Large schools have more than 15,000 undergraduates, medium-sized schools have between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates and small schools have fewer than 5,000 undergraduates. Western Washington University ranked first among medium-sized schools with 47 undergraduate alumni currently serving and Gonzaga University in Washington ranked highest among small schools with 20 undergraduate alumni serving. In 2010, CU-Boulder became part of the Peace Corps Master’s International program, which allows volunteers to combine Peace Corps service with a master’s degree program and receive credit for their Peace Corps service abroad. For more information about the Peace Corps at CU-Boulder, call the campus recruiting office at 303-492-8454 or visit http://www.colorado.edu/peacecorps/. For more information about CU Engage visit http://www.colorado.edu/cuengage/. For the Top Colleges 2015 list visit http://files.peacecorps.gov/pr/assets/topcolleges2015/15_PRS_TopColleges_list_Final_02.13.2015.pdf. Contact:Ben Kirshner, 720-339-3168ben.kirshner@colorado.eduMalinda Miller-Huey, CU media relations, 303-492-3115malinda.miller-huey@colorado.edu  “We’re excited to see this evidence of global awareness and action among CU-Boulder students,” said Ben Kirshner, faculty director of CU Engage: Center for Community-Based Learning and Research. “Peace Corps volunteers show that ethically oriented community engagement can cross national borders.”Outreach, Global Engagement var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: CU-Boulder alumni and Peace Corps volunteer Chris Janes (left) helps prepare American food as a thanks to host families in Namibia. (Courtesy CU-Boulder Peace Corps/2012)


CU-Boulder technology for thinner electronics commercialized by Kelvin Thermal of Boulder
Kelvin Thermal Technologies and the University of Colorado have executed an exclusive license agreement that will allow the company to develop and market thermal management technologies that could enable the development of ultra-thin and flexible smartphones, wearable electronics and other commercial and military systems. As computers, smartphones and other systems become more advanced and consume more power in smaller spaces, they require more efficient ways to manage the heat generated by their components. Thermal management is a major constraint in the design of new systems, since it affects not only the reliability of a system, but also its surface temperature, energy consumption and battery life. Current thermal management solutions are a limiting factor in the thickness and flexibility of smartphones and wearable electronics, said Professor Y.C. Lee of CU-Boulder’s mechanical engineering department, a co-founder of Kelvin Thermal Technologies. With funding from the U.S. Department of Defense under its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a group of CU-Boulder researchers including Lee has developed an ultra-thin, flexible thermal “ground plane.” The ground plane is a flat, heat-transfer device as thin as a credit card that can be mounted on electronic devices -- a new approach to thermal management that replaces conventional materials like graphite, copper and aluminum used to remove heat from devices, said Lee. The thermal ground plane is at least three times as efficient as graphite and ten times as efficient as copper. Another important advantage of the CU technology licensed by Kelvin Thermal is its ultra-thin profile, taking up less space in smartphones and other small systems, Lee said. In addition, the device is flexible, a necessity for the development of flexible smartphones and wearable devices. “Hot areas on consumer products such as smartphones and tablets are not only annoying to the consumer, they can also decrease performance,” said Lee. “Flexible thermal ground planes passively maintain comfortable skin temperatures without the use of fans and other temperature control techniques used in larger systems.” Lee led the research group that developed the new technologies and currently is serving as the company’s president and is a co-founder of Kelvin Thermal. “In addition to consumer electronics, our thermal ground planes will also have applications like more efficient cooling systems for power plants and temperature control of building and vehicles,” said Associate Professor Ronggui Yang of mechanical engineering, also co-founder and treasurer of the Kelvin Thermal company. “The exclusive IP agreement strengthens the existing collaboration between Kelvin Thermal and CU-Boulder to explore these exciting opportunities,” said Yang. “CU-Boulder students and postgraduates will also have opportunities to work on real-world problems through the collaboration with Kevin Thermal.” “We believe that better thermal ground planes are an important step toward thinner and safer electronics,” said Marta Zgagacz of the CU Technology Transfer Office. “We’re thrilled with Kelvin Thermal Technologies’ dedication to developing and commercializing the technology.” Lee and Yang incorporated Kelvin Thermal Technologies in June. The company develops thermal management technologies to control temperatures in advanced electronics such as wearable electronics, smartphones, tablets, computers, light emitting diodes, laser modules, power electronics and radio frequency modules. “The issue of thermal management is significant today in all aspects of design,” said Allen Duck, Kelvin Thermal CEO. “The Kelvin Thermal approach to heat transfer and thermal management offers design teams opportunities to create thinner, smaller more efficient electronics systems. In creative hands it becomes a game-changing technology.” The CU Technology Transfer Office pursues, protects, packages and licenses to business the intellectual property generated from research at CU. Tech Transfer provides assistance to faculty, staff and students, as well as to businesses looking to license or invest in CU technology. For more information about technology transfer at CU, visit www.cu.edu/techtransfer.   The technologies developed by Lee’s research group were developed under DARPA funding, contract number N66001-08-C-2006. Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited. Contact: Y.C. Lee, 303-819-0050leeyc.cu@gmail.com. Lindsay Lennox, CU Technology Transfer Office, 303-860-6201lindsay.lennox@cu.edu  Engineering var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: Caption: A new CU-Boulder technology that should help in the development of thinner and more flexible smartphones, wearable technologies and other commercial and military systems has been licensed by Kelvin Thermal Technologies of Boulder. Photo courtesy University of Colorado   


British rock star to speak on protest songs Feb. 19
Andy Tillison, keyboard player and founder of the British progressive rock band The Tangent, will speak and give a solo performance on Thursday, Feb. 19, 5:30-7 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel at the University of Colorado Boulder campus. This talk is free and open to the public. Tillison’s talk is titled “Whatever Happened to the Protest Song?” The talk will compare protest songs of the past to the songs available in the present digital world. Tillison contends that protest songs were the first form of media to go “viral.” Once written, the songs often spread through communities and regions. People would add verses to the songs “almost like the comment boxes on today’s Internet bulletin boards.” Tillison, 55, is at the forefront of the progressive rock genre in the U.K.. His current band, The Tangent, has released eight studio albums, composed entirely of Tillison’s original compositions, since it formed in 2003. The progressive rock genre had its heyday in the 1970s, led by bands like Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. While Tillison’s work is heavily influenced by these earlier generations of progrock, his music is also contains contemporary influences that make the music unique and modern. Tillison appears at the invitation of Bradley J. Birzer, the 2014-15 visiting scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy at the University of Colorado Boulder. Birzer explains that Tillison’s activism and social conscience make him an ideal choice for a speaker on this topic. “In their revolt against conformity, the conservatives and libertarians of the 1940s and 1950s challenged the norms of society in rather mischievous ways. Tillison, an English writer, musician, and activist, falls in this very noble tradition,” says Birzer. Sponsored by the Conservative Thought & Policy Programhttp://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/ctp/ IMPORTANT NOTE ON PARKING For this event, Lot 380, the lot closest to Old Main, will be closed due to a large event at Macky Auditorium later that night. Click here for a list of permit lots that are free after 5 p.m. Click here for the main campus parking map. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Faculty in Focus No. 10: The business strategist
Sharon Matusik likes solving problems. Curiosity about how businesses succeed fuels her passion for understanding entrepreneurship and innovation in the context of social systems. Why does one company embrace change and thrive while another company stagnates and fails? Matusik is a professor of strategic management and entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder. Her research focuses on entrepreneurial and venture capital firms and on innovation and knowledge sharing in established firms. She has had work published in top international academic journals and is widely cited in the management field. Prior to joining academia, Matusik worked in the management consulting field, where she helped companies develop business strategies. "What I think is important about my work is really understanding what factors contribute to economic growth and development,” she said. “How can we better create innovation and use our resources to create jobs?” “It gives me an appreciation for equifinality,” she said, regarding the principle that in open systems a given end state can be reached by many potential means. “There are different means to a similar end and more than one way to reach a goal.” One of the most satisfying aspects of her job is working with students at all levels—undergraduates, graduate students and executives. She was a visiting professor at Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile, which is ranked highly in entrepreneurship in Latin America. Matusik gives students the opportunity to take an idea and turn it into action by fostering relationships between students and the business community. Placing students in startup ventures provides a critical learning experience for the students. “CU-Boulder and the Leeds School of Business are in a unique entrepreneurial environment with a vibrant, creative business community around us,” she said. “We’re able to leverage that to get students engaged with the community.” Through the years, Matusik has been contacted by former students who excitedly tell her about using concepts and ideas learned in class at their own companies.  “The things I hope students take away from their interactions with me,” she said, “are a practical skill-set they can use in helping to develop their career and their businesses, and a broader understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive business and workplace behavior. I also tell my students that if they can’t find the organization that they want to work in, they can create it themselves." Matusik also feels she has a responsibility to be a strong role model for women interested in business leadership. “When we look at how the business world has evolved, we see some amazing examples of women moving toward top leadership roles,” she said. “That’s incredible and inspiring, but we still have a long way to go.” Matusik enjoys traveling to exotic locales, learning firsthand about a variety of cultures. These adventures tie into her research on emerging economies and how innovation and entrepreneurship are engines for economic development in different settings. “Knowledge comes from a lot of places,” she said. “Sometimes where you think you’re going to find an insight is not always where you find it. I appreciate the value of persistence. As an academic, that’s an important theme. You have to have intellectual curiosity. “The answer we have for economic development in the U.S. is not necessarily the answer for Chile or Turkey or Russia or China,” she continued. “Understanding the nuances among countries and what drives success in one versus another fascinates me. I feel like at some basic level, if we know the context and can understand the people, we can come up with better solutions to difficult problems."   Living in Boulder, Matusik readily takes advantage of being able to leave her office and get out on nearby hiking trails in 15 minutes. She and her husband like to hike and ski with their two daughters, who are competitive skiers. “They started out-skiing me when they were about five years old,” she said. “So, it’s humbling, but I do my best to keep up. One of the things I love about spending time with my kids is that they allow me to see the world through their eyes. The days I feel the most fulfilled are when I’ve accomplished something at work and at home. That balance is a big part of being fulfilled.”Learning & TeachingLeeds School of Business var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"});


Leeds School Evening MBA Program to expand to CU South Denver in May
The Evening MBA Program, offered by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, is going south -- in a good way. Beginning in May, the program -- offered since 2000 on the CU-Boulder campus -- also will be available at the Liniger Building at CU South Denver, located at 10035 Peoria St. in Parker, Colorado. The two-year program is designed for busy working professionals. Courses, which include everything from Socially Responsible Enterprise to a seminar in Global Perspectives, meet two nights per week. The cohort-based structure brings together students who navigate their studies through a committed and collaborative network they develop during the program. In addition, class topics often spill over into helping students with business challenges they may face in their daytime jobs, said David Ikenberry, dean of the Leeds School. “We’re very excited about this expansion,” Ikenberry said. “This top program offers busy professionals who cannot accommodate the drive to Boulder the opportunity to earn the same excellent MBA delivered by some of our best faculty in this new Parker location. Furthermore, we are thrilled to provide our south Denver corporate partners with a new tool for them to better retain and develop the next generation of leaders in their firms, a critical talent-development challenge we hear.” The Evening MBA Program traditionally yields a graduation rate greater than 90 percent, which officials attribute to students’ experiences with their cohorts and top-tier Leeds School faculty, as well as the entrepreneurial culture and team dynamic that influence many of the courses. The Leeds School’s Evening MBA Program currently is ranked No. 39 in the nation among part-time programs, according to U.S. News & World Report. “We’re very proud of the Evening MBA Program’s reputation, not only from what we hear from our students, alumni and industry partners, but also in how we perform in national rankings,” said Richard Wobbekind, economist and senior associate dean for academic programs at the Leeds School. “A signature component of this program is the service and support we deliver to busy professionals so they can better focus on their studies. We handle all course registration details, provide course books and all class materials and even cater evening meals. We provide an on-site staff assistant prior to each session to answer questions and provide as much support as we can to these high-achieving students.” The Liniger Building at CU South Denver continues to offer services of The Wildlife Experience, which was founded in 2002 and is designed to be a cultural and educational center and a community asset for south Denver. The facility continues to host exhibits in fine art, natural history and interactive science and provide space for private and community events. The first CU South Denver classes in the facility took place in August 2014; the University of Colorado’s four campuses offer a supply of quality higher education options for the residents of south Denver, ultimately combining quality higher education with community service and events. In addition to the Evening MBA Program designed for working professionals, the Leeds School continues to offer its Full-Time MBA Program on the Boulder campus. The application deadline for the first class of the Evening MBA Program at CU South Denver is April 1. For more information and to apply visit http://www.colorado.edu/leedsmba/evening-mba. Contact: John Helmers, Leeds School, 303-492-1016john.helmers@colorado.edu   Richard Wobbekind, Leeds School, 303-492-1147richard.wobbekind@colorado.edu Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117elizabeth.lock@colorado.eduBusinessServing Colorado. Engaged in the World. var switchTo5x = true;stLight.options({"publisher":"dr-ab13ac53-73e2-de14-de15-814771a7bbf3"}); Photo: 


Student life: The INVST Community Leadership Program
Sabrina Sideris, program director of CU-Boulder's INVST Community Studies, takes great pride in working with CU students to help them learn to become engaged citizens and leaders. In fact, she was once one of those students. Sideris became interested in civic engagement and leadership development when she was a CU-Boulder undergraduate  (1996-2000). "One of my professors let me know about the INVST program when I was a student, and it seemed like a good fit for me, so I applied to the program," Sideris said. "My two years in INVST were the most meaningful years for me at CU, it really made a difference in my education." After Sideris graduated from CU-Boulder she took on a part-time job with INVST, before leaving for graduate school and work in Costa Rica and Washington, D.C. In 2007, she returned to CU-Boulder and took over as program director of INVST. The INVST Community Leadership Program combines small classes with non-profit internships in the community and summer service-learning experiences in an innovative program for undergraduate students: