Obituaries

Josef Michl, chemist who loved mountains, passes away

Anonymous — Wed, 15 May 2024 18:53:36 +0000

Josef Michl, chemist who loved mountains, passes away Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/15/2024 - 12:53

CU �鶹ӰԺ professor of chemistry recalled as great scientist, teacher, colleague, friend, mentor and lover of the outdoors

Josef Michl, a professor of chemistry at the �鶹ӰԺ, passed away May 13 while on a visit to Prague. He was 85.

Colleagues describe him as a great scientist, teacher, colleague, friend and mentor, as well as a valuable member of the CU �鶹ӰԺ Department of Chemistry. Born in Prague and raised in the former Czechoslovakia, Michl joined the department in 1991.

Michl created fields and set research agendas in chemistry, making seminal contributions in diverse disciplines—including organic and inorganic and materials synthesis photochemistry, laser spectroscopy and magnetic resonance and theoretical and computational chemistry. His scientific legacy will echo for generations, colleaugues say.

CU �鶹ӰԺ Professer Josef Michl created fields and set research agendas in chemistry, making seminal contributions in diverse disciplines. (Photo: Neuron Foundation)

Equally adept at theoretical and experimental work, Michl was a prolific scientist who published almost 600 articles, held 11 patents and co-authored five books.

He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1984. Among many other awards he received, he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary member of the Czech Learned Society, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Sloan Fellow and a recipient of the Schrödinger Medal.

He left Czechoslovakia in 1968, completed postdoctoral work with R.S. Becker at the University of Houston, with M. J. S. Dewar at the University of Texas at Austin, with J. Linderberg at Aarhus University, Denmark, and with F. E. Harris at the University of Utah, where he stayed and became a professor in 1975 and served as chairman from 1979-1984.

He held the M. K. Collie-Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin from 1986-1990, after which he moved to CU �鶹ӰԺ. In 2006, he accepted a joint appointment as a research director at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.

Michl held close to a hundred visiting professorships and named lectureships; delivered hundreds of invited lectures at institutions and conferences; served on many professional and editorial boards, advisory councils and committees; and organized several international meetings.

Michl cared deeply about the Department of Chemistry and left a generous gift that will fund the Josef and Sara Michl Chair of Chemistry.

“Josef was a true intellectual whose interests were deep and broad,” colleagues say. He was fluent in a dozen or more languages, studied literature and history, loved the outdoors and traveled the world with his wife, Sara. They hiked many of the planet's mountain ranges.

“When in doubt, go up,” he said, applying this principle to life and work. He inspired many colleagues, students and postdocs who will miss his brilliance, humor and sanguine disposition.

Michl is preceded in death by Sara, who passed away in 2018. He survived by his brother, Jenda, son, Jenda, and his grandson, Mason.

Top photo provided to Economic Magazine by Josef Michl

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CU �鶹ӰԺ professor of chemistry recalled as great scientist, teacher, colleague, friend, mentor and lover of the outdoors.

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William B. Wood, pioneering scientist, passes away at 86

Anonymous — Mon, 13 May 2024 20:04:39 +0000

William B. Wood, pioneering scientist, passes away at 86 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/13/2024 - 14:04

A distinguished professor emeritus of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, Wood helped transform CU �鶹ӰԺ into a nationally ranked hub of biomedical science, improved science education and appeared on the debut album of folk legend Joan Baez

William Barry Wood III, who loved science, music, poetry and education in equal parts, and was a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) at the �鶹ӰԺ, passed away on May 9 in �鶹ӰԺ. He was 86.

Bill Wood came to CU �鶹ӰԺ in 1978, leaving a professorship at Caltech to serve as MCDB department chair. He continued in this department as teacher, researcher and administrator until his retirement in 2008. “His clear-thinking mind and kind heart helped to make MCDB a nationally ranked department of modern biomedical science,” said Richard McIntosh, another chair of the CU �鶹ӰԺ department.

In 1972, following important discoveries early in his career, Wood at age 34 became one of the youngest researchers ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Later, Wood also emerged as a pioneer in the shifting field of science education. His innovations contributed important ideas and methods for improving the teaching of science at all levels.

William Barry Wood III was a distinguished professor emeritus in the CU �鶹ӰԺ Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Bill’s German-born wife, the late Renate H. Wood, became a distinguished �鶹ӰԺ poet, and their sons, Oliver and Christopher, have gained international musical recognition as The Wood Brothers. Wood himself was a masterful guitar player, songwriter and folk musician throughout his life.

In high school, he played in a group with John Hartford, who went on to an impressive career as a revered banjo musician. While still an undergraduate at Harvard in the late 1950s, Bill teamed with Joan Baez on her historic first recording, “Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square.”

The young scientist earned his PhD in 1963 from Stanford University. As a graduate student there, working with Paul Berg in the Department of Biochemistry, Wood learned important skills for the study of macromolecules, such as nucleic acids and proteins. As a young professor at Caltech, he collaborated with Robert Edgar, a geneticist, to study the formation of a virus that infects bacterial cells, known as a “bacteriophage” (for bacteria eater).

Edgar had previously treated samples of T4 bacteriophages with radiation and chemicals that damaged their DNA, making mutations in many different genes. Most of these mutant phages could still infect bacteria, but those bacteria failed to assemble new infective phages as a result of the mutant gene.

Notably, when bacterial cells were simultaneously infected by two phages that were mutant in different genes, infective phages were produced. Thus, the different viral genomes could complement each other, with each providing a functional copy of the gene that was mutant in the other.

Wood invented a method by which one took two populations of bacteria, each infected with a different mutant phage, and broke up the cells in each population to make two samples of bacterial cell cytoplasm, filled with whatever each mutant phage could make.

When these samples were mixed, the materials from one infected population could complement the materials from the other infected population, enabling infective phages to form outside of living bacterial cells. This process became known as “in vitro” (in glass) complementation, because the mutant phages complemented each other without a living cell to help.

This innovation allowed Wood and others to learn by biochemistry and electron microscopy which parts of phage T4 were made by the products of each phage gene. With this information, they could put together a pathway for phage assembly from the protein products of the individual phage genes.

In vitro complementation became an important tool in the hands of many scientists studying virus formation. This valuable contribution helped biologists in the 1960s and ‘70s to elucidate the formation of complex viruses and to significantly combat virus infections.

In the mid-1970s, Wood felt he had contributed what he could to the study of bacterial viruses. His experience combining genetics and biochemistry in the study of hard biological problems led him to seek a new project in an area more complex than the assembly of a virus. One such challenging subject at the time was the problem of how animals develop from a fertilized egg into their adult form.

A distinguished English scientist, Sydney Brenner, had recently introduced the study of a small round worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, into the field of developmental biology. This tiny animal, only 1 millimeter long, lives in rotting fruit. It can be fed on bacteria in the laboratory, and it grows to adulthood in just three days, making it easy, cheap and fast to study.

Several young scientists had already gone to Brenner’s lab to learn how to study C. elegans and brought their projects back to labs in the United States. One of these scientists was David Hirsh, who was on the faculty at MCDB in �鶹ӰԺ, so Wood arranged to do a sabbatical in Hirsh’s lab.

During that year, Wood worked with Hirsh and several of his students to make numerous mutant strains of worms. They identified several that inactivated genes important for the early stages in worm development. Particularly informative were their temperature-sensitive mutants, which developed well when grown at temperatures as low as 60^o, but displayed interesting developmental defects when grown at elevated temperatures closer to 85^o.

These mutants identify genes whose products are needed for normal development. Therefore, they have subsequently been studied by numerous labs to elucidate key players and pathways in development.

Excited by his research experience in �鶹ӰԺ, Wood considered setting up a lab at Caltech to study worm development. But the CU �鶹ӰԺ MCDB department was seeking a chair who could lead the department in valuable new directions. Several enthusiastic members of the department flew to Pasadena, unannounced, and convinced Wood to move his work and his family to Colorado.

In �鶹ӰԺ, Wood quickly assembled an excellent lab of his own, and he also organized the hiring of superior scientists engaged in the same process of using genetic manipulation to study complex biological problems.

At the time, experts were debating whether the developmental fates of individual cells in early embryos are determined by internal factors that are packaged into those cells or determined by external cues from neighboring cells. Wood’s group found compelling evidence for both internal factors and external cues, a finding that has been borne out across organisms.

Wood’s lab discovered a new type of organelle that is not bounded by a membrane. These organelles, called "P granules” in worms, are examples of internal factors that are delivered to particular cells in early embryos and are critical for the normal development of those cells. P granules are the founding members of an ever-growing list of liquid-like condensates that serve diverse roles across organisms.

Finally, Wood himself studied how an organism develops its left-right axis, which in worms becomes apparent when embryos have only six cells. He documented that one-cell embryos already show signs of knowing their left side from their right. From then on, his Colorado license plate read WORMS1.

Singing with Joan Baez

The eldest of five children, Wood grew up in St. Louis, where his father, a renowned physician and medical researcher, taught at Washington University. In 1955, Dr. W. Barry Wood moved his family to Baltimore, when he became the head of the Johns Hopkins Medical School. The elder Wood had been an All-American quarterback at Harvard and a nationally ranked tennis player. Coming from an athletic family, Wood won the Maryland State Junior Tennis Championship at age 17 and played on Harvard’s varsity tennis team.

While an undergraduate chemistry major at Harvard, Wood also devoted time to music, playing his guitar in a group called The Raunch Hands and hosting a weekly program on the campus radio station. There he met singer Joan Baez, then in her first year of college. In 1959, Bill and Ted Alevizos teamed with the future folk legend to make a record now renowned as her debut album. The next year, Joan produced her first solo album, “Joan Baez,” while Bill opted for a career in science.

In an interview conducted at Stanford in 2015, Wood reflected on that early fork in the road. He recalled with a modest smile his parting with Joan Baez: “It was very clear which of us should go to grad school at Stanford and which of us should go to the Newport Folk Festival and become a star.” Pausing, he added: “I have to say, with all due respect to the scientists, that was the most fun I ever had, singing with Joan Baez.”

Wood’s parents were both educators, and throughout his career Wood was interested in finding ways to teach that would help students at all levels learn science efficiently and well. “When my kids started school in the 1970s, I got interested in what they were going to experience, and I was impressed by a book called 'How Children Fail' by John Holt," Wood said. "His message was that for kids to learn, they need to be doing things, not just listening to a teacher. That was my introduction to active learning.”

Textbooks were focused on memorizing pathways, names of enzymes and so on, and I wanted to try to put some life into it.”

Toward the end of his career, Wood turned his full attention to research on science education. In harmony with work spearheaded by Bruce Alberts from the National Academy of Sciences and by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman in the Department of Physics at CU �鶹ӰԺ, Wood helped to develop a “questions” approach to teaching, suitable for any science pedagogy.

To challenge and assist college-level science teachers, he worked with Dr. Jo Handelsman, who later became a science advisor for President Barak Obama. The pair started the National Institutes of Undergraduate Education in Biology. Now known as NIST, this thriving organization has had far-reaching effects, helping to train thousands of faculty, especially at R1 institutions, how to teach actively.

“Textbooks were focused on memorizing pathways, names of enzymes and so on, and I wanted to try to put some life into it,” Wood said. With “active learning,” lectures become participatory events, and students retain more than when they are simply spoken to. The amount of material presented is reduced, but the amount students retained is greater.

This approach has been adopted widely, and it follows the Chinese principle of instruction, stated as a motto in Wood’s first biochemistry book: “I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do, and I understand.” In 2016, the Genetics Society of America gave Wood its Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education, calling him “a pioneer in the reform of science teaching.”

The Society cited Wood’s role in the development of the influential National Academies Summer Institutes for Undergraduate Education in Biology and his service as editor-in-chief of CBE-Life Sciences Education, published by the American Society for Cell Biology. “Bill is not only an excellent educator himself,” states Rachelle M. Spell of Emory University, “he helped start a revolution across STEM teaching.”

In 2018, Jenny Knight, an associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at CU �鶹ӰԺ, served as president of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education (SABER). That year, SABER instituted the Bill Wood Graduate Student Talk Award, which was very dear to Wood’s heart. According to Knight, who knew Wood as her mentor and colleague, he had “a passion for supporting the next generation of researchers.”

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CU Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, prolific writer and theology expert passes away at 87

Anonymous — Mon, 06 May 2024 14:26:49 +0000

CU Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, prolific writer and theology expert passes away at 87 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/06/2024 - 08:26

Ed Miller passed away peacefully at his home in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. He was 87 years old. Ed was born in Los Angeles, California and lived there for many years ultimately graduating from the University of Southern California with a Ph. D. in Philosophy. He then accepted a teaching position at California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks, California. He taught there for two years before moving with wife, Yvonne, and three young sons, Terryl, Tim, and Tad to Northfield MN, where he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. Olaf College. Having lived in California all of his life, Ed was delighted with the change of seasons in Minnesota. He especially loved the snow and would become, over time, an excellent skier! Ed was very pleased, in 1966, to accept a position of Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado.

Ed Miller, professor emoritis of philosophy thrived in theology. Many of his students took up Christian pursuits.

These were the years, soon to become decades, that Ed flourished. In addition to being promoted to Full Professor in 1976, he was a prolific author, writing eight books and many articles. As his interest deepened in theology so did his teaching: he taught classes in Christianity in both the Department of Philosophy and for the Department of Religious Studies. He also founded the Theology Forum and was able to bring some of the most well-known scholars of Theology to speak at the University of Colorado. A few years earlier, Ed had started a Doctorate of Theology during a sabbatical year in Basel, Switzerland. In 1980 with his new wife, Cindy, he traveled back to Switzerland to finish his Doctorate of Theology degree and obtained it in 1981. In 1982, he and Cindy welcomed a new child, Sean. Ed thrived in the university life and his interactions with his students left an indelible mark on them.

Many students credited Ed's classes and conversations with their decision to become a Christian. Some even became pastors or decided to pursue a life of Christian service.

The Miller household was an energetic hub of student and colleague get togethers, dinners, and amazing Christmas parties. Early in 2002, however, Ed was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, and decided to retire from the university.

Even through the years of chemotherapy and surgeries, Ed continued to write and study. Ed was preceded in death by his mother, Georgia Barrington and is survived by his wife Cindy, and sons Terryl, Tim, Tad (daughter Hansa Miller), and Sean Miller (Amanda Parker) and his brother Bill Miller (Sally Miller) and their children Don, Denise, and Doug and their families. A memorial is scheduled at Atonement Lutheran Church in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado, on June 1st, 2024 at 3pm. In lieu of flowers please send donations to TRU Hospice of �鶹ӰԺ county.

Ed Miller passed away peacefully at his home in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. He was 87 years old.

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Keith Julien, world-renowned CU applied mathematician, passes away at 58

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:37:23 +0000

Keith Julien, world-renowned CU applied mathematician, passes away at 58 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/30/2024 - 15:37

Longtime leader in his department and university made significant contributions to his discipline and also helped engineer the reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences

Keith Julien, professor and chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics at the �鶹ӰԺ, died unexpectedly April 14 at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver after a short illness.

Famous for his disarming laugh, clear-eyed judgment and potent intellect, Julien was a world-renowned scholar; an insightful and inventive researcher; an energetic, generous and productive collaborator; an engaging and effective teacher and mentor; a visionary administrator for the Department of Applied Mathematics; and a devoted husband, loving father and cherished friend.

Julien’s 33-year affiliation with CU �鶹ӰԺ began in 1991 as a postdoctoral research associate in JILA, where he served from 1991-94. After an advanced study postdoctoral fellowship from 1994-96 at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, he joined the Department of Applied Mathematics in 1997 as an instructor.

Keith Julien (left, with his wife, Susan) came to CU �鶹ӰԺ in 1991 as a postdoctoral research associate in JILA.

He moved up the ranks in the department, becoming an assistant professor in 1998 and earning tenure and a promotion to associate professor in 2003; he was named a full professor in 2008. Julien was elected department chair in 2015, a role in which he served until his passing.

Julien was an exceptional mentor, a leader on campus and an internationally recognized scholar who touched the lives of countless students, collaborators, colleagues and peers. His sudden passing is a shock to the department, the university and the wider academic community, his colleagues said.

Julien advised 12 PhD students and eight postdoctoral scholars, several of whom have become prominent scientific researchers. He inspired and skillfully bolstered the careers of applied math faculty and colleagues around the world.

Born June 12, 1965, Julien grew up in London, England, the second of four children of first-generation immigrant parents from Grenada. In addition to his studies, he was a vigorous and exceptional student athlete, accomplished in both soccer and cricket.

He also enjoyed music and played the electric bass. His academic trajectory took shape when he received his BSc degree in mathematics and physics with first-class honors from King’s College, University of London, in 1986.

Julien then moved to the University of Cambridge, where he received his Part III Certificate of Advanced Studies in 1987, on the basis of which he was accepted into the Cambridge doctoral program. He was awarded the J.T. Knight Prize in 1988 and received his PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics in 1991 for a dissertation titled “Strong Spatial Resonances in Convection,” studying under reknowned mathematician and physicist M.R.E. Proctor.

A visionary leader

Julien’s visionary leadership has left an indelible imprint on the Department of Applied Mathematics and the university. First, he substantially influenced the reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2022 with a new system that strengthens the authority of the three deans of division, an idea originally articulated in the Cumalat-Julien Academic Futures White Paper (2018).

Keith Julien as a young scholar (left) and at a surprise birthday party in 2015.

Second, he played a major role in the development of multiple new or pending degrees, including the BA and BS in statistics and data science, the BS in applied mathematics and the professional MS in applied mathematics.

Third, for over a decade, Julien relentlessly worked to unify departmental space so that APPM PhD students would no longer be scattered through different buildings on campus, as they have been since 1989.

Even before serving as chair of applied mathematics, Julien led a committee to develop a plan for new facilities, which culminated in the CU Board of Regents’ approving on April 11 to construct a new shared Chemistry and Applied Mathematics facility; the approval came just three days before Julien’s passing. This new facility represents a major milestone for the department, with construction scheduled to begin this fall, and occupancy planned for late 2026.

Research focused on fluid dynamical phenomena

Julien’s applied mathematics research has had major influence on the understanding of fundamental geophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamical phenomena. He is recognized as a world expert in the instability, dynamics, evolution and simulation of important fluid processes, including rapidly rotating convection, magneto convection, fluid turbulence and the coherent structures that spontaneously appear in these flows.

Julien authored more than 80 research papers, which appeared in leading international journals, and his work is cited more than 4,000 times, according to Google Scholar.

Keith Julien (left) with William Barham and Bobby Braun (right), former dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

One of his most consequential contributions to the field of geophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamics is the development of reduced or simplified partial differential equations valid in the limit of rapid rotation. Many important flows are strongly affected by rotation, such as thermal convection in the ocean, which regulates overturning rates that bear on climate change; convective flows in the outer core of the Earth, responsible for Earth's magnetic field; and flows in the Sun’s turbulent outer layer, which is an important region for solar magnetic activity, such as solar flares and coronal-mass ejections.

In a seminal series of papers, Julien pioneered the development of multi-scale asymptotic methods and fast numerical algorithms to derive and simulate a reduced set of equations that approximate the governing Navier-Stokes equations for rapidly rotating convection. This enabled the exploration of extreme parameter regimes that are otherwise inaccessible to either state-of-the-art high performance computing hardware or laboratory investigation.

These developments led to the discovery of the spontaneous emergence of large-scale structures such as vortices and jets in turbulent rapidly rotating convection, predictions that were subsequently confirmed by direct numerical simulations of the full equations, albeit under much more modest conditions.

These advances attracted, in turn, a number of groups to this research area, in both experiment and theory, all motivated by Julien’s pioneering work. Together with many collaborators, Julien extended these ideas to the study of accretion disks in astrophysics, convection in a strong magnetic field, shear-flow instability, wind-driven circulation and, more recently, to ocean mixing by the doubly diffusive salt-finger instability.

Taken together, these applications demonstrate that highly anisotropic but fully three-dimensional turbulence is susceptible to instabilities generating large-scale coherent structures resembling those present in geophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamical systems.

Keith Julien was father to sons Simon and Theodore and enjoyed coaching their soccer teams.

Recognized widely by his peers

Julien received multiple awards recognizing his achievements, including CU’s Creative Research and Creative Works Junior Faculty Development Award in 1998 and Faculty Fellowship Award in 2004.

In 2017, he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2022 he was awarded the Kirk Distinguished Fellowship at the Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge. In 2024, Julien was slated to be a principal lecturer for the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Summer Program, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Through the years, Julien tirelessly served the scientific community. He co-directed two NCAR/IMAGe Theme-of-the-Year Programs for Geophysical Turbulent Phenomena in 2008 and Rotating Stratified Flows in 2012.

He served on the Committee of Visitors for External Evaluation of the Division of Ocean Sciences for the National Science Foundation in 2015 and 2019. In 2014, he co-organized a 14-week program on the mathematics of turbulence at the NSF Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), UCLA, and since 2014 he served as an associate editor for the journal Nonlinearity.

In the summer of 2018, Julien co-organized an international workshop on rotating convection at the Lorentz Center, Netherlands, and he was serving as the lead organizer of a planned 2025 IPAM, UCLA workshop titled “Rotating Turbulence: Interplay and Separability of Bulk and Boundary Dynamics.”

He also served numerous times on scientific panels for NSF and NASA, and as principal investigator and/or co-principal investigator on research grants in the mathematical sciences, atmospheric sciences, solar physics and oceanic sciences.

Julien is survived by his loving wife, Susan; sons, Simon and Theodore; father, O’Neill, and mother, Agnes; older brother Kelvin; younger sisters, Sandra and Sherma; and a wide circle of friends.

Keith Julien’s colleagues and friends collaborated in the writing of this obituary.

Longtime leader in his department and university made significant contributions to his discipline and also helped engineer the reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Professor Emeritus of Economics Chuck Howe passes away at 93

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:21:40 +0000

Professor Emeritus of Economics Chuck Howe passes away at 93 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/11/2024 - 10:21

Chuck Howe, Professor Emeritus of Economics, passed away on March 3, 2024, at the age of 93.

Chuck Howe was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1931.

The family, which included younger son John, moved to Westerville, Ohio in 1937. At the conclusion of World War II, the family moved to Joplin, Missouri.

Chuck graduated from Joplin High in 1948 where he met his future wife, JoAnne Blanke. He attended Rice University (then Rice Institute) from 1948 to 1952, majoring in Economics and graduating Phi Beta Kappa and one of ten Outstanding Seniors chosen by a faculty-student board.

At graduation, he was Commissioned Ensign in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Long Beach, California, but returned briefly to Joplin to marry JoAnne who then accompanied him to Long Beach where Chuck's ship, minesweeper U.S.S. Redstart, was stationed.

The honeymoon was short-lived since Chuck's ship departed for Korea in December, 1952, returning to the U.S. in June, 1954.
Chuck enrolled in the Economics Ph.D. program at Stanford, receiving the degree in 1958.

With two children added, they moved to Purdue University where Chuck was Assistant Professor of Economics in the emerging Krannert School of Management where he taught Management Science.

At that time, Chuck also began research in the water resources field, producing a book on the Economics of Inland Water way Transportation that was published by Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C. In 1964, JoAnne, Chuck, and now four children, took a temporary post at the University of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation's University Development Program to help build the program in Economics.

Chuck continued water research with management studies of the Tana River Basin in northeastern Kenya. On the basis of Chuck's water research, he was invited in 1965 to join the staff of Resources for the Future as Director of the Water Resources Program.

The family moved to D.C. where they lived until 1970 when Chuck was appointed Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado-�鶹ӰԺ.

Chuck was appointed a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1973 based on his water research and a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in 2012. He was the principal author of the 2007 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Chuck and JoAnne, with whatever children were at home or able, continued to travel, both for work and for pleasure. They lived in Indonesia, Holland and England and traveled more to countries on every continent.

Chuck was an avid runner, having competed in more than 30 Bolder �鶹ӰԺ (10K) races as well as several Crescent City Classics in New Orleans. While in Indonesia he was part of the Hash House Harriers running group.

After this accomplished career, Chuck and JoAnne retired to Frasier Meadows Retirement Community in �鶹ӰԺ, where they became a valued part of that community for over 20 years.

Chuck died March 3, 2024, and is survived by his wife of 71 years; children John, Karen, Bo (Conway) and Kathy (Larry); seven grandchildren: Theron, Sarah, John, Ray, Morgan, Lauren, Luke; and one great-grandchild, Addison.

The family extends special thanks to all the staff of the Summit Care Center at Frasier for their devoted and loving care in the last year of Chuck's life. Their dedication is remarkable.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Frasier Meadows Retirement Community.

There will be a Celebration of Life on Friday, April 12 at 2:30pm in the Eldorado Room at Frasier. All are welcome.

In Chuck Howe's honor, make a gift to the Economics Department.

Chuck Howe, Professor Emeritus of Economics, passed away on March 3, 2024, at the age of 93.

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Monique LeBourgeois, pioneering sleep researcher, dies

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 20:51:46 +0000

Monique LeBourgeois, pioneering sleep researcher, dies Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/04/2024 - 13:51

She helped answer questions about sleep disruptions in children, knowledge that has been helpful to parents

Monique LeBourgeois, associate professor of integrative physiology at the �鶹ӰԺ and an expert on sleep and circadian physiology in children, died on Nov. 28, 2023. She was 54.

LeBourgeois’ colleagues and friends were “devastated by her premature passing,” Marissa Ehringer, CU �鶹ӰԺ chair and professor of integrative physiology, said in a statement. “Monique was an exceptional scientist, teacher, mentor and person who will be greatly missed by many in our department and across campus.”

In addition to the personal loss, Ehringer noted the loss to science: “Her innovative research pioneered methods for assessing circadian rhythms and sleep measures in toddlers in the home environment.”

In 2018, for example, the LeBourgeois Sleep and Development Lab found that dimming the lights in the hours before bedtime can help children fall asleep. Specifically, the lab found, exposing preschoolers to an hour of bright light before bedtime almost completely shuts down their production of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone.

Further, exposure to bright light just before bedtime suppressed the production of melatonin for at least 50 minutes after lights were turned off. The study was the first to assess the hormonal impact nighttime light exposure can have on young children.

Monique was an exceptional scientist, teacher, mentor and person who will be greatly missed by many in our department and across campus. ... Her innovative research pioneered methods for assessing circadian rhythms and sleep measures in toddlers in the home environment.”

“Light is our brain clock's primary timekeeper,” LeBourgeois explained at the time. “We know younger individuals have larger pupils, and their lenses are more transparent. This heightened sensitivity to light may make them even more susceptible to dysregulation of sleep and the circadian clock.”

LeBourgeois and her colleagues also shed new light on the biological, neurological and environmental effects of light and electronic screen time on children.

In her research, LeBourgeois developed creative, groundbreaking techniques to rigorously conduct circadian and sleep research in the home environment, including performing salivary melatonin and high-density EEG/polysomnography assessments on toddlers.

LeBourgeois earned her BS in psychology in 1995 from the University of Southern Mississippi. Under the mentorship of John Harsh, a scientist who was investigating sleep disturbance in childhood, she later earned her MS in counseling psychology, MS in experimental psychology and PhD in experimental psychology, at the University of Southern Mississippi.

She did postdoctoral research at Brown Medical School, under the mentorship of Mary Carskadon, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. There, LeBourgeois’ interest in measurement of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythms blossomed, and she began to apply these concepts and measures to evaluate the developmental aspects of sleep behavior regulation in young children.

LeBourgeois had an “outstanding way of working with families and kids and maintaining their engagement throughout longitudinal studies,” Carskadon said.

In 2010, the CU �鶹ӰԺ Department of Integrative Physiology recruited her to join the faculty as a tenure-track professor. She conducted longitudinal studies examining the development of Process C and Process S (two components of a sleep regulation concept) across early childhood, as well as researching the sensitivity of the developing circadian system to light exposure.

LeBourgeois was successful in securing external research funding and received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 2001. She engaged in collaborative research, where she created opportunities, generously lent her expertise, and shared her passion for developmental sleep and circadian science, colleagues said.

Beyond her scientific accomplishments, LeBourgeois devoted much of her academic life to mentorship, always asking trainees, “What do you want your life to look like?”

She invested time, energy, trust and love into helping trainees to successfully achieve their goals. Recognizing the mentorship she received, she sought to sustain it by creating the Mary A. Carskadon Sleep and Circadian Summer Research Fellowship in 2017.

This annual fellowship provided enriching and unique opportunities for students to receive hands-on research experiences, form relationships with families in the community and develop basic professional skills. Many of her trainees have gone on to successful careers in professions including biomedical research, health care, science policy and industry.

She published nearly 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and had another 10 in progress or under review at the time of her death. Among the recognitions she received were the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Young Investigator Award in 2003, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine/Pfizer Scholars Grants in Sleep Medicine Award in 2005, and a College Scholar Award from CU �鶹ӰԺ in 2022.

Last year, she was named a Health Research Accelerator Fellow at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Her pivotal research advanced our understanding of sleep and circadian physiology in early childhood.

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Paul Phillipson, physics department's first biophysicist, dies at 90

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 18:30:26 +0000

Paul Phillipson, physics department's first biophysicist, dies at 90 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/30/2023 - 11:30

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Professor Emeritus Walter Kintsch passes away at 90

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:29:25 +0000

Professor Emeritus Walter Kintsch passes away at 90 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/28/2023 - 12:29

Walter Kintsch, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, passed away on March 24, 2023, at the age of 90.

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L. Andrew Staehelin, CU �鶹ӰԺ molecular biologist, dies at 83

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 19:12:58 +0000

L. Andrew Staehelin, CU �鶹ӰԺ molecular biologist, dies at 83 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/05/2022 - 13:12

Professor emeritus remembered for his ability to present important material expertly and for his humor, intelligence and interest in people

L. Andrew Staehelin, a longstanding member of the �鶹ӰԺ Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) passed away on Sept. 28, 2022. He was 83.

Staehelin came to CU �鶹ӰԺ as an assistant professor in 1970, was promoted to full professor in 1978, and became a professor emeritus in 2006. Throughout his career, he was a devoted and skillful teacher who introduced many CU �鶹ӰԺ undergraduates to the wonders of cell biology.

His broad knowledge of cell structure and the fundamentals of cell growth and differentiation allowed him to present that important material in an expert fashion. His humor, intelligence and interest in people made this task a pleasure, both for his many students and himself.

Staehelin’s research relied upon his expertise in electron microscopy and grew from his commitment to preparing cells for study with the most reliable methods available. He and his students wrote almost 300 scientific papers and book chapters, and he edited several books, earning him several prestigious awards and the admiration of his colleagues.

At the top of the page: Cells with nuclei in blue, energy factories in green and the actin cytoskeleton in red (ZEISS Microscopy/Flickr). Above: L. Andrew Staehelin was a long-time part of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Staehelin was born in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 10, 1939, but his family soon moved to Switzerland, where he was reared and received his education, culminating in1966 with a PhD in natural sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

He did postdoctoral work in New Zealand and then at Harvard with Keith Porter, a renowned electron microscopist. Staehelin and his wife, Margrit, moved to �鶹ӰԺ in 1970, where he joined the newly formed Department of MCDB. He was a proud member of that department until his retirement.

Staehelin was known as a stimulating and inspiring teacher who particularly enjoyed the challenges of teaching large courses, such as “Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology” and “Cell Biology.” The quality of his undergraduate teaching was recognized with two teaching awards.

His graduate teaching included contributions to the department’s core courses, but his greater graduate focus was on the students in his lab, where his many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows knew him as a rigorous perfectionist who demanded the attention to detail that is essential for high-quality science. Fortunately for all, Staehelin’s enthusiasm and optimism sustained the energy of those working with him.

Staehelin’s lifelong pursuit was the relationship between cell structure and function. His initial method of choice was freeze-fracture electron microscopy, which introduced him to the concept of rapid freezing for the preservation of cells in a good approximation to their native structure. His passion for improving “cryo” techniques culminated with the introduction of high-pressure freezing to the cell biological research community.

This technique has become the standard for studying the structure of cells at the nanoscale. During his final research years, he pushed this analysis into three dimensions by using electron tomography.

During his 36 years with CU �鶹ӰԺ, Staehelin took advantage of the sabbatical leave system to work at other universities, learning new experimental techniques and exploring new biological systems. His first sabbatical leave in Freiburg, Germany, was made possible by a Senior Humboldt Award. With support from a CU Faculty Fellowship, he took a sabbatical at his alma mater in Zurich, and for his final sabbatical he returned to Australia, to the University of Melbourne, as a visiting professor.

Staehelin’s awards and recognitions included membership in the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, his becoming a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a faculty recognition award from CU �鶹ӰԺ, the Haselkorn Scholar Award from the University of Chicago, and appointment as a fellow of the Society of Plant Biologists.

His service to the research community included establishing the Plant Cell Wall Gordon Conference. Locally, Staehelin was known for his efforts to educate the public about genetically engineered plants, often writing newspaper op-ed pieces that helped to explain complex scientific concepts in simple, accessible language.

Because he recognized the need to increase food production, so the world could feed more people on less land and with less water, he championed the need to exploit the best plant-breeding techniques, including genetic engineering, as well as the best methods for cultivation.

Professor emeritus remembered for his ability to present important material expertly and for his humor, intelligence and interest in people

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Poet Noah Eli Gordon dies at 47

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 18:29:11 +0000

Poet Noah Eli Gordon dies at 47 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/13/2022 - 12:29

Associate professor of English and associate chair for creative writing hailed as ‘charismatic,’ ‘irreplaceable,’ and a ‘great poet and fine teacher’

Noah Eli Gordon, a prolific poet and literary figure at the �鶹ӰԺ, died of unexplained causes this month. He was 47.

The death of Gordon, an associate professor of English and associate chair for creative writing, was announced by his mother via Facebook. She did not discuss the cause of death but lamented the “terrible tragedy” and asked for “time and space to process my grief.”

News of his death prompted an outpouring of grief from friends and colleagues.

“Noah Eli Gordon was such a charismatic presence and part of the bedrock of American poetry as my generation has known it. Irreplaceable. My heart goes out to his family,” said fellow poet and author Joshua Carey on Twitter.

Noah Eli Gordon, seen here, passed away suddenly this month.

A woman who identified herself as a former student on Twitter wrote that Gordon was her first poetry instructor. “His class is why I ever started writing poetry in the first place. He wrote me a recommendation letter when I applied for a job at the writing center. Devastated by this news.”

Jeffrey N. Cox, CU �鶹ӰԺ distinguished professor and chair of English, shared the news with his department on Monday, saying: “He was a great poet, a fine teacher, and an important member of our community. He will be deeply missed by all of us.”

On teaching creative writing to undergrads, he believed the most important thing was to “turn his students into avid readers” who could achieve their own understanding of what a literary work does and how, The Focus reported.

Gordon’s own creative process, he told a fellow poet in 2007, involved writing “a lot.”

“I’ve tried everything I can think of to bring a poem into the world: automatic writing; timed writing; making word lists; sketching out detailed charts of specific syntax and filling in the words later on; writing only in public; writing at specific times of day,” he said, adding:

“The really maddening thing about it—and I’m sure this is true for many, many poets—is that once you’ve had that breakthrough moment with a particular mode, it’s sure not to work the next time.”

Gordon’s recent published titles include Is That the Sound Of A Piano Coming From Several Houses Down? and The Word Kingdom In The Word Kingdom. Gordon’s poetry drew from a number of sources and inspirations he considered formative, including the works of Charles Simic, Ann Lauterbach and Michael Palmer, as well as the worlds of music and visual arts.

Gordon’s latest published work, Is That The Sound Of A Piano…, draws on significant musical influences.

Gordon thrived on collaborations, with notable literary names including Joshua Marie Wilkinson and Sara Veglahn.

He was also an editor and co-publisher of several literary magazines, including The Volta and Letter Machine Editions, and director of Subito Press and Braincase Press.

Noah Eli Gordon was born in 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, and was living in Denver at the time of his passing. He earned a BA and MFA in 1999 and 2004, respectively, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He joined the CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty in 2009.

Noah Eli Gordon was such a charismatic presence and part of the bedrock of American poetry as my generation has known it. Irreplaceable. My heart goes out to his family.

Gordon’s literary prowess showed even in social media posts. Upon receiving his first COVID-19 vaccination, this is what he posted on Facebook on March 21, 2021:

“I’m sitting in the parking lot of Dick’s sporting-goods arena in Denver, sobbing. All of the tumult, tension, uncertainty, all of the ways we have been collectively jostled over the course of the last year, I feel it all acutely coursing through my body at this very moment, feel it making its slow way out, exiting at last, like some kind of baptismal, cathartic decamping. I’m sitting in the parking lot of Dick’s sporting-goods arena after having just gotten vaccinated. I’m sitting alone in my car. There are one hundred other people alone in their cars around me. The collective isolation of the last year hangs in the air like some kind of fog ready to be blown away by strong winds. I think about the five people I’ve loved who died over the last year, how they too hover in the periphery, how the heartbreak I’ve gone through recently also clouds my way of seeing the world. I’m sitting in the parking lot of Dick’s sporting-goods arena after having just gotten vaccinated and waiting the requisite 20 minutes to ensure that I don’t have an allergic reaction. I wonder if I’m the only one here sobbing; it started the second I got the shot. It was painless. But it made me feel something, made me feel connected again to all the pain I’d been through this past year, to all the pain we’d been through, all the pain you’ve been through. Now, I’m ready to drive home...”

Associate professor of English and associate chair for creative writing hailed as ‘charismatic,’ ‘irreplaceable,’ and a ‘great poet and fine teacher’

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