Fall 2019

Leading Edge

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 22:42:06 +0000

Leading Edge Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/28/2024 - 15:42

With more than $630 million in new research funding last year, our faculty are on the forefront of technological advancements with the potential to solve some of today’s most pressing challenges. Here’s a brief look at just a few of their projects.

Health monitoring in an ‘earable’ package

Tam Vu
Computer Science

Vu founded and directs the Mobile and Networked Systems lab, where his team is developing new wireless and mobile devices called earable computers. These small devices are worn on, in or near a user’s ears and can be used for unobtrusive monitoring of health conditions, such as sleep quality, or hands-free control of computers for people with disabilities. Most existing head-based sensing and stimulation methods are cumbersome, intrusive and expensive — suitable only for stationary and short-term use in clinics or hospitals. Placing these devices on the ear in a small package would make them significantly easier for users to fold into their daily lives. Vu recently received an NSF CAREER award to support this research, and preliminary work was supported by NSF and a Google Faculty Award.

Filters, cookstoves are making a difference

Evan Thomas
Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

A recent study found that a large-scale program to deliver water filters and portable biomass-burning cookstoves to Rwandan homes reduced the prevalence of reported diarrhea and acute respiratory infection in children under 5 by 29% and 25%, respectively. The results suggest that similar programs can provide an interim solution for rural populations that lack access to safe drinking water and rely on traditional fires for cooking. “Until now, there has been limited evidence of the effects when these products are delivered at scale,” said Thomas, a co-author on the study and director of the Mortenson Center for Global Engineering. “The study demonstrates the viability of bringing water filters and cookstoves to vulnerable households and will help inform future national initiatives.”

Breaking the limits on superconductivity

Charles Musgrave
Chemical and Biological Engineering
Sean Shaheen
Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Engineering faculty are beginning interdisciplinary research that could one day bring lossless power transmission lines, quantum computing and levitating trains closer to reality in everyday life. Those advancements can be achieved through superconductivity, which today is only possible through extremely cold temperatures and high pressures. Those aspects limit potential applications due to cost and logistics, but Musgrave and Shaheen — along with Daniel Dessau in physics — are working to develop organic, solid-state materials that exhibit superconductivity at conditions closer to room temperature and standard pressure. The research is being funded through a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Using plants to study social networks

Orit Peleg
Computer Science

Humans interact in social networks every day around the office coffee pot or online with Facebook. The structure and connections within these networks shape how information is shared. That in turn defines much of our modern life and collective behavior, though little is known about how or why these processes work. That’s because it’s difficult to study how these systems, with so many inputs and variables, actually work. Peleg is leading an international team of researchers trying to untangle this question by studying social systems in sunflowers. That plant is ideally suited because it adjusts its flowers and leaves to earn maximum sun exposure, throwing shade on nearby plants, which also adjust — creating a network. Peleg’s team is in charge of computer modeling for the project, which could also have agricultural implications related to maximizing planting space.

Wind turbines that mimic nature

Lucy Pao
Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Pao is overseeing testing on a new “morphing,” two-bladed wind turbine at the National Renewable Energy Lab. The new blades are much lighter and more flexible than traditional versions and bend like palm trees in the wind, making them ideal for offshore use. The rotors are also positioned downwind, meaning they bend away from the structure. This allows them to be built larger without risking damage should a strong wind push them into the tower. Finally, the two-blade design means less total material needed in construction.

Super ‘FAST’ response to disease outbreaks

Anushree Chatterjee
Chemical and Biological Engineering

When outbreaks happen, response time is crucial. Unfortunately, developing custom therapies as countermeasures through traditional channels is often a slow and arduous process. But with Chatterjee’s Facile Accelerated Specific Therapeutic (FAST) platform, the process of drug discovery to synthesis and creation of a new therapy can be completed in less than a week. The platform can produce therapies for any system or disease — from highly adaptive microbial super bugs to radiation poisoning in astronauts — by targeting genes and gene expression.

Tattoos to prevent skin cancer

Carson Bruns
Mechanical Engineering, ATLAS

Bruns is developing tattoos that are both beautiful and functional. In his recent TEDxMileHigh talk, he said, “Tattoos will soon be able to give us information about what’s going on inside our bodies.” Bruns is experimenting with loading microcapsules with UV-sensitive, heat-sensitive and conductive dyes. With UV-sensitive dyes, he has been able to create and test what he refers to as “solar freckles,” small tattooed spots that appear when exposed to the sun. He hopes they will help protect against the 5 million preventable cases of skin cancer in the U.S. each year. Beyond sun exposure, Bruns sees a future where tattoos measure body temperature, blood sugar levels and blood alcohol content; make skin less likely to wrinkle; and help the skin of burn victims protect internal organs from being more severely damaged.

Self-healing, fully recyclable e-skin

Jianliang Xiao
Mechanical Engineering

Xiao and Wei Zhang of chemistry are developing a new kind of material for electronic skins that may also have the ability to shapeshift. Their completely recyclable, self-healing and flexible e-skin has applications in human health, robotics, prosthetics and beyond. Xiao’s focus has been on improving the e-skin’s mechanical performance. He and his research group are developing an antenna that can change shape, enabling an autonomous change in characteristics. When exposed to a stimulus, the material transforms. When the stimulus is removed, the elasticity of the device leads it to morph back into its original shape. This technology may also be used as a way to monitor a person’s vital signs, improve robotic interactions with human environments and increase capabilities for prosthetic devices.

The softer side of robotics

Christoph Keplinger
Mechanical Engineering

For many decades, people have dreamed of robotic solutions for a variety of tasks. While progress has been made in robot brains, their bodies have seen few advancements. Because they are typically made with rigid materials like metal and traditional rigid electric motors, robot capabilities are limited. The materials also make human interactions with robots less safe and make it difficult for robots to adapt to unpredictable challenges. “Soft robotics will enable a new generation of more lifelike prosthetics for people who have lost parts of their bodies,” Keplinger said. “With soft robotics, we will also be able to enhance and restore agility and dexterity, and thereby help older people maintain autonomy longer.” Drawing inspiration from soft and deformable materials found in nature, like muscle and skin, Keplinger is researching and building artificial muscles or soft actuators, which will advance what robots can do.

Mini-microscope for deep brain imaging

Juliet Gopinath
Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
Victor Bright
Mechanical Engineering

A team of researchers from the �鶹ӰԺ and University of Colorado Anschutz have demonstrated a microscope that fits on the head of a freely behaving mouse and can peer deeply inside the brain.

The microscope, known as the 2P-FCM, uses an electrowetting lens being developed by Bright and Gopinath. The scope is mounted on the head of a freely moving mouse, where a high-powered, fiber optic light can view and control neural activity as it happens. The lens is liquid and can change shape when electricity is applied. The device enables deep brain imaging and better understanding of animal behaviors, such as spatial navigation, sleep and social interactions.

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Project TORUS

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 22:41:31 +0000

Project TORUS Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/28/2024 - 15:41

Drones get inside look at supercell storms

Professor Eric Frew talks drone-based storm research and the movie Twister.
Podcast

Researchers from CU �鶹ӰԺ flew drones into severe storms this spring for project TORUS, one of the largest and most ambitious drone-based investigations of meteorological phenomena ever, with students leading much of the work.

Project TORUS–or Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells – is a partnership between CU �鶹ӰԺ, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (which is leading the work), Texas Tech University, the University of Oklahoma and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and it will continue into 2020. The goal of the project is to collect data to improve the conceptual model of supercell thunderstorms–the parent storms of the most destructive tornadoes – to help with future forecasting. Better forecasting means more warning time and fewer false alarms, potentially saving lives in the future, said Professor Eric Frew, who was a PI on the project.

“What was really exciting about what we were able to accomplish was that these drones were designed, fielded and operated by students,” Frew said. “I had sophomores and juniors on this team accomplishing something that had never been done before.”

CU’s portion of the project was led by faculty from the College of Engineering and Applied Science through the Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing initiative (IRISS). The team was responsible for piloting up to three drones simultaneously around the storms to measure temperature, pressure, humidity and wind speeds. Drones are a critical component of the overall TORUS project because they sense data from inside the storm, data that cannot be obtained without physically being there to take the measurements. In all, the CU team totaled over 40 hours of air time on 51 flights, including seven tornado-producing storms over the nearly monthlong deployment throughout the Great Plains.

The college has been using drones for this type of work since 2010 and was the first to do so in the world. The lessons learned over the years informed the design of the new unmanned aircraft used this spring. Built from lightweight yet high-strength foam from RiteWing RC, the drones include an avionics system and many other aspects custom-built by the team. They are also modular in design, allowing for fast and easy repairs in the field.

Aerospace engineering senior Danny Liebert pilots one of the drones for the team and said he loves how rugged it is compared to the previous “TTwistor” model.

“The TTwistor drone we used was great but just not as durable. These new aircraft are awesome. They take it like a champ out there,” he said.

IRISS Engineering Manager Steve Borenstein said the opportunity for hands-on experience for students through the project is unrivaled.

“Our field campaigns challenge the entire team every day in terms of solving logistical problems and technical troubleshooting. Every student has a critical role in the preparations and mission deployments, including pilots, operators, and ground support,” he said. “Deployments are a tough three weeks, but the students leave with experience and memories that will last them forever.”

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Startup success

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:16:15 +0000

Startup success Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/01/2019 - 11:16

College goes all-in on entrepreneurship

An entrepreneur’s journey might never be painless. But CU Engineering is going all in to ensure that its graduates are ready to tackle the challenges of launching and scaling a startup.

Since naming entrepreneurship a priority in its Strategic Vision and hiring its first entrepreneurship director in 2018, the college has redoubled its efforts to keep innovation and entrepreneurship top of mind for students and faculty.

With a new entrepreneurship minor and expanded course offerings, increasing ties to campus accelerator programs, and dedicated spaces for dreamers and doers, we are weaving entrepreneurial skills into the fabric of the CU Engineering student experience from the time they set foot on campus. At the same time, homegrown startups are enjoying a banner year.

“We’ve been blown away by the ambition and progress of our CU Engineering student and faculty ventures,” said Kyle Judah, director of entrepreneurship. “And there’s still overwhelming demand and interest in more entrepreneurship programs and resources. So we’re rapidly creating resources in and out of the classroom to support founders at every step of the journey.”

Entrepreneurship minor launches

We launched a 15-credit entrepreneurship minor this fall to better equip students curious about starting their own venture.

With core courses in Entrepreneurial Product Design and Tech Ventures & Marketing, plus entrepreneurial capstone courses and a growing list of electives, students can immerse themselves in the ecosystem without losing progress toward graduation. They can explore topics that capture their interests, including blockchain, civic innovation, sustainability and big data.

The minor is available to students in any engineering department or the Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science major offered through the College of Arts and Sciences. And the individual courses are open to students from any major, allowing collaborations that mimic the real world.

Engineers win NVC

Now in its 11th year, CU �鶹ӰԺ’s New Venture Challenge (NVC) trains participants to develop a business venture from scratch, connect with customers, create a product and craft a compelling pitch for investors.

For the first time this spring, NVC offered a hardware track, sponsored by CU Engineering, to specifically support teams focused on creating physical products.

The winning group, Stride Tech, created a device that attaches to seniors’ walkers to track gait problems before they result in dangerous falls. They emerged from the new hardware track to win the grand prize: $100,000 to move from idea toward reality.

The team, which formed out of the mechanical engineering senior entrepreneurial capstone course and the Design for America student group, included Engineering Plus students Tim Visos-Ely, Max Watrous and Humsini Acharya, and mechanical engineering student Andrew Plum.

Catalyze CU accelerator expands

Engineers turned out in droves for the Catalyze CU startup accelerator, which expanded from 10 to 12 weeks in 2019 and included skill-building workshops, mentoring sessions with local entrepreneurs and up to $5,000 in equity-free financing for each team.

For the second consecutive year, at least half of the full-time participants were women. Each student founder also received $3,000—provided by CU Engineering and the Caruso Foundation, led by philanthropists Dan and Cindy Caruso of Zayo Group—to cover summer living expenses so they could concentrate on establishing their ventures.

Bigger spaces for bigger dreams

The addition that will connect the Leeds School of Business and the Engineering Center will include entrepreneurship space. But while it’s under construction, the college also established a “pop-up” entrepreneurial space in the recently vacated aerospace wing to support student founders.

“We didn’t want to wait until the connector’s done to start supporting our student entrepreneurs,” Judah said. “We want to build that energy, that density of entrepreneurial talent, so when the new E-Ship space opens in 2020, we’ll have momentum in our favor.”

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Wage warrior

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Wage warrior Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/01/2019 - 00:00

An entrepreneur, to me, is a person who sees an unmet need. When you know that you have to solve this problem, you become an entrepreneur in that moment.

Alumnus tackles financial inequality through mobile technology

For the roughly 100 million Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, the financial services industry can be confusing, burdensome or downright exploitative. Late fees, overdraft penalties and predatory payday loans can turn a temporary setback into a crippling cycle of despair.

But what if you could access your own earned money before payday—seamlessly, confidentially and at little to no cost? That’s the promise of PayActiv, a 5-year-old company led by founder and CEO Safwan Shah (MSElEngr’90, PhDAeroEngr’94).

Shah said the venture was driven not by an entrepreneurial impulse but by the perennial calling of an engineer: to solve problems.

“Entrepreneurship was entirely accidental,” Shah said. “An entrepreneur, to me, is a person who sees an unmet need. When you know that you have to solve this problem, you become an entrepreneur in that moment. When problem-solving is pursued with laser focus, entrepreneurship ensues.”

It’s �鶹ӰԺ TIME: How Businesses Can Save the World showcases his original ideas in short essays.

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Engineering startups in the news

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Engineering startups in the news Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/01/2019 - 00:00

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Liftoff

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:11:40 +0000

Liftoff Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/28/2019 - 15:11

Aerospace has a new home at CU �鶹ӰԺ.

The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences has moved into its new dedicated building on East Campus.

Eighteen months after construction began, the four-story, 175,000-square-foot structure was completed over the summer. Classes and research are underway inside.

“This new building celebrates a bright and vibrant future in aerospace for the university, our students, the state of Colorado and our nation,” said Bobby Braun, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Discussions with faculty and students influenced the design of the facility. It will allow for expanded course offerings, facilitate new research collaborations and cement CU �鶹ӰԺ as the hub of Colorado’s aerospace industry, which is ranked first in the United States in private employment concentration.

“This building allows us to bring together all of our aerospace research enterprises and teaching enterprises in one beautiful location that we can showcase to the world,” said Brian Argrow, chair of Smead Aerospace. “Colorado is a leader in this field, and having a facility like this demonstrates our generational commitment.”

Above photo: Drones lift a ‘Cut Before Flight’ ribbon to Ann Smead (left) and Brian Argrow at the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building grand opening ceremony on August 26, 2019.

In the year 2071

A time capsule containing aerospace artifacts will stay burined buried in front of the new aerospace building until 2071.

See what's inside

Building better space situational awareness

Marcus Holzinger is investigating ways to track objects in orbit, and his team is taking full advantage of the new aerospace engineering sciences building to do it.

“This building is world class, and I was hired before the blueprints were finalized, so they were able to add something—pouring an extra thick concrete pad on the roof in one area to add an 18-foot dome for telescopes,” Holzinger said.

Holzinger, an associate professor and Smead faculty fellow, researches space situational awareness (SSA), which involves monitoring satellites and debris orbiting the Earth.

It’s a field that got a boost in public awareness from the film Gravity, in which debris from a destroyed satellite sets off a chain reaction of crashes and failures.

While Gravity was fiction, the principle behind it is not. The risk of a cascade failure in orbit has been a concern of space scientists since the late ’70s.

Today, the Air Force and NASA maintain tracking networks, keeping tabs on everything in orbit larger than a grapefruit. Holzinger’s work is about improving those tracking systems and designing systems so satellites can avoid obstacles autonomously.

The dome Holzinger is placing on the roof will house three robotic telescopes that focus on nearby space-based objects.

Aerospace walk of fame

A special outdoor feature at the new building was created to illustrate the state’s bright and active aerospace industry in a concrete way—literally.

The brick walkway leading to the northeast entrance of the building has engraved pavers with the names of every aerospace company that has operations in or calls Colorado home.

“There are 462 companies named,” said Doug Smith, associate dean for programs and engagement. “We did fairly serious research internally and with the Colorado Space Coalition to make the list. We wanted to include everyone.”

Colorado has the second-largest aerospace economy in the country, employing more than 190,000 people in space-related jobs.

Donation will further fuel aerospace initiatives

Karl Dawson “K.D.” Wood; Credit: Carnegie Library for Local; History/�鶹ӰԺ Daily Camera Collection

An anonymous alumnus is providing $1 million to endow two funds for project-based learning: The K.D. Wood Student Scholar Fund and the K.D. Wood Projects Scholar Award.

Karl Dawson “K.D.” Wood was a pioneer in plane and spacecraft design who founded the aeronautical engineering department at CU �鶹ӰԺ in 1946 and served as the department’s first chair.

As a professor, he emphasized project-based learning, which had a lifelong impact on the donor, said Erin Gage, director of development in the Office of Advancement.

“This alumnus thrived in that environment, and it’s what he’s done in his career. As a donor, his intention from the beginning was to honor Professor Wood,” Gage said.

Wood died in 1995 at age 96. His son, Bob, an aerospace engineer who graduated from CU �鶹ӰԺ, said the gift is a fitting honor.

“My father always stressed the importance of doing things hands-on. That’s how he learned while working for the airplane companies, and so he taught the same way to students,” Wood said.

K.D. Wood officially retired from CU �鶹ӰԺ in 1967, but remained an active instructor in the department, continuing to teach into his 80s.

The Student Scholar Fund will support scholarships for graduate students interested in industry careers. The Projects Scholar Award will be used to recruit additional industry professionals to serve on the faculty.

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College News Fall 2019

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 06:00:00 +0000

College News Fall 2019 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/18/2019 - 00:00

Johnson returns to her roots

For the second installment of the Dean’s Speaker Series, Bobby Braun sat down for a chat with Kristina Johnson, chancellor of the largest university system in the nation (State University of New York) and a former Obama appointee in the U.S. Department of Energy. The two discussed her experiences as an entrepreneur, her leadership philosophy and much more before an engaged crowd of students, faculty and alumni on May 1.

Johnson, who is a former faculty member in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ, also took time to visit her old stomping grounds during a meet-and-greet with the Women in ECEE student group, in addition to sharing her experiences with students during lunch in the BOLD Center.

During her chat with Braun, she looked back on some of her accomplishments at CU �鶹ӰԺ, including co-founding the Optoelectronics Computing Systems Center in the late 1980s. She said she still remembers how it felt to be well-established as a researcher for the first time.

“Today I was asked by a faculty member, ‘What was the best part of your career?’” she said. “And I have to say, it was 1993–95, after we got the labs up and running, and we had graduate students. I got tenure, and I just really embraced it and ran with it.”

Keeping your eye on becoming an engineer and facing that initial barrier and being resilient and persistent – after that, you can do anything.

During the Q&A portion of the evening, an undergraduate student asked Johnson how she remains so versatile as an entrepreneur, educator and leader. She credited her engineering education.

“Engineering is hard – at least I found it hard,” Johnson said. “So keeping your eye on becoming an engineer and facing that initial barrier and being resilient and persistent – after that, you can do anything.”

[video:https://youtu.be/2ZYThBSkZsc]

Lobby named in recognition of couple’s scholarship gifts

The Engineering Center holds fond memories for CU �鶹ӰԺ alumni Ashok Srivastava and Lynn Waelde. The couple met while working on their PhDs and spent hours writing their dissertations together over coffee in the lobby. So it’s fitting that, in recognition of the couple’s recent gift to the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the lobby was designated the Srivastava-Waelde Engineering Lobby on April 25.

The gift from Srivastava (ElEngr’91, M’93, PhD’96) and Waelde (MPsych’91, PhD’95) will support scholarships for students in aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering or computer science who are involved in organizations promoting a diverse student body. Waelde is a professor at Palo Alto University and an adjunct clinical professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Srivastava is a senior vice president and chief data officer at Intuit, where he is responsible for leading efforts in large-scale machine learning and AI across the enterprise.

Student team takes cybersecurity concept to national pitch competition

From left: Trevor Stanley, Chris Coffey, Will Shand, Cory Cranford and Gerano Montoya.

CU �鶹ӰԺ was among only six universities invited to present an innovative network security concept in June as part of Starts H4D, a pitch competition for cutting-edge national security solutions.

The group presented at Founders Fund, a leading venture capital firm in San Francisco, alongside teams from Stanford, the University of Southern California and Duke on projects including image recognition of drones, GPS jammer detection, innovative learning platforms and IoT security.

The CU �鶹ӰԺ team included computer science graduate student Trevor Stanley, Leeds School of Business student Chris Coffey, applied mathematics master’s student Will Shand, Technology, Cybersecurity and Policy program master’s student Cory Cranford, and mechanical engineering master’s student Gerano Montoya.

Their team, CharIoT (Characterizing the Internet of Things), developed a new machine learning approach for identifying different kinds of internet-enabled devices on a network.

New space for entrepreneurial collaborations is underway

Our students need more than technical knowledge to impact today’s increasingly complex society.

Business & Engineering Expansion

Business and engineering leadership, students and friends celebrated the official groundbreaking on June 5 of a $45 million addition that will physically connect the two CU �鶹ӰԺ academic and research powerhouses.

In 2020, the Koelbel Building, which houses the Leeds School of Business, will be physically connected to the Engineering Center. The 45,000-square-foot addition will feature a 200-seat auditorium and an innovation and entrepreneurship hub, where students from any discipline can collaborate with faculty and local business leaders to explore new ideas.

Engineering Dean Bobby Braun said a permanent hub to support entrepreneurial collaborations will help create the jobs of the future.

“Our students need more than technical knowledge to impact today’s increasingly complex society,” Braun said. “Our recent growth in entrepreneurial activities, built upon expanding partnerships across campus and the state, demonstrates the value of well-rounded students with critical thinking skills and hands-on expertise.

Regents approve new biomedical engineering degrees

Good news for students looking to pursue careers in the biomedical industry: New undergraduate and graduate degrees in biomedical engineering could launch as early as fall 2020.

The CU Board of Regents approved the new degrees in the College of Engineering and Applied Science in June. Through these bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, students will have the chance to pursue classes from across the university, across engineering, and in biology and mathematics. The goal, organizers say, is to tap into a medical world that increasingly gears treatments to individuals and depends on rapidly evolving technologies.

The degrees are the first of their kind in the CU system, and no other university in the state offers a stand-alone undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering.

Herbst celebrates 30th anniversary with new name

Herbst Lesser House

Thirty years ago, a gift from Clancy and Linda (Vitti) Herbst created the Herbst Program of Humanities in Engineering. Since then, the program has been committed to helping students develop a personal sense of responsibility as the basis for lifelong private and professional integrity.

After deliberations among the Herbst faculty and stakeholders, the program has decided to update its name to better reflect its scope and mission. The program will now be known as the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics and Society.

Herbst courses challenge students to apply intellectual rigor to the ethical and social complexities of being engineers. In the past, the program was known by the humanities, whose rich and varied works have helped students explore these complexities. The new program name reflects those complexities themselves: the nexus of engineering, ethics and society.

Ball Corp. gift will support scholarships, new aerospace building

Two recent gifts from Ball Corp. and its foundation will support the new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building and scholarships for diverse students through the BOLD Center.

“Ball Corporation is a leader in so many ways in our community, and we’re thankful for their partnership in developing the workforce of the future,” Dean Bobby Braun said. “Ball embodies the term ‘good corporate citizen.’ In addition to its generous financial support, the company’s leadership and employees are committed to volunteering, and advising our students and faculty.”

CU partners with Ball in many ways across the campus, including with senior engineering design. The company also has a strong recruiting and professional development presence on campus, including career and internship fairs, networking events, activities during National Engineers Week and a mentoring program through the BOLD Center.

“We are pleased to support a strengthening and expansion of aerospace engineering sciences and look forward to the impact it will make for the students, faculty and the pipeline of talent for industry,” said John Hayes, Ball chairman, president and CEO. “We are committed to working with CU to develop this talent through our scholarship support and mentoring of students by Ball employees.”

An aerospace student works in the PILOT lab in the new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building on East Campus

VIDEO: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein Q&A with CU �鶹ӰԺ students

[video:https://youtu.be/EKOR7xkPHYM]

On Aug. 23, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visited CU �鶹ӰԺ where he toured the university's new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building.

During a whirlwind visit to campus, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine toured CU �鶹ӰԺ's new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building, the new home of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. This roughly 175,000 square-foot facility will house researchers designing the next generation of toaster-sized satellites, hypersonic planes and more. Read full story >

Photo Gallery

Photos by Casey Cass/CU �鶹ӰԺ.

Leading With Impact

Alumni event puts spotlight on cybersecurity

The college held its first Leading With Impact alumni speaker series events this spring in California’s Bay Area, focusing on a hot topic: cybersecurity.

“There is a lot of energy in that field here at the college right now because of the newly reorganized and named Technology, Cybersecurity and Policy program,” said Kevin Lobdell, the college’s director of alumni engagement. “This event tapped into that, showing the interdisciplinary nature of the work and showcasing how the college is leading in many ways.”

Lobdell’s team organized the event, which brought together alumni, faculty, staff and friends over the course of two evenings in Palo Alto and San Francisco in June. While there were built-in networking opportunities, the event featured a panel discussion on how CU �鶹ӰԺ researchers are anticipating and preventing cybersecurity risks, and how the TCP program is addressing a shortage in the cybersecurity workforce.

Panel speakers included TCP Program Director Dan Massey, incoming computer science Associate Professor Nolen Scaife, and Colorado Computer Science Teachers Association President Bobbie Bastian.

Manasa Suresh, a 2019 graduate of the TCP program, said she really enjoyed the event.

“It was a great opportunity to meet folks who are experts in the field of networking and security,” she said.

Lobdell said the college will host other Leading With Impact events with different themes in the coming year. While locations are still being confirmed, one likely location is Denver.

“There are lots of alumni watch parties for games, but this is an educational way to complement and share the impact the college is having in the world right now and build connections between alumni,” he said.

New faculty

New faculty attending Faculty Orientation 2019

CU Engineering has hired 66 tenure-track faculty and more than 35 instructional faculty members in the past three years – a hiring rate almost unheard of in higher education.

“We’re very excited to see how this new group innovates in research and teaching at CU �鶹ӰԺ,” Dean Bobby Braun said.

Twenty-nine percent of the tenure-track hires were women, and 23% were hired at the associate professor level or above, meaning they already had a few years of teaching and research under their belts.

Faculty members have been hired for both department-level positions and in new interdisciplinary searches that represent focus areas where the college is looking to build capacity. This year, that included hypersonics, quantum information systems and imaging science.

The college’s efforts to increase diversity among faculty and students has resonated with candidates, said Joann Silverstein, associate dean for faculty development. The opportunity to innovate in teaching and the interdisciplinary nature of the campus and college was also a big draw.

Hope Michelson is joining mechanical engineering as an associate professor in 2020 after spending 20 years at Sandia National Laboratory. At Sandia, she said, most of her collaborations were with people outside her institution, so she’s looking forward to more face-time with her fellow faculty.

“The department is extremely collaborative and super friendly,” said Michelson, whose research focuses include soot formation during combustion and black carbon evolution in the atmosphere. “I’m really looking forward to having those kinds of relationships at work.”

While she will be relatively new to teaching, the ability to work with the next generation of engineers was part of the attraction to CU �鶹ӰԺ.

“I’m really excited about working with students and having that new, fresh energy and a different perspective on things,” she said.

Giving: A year of generosity

The College of Engineering and Applied Science led the campus in fundraising efforts during fiscal year 2018. Thank you to all of our alumni, donors and industry partners for your continued support!

Funds Raised

Total Funds Raised

$40,733,156

Scholarship Dollars Raised

$12,027,812

Dollars Raised for Diversity Initiatives

$3,236,330

Aerospace Campaign Dollars Raised

$9,502,570

Corporate Dollars Raised

$10,305,948

Other Dollars Raised

$5,660,497

I have a great job because of my CU education, so I thought giving back would be the best way to show my appreciation.

Total Gifts – 2,843

Corporate Donors – 216

Non-Alumni Donors – 312

Young Alumni Donors – 208

Total Donors – 1,836

I give back to CU because CU gave so much to me. I don’t do it for recognition – I do it to know that I am helping the college develop the next generation of leaders in engineering.

Heritage Society: A Lasting Legacy

Leaving a gift to the University of Colorado in estate plans or with a charitable life-income gift forever integrates your legacy with that of our transformative university. Your contribution provides the promise of a high-quality education to the next generations of students, empowering their success through outstanding teaching, learning, research, service and health care.

The University of Colorado established the Heritage Society to recognize and honor those who have shared their intentions to support CU through a planned gift, including provisions in a will or living trust, a beneficiary designation on a retirement
account or with a life-income gift, such as a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust.

Our Heritage Society members provide CU Engineering with the long-term stability we need to provide scholarships to deserving students like Sarah and Wesley.

Wesley Shen (left) and Sarah Foley

$408,580

Realized dollars from planned gifts, 2019

11 New Donors

committed, for more than $14 million

Growing up in Taiwan then coming to this country was not an easy transition. Besides the language barrier and difficulties making friends, college tuition was also something to bear in mind. Receiving this award has made it much easier for me in the way that I don’t have to be working whenever I wasn’t doing schoolwork; I got to invest some of my free time in making new friends. Moreover, I got to participate in other extracurricular activities, such as being part of the Freshman Engineering Council and CU International.

Upon receiving this award, I’ve thought about giving back to the CU community one day as well. This day can come as early as the age of 30 or it could be something that I’ll leave behind, like how Eugene has done.

Wesley Shen
Eugene Carroll Scholarship recipient

This award allowed me to come out to Colorado to attend this excellent institution and study aerospace engineering. If it weren’t for generous gifts like these, I would not be able to travel from my home in Massachusetts to Colorado, or be able to afford the out-of-state tuition. As a first-generation college student of Irish immigrants, every penny helps make it possible to become the first engineer in my family, and I could not be more grateful to have this opportunity. Coming to Colorado allows me the chance to work for companies in the space industry that I never dreamed I could, such as Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and many more.

Sarah Foley
M. Jeanne Place Scholarship recipient

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White

Fall 2019

Leading Edge

Health monitoring in an ‘earable’ package

Filters, cookstoves are making a difference

Breaking the limits on superconductivity

Using plants to study social networks

Wind turbines that mimic nature

Super ‘FAST’ response to disease outbreaks

Tattoos to prevent skin cancer

Self-healing, fully recyclable e-skin

The softer side of robotics

Mini-microscope for deep brain imaging

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Project TORUS

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Startup success

Entrepreneurship minor launches

Engineers win NVC

Catalyze CU accelerator expands

Bigger spaces for bigger dreams

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Wage warrior

It’s �鶹ӰԺ TIME: How Businesses Can Save the World showcases his original ideas in short essays.

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Engineering startups in the news

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Liftoff

In the year 2071

Building better space situational awareness

Aerospace walk of fame

Donation will further fuel aerospace initiatives

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College News Fall 2019

Johnson returns to her roots

Keeping your eye on becoming an engineer and facing that initial barrier and being resilient and persistent – after that, you can do anything.

Lobby named in recognition of couple’s scholarship gifts

Student team takes cybersecurity concept to national pitch competition

New space for entrepreneurial collaborations is underway

Regents approve new biomedical engineering degrees

Herbst celebrates 30th anniversary with new name

Ball Corp. gift will support scholarships, new aerospace building

VIDEO: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein Q&A with CU �鶹ӰԺ students

Photo Gallery

Leading With Impact

New faculty

Giving: A year of generosity

I have a great job because of my CU education, so I thought giving back would be the best way to show my appreciation.

Total Gifts – 2,843

Corporate Donors – 216

Non-Alumni Donors – 312

Young Alumni Donors – 208

Total Donors – 1,836

I give back to CU because CU gave so much to me. I don’t do it for recognition – I do it to know that I am helping the college develop the next generation of leaders in engineering.

Heritage Society: A Lasting Legacy

$408,580 Realized dollars from planned gifts, 2019 11 New Donors committed, for more than $14 million

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$408,580

Realized dollars from planned gifts, 2019

11 New Donors

committed, for more than $14 million