 
Investing in a Great Engineering Community
Articles in this issue of CUTechnology clearly demonstrate the quality, diversity, and creativity of research being conducted in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. In fact, it is a huge job to simply keep track and report on the work that is underway by our faculty, student teams and industry partners. Our readers may be best served by the college's new web page (www.colorado.edu/engineering), which includes updated information from each of the six departments and 16 research centers. If one of these cutting edge research projects intrigues you, there are many ways you can pursue your interest. First, you are encouraged to learn more about what we are doing, both through our many publications and our new web page, but also through direct contact with our faculty and students. The college community has a strong reputation for accessibility and openness. Engineering faculty and staff hope to attract the next generation of young engineers and to de-mystify the practice of engineering to the general public. Our belief in openness and access can actually be witnessed by the very design of new facilities in the College of Engineering on the CU-Boulder campus. The Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory (ITLL) also serves as a public place with science exhibits and open areas for touring and observing engineering in everyday life. The architectural designs for the new Discovery Learning Center also include a generous allocation of space for visitors, from public tours to visiting research faculty. In addition to learning more about innovative research, you also can consider investing in the people, places and projects that support basic and applied research in the college. You can direct a personal or corporate contribution to the specific research arena that interests you or perhaps has a potential product or innovation that could have profound social or economic impacts. Examples from the accompanying articles include investing in chemical engineering professor Kristi Anseth's work to create customized polymers and engineer cartilage in the human body; supporting aerospace engineering professor George Born's project, which analyzes data from earth-orbiting satellites to improve the accuracy of predicting the intensity and storm surge of hurricanes; or helping provide equipment support for environmental engineering professors Shelly Miller and Mark Hernandez to determine whether ultraviolet lights can prevent the spread of a potent new bacteria found in hospital settings. These are only a few examples of the real world problems and research challenges our faculty are taking on, using teams of talented students and technical experts in the College of Engineering. Remember that at the same time you are investing in the college's internationally recognized research, you are also making a charitable contribution to the University of Colorado, a non-profit organization. Private gifts to the college are received by the CU Foundation and then credited to the specific engineering department, faculty, or research center for whom the gift is intended. Engineering supporters/investors can also direct their gifts to students and faculty through graduate fellowships and endowed professorships. This is truly a great time to invest in the College of Engineering. We are rapidly completing the design of the Discovery Learning Center, which will be the most advanced engineering research facility we can build. True to the innovative nature of the world of engineering, some of the information technology infrastructure for the research labs (i.e. remote video cameras, data storage systems) is still under research and development, and will not be available until the building is completed! The faculty also welcomes gifts in kind of hardware and software for their labs and research projects. Facilities in the existing Engineering Center must undergo continuous improvement, so private support for top quality research is an ongoing challenge for all of us. Acknowledging the college's success in world-class research, The Kresge Foundation is challenging the readers of CUTechnology to invest in the Discovery Learning Center. The Kresge Foundation will contribute $600,000 toward the construction of the Discovery Learning Center, if our alumni, friends and corporate partners raise the final $1.3 million in construction costs. This is truly a Kresge "challenge" grant in that we must raise the final $1.3 million by January 1, 2001. We are also hoping to expand the number of investors in the college, so please consider making a gift at whatever level you feel comfortable. We are on the way to creating an exciting new research facility that will be open to you, the investors, to tour and sit down with one of our faculty members, or perhaps a team of students, to learn more about anything from computers that fit inside credit cards to space missions to Mars in the next millenium. If you are interested in investing in our faculty and students, or in a specific research project, or if you want to support the college as a great engineering community, please contact: Paul Bauman |
By Paul C. Bauman
