CU Boulder innovations fuel ventures with broad societal impact

Students hear a presentation at an installation of Science on a Sphere (SOS) developed at NOAA and CIRES.

Across CU Boulder, researchers and entrepreneurs have turned insights into programs and companies that reach into classrooms, clinics and communities with efforts focused on education, public health, mental wellness and more. While their efforts vary widely, they share a common purpose: putting people first.

The Renée Crown Wellness Institute has three such initiatives built on partnerships with communities, schools, families and kids that show how their research is directly tied to uplifting adults and young people. InsideU, an online program, helps children process emotions, and another, Mindful Mood Balance for Moms, employs mindfulness to reduce prenatal and postpartum depression. Compassion and Dignity for Educators is aimed at reducing stress and burnout and strengthening resilience in K–12 teachers.

“It’s a different way of doing research, and we think that’s a big part of the impact that we’ve had … reaching many thousands of kids and young people, educators and schools and families,” said Institute Director Sona Dimidjian, who is also a professor of psychology and neuroscience. Institute programming has already impacted nearly 40,000 kids, caregivers and educators. 

Science on a Sphere (SOS), a room-sized global display system that was developed by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist and is now co-managed by CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), is another educational tool with a human-centered mission. Computers and video projectors display planetary data onto a three-dimensional, six-foot diameter globe in vivid motion, helping people understand complex environmental processes like climate change in an immediate and memorable way. 

SOS, now available as a desktop application and free mobile app, has reached more than 200 museums, universities, government facilities and private companies, with an annual audience of over 67 million people. When people first see it in action, “Awe is the main reaction,” said Beth Russell, senior program coordinator for SOS at CIRES’ Center for Education, Engagement and Evaluation.

PhET Interactive Simulations is another venture making science more accessible with over 170 open-access simulations in math, science and statistics available to millions of STEM students and teachers. PhET, which originally stood for “Physics Education Technology” when CU Boulder Nobel laureate Carl Wieman launched the project in 2002, continues to grow with users running over 1.7 billion online simulations, and many more offline. It has what Kathy Perkins, PhET director and physics professor, calls “the largest global footprint of any outreach project at CU Boulder.” 

The university’s impact also extends to global health and infrastructure through VitriVax, a mission-driven biotechnology company, co-founded by Robert Garcea, professor emeritus of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and Ted Randolph, professor of chemical and biological engineering, that’s working to improve global vaccination rates. The company is doing that by advancing a one-shot, thermo-stable vaccine delivery system meant to improve access in places where refrigeration is unreliable.

That technology was born of a chance conversation in the corridor of the BioFrontiers Institute. With VitriVax, he said, “We’ve gone basically from the bench to somebody’s arm.”

With a similar desire to improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people, Evan Thomas, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering and director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience, founded Virridy to tackle water security. In addition to creating a continuous water quality monitoring system, the company uses satellite-linked sensors to monitor water pumps in East Africa and North America, helping communities secure clean water while also supporting crops, livestock and lower-emission water treatment. 

“Our most important accomplishment is that over five million people have received clean water for over 10 years,” said Thomas. “We’re very proud of that.” Virridy and the Mortensen Center are on track to support another five million people with clean water in East Africa by 2030.