Of the 62 seniors graduating with a Technology, Arts & Media bachelor’s degree in 2020, ATLAS is recognizing the 12 students below with one of two awards. All have demonstrated initiative in their academic and extracurricular activities; completed projects that reflect technical creativity; and have had an impact on fellow students or faculty members through community or research involvement.

 

 ATLAS Outstanding Undergraduate Award

The Spring 2020 ATLAS Outstanding Undergraduate Awards recognize four graduating seniors who have pursued academic excellence and demonstrated exceptional creativity and curiosity in the pursuit of their degrees. By exemplifying qualities that distinguish ATLAS as a unique academic and research community, these individuals have earned the commendation of ATLAS faculty for their hard work, creativity, character and performance. 

Christopher Gaines holds clay-colored square with a tactile representation of a sun petroglyph

Touching the Sun with Solar Stones

ATLAS undergraduate students partnered with NASA's PUNCH mission and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind to make tactile representations of ancient petroglyphs.

Laura Devendorf stands smiling in the Unstable Design Lab while holding a colorful woven form and showing it to guests

Devendorf bridges engineering and craft communities with new initiative

The Unstable Design Lab director has embarked on the first phase of a years-long project to bring together engineering and craft communities to advance textile research across a range of scientific disciplines.

Ruhan Yang sits behind a table showing off paper circuits research at the conference

Colorado-based Computer Graphics Professionals Make Their Mark at SIGGRAPH 2024

ATLAS community members, including professor Ellen Do and PhD student Ruhan Yang, presented at this year's conference in Denver.

Ruhan stands in the ACME Lab holding examples of her paper robots

ATLAS PhD student deploys papercraft to make engineering tangible and fun

ATLAS PhD student Ruhan Yang blends papercraft and circuit design to make engineering more tangible, accessible and fun for tinkerers of all ages.

ATLAS Distinguished Undergraduates

In their own unique ways, the spring 2020 distinguished undergraduates listed below have demonstrated creativity, confidence, capability, community and collaboration. ATLAS recognizes them for their interdisciplinary accomplishments, their spirit of invention and creative exploration, and the many ways they have contributed to the ATLAS community. 

Christopher Gaines holds clay-colored square with a tactile representation of a sun petroglyph
Touching the Sun with Solar Stones

Aug. 27, 2024

ATLAS undergraduate students partnered with NASA's PUNCH mission and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind to make tactile representations of ancient petroglyphs.

Laura Devendorf stands smiling in the Unstable Design Lab while holding a colorful woven form and showing it to guests
Devendorf bridges engineering and craft communities with new initiative

Aug. 13, 2024

The Unstable Design Lab director has embarked on the first phase of a years-long project to bring together engineering and craft communities to advance textile research across a range of scientific disciplines.

Ruhan Yang sits behind a table showing off paper circuits research at the conference
Colorado-based Computer Graphics Professionals Make Their Mark at SIGGRAPH 2024

Aug. 2, 2024

ATLAS community members, including professor Ellen Do and PhD student Ruhan Yang, presented at this year's conference in Denver.

Ruhan stands in the ACME Lab holding examples of her paper robots
ATLAS PhD student deploys papercraft to make engineering tangible and fun

July 30, 2024

ATLAS PhD student Ruhan Yang blends papercraft and circuit design to make engineering more tangible, accessible and fun for tinkerers of all ages.

Suibi Che-Chuan Weng receives his award certificate
Public-private partnership drives attention for ATLAS research in augmented and mixed reality

July 18, 2024

ACME Lab members built relationships with industry players through the Pervasive Personalized Intelligence (PPI) Center by collaborating on solutions to challenges in building Internet of Things systems. Three ATLAS PhD students took home awards from the PPI Center's Spring 2024 Advisory Board Meeting.

Demonstration of biofibers spinning machine extruding fiber from gelatin substrate
How fibers spun from gelatin could help reduce textile waste

July 8, 2024

NPR interviews Utility Research Lab director, Michael Rivera, on biofibers research for use in sustainable textiles.

Bret Mann looks up in Black Box studio
Bret Mann retires after decades as the ATLAS Institute’s behind-the-scenes tech guru

June 27, 2024

Bret Mann, technical manager and broadcast engineer for ATLAS B2 Center for Media, Arts and Performance, retires on July 1, 2024. He was instrumental in designing the ATLAS Institute’s technical capabilities from the early days and oversaw dozens of technically-complex performances and events in the Black Box Experimental Studio.

examples of multi-color biofibers
Wear it, then recycle: ATLAS Designers make dissolvable textiles from gelatin

June 17, 2024

In a new study, a team of ATLAS engineers and designers developed a DIY machine that spins textile fibers made of materials like sustainably sourced gelatin. The group’s “biofibers” feel a bit like flax fiber and dissolve in hot water in minutes to an hour.