The University of Colorado Boulder’s Grand Challenge expanded and enhanced by new projects, CWEST’s included

CU Boulder’s Grand Challenge, launched in September 2014, is the university’s response to President Obama’s nationwide call for companies, research universities, foundations and philanthropists to pursue the Grand Challenges of the 21st Century, “ambitious but achievable goals that harness science, technology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and that have the potential to capture the public’s imagination.”

“Our Space, Our Future” fuses CU Boulder’s unique strengths in earth, space and social sciences with new technologies and partners to address the pace and pattern of changes for our environment, our resources and our planet.

CWEST Director, Noah Molotch, received funding for a collaborative project that will join Grand Challenge Initiative research with CWEST research. The project aims to significantly advance the understanding of complex mountain ecosystems through the integration of ground sensor webs, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), satellite measurements, and an ecohydrological model. Ground, airborne, and satellite-based sensors focused on measuring snow cover, surface energy fluxes, and vegetation productivity will transform our understanding of the coupled water-energy-carbon cycles by identifying the time-space evolution of hot spots and hot moments with regard to seasonal and episodic transitions. His team proposes a new paradigm in integrated modeling and observations regarding plant-water interactions that will foster collaboration between CU’s IRISS and Earth Lab Grand Challenge Initiatives and two of CU’s largest Earth science programs – NSF’s Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research Program and NSF’s Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory.

Take a look at footage from an IRISS UAV flight on CU's Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles YouTube page.

These grants, awarded as part of the Innovative Seed Grant Program administered by CU Boulder’s Offices of the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Research, introduce new and promising research into the already vibrant mix of Grand Challenge projects, enhancing directions already underway and expanding into new and exciting areas of opportunity.

For more information on this program and research at CU Boulder, visit the website of the CU Boulder Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.