Congratulations to the 2024 CU Boulder Green Labs Award Winners!

On April 25, 2024, the CU Boulder Green Labs Program recognized five awardees for their outstanding contributions: 

• CEAS Dean’s Office Lab Space Optimization, Leadership Achievement

• John Henderson and George Carter, Partnership for Lab Sustainability

• Alison White, Individual Achievement

• Bimala Lama, Individual Achievement

• Jose Escobar, Individual Achievement

CEAS Dean’s Office Lab Space Optimization, Leadership Achievement

The Dean’s Office of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) has made remarkable progress for laboratory space optimization.  This effort is initiating a culture change in campus research and is of great importance for cost avoidance and climate action because lab spaces are not only expensive to construct but are also large energy users due to their ventilation needs.  Cherie Summers has been the lead for this effort in the Dean’s Office.  Data driven analysis of laboratory space use is enabling re-assignment of unused or underutilized lab space to meet growing research needs without the need to construct additional laboratories which costs at least $1 million for every 1000 square feet. This effort by the College of Engineering Dean’s Office is serving as a leadership example of how lab space optimization could be achieved across all campus laboratories.

John Henderson and George Carter, Partnership for Lab Sustainability

John and George's efforts are positively and significantly impacting the culture of lab sustainability within the Engineering Center.  Their help and support has been instrumental in the success of various Green Labs efforts in the center including the recent fume hood sash contest. John and George not only organized a process for Green Labs student staff to access the fume hoods but also facilitated communication with lab members, creating a welcoming environment for the student staff. Senior Assistant Dean Cherie Summers describes the hard work of John and George well: “Both of these gentlemen always go above and beyond in partnering with campus constituents and making the Engineering building and portfolio the very best it can be for our students, faculty & staff.”   ·  

Alison White, Individual Achievement:

For more than eight years, Alison has volunteered as Lab Eco-Leader for the Luger Lab in Biochemistry while also contributing to building-wide lab sustainability efforts.  She has led the Luger Lab to be one of the top scoring CU Boulder labs in the annual International Laboratory Freezer Challenge multiple times, promoted participation in ongoing lab waste diversion programs, worked to switch her lab away from methanol use to less toxic ethanol use for gel-staining, and helped establish “eco-modes” on JSCBB autoclaves which is estimated to be saving 1000 gallons of water each workday. Her unwavering commitment to promoting sustainable lab practices is having long-lasting positive impacts to advance sustainability among campus researchers.    

Bimala Lama, Individual Achievement

Over the past several years, Bimala has led the work within the Department of Chemistry to set-up and establish the collection of helium from NMRs to be re-liquified and re-used.  This work is important because helium is critical for both science and medicine and is becoming an endangered element. In fact, in recent years, the nation and the nation and world faced a shortage of helium. Bimala's efforts save research dollars while also saving this depleting and irreplaceable resource.   

Jose Escobar, Individual Achievement

Jose has performed outstanding work and leadership with managing the BioCore shared instrumentation program despite challenging circumstances that the program has experienced in recent years. When the BioCore manager role became vacant and, despite a large cut in funding, Jose put his all into stepping into the manager role at 20% time to keep this shared research equipment program moving forward.  Because of Jose’s efforts and his willingness to go above and beyond, the BioCore program is still alive today, providing equitable and inclusive access to resources by MCDB, EBIO, and IPHY researchers, and benefiting efficiency and cost avoidance in scientific research.