Students

Soil is comprised of an intricate network of bacteria and other microbes that humans depend on, but this complex environmental system is constantly shifting, making it difficult for scientists to measure. Associate Professor Gregory Whiting and his team of researchers are developing reliable, inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors that monitor soil in real time to help farmers optimize their use of fertilizers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money in the process.

Go for launch! The 12-foot-tall rocket roared off the pad, streaming higher and higher until it was barely more than a pinprick in the morning sky. At 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 12, the University of Colorado Boulder Sounding Rocket Lab

The Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES) has named CU Boulder as one of the top 200 colleges for Indigenous students in its 2025-2026 national rankings. AISES is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the representation of Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in STEM fields.

The win came at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ international Chem-E-Car competition in Boston, where CU Boulder’s poster stood out among 56 teams.

Arianna McCarty, a chemical and biological engineering senior, has distinguished herself through a remarkable combination of academic and research excellence, earning the Astronaut, Boettcher and Goldwater scholarships. Her research spans computational genomics, the respiratory microbiome and tissue engineering aimed at improving heart health.

Shellene Redhorse, an aerospace engineering student and president of CU Boulder’s chapter of Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES), took her passion for space science beyond the classroom to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory this summer.

The University of Colorado Boulder’s Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is pleased to welcome the 2025 PhD Scholars into The Smead Program.

They join the cohort of current Smead Scholars to explore, achieve and lead in aerospace engineering sciences.

Adam Harris is advancing the frontiers of aerodynamics as a non-traditional student, finishing up a doctoral program in which he never expected to enroll. “I’m writing computational fluid dynamics and finite element codes to study flow control

Researchers explored a fluid-based optical device known as an electrowetting prism to steer lasers at high speeds for advanced imaging applications. This new frontier in miniature lasers opens the door to new technologies in microscopy, LiDAR, optical communications and even brain imaging.

Evan Sharafuddin, a first-year electrical engineering PhD student, has been selected as the recipient of the Dwight E. and Jessica D. Ryland Graduate Fellowship for the 2025-26 academic year who is pursuing wind turbine control research.