Environmental Engineering Education & Research

Researchers pose for a photo near Lake Fryxell in Antarctica.

'Hiding in plain sight': Studying life in Antarctic desert

Few plants and animals can survive in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, a frigid desert that is free of ice. 

But researchers from CU Boulder have made trips to the area for more than 30 years to study the unique streams and organisms that inhabit the area in the summer months.

Smoke is coming out of the chimneys in an industrial area.

Curbing climate change would also reduce harmful air pollutants, saving millions of lives

Reducing their greenhouse gas emissions would also have the added benefit of saving over two million lives globally that might be lost because of harmful air pollutants by 2050, according to preliminary data in new CU Boulder research led by an environmental engineering PhD student.

Collecting water samples in the field

Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways

A team at the University of Colorado Boulder is studying heavy metal pollution in a watershed near Aspen. 

They have a dual goal: contributing to efforts to clean up the area, and studying the potential of recovering some of those metals from other similarly polluted streams.

Blue water waves

Faster, cleaner, better: revolutionary water treatment

Anthony Straub is making revolutionary advances in water purification for life on Earth and in space with a five-year, $550,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award grant.

A team member holds two water quality sensors used to test for water contamination.

Mortenson Center innovations delivering clean water to more than 16 million worldwide

The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at the University of Colorado Boulder is building a new model for global water access, one that is grounded in a deep understanding of why so many past efforts have fallen short. 

Rather than focusing on infrastructure alone, the Center treats clean water as a...

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