Loren Hough is an Associate Professor of Physics and member of the BioFrontiers Institute. He first came to CU Boulder as a graduate student in physics and received his Ph.D. in 2007. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University and returned to CU as a faculty member in 2012. He has been an active participate in DEAI efforts on campus, including being a faculty advisor to CU Café, founding member and chair of the physics department’s committee on Retention, Recruitment and Representation (R^3), and as a mentor to students. He began a new role as Faculty Director for Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion in the Graduate School in May 2022.
Loren does research in molecular biophysics, studying the role of intrinsically disordered regions in cellular function. Intrinsically disordered regions are fragments of proteins that perform key cellular tasks while remaining highly dynamic and flexible rather than folding up into well-defined shapes. The main projects involve using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the properties of these fragments within the context of larger protein complexes or within living cells.
Loren’s role within the graduate school will be to coordinate efforts to broaden the accessibility of CU Boulder’s graduate programs to a wider range of students, while supporting and celebrating those who are already here.