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.
The grants, awarded by the 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.
- FieldView: Using Mobile Devices to Blend Data Collection and Analysis for Field Research. (PI: Danielle Szafir, CMCI)
- Multi-Scale Modeling and Measurement of Ecosystem Sensitivity to Water and Energy Availability. (PIs: Lauren Tomkinson and Noah Molotch, INSTAAR)
- Grand Challenge Seed Grant: Bringing Innovative Data Science Down to Earth. (PI: Lisa Dilling, ENVS)
- Wonder, Space, and the Arts. (PI: Valerio Ferme, French and Italian)
- Aligning Incentives - Promoting Values and Innovation in UAS Research. (PI: Jill Dupre, ATLAS)
Earth Lab’s Human Dimension: Integrating Fine-Grained Data on Human Activity for Advanced Understanding of Environmental Change. (PI: Stefan Leyk, Geography)
The Grand Challenge grants were awarded as part of the Innovative Seed Grant Program, which for the first time this year provided a new and unique opportunity for faculty to become part of the campus Grand Challenge.
For more information on this program and other funding opportunities, visit the website of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
