Research

Read about how wildfires sparked water quality research, how poor air quality affects low-income households, how a Colorado-born technology detected methane gas leaks and how CU Boulder outreach projects taught K–12 students across Colorado about air quality.

Researchers in Mark Rentschler's lab designed a robot to navigate the unpredictable terrain of the intestine. The group hopes the robot will change how people across the United States get colonoscopies, making these common procedures easier for patients and more efficient for doctors.

What if the wood used to build your house could decrease your electricity bill? In the race to save energy, Xiaobo Yin at CU Boulder and researchers at the University of Maryland have uncovered a way for buildings to dump heat.

Shelly Miller, mechanical and environmental engineering professor, led a study that found elevated carbon dioxide levels in classrooms after an hourlong class. Other researchers have linked high carbon dioxide levels to lower test scores. The New York Times reports on indoor air quality.

Associate Professor Corey Neu of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder is working with colleagues at CU Anschutz to detect early osteoarthritis, allowing younger patients to seek treatment earlier and possibly ward off the most severe measures including joint replacement.

Assistant Professor Peter Hamlington received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation this month for his work exploring the characteristics and behavior of highly turbulent premixed flames in engines using advanced computational simulations. He will receive $500K over five years.

A new high-resolution X-ray microtomography imaging system designed by Wil Srubar, Virginia Ferguson, Mija Hubler, Robert McLeod and Stephanie Bryant will enhance research, not only in engineering, but in the fields of archaeology, geology and medicine across campus and the Rocky Mountain region.

Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty and students had great showing at the 11th U.S. National Combustion Meeting. Faculty members were honored with awards, gave two of the three flagship plenary lectures, took on new board memberships and led three critical combustion events.

Outdoor air has been regulated for decades, but emissions from daily domestic activities may be more dangerous than anyone imagined. Assistant Professor Nina Vance was featured in the New Yorker for her HomeChem indoor air quality research.

ME Associate Research Professor Svenja Knappe collaborates with Bob Marshall to bring down the cost of small satellites called CubeSats and tiny sensors previously used to collect measurements of the brain.