Research

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder have demonstrated a new mobile, ground-based system that could scan and map atmospheric gas plumes over kilometer distances. The system uses an eye-safe laser instrument to send light that “combs” the air to a...

Congratulations to professor Baowen Li, a 2017 recipient of the prestigious Brillouin Medal. The CU Boulder mechanical engineering professor receiving the award along with two collaborators during the 4 th International Conference on Phononic Crystals/Meta-materials, Phonon Transport and Phonon Coupling, held this month in Changsha, China. The medal, which is...

Nobody needs to reinvent the wheel, but reinventing the colonoscope is definitely worth somebody’s time. Mark Rentschler, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, is one of those people. He and his team have been working on the wormy robot, above, as a replacement for the usual flexible-camera-tube...

Far above Earth, a curious colony of spacefarers is sharing close quarters on the International Space Station as part of research that could one day help lead us to Mars. These are no ordinary astronauts, they are mice, and their journey could be key to solving a problem that vexes...

Because of testing inefficiencies, maintenance inadequacies and other factors, diesel cars, trucks and buses worldwide emit 4.6 million tons more harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) than standards allow, according to a new study co-authored by University of Colorado Boulder mechanical engineering researchers. The study , published today in Nature , shows...

Kelvin Thermal Technologies Inc., a smartphone-technology startup from two University of Colorado Boulder mechanical engineering professors, raised $200,000 in private equity to match a $250,000 grant from the state of Colorado. The company has developed a new method of cooling smartphones, Y.C. Lee , president and CEO, told BizWest. When...

From rebuilding disaster-stricken communities to studying the effect of climate change on human migration...

When David Pfotenhauer decided to pursue a PhD at CU Boulder, he knew that he wanted to specialize in an application-based science that would allow him get out into communities and use his knowledge to address public issues.

A CU Boulder mechanical engineering team is earning accolades for their solar materials research. The journal Applied Physics Letters is highlighting professor Ronggui Yang and two of his PhD students, Xin Qian and Xiaokun Gu, for their study of a hybrid organic-inorganic material that has green energy applications. A paper...

A team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers has developed a scalable manufactured metamaterial, an engineered material with extraordinary properties not found in nature — to act as a kind of air conditioning system for structures. It has the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight with zero energy...