Media Stories

I teach Jewish history in Boulder. Is my community taking the wrong lessons from Sunday’s attack?
Forward | June 3, 2025
Jumping to blame ‘rhetoric’ can make it harder for us to understand the phenomena behind violence

‘I’m never going to stop’: Facing NEA cuts, a young composer and an unusual music venue turn hurt into action
Colorado Public Radio | June 3, 2025
This year, The Tank was granted $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to support a residency program in conjunction with the University of Colorado Boulder. Then, that funding was pulled by the Trump administration.

NASA needs your help: Everything you need to know about the Space Cloud Watch project
EuropeSays | June 2, 2025
This summer, NASA is inviting skywatchers to participate in a citizen science project called Space Cloud Watch, aiming to capture images of elusive noctilucent clouds (NLCs), also known as “night-shining” clouds. “I find these clouds fascinating and can’t wait to see the amazing pictures,” said project lead Dr. Chihoko Cullens from the University of Colorado, Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

The Conversation Brings Israeli-Palestinian Debate to Stage in Boulder
Westword | May 23, 2025
The Dairy Arts Center is launching a daring new play series that uses dramatized debates to address today's most divisive issues. “The Conversation,” is a bold new four-part theatrical series co-produced by the Dairy Arts Center and CU Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts.

ACLU files opening brief in Boulder camping ban appeal, arguing it violates Colorado Constitution
Boulder Reporting Lab | May 23, 2025
Civil rights lawyers challenging Boulder’s camping ban argue that Colorado’s long history of outdoor survival is one reason homeless people deserve stronger legal protections under the state constitution. Two CU Boulder professors and a graduate student who are historians filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the plaintiffs, arguing that Colorado’s history of camping is relevant to constitutional interpretation.

Golden Dome: An aerospace engineer explains the proposed nationwide missile defense system
The Conversation | May 23, 2025
President Donald Trump announced a plan to build a missile defense system, called the Golden Dome, on May 20, 2025. The system is intended to protect the United States from ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, and missiles launched from space. Iain Boyd, an aerospace engineer and director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at CUBoulder, spoke about the Golden Dome plan and the feasibility of Trump’s claims.

Revise, delay or implement? The standoff over Colorado’s AI discrimination law
Colorado Public Radio | May 22, 2025
Nine months: that’s all the time left before companies have to start complying with Colorado’s first-in-the-nation anti-discrimination law for AI systems. Margot Kaminski, a University of Colorado law professor who served on the state’s AI impact task force, and said while there’s been a lot of bipartisan energy nationally around data privacy and AI, Colorado’s approach is different because it's an anti-discrimination law.

2025 Climate Summit to spotlight global human rights
ColoradoBiz | May 15, 2025
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights), the University of Oxford, and the University of Colorado Boulder announced the official program and participating institutions for the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, an ambitious event focused on advancing human rights-based climate solutions across the globe.

A.I. Will Destroy Critical Thinking in K-12
New York Times | May 15, 2025
There are already many schools across the country that are integrating A.I. into the curriculum. “What I can say with a fairly high level of confidence is that A.I. is being forced upon schools without any particular context or funding that would allow them to make informed decisions about what may or may not be valuable to them,” said Alex Molnar, the director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado.

CU Boulder offers program designed to help new moms with postpartum depression and more
Denver7 | May 15, 2025
University of Colorado Boulder is now sharing a program for new moms designed to work around a shortage of mental health care specialists, long wait lists and cost.  Alma, a free peer-led initiative, connects mothers with lived experience to those seeking help. The university screens moms who want to help and then connects with new moms through community organizations and health groups like Kaiser.

Join in on “The Conversation” series, starting next week in Boulder
KGNU | May 16, 2025
“The Conversation” is a 4-part play series that addresses topics considered “difficult, provocative and controversial, with constituents holding strong conflicting views.” It’s a blend of immersive theater and a live community event where everyone has a say, with the goal to host open dialogue and start on a path to healing. The event is co-presented by The Center for Humanities & The Arts at CU Boulder, and is inspired by their Difficult Dialogues series.

Colorado lawsuits against Trump, campaign to free Tina Peters, surprising vaccine study, ballets to see
Colorado Public Radio | May 16, 2025
Dani Grant, a graduate student in social psychology, spoke about how your news habits affect your views on science and vaccines.

Micro-Experiences in Service Learning Break Barriers to Access
Inside Higher Ed | March 25, 2025
Goucher College offers short-term service learning experiences to remove obstacles for students to participate in high-impact experiences.

CU Boulder research shows which communities are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality and bad odors
Denver 7 | March 25, 2025
New research from CU Boulder found minority communities and those with lower household incomes are more likely to live in neighborhoods near facilities that emit bad smells.

Colorado’s unemployment data counted again but revisions show damper picture
Denver Gazette | March 24, 2025
Colorado has struggled getting a sense of the state of its job market as the data collected for unemployment numbers was showing irregularities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After the latest revisions, Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, said he feels more confident about Colorado’s data, noting it wasn't the highest adjustment made in the country again.

Conference on World Affairs Returns to CU Boulder for 77th Year
Travel Boulder | March 21, 2025
For more than 75 years, the Conference on World Affairs has been bringing global thought-leaders to Boulder for a week of immersive community learning. This year, the CWA returns to CU Boulder from April 7-10 with insightful discussions, lectures, panels, classroom visits and other events. You might be noticing some buzz around the CWA right now, because the university recently announced that Cynthia Erivo will be delivering the keynote address.

5 years on, true counts of COVID-19 deaths remain elusive − and research is hobbled by lack of data
The Conversation | March 21, 2025
Dylan Thomas Doyle, a Ph.D. candidate in information science, wrote an article arguing that incomplete mortality data during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant underreporting of deaths. He emphasized the need to improve the U.S. mortality data system, highlighting ongoing challenges in data accessibility that hinder effective responses to health crises.

Longmont attorneys, groups grapple with increased demand for immigration services
Daily Camera | March 20, 2025
The only place that offers nonprofit-rate attorneys for defensive immigration work in Boulder County is the Immigration Defense Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School. However, because the clinic is run by law students, it’s only open during the school year, and the number of cases they can take is dependent on student schedules.

This professor found community in gay rodeo. Now he has compiled the sport's secret history
KJZZ Phoenix | March 20, 2025
In his new book, “Rainbow Cattle Co.: Liberation, Inclusion, and the History of Gay Rodeo,” Nicholas Villanueva, a professor of ethnic studies and a rodeo athlete, explains how rodeo serves as a place for people to explore their gender identity and a source of community for queer people who can’t find it anywhere else. Villanueva joined KJZZ to discuss what it means to compete.

Trump EPA’s dismantling of environmental justice efforts leaves Colorado to protect most vulnerable communities
Denver Post | March 10, 2025
Environmental justice became a federal priority under the Clinton administration in 1994 when the EPA was directed to focus on marginalized communities suffering from pollution. Chris Winter, executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center, noted that this directive stemmed from the 1980s and ’90s recognition that poorer communities near refineries, factories, and landfills faced higher rates of asthma and other illnesses.

The best rain jackets of 2025, tried and tested
CNN | March 7, 2025
If you’ve looked into buying a rain jacket, ski gear or even hiking boots in the past couple of years, you’ve probably seen brands tout how their gear is newly “PFAS-free.” Joel Hartter, a professor of sustainability, explained what PFAs are and what makes them resistant to degradation.

CU Boulder students campaign to advocate for libraries
Daily Camera | Feb. 22, 2025

Students at CU Boulder are teaming up to promote libraries and create awareness about their importance throughout the Boulder community. Buffs for Books that has developed a public relations campaign for EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that engages in politics and policy to advocate for public libraries and school libraries at local, state and federal levels. The Buffs for Books team is part of a national competition where teams of students from 60 universities are creating a public relations campaign promoting EveryLibrary.

Parents and kids navigate talks of loss and tragedy as they return home after LA area fires
Associated Press | Feb. 21, 2025

Kids are navigating the grief of losing everything in the LA wildfires, while their parents are learning how to help them cope. Children thrive on routine, and reestablishing one as quickly as possible is key to helping kids cope, said Lori Peek, a sociology professor at CU Boulder who studies the impact of natural disasters. It’s essential for kids to stay connected with their friends, and for parents to have honest conversations with them about the difficulty of what they are facing, she said.

Mass layoffs of federal workers could hurt families and local economies — but may not dent the overall economy
CNN | Feb. 25, 2025

Elon Musk’s rapid shrinking of the nation’s federal government employees could spell concern for places in Colorado, specifically Boulder County where federal labs have operated for decades and contributed to a high-tech ecosystem. “Not only are we concerned about the jobs themselves and that they’re high-wage jobs, but (also) the research function that they play and the downstream impacts that these jobs actually have,” said Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business.

One Colorado family’s long Marshall fire journey told in 17-minute documentary screening in Golden
Colorado Sun | Feb. 21, 2025

In a paper published in November 2023, researchers from the University of Colorado and the University of Wisconsin analyzed 475 GoFundMe campaigns set up by individuals as a direct result of the Marshall fire. But the researchers found a disparity in how money was dispersed based on a homeowners’ overall wealth. Higher income households received more donations, while lower income households received less.

Protesters gather in Boulder to support federal workers, oppose layoffs
Daily Camera | Feb. 20, 2025

Dozens of protestors gathered in front of the U.S. Department of Commerce building in Boulder on Wednesday to support the city’s federal workers amid layoffs and funding cuts imposed by  the Trump administration. A 2017 economic impact report developed by CO-LABS and CU Boulder showed that federally funded labs in Colorado contributed about $2.6 billion to the state’s economy and directly employed nearly 7,800 people.

Cancellation of Education Department research contracts sparks concerns
Higher Ed Dive | Feb. 13, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education abruptly canceled about $881 million in multiyear research contracts on Monday, sparking a storm of protest from groups concerned about a loss of data accuracy and the dissemination of evidence-based practices.

To process your climate anxiety, be the butterfly
Colorado Public Radio | January 24, 2024