Research Institutes in Energy

RASEI is a joint institute between CU Boulder and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) addressing important, complex problems in energy that require a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional approach. Its mission is to expedite solutions that transform energy by advancing renewable energy science, engineering and analysis through research, education and industry partnerships.

At CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences, more than 800 environmental scientists work to understand the dynamic Earth system, including people’s relationship with the planet. CIRES is a partnership of NOAA and the University of Colorado Boulder.

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) combines all aspects of space exploration through expertise in science, engineering, missions operations and data management. LASP’s Solar Influences group focuses on sun and climate, space weather and solar modeling.

As the University's oldest institute, INSTAAR has a long history of responding to pressing environmental issues. Expertise across disciplines helps INSTAAR generate influential science that can inform policy decisions and move us toward a more sustainable society.

Since its establishment in 1957, the Institute of Behavioral Science has provided a setting for interdisciplinary collaborative research on problems of societal concern. By engaging faculty from all the social and behavioral sciences at CU Boulder, IBS encourages work that transcends disciplinary boundaries, that illuminates the complexity of social behavior and social life, and that has important implications for social policy.

BioFrontiers drives innovation without boundaries by catalyzing the Institute’s scientific passion with the cross-disciplinary resources to explore critical areas of unknown biology and translate that knowledge into applications that will advance human health and welfare. At the University of Colorado BioFrontiers Institute, researchers from the life sciences, physical sciences, computer science and engineering are working together to uncover new knowledge at the frontiers of science and partnering with industry to transform discoveries into real solutions.

The wide-ranging interests of our scientists have made JILA one of the nation's leading research institutes in the physical sciences. JILA scientists explore some of today's most challenging and fundamental scientific questions about quantum physics, the design of precision optical and X-ray lasers, the fundamental principles underlying the interaction of light and matter, and processes that have governed the evolution of the Universe for nearly 14 billion years.