Research Report
A sofa twisted into a knot, a dining table bulging with a roller-coaster-like loop, a massive picnic table curled into a question mark. These shapes don’t occur naturally—they’re the creations of Assistant Professor Michael Beitz.
Two CU Boulder engineers have pioneered an ingenious way to turn Colorado’s booming craft beer economy into renewable power.
In 1997, Professor Al Weimer of chemical and biological engineering and Professor Steven George of chemistry began collaborating on a novel process of coating surfaces with the thinnest of materials possible, known as atomic layer deposition (ALD).
It may be tiny, but it’s mighty. A soft, wearable acoustic sensor that weighs less than a paper clip has been developed by CU Boulder and Northwestern University.
Robots could someday be found making beds at understaffed nursing homes, helping homeowners with DIY projects or handling mundane chores on the International Space Station.
It was a bittersweet ending for some CU Boulder scientists and students. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made one last dive toward Saturn, breaking up like a meteor in its crushing atmosphere in September.
“Some comets are like couples—they break up, but then they get back together down the road,” says Distinguished Professor Daniel Scheeres of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.