As the CU Boulder community responds to the global COVID-19 pandemic, our researchers are available to discuss various aspects of this disease and its impact on people in Colorado and beyond.
For ongoing updates, frequently asked questions and more on how COVID-19 is impacting campus, visit the CU Boulder coronavirus resource page.
To schedule interviews, contact CU Boulder media relations at cunews@colorado.edu.
Business Impacts
Paid sick leave and small business impacts
Emily Gallagher, assistant professor of finance in the real estate track of the Leeds School of Business, can discuss how changes in paid sick leave, especially for those in low-income households, could impact the spread of the virus as well as mortgage and rental delinquencies longer-term. She can also discuss the toll on small businesses.
Working remotely
Christina Lacerenza is an assistant professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at the Leeds School of Business. Her work focuses on identifying effective leadership and teamwork practices for the 21st century and beyond. She can speak about how to best lead and work in a remote team, the transition from face-to-face to virtual teaming, and unique challenges faced by virtual teams.
Impacts on Colorado’s economy
Brian Lewandowski works in the Leeds Business Research Division (BRD). BRD collects some of the most comprehensive information on the Colorado economy through various regular reports and forecasts, including the Colorado Business Economic Outlook, the Leeds Business Confidence Index and Colorado Secretary of State’s Quarterly Indicators report.
Colorado economy adding new businesses more slowly, new report shows
Impacts on global supply chains
Gregg Macaluso is an instructor of supply chain management and faculty director of the Leeds School of Business Masters in supply chain management. He focuses on creating supply chains for Fortune 1000 companies across several industries. He can speak to the coronavirus’ impacts on global supply chains.
Front Range industrial revolution: Big warehouse projects sprouting across Denver and beyond (The Denver Post)
Legal Questions
Stay-at-home orders
Craig Konnoth, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School, is an expert in health law and civil rights. He can speak about the legality of “stay-at-home” orders, surveillance approaches, federal and state relief measures, health privacy issues, issues facing homeless or institutionalized persons, and other issues involving the legal ramifications of the epidemic and the response to it.
Corporate issues and relief packages
Erik Gerding, professor at the University of Colorado Law School, focuses on finance and banking law, as well as corporate governance. He can explain how major corporations were so vulnerable to COVID-19 impacts. He can also talk about federal and state relief packages.
CARES Act hurdles
Sloan Speck, an associate professor at Colorado Law, studies tax law and policy. He can explain the hurdles some people may find in getting their $1,200 stimulus check. He can also explain how decisions small businesses make to get federal and state relief could impact them in the future.
Engineering & Health
Disease networks and evolutionary strategies
Daniel Larremore, assistant professor in the BioFrontiers Institute and Department of Computer Science, is available to discuss the theory behind how diseases spread in networks. He uses mathematical tools to understand how pathogens evolve to evade the human immune system, with a focus on malaria. His work also probes the theory behind the spread of information, disease or neural excitations, all of which grow as cascades in complex networks.
Malaria parasites use same genetic strategy for apes, humans
Indoor air quality and infectious disease transmission
Shelly Miller, professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, can speak about how people can minimize their exposure to indoor air pollutants, even in the age of social distancing. She also studies how hospitals and other facilities combat the spread of airborne diseases through engineering tools like ultraviolet light.
How to keep your indoor air quality healthy when you are social distincing and staying home
Air quality and ventilation
John Zhai is a professor of building systems engineering in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. He can speak to the effectiveness of and reasoning behind the use of face masks, even for those who are not sick, in public spaces (elevators, stores, public transportation) where social distancing is not easily possible. Although the CDC has not changed its official guidance on the matter, it now recommends the use of face masks for the general public.
Mental Health Impacts
Supporting your mental health
Sona Dimidjian, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, can discuss strategies for supporting mental health. Dimidjian is director of the new Renée Crown Wellness Institute, with a research focus on wellness for women, children and families. Her work examines the clinical application of contemplative practices, including mindfulness meditation, and behavioral approaches in healthcare settings, as well as social emotional learning in schools.
Crown gift to establish a unique wellness research institute at CU Boulder
Mental health in a time of disaster
Courtney Welton-Mitchell, can speak about mental health challenges—particularly for vulnerable groups including children, adults with pre-existing mental health issues and recent immigrants—in the time of disaster. She can also discuss how different groups interpret and comply with public health messaging. She is a research associate at the Natural Hazards Center on the CU Boulder campus and an assistant professor in the Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response Certificate Program at the Colorado School of Public Health at the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Education & Remote Learning
The switch to remote education
José Lizárraga, assistant professor in the School of Education, can talk about the challenges and opportunities of virtual education. He examines how digital new media has changed the way that children and adults learn, sometimes in innovative ways. He also studies how these new tools affect the learning opportunities of people from historically marginalized groups.
Entrevistas disponíbles en español
Environmental impacts
Impacts on air quality
Joost de Gouw is an atmospheric chemist and CIRES Fellow who works on air pollution. He can speak to the impacts of the lockdowns in various affected countries on air pollution levels as measured on the ground and from satellites.
Satellite observation
Barbara Dix is a CIRES research scientist who works with satellite data to analyze anthropogenic emissions. She can speak to how the effects of the lockdowns are reflected in satellite images.
Global climate change
Kris Karnauskas is a climate scientist and CIRES Fellow who works on the dynamics of climate change, from its basic causes to its impacts on humanity. He can speak to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on carbon emissions, measured CO2 concentrations and the bigger picture of climate change mitigation and emissions targets.
Impacts on climate change research
Bruce Vaughn, research associate and fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), can discuss how COVID-19 is impacting measurements of global greenhouse gases and causing disruptions to ongoing international scientific research projects, such as the East Greenland Ice-core Project.
Society & Religion
American Indian response
Carla Fredericks, director of the American Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School, has represented Indian tribes on a variety of litigation and policy matters. She can speak to the unique issues facing tribes as they navigate their COVID-19 response.
Native Americans Unite To Make Their Voices Heard This Election (Colorado Public Radio)
Anti-Asian discrimination and racial profiling
Jennifer Ho is a professor in the department of Ethnic Studies and the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at CU Boulder, and the president of the Association for Asian American Studies effective April 8, 2020. She can discuss the history of Asian discrimination in the U.S. and the causes and effects of racial profiling and anti-Asian racism related to COVID-19, as well as general history, culture and literature associated with Asian Americans in the U.S.
COVID-19 Pandemic (Communication Matters: The NCA Podcast)
Adapting Passover traditions
With Passover quickly approaching, Jewish Studies professor Samira Mehta is available to speak about how religious institutions and the Jewish community are adapting holiday traditions amid the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Anti-Asian discrimination, impacts on vulnerable populations
Sociology Professor Lori Peek, director of the Natural Hazards Center, can discuss ongoing anti-Asian discrimination and the social impact the epidemic could have longer-term on vulnerable populations, including children, the elderly, and low-income families. Peek is the author of two books: Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 911; and Children of Katrina, which documents the long-term impacts of Hurricane Katrina on children.
K-12 schools ill-prepared for natural disasters, warns CU professor
Deciphering fake news and impacts on the presidential campaign
Associate Professor Elizabeth Skewes, chair of the journalism department in the College of Media Communication and Information (CMCI), is available to discuss how to identify reliable news sources and spot fake news amid the coronavirus crisis. Skewes, a former newspaper reporter and author of Message Control: How News Is Made on the Presidential Campaign Trail, can also discuss how the situation is impacting the presidential campaign.
How to be a better voter (TEDxCU)
On faith and religion
Deborah Whitehead is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies and a senior research fellow in the Center for Media Religion and Culture. She can discuss how religious institutions are coping with the cancellation of large gatherings via technology, the role of religion in times of persistent uncertainty, and the role emergency-preparedness has historically played among certain religious groups.
Historical Perspective
On the flu epidemic of 1918
Susan Kent, a professor in the Department of History, can discuss the origins, spread, impacts and global consequences of the influenza epidemic of 1918. Kent is an expert in British, European and global history and author of the book, The Global Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919 (2012).
CU Boulder Media Relations
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