Science & Technology

Propulsion by a novel jet engine is the crux of the innovation behind a University of Colorado Boulder-developed aircraft that’s accelerating toward commercialization. Jet engine technology can be small, fuel-efficient and cost-effective, at least with Assistant Professor Ryan Starkey’s design. The CU-Boulder aerospace engineer, with a team of students, has developed a first-of-its-kind supersonic unmanned aircraft vehicle, or UAV. The UAV, which is currently in a prototype state, is expected to fly farther and faster -- using less fuel -- than anything remotely similar to date.

Ten plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHVs, have been added to a University of Colorado Boulder study that has been examining user experiences and system interactions since September 2010 in the local smart-grid environment.

A small smile appeared on the young girl’s face as she listened to the high-pitched sound coming from the whiffle ball. The sound helped the elementary student locate the ball after her classmate hit it from a specially designed baseball tee. Both of the students are blind. On a recent afternoon, they were in a classroom at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Integrated Teaching and Learning Program and Laboratory testing toys designed by first-year engineering students. The students are enrolled in CU engineering instructor Seth Murray’s freshman projects class.

A University of Colorado Boulder symposium Feb. 27-29 will examine how the revolution in digital media is changing global politics, journalism and the way history is preserved. Journalism and Mass Communication at CU-Boulder is sponsoring “The Content and Context of Digital Culture” symposium, which is free and open to the public. It will be held at various sites across campus and a complete schedule is available at http://www.icjmtsymposium.org/schedule/ .

The University of Colorado Student Government has reduced the net emissions of greenhouse gases, or GHGs, from its student-run facilities to zero after committing in 2007 to reach carbon neutrality. CUSG operates three large CU-Boulder facilities including the University Memorial Center, Student Recreation Center and Wardenburg Health Center.

Two University of Colorado Boulder faculty members, both from the ecology and evolutionary biology department, have received prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development, or CAREER, awards. The awards, which went to assistant professors Pieter Johnson and Rebecca Safran, are made to outstanding faculty in the early stages of their careers who effectively integrate innovative research and educational outreach.

The University of Colorado Boulder welcomed 19 students from Brazil this semester as part of the new Science Without Borders Program and Brazil’s initiative to place and fully fund outstanding students abroad to supplement their studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

The University of Colorado Boulder exceeded its own researchers’ expectations with its iDREAMS Scalable Game Design Summer Institute, and that success has been rewarded with a new $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. CU-Boulder researchers are tracking how video game design engages students in computational thinking and STEM simulation design.

Diane McKnight, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. McKnight is among 66 new members and 10 foreign associates of the academy announced today. She joins 16 other faculty from the campus who have been elected since the academy’s formation in 1962.

Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.