Academics

<p class="p1">No one really knows how the High Plains got so high. About 70 million years ago, eastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western Kansas and western Nebraska were near sea level. Since then, the region has risen about 2 kilometers, leading to some head scratching at geology conferences.  </p>

<p>The eastern coastline of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a mecca for tourists, may have been walloped by a tsunami between 1,500 and 900 years ago, says a new study involving Mexico’s Centro Ecological Akumal (CEA) and the University of Colorado Boulder.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder will serve as the Science Operations Center for a NASA mission launching this month to better understand the physical processes of geomagnetic storms, solar flares and other energetic phenomena throughout the universe.</p>

<p>Oil and gas operations in the United States produce about 21 billion barrels of wastewater per year. The saltiness of the water and the organic contaminants it contains have traditionally made treatment difficult and expensive. Engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have invented a simpler process that can simultaneously remove both salts and organic contaminants from the wastewater, all while producing additional energy.</p>

<p class="p1">Living in bigger, denser settlements allowed the inhabitants of ancient cities to be more productive, just as is true for modern urbanites, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Santa Fe Institute.</p>
<p class="p1">As modern cities grow, they obey certain rules. As the population increases, for example, the settled area becomes denser instead of sprawling outward. This allows people to live closer together, use infrastructure more intensively, interact more frequently, and as a result, produce more per person.</p>

<p>The Leeds School of Business is pleased to announce the launch of a new scholarship program aimed at supporting CU-Boulder employees, allowing them to earn an MBA from the Leeds Evening MBA program.</p>

<p>Two University of Colorado Boulder programs that teach kids to code have received Google RISE Awards to support their efforts to attract girls and underrepresented minorities to computer science.</p>
<p>The two programs are the Scalable Game Design project, which hooks kids on coding by empowering them to build their own video games, and AspireIT, which connects high school and college women with K-12 girls interested in computing.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder is ranked No. 6 in the nation for graduates serving as Peace Corps volunteers with 62 alumni currently serving around the world, the Peace Corps announced today.</p>
<p>In the annual Top Colleges list, CU-Boulder has held a position in the top eight nationally among large institutions for the past 13 years, ranking in the top three for nine of those years. CU-Boulder also has been the state leader among Colorado institutions of similar size each year since 2003.</p>

<p class="p1">The <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/leedsmba/evening-mba"><span class="s1">Evening MBA Program</span></a>, offered by the CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, is going south -- in a good way. Beginning in May, the program -- offered since 2000 on the CU-Boulder campus -- also will be available at the <a href="http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/southdenver/Pages/default.aspx"><span class="s1">Liniger Building at CU South Denver</span></a>, located at 10035 Peoria St. in Parker, Colorado.</p>

<p>Sabrina Sideris, program director of CU-Boulder's <a href="http://communitystudies.colorado.edu/">INVST Community Studies</a>, takes great pride in working with CU students to help them learn to become engaged citizens and leaders.</p>