Academics

<p>The gradual fall cooling on Colorado’s Front Range this September is helping to set up what could well be a prime-time show of gold, yellow and red leaves in the region’s aspen forests, according to a University of Colorado Boulder plant ecologist.</p>

<p>Pioneering genomics researcher J. Craig Venter—best known for leading the privately funded team that sequenced the first human genome—will give a keynote talk at the University of Colorado Boulder on Sept. 29 about the scientific potential of and future products derived from “synthetic life.” </p>

<p>Consumers are willing to spend thousands of dollars for luxury brand watches such as Rolex and Cartier because they are synonymous with high quality. But does this mean that inexpensive watches made by low-cost rivals must always be low quality? According to a <a href="http://www.jcr-admin.org/files/pressPDFs/081414081714_678035.pdf">new study</a> in the <em>Journal of Consumer Research</em>, consumers mistakenly predict product quality based on quality consistency in other price ranges.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder greatly expanded its CU Promise program for low-income students this fall resulting in funding assistance becoming available for more than 700 additional students.</p>
<p>The CU Promise program guarantees that CU-Boulder students with Colorado resident status from low-income families can receive enough grants and work-study employment to pay for their share of tuition, fees and estimated book expenses.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder welcomed a freshman class of 5,869 students, a slight increase by 0.4 percent over last year, and in the process achieved the most academically qualified and diverse incoming class in the campus’s history.</p>
<p>Fall 2014 census figures show a total enrollment of 29,772 degree- and licensure-seeking students, 447 students more than last year.</p>
<p>A total of 3,083 Colorado residents enrolled as new freshmen in the fall class, as well as 2,786 from out of state and a record 386 freshman international students, a 41 percent increase from last year. </p>

<p>Most homeowners are willing to take part in cost-sharing that helps pay for wildfire risk mitigation on their properties, but some of those with the highest wildfire risk are the least likely to participate in those programs, according to a collaborative study by the University of Colorado Boulder and partnering institutions.</p>

<p>The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, or <a href="http://enrichment.colorado.edu/urop/">UROP</a>, is one unique program that offers CU-Boulder students an opportunity to follow academic curiosities in every field. Designed to provide grant-writing experience, connect students to faculty and explore interests beyond the classroom, the program is open to all CU-Boulder undergraduates.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Board of Regents today approved 12 new CU-Boulder College of Media, Communication and Information degrees, in addition to a name change for one other degree.</p>
<p>The vote, held today at the University Memorial Center on the CU-Boulder campus, was the final Board of Regents approval required for the new College of Media, Communication and Information before the degrees are forwarded to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education for approval. The college is now accepting applications and will offer classes for new degrees starting in fall semester 2015.</p>

<p>Continuing its commitment to improving America’s drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 9 announced more than $8 million in grants to create two national centers for research and innovation in small- to medium-sized drinking water systems.</p>

<p>After spending nearly six months on the International Space Station, University of Colorado Boulder astronaut-alumnus Steve Swanson is slated to drift back to Earth in a Russian space capsule Sept. 10 before banging down on the steppe of Kazakhstan.</p>