Since the Boettcher Foundation provided critical seed-funding in 2010, PACE has enabled 354 of CU Boulder's undergraduates to engage their professional communities in local, national and global contexts while driving innovations that address the humanitarian and technological challenges of the 21st century.
As students present and exhibit their work in locations around the world, students not only connect with leaders from the public and private sectors, they move conversations forward—and in new directions. With strong evidence of meaningful learning outcomes in disciplinary knowledge and transferrable skills, PACE supports high-impact practices that enable transformative growth while advancing humankind in all its scientific and creative endeavors.
Photos
Sydney Holtman
Haikal Abu Bakar
Haikal Abu Bakar
Julia Claxton
Ashish Srivastava
iGEM Group
ACDA Group
Daniel Groove, Alston Tyndall, & James Solis Gutierrez
James Solis Gutierrez, Daniel Groove, James Hoang Nguyen, Jessica Bertram, & Anna Pillot
Photos provided by student award recipients in fiscal year 2023.
Testimonials
“This conference really showed me that my research isn't isolated and that people care about the work that I do.”
Ashish Srivastava
“This experience made me think of philosophy as a more collaborative discipline, with all manner of constructive criticism and unique ideas presented about each paper at the conference. While I originally thought of the conference as a burden on my semester, it turned out to be an experience that I truly enjoyed and that I will attempt to attend in the future.”
Mitchell Zonies
“This experience helped me significantly with independence, time management, analytical thinking and confidence. One moment that stood out to me was when an attendee came up to me and told me about her friend who has the disease I studied; we had a meaningful conversation and she thanked me for doing the work I was doing.”
Natalia Klamut
“This conference served as the springboard for my academic career. I secured a position in a space plasma physics research lab in no small part due to this experience on my resume! It gave me a valuable opportunity to practice my scientific communication, learn about open research questions, and identify areas in academia where there is still work to be done for inclusivity and clarity—incredibly inspiring!”
Julia Claxton
“It was the first time I traveled to connect with others interested in Classics, and it felt like a community. Even though we were all interested in our own niche topics, there was a shared interest and excitement amongst us. It was more supportive than I expected it to be—a real sense of wanting us to succeed!”
Garrett Fowler
“This conference gave me a fresh perspective on how I dance and how I want my students to engage with dance. It helped remind me that dance should be healing and fun—as well as informative and precise. I learned that having the right notation or the correct technique is not the only thing that makes you a dancer. How you carry yourself in this world matters.”
Dominique Holling
“This conference allowed me to represent CU Boulder in honor of choreographer James Hoang Nguyen and provided a platform to showcase the work done at our university. The piece that I performed was chosen out of 44 others in the northwest region!”
James Solis Gutierrez
“The most valuable part of my participation in this conference was being able to contextualize my experiences within the greater field of college dance.”
Daniel Grove
“This experience was instrumental in preparing me for the next phase of my academic and professional journey. Presenting to a diverse audience enhanced my communication skills and increased my confidence in presenting complex technical concepts. It also provided an excellent opportunity to interact with other professionals and researchers in my field—expanding my network and opening doors!”
Barbara De Figueiredo Vera
“Preparing for and participating in this conference, I found myself maturing and becoming apart of the greater scientific community. I was accepted into my top masters program and am grateful for my experience in the Lynch Lab at CU for propelling my interest in continuing my education.”
Adrienne Lezak
“The conference instilled greater intentionality in my work, enhanced my curiosity and desire to learn, and motivated me to continue pushing myself to obtain my goals. It added another dimension to my schoolwork. I got the opportunity to see research 'come to life' and better understand how my work will benefit the health and wellbeing of individuals.”
Sydney Holtman
“I gained a clear picture of what a professional career would entail, as well as the importance of this career. I am so grateful to have the ability to be a part of that community and connect with others. I will look back on this experience as a valuable and unique opportunity to connect—even before I begin a professional career in the community.”
Nicholas Alter
“Participating in this conference made me realize the potential I have in academic and professional settings—and ignited my love for research! I never would have thought that I could accomplish these goals as an undergraduate, nor did I think I could afford it. Having financial support and an amazing mentor made this possible for me.”
Abi Matthews
“There is simply so much research going on at CU, across the United States and internationally. It can be incredibly overwhelming and hard to really take in, but at the same time it's exhilarating!”
Hermann Klein-Hessling Barrientos
2023 Recipients
Student: Nicholas Alter
Mentor: Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar
Event: 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Annual Conference and Technology Fair
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Presentation Title: CU Green Labs engagement of University of Colorado Boulder laboratories post-pandemic through student leadership
Student: Ellie Lindrooth
Mentor: Kathryn Ramirez Aguilar
Event: 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Annual Conference and Technology Fair
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Presentation Title: University of Colorado Boulder’s campus-wide ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer monitoring as a tool to identify the most energy inefficient ULT freezers to incentivize for replacement
Student: Abi Matthews
Mentor: Christine Brennan
Event: 2022 American Speech-Language and Hearing Association Convention
Location: New Orleans, LA
Presentation Title: Efficacy of an Eye-Gaze AAC Board for an Adult with Sanfilippo Syndrome/MPS III
Student: Bergen Evans
Mentor: Alan Weimer
Event: 2022 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Presentation Title: Tungsten Sintering Aid Addition through Nickel Atomic Layer Deposition
Student: Haikal Abu Bakar
Mentor: Thomas Marchitto
Event: 2022 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: Last Millennium Reconstruction of Thermocline Variability in the Makassar Strait, Indonesia - Implications for Large Scale Winds.
Student: Hermann Klein-Hessling Barrientos
Mentor: Davis Conklin
Event: 2022 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Presentation Title: Solution-based rhenium doping technique for facilitating additive manufacturing of complex tungsten parts
Student: Elena Napoletano
Mentor: Alan Weimer
Event: 2022 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Presentation Title: The Analysis of Printing Parameters and Ink Components on Porous Carbon Parts Fabricated with Direct Ink Writing and Thermal Treatment
Student: Sydney Holtman
Mentor: Stacey Simon
Event: 2022 Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine Annual Conference
Location: Washington D.C., MD
Presentation Title: Changes in Circadian Timing Following Sleep Extension in Habitually Short Sleeping Adolescents
Student: Aidan Clifton
Mentor: Saydie Sago
Event: 2022 Society for Neuroscience Conference
Location: San Diego, CA
Presentation Title: Effects of Mycobacterium aurum DSM 33539 on biological signatures of stress-induced neuroinflammation and stress resilience in adult male rats
Student: Tuesday Sweeney
Mentor: Jamie Wagner
Event: 2022 Association of Moving Image Archivists Annual Conference
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Presentation Title: What I've Learned: Film Digitization as a Fellow
Student: Samantha Harshberger
Mentor: Alan Weimer
Event: 2022 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Presentation Title: Investigation of Particle Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Precursor on Silica Supports for Catalytic Decomposition of Methane
Student: Caelan Wright
Mentor: Luke Desmond
Event: 2022 Society for Neuroscience Conference
Location: San Diego, CA
Presentation Title: A Mycobacterium vaccae-derived lipid, 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid, induces a regulatory dendritic cell phenotype in murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells: Implications for stress-related psychiatric disorders
Student: Barbara De Figueiredo Vera
Mentor: Sage Sherman
Event: 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop
Location: Galveston, TX
Presentation Title: Evaluating Cortical Mechanisms Behind Stochastic Resonance (SR)
Student: Jasmine Groves
Mentor: Pieter Johnson
Event: 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Presentation Title: Investigating the definitive host of trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae
Student: Nate Collins
Mentor: Michael Levet
Event: 2023 Workshop on Algebraic Complexity Theory
Location: Coventry, England
Presentation Title: Count Free Weisfeiler-Leman and Group Isomorphism
Student: Aubrey Woodard
Mentor: Pamela Harvey
Event: 2023 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Discover Conference
Location: Seattle, WA
Presentation Title: Methylglyoxal, an active compound derived from monofloral manuka honey, produces bactericidal effects in Salmonella Typhimurium
Student: Alexcis Escandon
Mentor: Vanessa Baird
Event: 2023 Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: “The Conditional Effects of Racial Identity Centrality on the Relationship Between Multiracial Identity and Support for Police Violence”
Student: Julia Claxton
Mentor: Barbra Sobhani
Event: 2023 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC)
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Presentation Title: The Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone: Demonstrating Microsatellite Sensing Networks in Planetary Science
Student: Natalia Klamut
Mentor: Teresa Foley
Event: 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Presentation Title: Diagnostic, Perinatal, and Medical Features of Turner Syndrome with Trisomy X Mosaicism: An InsighTS Study
Student: Grace Leger
Mentor: Chelsea Pierotti
Event: 2023 International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies Annual Conference
Location: Rotterdam, JA Schiedam
Presentation Title: Life Satisfaction Among Undergraduate Students: Correlates with Body Appreciation, Athlete Self-Identification, and Exercise Frequency
Student: Brett Ford
Mentor: Vanessa Baird
Event: 2023 Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: Using Case Specific Doctrinal Ideological Space to Generate Inferences About the Ideological Content of Supreme Court's Output
Student: Thomas Starr
Mentor: Vanessa Baird
Event: 2023 Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: God, Sex, Money and Blood: Analyzing the Relationship between Religiosity, Sexual Liberality, and Support for Political Violence in the United States
Student: Adrienne Lezak
Mentor: Maureen Lynch
Event: 2023 Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society Annual Conference
Location: Boston, MA
Presentation Title: The Impacts of Fluid Flow on Breast Cancer Bone Metastatic Niche in a Bone Explant Model
Student: Garrett Fowler
Mentor: Laurialan Reitzammer
Event: 2023 Eta Sigma Phi Undergraduate Research Conference: The School of Athens
Location: Commerce, GA
Presentation Title: Eunuchs: Arguing for Autonomy in Ancient Rome
Student: Delaney McNally
Mentor: Laura Macdougall
Event: 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Presentation Title: Reversible Intracellular Gelation Reduces MCF10A Spheroid Growth
Student: Lucy Friedman
Mentor: Franziska Zenhaeusern
Event: 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Presentation Title: Safe Communities Safe Schools
Student: Mia Richardson
Mentor: Vanessa Baird
Event: 2023 Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: American Political Violence: Examining Causal Mechanisms
Student: Chloe Zentner
Mentor: Veronica Corral Flores
Event: HASP integration
Location: Palestine, Texas
Presentation Title: HASP: WhenBuffsFly
Student: Benjamin Hellem
Mentor: Veronica Corral-Flores
Event: HASP Integration and Testing
Location: Palestine, Texas
Presentation Title: HASP- WhenBuffsFly
Student: Elsa Carreras
Mentor: Veronica Flores
Event: HASP Payload Integration
Location: Palestine, Texas
Presentation Title: HASP stands for High Altitude Student Platform and it is a national program managed by Louisiana Space Grant and NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The CU team participating in HASP this year is called WhenBuffsFly.
Student: Sruthi Bandla
Mentor: Allison Anderson
Event: 2023 Region V Student Conference
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Presentation Title: The Hybrid Environmental Immersive Simulation Training System: A Low-Cost, High-Impact Approach to Astronaut Training
Student: Ashish Srivastava
Mentor: Robert Davis
Event: NCUR
Location: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Presentation Title: Experimental and Computational Analyses of Drop Motion in Straight Microchannels
Student: Lucy Davis
Mentor: Allison Anderson
Event: AIAA 2023 Region V Student Conference
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Presentation Title: The Hybrid Environmental Immersive Simulation Training System: A Low-Cost, High-Impact Approach to Astronaut Training
Student: Thomas Waggett
Mentor: Vanessa Baird
Event: 80th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Presentation Title: American Political Violence: Examining Causal Mechanisms
Student: Mitchell Zonies
Mentor: Garrett Bredeson
Event: Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference
Location: Portland, Oregon
Presentation Title: Physical Ethics: On Stoic Compatibilism
Note: Some students chose to opt-out of a publicity release and are not included in this list.
Financials
Budget
PACE is supported by two endowments managed by the CU Foundation: 1) the Boettcher Foundation Fund and 2) the University of Colorado Matching Fund. We receive approximately $10,000 in distributions annually from these funds, and student demand typically exceeds available endowment funding. In recognition of the transformative value of these professional experiences, UROP regularly provides supplementary funding to enable students participating in events later in the fiscal year. We remain committed to working with the Advancement and Undergraduate Education to ensure the financial solvency and long-term sustainability of the program—and thank the Boettcher Foundation for the vital seed-funding provided to PACE.
Student Funding
In fiscal year 2023, we provided $17,750 to support 36 students and an additional $7,500 to support three student groups of 5+ students each (Total: $25,250) by spending some reserve funding accured during the pandemic travel restriction and supplementary support from UROP ($6,750.00)—allocated prior to the pandemic. In fiscal year 2024, we anticipate an available budget of $24,126.35 for student funding.
Summary (Last Seven Years)
| Year | Students Awarded | Groups Awarded | Total Amount Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2023 |
36 |
3 |
$25,250 |
| 2022 | 11 | $6,080 | |
| 2021 | 35 | $22,100 | |
| 2020 | 48 | $29,970 | |
| 2019 | 69 | $19,000 | |
| 2018 | 38 | $15,000 | |
| 2017 | 14 | $14,237 |
Boettcher Foundation Fund (Last Seven Years)
| Year | Distributions | Award Total | Balance (End of FY) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $9,489.03 | $12,500.00 | $10,576.31 |
| 2022 | $8,642.87 | None | $13,587.28 |
| 2021 | $8,446.73 | $3,580.00 | $4,944.41 |
| 2020 | $8,145.07 | $8,100.00 | $77.68 |
| 2019 | $8,502.01 | $8,470.00 | $44.27 |
| 2018 | $7,964.52 | $10,200.00 | $12.26 |
| 2017 | $8,232.12 | $11,000.00 | $2,247.74 |
CU Matching Fund (Last Seven Years)
| Year | Distributions | Award Total | Balance (End of FY) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $2,743.43 | $6,000.00 | $494.54 |
| 2022 | $2,513.29 | $1,342.00 | $5,093.11 |
| 2021 | $2,462.54 | None | $2,579.82 |
| 2020 | $2,376.47 | $2,300.00 | $117.28 |
| 2019 | $2,331.14 | $2,300.00 | $40.81 |
| 2018 | $2,325.21 | $6,200.00 | $9.67 |
| 2017 | $2,395.79 | $3,000.00 | $3,884.46 |
Next Year (FY 2024)
| Fund | FY23 Balance | FY24 Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boettcher Fund | $10,576.31 | $10,138.97 | $20,715.28 |
| CU Matching Fund | $494.54 | $2,916.53 | $3,411.07 |
| UROP Supplement | - | - | $150.00 |
FY24 Available Budget: $24,276.35
2023 Groups (5+ Students Each)
| Award Amount | Team |
|---|---|
| $2,500 | American College Dance Association (ACDA) Northwest Region Conference |
| $2,500 | Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference |
| $2,500 | International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition |
Historic Data
PACE began issuing awards in 2011, and student demand has been steadily rising. Though the pandemic restricted travel and limited academic and professional events for a few years, students participated in events virtually and are quickly returning to travel with restrictions easing.
Total Students Supported
354
Total Funding Provided
$167,945