While the national spotlight has shined on Folsom Field this fall, those of us at CU Boulder for many years know that most of the university’s greatest feats happen away from bright lights and fanfare.
In research labs across campus and spinoff companies across Colorado, our faculty — and staff and students who support them — are making discoveries that benefit your health, happiness and economic vitality.
From space to climate, health and quantum science and technology, CU Boulder is harnessing a record $684 million in research funding last year to address some of humanity’s toughest challenges. These sustained efforts are why the University of Colorado Boulder remains a leading public research institution whose excellence should make every Coloradan proud — regardless of where you live, how you vote or whether you cheer for the Buffs.
Just last month, a consortium of Colorado innovators called Elevate Quantum, which includes significant contributors from CU Boulder, was selected as a federal tech hub for quantum innovation.
One of 31 selected nationwide, the hub will focus on developing cutting-edge industries by bringing together higher education, industry, government and nonprofits to compete for up to $75 million in grants to further develop this emerging field.
With significant support from Colorado’s elected officials, the hub holds enormous potential to push Colorado forward in quantum-focused innovation, economic growth and resilience, and job creation. It builds on our region’s strengths over past decades, which include four Nobel Laureates in physics since 2001 and many companies founded, led or staffed by Buffs alumni.
If you don’t yet know what quantum technology is or how it benefits our world, you soon will — and witness its tremendous benefits including new technologies, high-paying jobs and increased national competitiveness.
While we pursue promising new research fields, we’re also supporting stalwarts like the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, now celebrating its 75th anniversary. LASP is the only academic research institute in the world that has sent scientific instruments to every planet in the solar system, plus the sun and several moons.
CU Boulder’s excellence extends to other areas like health, climate, business and arts. We’re a leading public university recipient of NASA research funding and a top nonmedical school recipient of grants from the National Institutes of Health. Our deep partnerships with national labs and the region’s innovation/startup communities are the envy of other universities. Meanwhile, CU’s faculty accomplishments in the arts and humanities have earned two prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships this year, a Fulbright Global Scholar Award and numerous other distinctions.
Today, we’re doing our best to share the full breadth of our research, innovation and creative work. Ensuring that CU Boulder’s valuable creations and discoveries reach communities worldwide is part of how we fulfill our mission to serve the needs of humanity.
In September, 650 science writers converged on CU Boulder and the CU Anschutz Medical Campus for the ScienceWriters 2023 conference, one of the field’s top professional conferences.
For five days, these journalists and communicators met peers, honed their skills and gleaned story ideas from some of the top minds in science and medicine — including CU faculty members.
Meanwhile, we’re deepening efforts to support faculty and student inventors through seed funding, startup competitions and mentoring. CU recently ranked fifth in the nation for startup creation by the Association of University Technology Managers, the leading global organization for data on the commercialization of university technology.
Recent data from the Leeds School of Business shows that commercialization of CU Boulder innovations created an $8 billion impact on the national economy between 2018 and 2022, including a $5.2 billion impact in Colorado.
CU may never host tailgates before a research presentation, and Ralphie won’t run the next time someone from our campus wins a Nobel Prize.
But we’ll continue placing our research Buffs at the core of our mission, heralding our faculty and students’ accomplishments and supporting their successes with as much gusto as a rivalry matchup.
I encourage you to learn more about CU Boulder’s research, innovation and creative work and the tremendous positive impact that your state’s flagship university has on the life of every Coloradan. That’s a legacy we can all get behind.
Phil DiStefano is the chancellor of the University of Colorado Boulder
