News & Events

CU Boulder and Ball Aerospace have been collaborating for decades to solve mysteries of the universe. That partnership was also the university’s first commercial spin-off and it greased the gears of an entrepreneurial engine that continues to power innovation within the university and far beyond.

CU Boulder’s second annual Sandia Day drew over 160 registered attendees for a packed agenda highlighting the strong partnership between the university and Sandia National Laboratories, potential future avenues for collaborative, globally impactful research, and job and internship opportunities.

This summer, NASA announced that it had selected four Space Weather Centers of Excellence, including the Space Weather Operational Readiness Development (SWORD) center at CU Boulder. As its name suggests, the nearly $10 million center will offer some powerful protection for the planet.

The board will integrate industry leaders poised to support and help shape the university's future of innovation and entrepreneurship. The initiative aims to align and optimize resources across campus to reach across traditional silos, facilitate collaboration, fuel achievement and build CU Boulder’s reputation.

In partnership with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), the University of Colorado welcomes proposals for translational quantum research seed grants. Seed grants are open to any Colorado research institution and industry partners. The goals of the programs are to incentivize innovations launched out of the lab and help them along the development path to new programs and businesses.

A new project led by Scott Diddams (Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering)—awarded $1M award from the W.M. Keck Foundation—will explore the feasibility of creating a frequency comb detector to synchronize the world’s existing infrared telescopes and make them more precise.

Scientists on a new project led by CU Boulder will develop “worlds in a box” to study the conditions that might make far away planets habitable. The research team—part of NASA’s Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) program—will be led David Brain (LASP, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences).

Kirk Ambrose of the Department of Classics and Rebecca Safran of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology have been recognized with 2023-24 Distinguished Research Lectureships.

The new grant will fund the JILA Physics Frontiers Center for six more years and seeks to spur collaborations among a wide range of scientists—potentially paving the way for new discoveries around everything from the behavior of the humble electron to complex molecules.

The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) has opened RIO Faculty Fellows 2024 cohort applications, which will be accepted through October 23. Selections will be announced in November.