Brian Argrow

Glenn L. Murphy Professor, Ann & H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences; Director, Integrated Remote & In-Situ Sensing Systems Program (IRISS), College of Engineering and Applied Science

Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, Argrow is widely recognized for his pioneering efforts in the design and deployment of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to penetrate tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms and other severe weather events, gathering previously unattainable data. These remarkable results required aerodynamic and sensor sophistication, but also the development and utilization of mobile communications networks that enabled highly sophisticated communication and telemetry in incredibly dynamic environments.

Argrow is one of the first pioneers to study and later utilize mobile ad hoc networks to gather scientific information. He also is well-known for his work on atmospherics and low-density gas dynamics that are highly relevant to the development of super- and hypersonic vehicles.

Argrow’s impact extends beyond the scientific and engineering realms. His work on unmanned aircraft systems has been central in shaping the Federal Aviation Administration’s standards of operation for small UAS. His work continues to inform, and at times change, those FAA UAS flight standards. His severe weather work has been helpful in the development of better models to predict severe weather events, and in so doing, to mitigate the loss of property and life to those events.

Argrow is among the lead architects of the nationally and internationally recognized Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences undergraduate curriculum. He served as the associate dean of education in CEAS for five years during a period of incredible growth and transformation in the college. Part of the CU Boulder community since 1992, Argrow has been honored with many awards and accolades for outstanding teaching, service and leadership.

Marie Banich

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute of Cognitive Science, College of Arts and Sciences

Banich is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research specializes in using brain imaging techniques to understand the neural systems that allow us to direct our attention and our actions so that we can prioritize, organize, and target our behavior in a goal-oriented manner, abilities often referred to as executive function. Her research reflects the essence of cognitive neuroscience, successfully bridging the gap between psychology and neuroscience.

She is a pioneer in the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This technique measures spatiotemporal changes in blood oxygenation, as opposed to MRI, which is most commonly used to provide a static snapshot of the body’s interior structures. Banich was among the first cohort of investigators to use fMRI to investigate the function of areas of the brain.

More recently, Banich has developed groundbreaking methodological approaches that allow scientists to begin to understand the brain circuits that may be involved in supplanting unwanted thoughts, which commonly occur in individuals with psychological challenges. These novel techniques, many now standards in the field, involve complex integration of neural, physiological, behavioral and computational principles and tools in ways that provide insights into the linkage between certain types of brain function and human behaviors.

Banich’s popular textbook Cognitive Neuroscience (Cambridge Press) is in its fifth edition. Beyond being a thought leader in the field of cognitive neuroscience, Banich is a highly knowledgeable, passionate and rigorous teacher and mentor. A member of the CU Boulder community since 2000, her service achievements include serving as director of the Institute of Cognitive Science (2004-16) and being the founding and current executive director of the Intermountain Neuroimaging Consortium, CU Boulder’s research facility for neuroimaging, since 2010.

Shemin Ge

Department of Geological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences 

An award-winning hydrogeologist, Ge studies groundwater in the Earth’s crust with a focus on understanding how groundwater flow interacts with and is affected by other geologic processes, and how these interactions advance science and offer insights on societally relevant issues. Her research provides deeper insights and understanding into earthquakes and related phenomena, both natural and human-caused.

Ge’s scholarly accomplishments in hydrogeology have been recognized with several awards, including her being selected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America (GSA). In 2019-20, she was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Hong Kong. In 2018, she was presented with the GSA O.E. Meinzer Award, the highest international honor in the science of hydrogeology. In 2017, Ge was invited to South Korea to lead an investigation near a geothermal site where a geological disturbance damaged homes and caused injuries. A global thought leader in her field, Ge’s work is not only theoretical but has real-world impact.

Throughout her career, Ge has taught at all levels, and she is well-known for teaching field courses. Students praise her as being rigorous as well as kind and caring. She has a remarkable mentorship record, having graduated over 30 M.S.- and Ph.D.-level graduate students and mentored around 20 undergraduates in her lab work.

A professor at CU Boulder since 1993, Ge served as chair of Geological Sciences at a time when the department achieved a No. 1 ranking in U.S. News and World Report. She has served in posts at the NSF and assumed a lead role for the U.S. Geological Survey Powell Center working group on (human) induced seismicity.

Dragan Maksimovic

Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science

Maksimovic is a leading figure in power electronics, the technology that ties renewable sources such as photovoltaics and wind turbines to the electric power grid, propels hybrid and electric vehicles, powers a countless variety of electronic systems, and makes it possible to operate battery-powered mobile devices for many hours. His research has been recognized by election as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and several major awards from the IEEE Power Electronics Society, including the 2023 IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award.

Maksimovic, who joined CU Boulder in 1992, has served as the co-director of the Colorado Power Electronics Center since 1999. He is one of the most highly cited researchers in the field of power electronics, with over 350 publications in key journals with over 43,000 citations. He is a co-author of two widely used power electronics textbooks and holds 44 US patents.

His teaching innovation includes developing new hands-on courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including a sophomore-level Electronics Design Laboratory that has become a mainstay of the electrical engineering curriculum. Over the past five years, Maksimovic has contributed substantially to the online Coursera master’s degree in electrical engineering pioneered at CU. This performance-based admissions program is first-of-a-kind, and it has achieved total enrollment of over 100,000 students across the world.

A model of servant leadership, Maksimovic has served on the department’s curriculum, laboratory, graduate studies, and strategic planning committees. At the college level, he has served on the promotion and tenure committee. He serves his profession through the IEEE Power Electronics Society, where he has led major conferences, chaired committees, served on editorial boards of flagship publications, and been selected as a Distinguished Lecturer.