Academics

Two University of Colorado Boulder faculty members, both from the ecology and evolutionary biology department, have received prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development, or CAREER, awards. The awards, which went to assistant professors Pieter Johnson and Rebecca Safran, are made to outstanding faculty in the early stages of their careers who effectively integrate innovative research and educational outreach.

The University of Colorado Boulder welcomed 19 students from Brazil this semester as part of the new Science Without Borders Program and Brazil’s initiative to place and fully fund outstanding students abroad to supplement their studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

The University of Colorado Boulder exceeded its own researchers’ expectations with its iDREAMS Scalable Game Design Summer Institute, and that success has been rewarded with a new $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. CU-Boulder researchers are tracking how video game design engages students in computational thinking and STEM simulation design.

Diane McKnight, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. McKnight is among 66 new members and 10 foreign associates of the academy announced today. She joins 16 other faculty from the campus who have been elected since the academy’s formation in 1962.

Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Earth’s glaciers and ice caps outside of the regions of Greenland and Antarctica are shedding roughly 150 billion tons of ice annually, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Many Americans overestimate the degree of polarization between Democrats and Republicans, and this misconception is associated with citizens’ voting behavior and their involvement in political activities, according to new findings from the University of Colorado Boulder. “It is clear that Americans see themselves as very sharply polarized,” said Professor Leaf Van Boven, who led the research efforts. “And that the extent of perceived polarization dramatically overstates the actual degree of polarization.”

With the presidential election right around the corner and politically charged TV and radio ads hammering away at the major differences between the parties, Americans these days appear to see the nation as divided between Red and Blue.

A five-year project to improve the lives of youth in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood will kick off Feb. 16-17 with public meetings on the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus. Community members and key leaders will gather in the community room at 4800 Telluride St. in Denver to discuss efforts to reduce youth violence to be led by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The public is invited to attend.

CU System news release