Faculty /asmagazine/ en Praise the Lord and plan the family /asmagazine/2026/04/06/praise-lord-and-plan-family <span>Praise the Lord and plan the family</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-04-06T11:20:01-06:00" title="Monday, April 6, 2026 - 11:20">Mon, 04/06/2026 - 11:20</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-04/God%20Bless%20the%20Pill%20thumbnail.jpg?h=669ad1bb&amp;itok=nSDNZkDW" width="1200" height="800" alt="book cover of God Bless the Pill and portrait of Samira Mehta"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/346"> Books </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">Books</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/322" hreflang="en">Jewish Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/448" hreflang="en">Women and Gender Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1101" hreflang="en">Women's History</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/rachel-sauer">Rachel Sauer</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>In new book&nbsp;</em>God Bless the Pill<em>, ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” scholar Samira Mehta delves into the often-forgotten history of how liberal religion helped make birth control broadly available in America</em></p><hr><p>A little more than 100 years ago, the Episcopalian stance on birth control was this: “We utter an emphatic warning against the use of unnatural means for the avoidance of contraception, together with the grave dangers—physical, moral and religious—thereby incurred, and against the evils with which the extension of such use threatens the race.”</p><p>Even acknowledging “abnormal cases” in which birth control might be necessary, Episcopalians were just one of many Protestant denominations that, in the early 20th century, “reacted to contraception on a continuum from skeptical to disapproving,” writes <a href="/wgst/samira-mehta" rel="nofollow">Samira Mehta</a>, a University of Colorado Boulder associate professor of <a href="/wgst/" rel="nofollow">women and gender studies</a> and director of the <a href="/jewishstudies/" rel="nofollow">Program in Jewish Studies</a>.</p><p><span>This aligns with commonly held ideas about how contraception</span>—specifically the pill, which received FDA approval in May 1960—became broadly available in the United States: that first- and second-wave feminists pushed for accessibility, policy change and social revolution while religious leaders erected roadblocks and preached against it.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-04/Samira%20Mehta.png?itok=ej98MZvq" width="1500" height="2252" alt="portrait of Samira Mehta"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” scholar Samira Mehta's new book, <em>God Bless the Pill</em>, <span>explores how liberal religion helped make birth control broadly available in America.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>Except this doesn’t actually tell the whole story.</p><p>In her new book <a href="https://uncpress.org/9781469693439/god-bless-the-pill/" rel="nofollow"><em>God Bless the Pill</em></a>, scheduled for publication April 14, Mehta details the often-forgotten history of mid-20th-century Protestant, Jewish and Catholic leaders and believers who embraced birth control as part of God’s plan. In fact, many denominations that were “skeptical to disapproving” in the early 20th century came around to supporting and advocating for birth control and family planning.</p><p>“In a society that overtly thought of sex as something inside of marriage and that was inappropriate outside of marriage, the way that birth control becomes something that is covered by insurance and a part of respectable medicine lay in reshaping it from a tool for sexual liberation and turning it into a tool for creating properly structured American families,” Mehta says.</p><p>“This didn’t happen because (as a society) we care about women but because children have a better start if their mother doesn’t die in childbirth, if their family doesn’t have more children than the parents can provide for. The goal was to create healthier families—to use birth control to create healthier families—not just a healthy mother. And there’s concern that if you have more children than you can afford, you become dependent on the state. This is the United States, where we don’t want you to need a school lunch program, so you can’t have more kids than you can afford to give lunch to.”</p><p><strong>The role of liberal religion</strong></p><p>The idea to research what became <em>God Bless the Pill</em>, Mehta says, germinated from a desire not to lessen the significant influence that first- and second-wave feminism had on making birth control broadly available to women, but to understand what, if any, influence liberal religion had on the accessibility of birth control.</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-left ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">Book release and Q&amp;A</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-chevron-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i><strong>&nbsp;What</strong>: A reading from <em>God Bless the Pill</em> by author Samira Mehta, followed by a Q&amp;A facilitated by Phoebe Young, chair of the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” Department of History</p><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-chevron-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i><span><strong>&nbsp;Where</strong>: Waldschanke Cider and Coffee Haus, 4100 Jason St. in Denver</span></p><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-chevron-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i><span><strong>&nbsp;When</strong>: 6-8 p.m. Monday, April 13</span></p><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-chevron-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i><span>&nbsp;<strong>Who</strong>: All are invited to this free event.</span></p><p class="text-align-center"><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-large" href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exclusive-god-bless-the-pill-book-release-qa-tickets-1985456093623?aff=oddtdtcreator&amp;keep_tld=true" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Reserve a spot</span></a></p></div></div></div><p>Mehta was inspired by social historian Elaine Tyler May’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780465011520" rel="nofollow"><em>America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation,</em></a><em>&nbsp;</em>in which May assesses how access to the pill did and didn’t fulfill utopian dreams of liberating women, eradicating global poverty and supporting stable and happy marriages.&nbsp;</p><p>Mehta understood that the history of contraception is not simply a feminist history and found herself wondering what “that story would look like if one fully included religion in the narrative? I hoped and assumed that, as in May’s title, the promise and liberation might outweigh the peril. I also saw in May’s narration the assumption that religion was always conservative and opposed to birth control,” she writes in <em>God Bless the Pill</em>.</p><p>But what about liberal religious congregations? Where were they in the aftermath of oral contraception becoming broadly available in 1960?</p><p>Mehta took that question to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, where she found documentation of her childhood minister, the Rev. Al Ciarcia of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport in Connecticut, publicly supporting birth control during the Griswold v. Connecticut debate—a landmark 1965 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court found that a Connecticut statute forbidding contraceptive use violated the right of marital privacy.</p><p>This decision came 25 years after the American Birth Control League, formed by Margaret Sanger in 1921 and renamed the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942, assembled a national clergymen’s committee.</p><p>“These clergy talk about the importance of sex in a marriage and how a marriage that is sexually dynamic is less likely to result in divorce,” Mehta says. “The rhetoric around sex and marriage starts changing, and clergy members start talking about the sacred nature of a marriage bond and how sex is part of that bond through which two become one—regardless of literally becoming one in the form of a new person.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-04/God%20Bless%20the%20Pill%20cover.jpg?itok=aKVKAs88" width="1500" height="2265" alt="book cover of God Bless the Pill"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">"<span>The way that birth control becomes something that is covered by insurance and a part of respectable medicine lay in reshaping it from a tool for sexual liberation and turning it into a tool for creating properly structured American families," says Samira Mehta.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>“They also advocate for marriages that are economically stable, and more kids can strain the economics of the household.”</p><p><strong>Making the moral choice</strong></p><p>Though Mehta begins the narrative in <em>God Bless the Pill</em> during World War II, the story of religion and contraception really gathers steam after the war’s end and the Cold War’s beginning. During this time, the value and sanctity of the American family was touted as one of the best weapons against the communist menace.</p><p>“There’s talk about Soviet women who have to go out and work in factories and put their kids in daycare,” Mehta says. “But a family that can control how many kids they have—where the mother can stay home and the father’s income is enough to support the family—can control their discretionary income. They can get a KitchenAid stand mixer, they can replace the dishwasher when a new and better model comes out. Limiting the birth rate becomes a way of increasing capitalist consumption.”</p><p>Messages highlighting capitalism as a way to defeat communism often occurred in the same breath as messages of moral behavior: “It’s the idea that if you can’t control something, it’s not moral,” Mehta explains. “Nobody wants to argue you should be celibate in marriage, so liberal religion begins framing birth control as a tool that allows us to make moral choices about how to structure our families.</p><p>“These clergy members believe that you can lay out the evidence for a compelling moral choice and then everybody will want to make a compelling moral choice. They were arguing that this is an access problem and an education problem, and they thought people would see that the best choices for their families are these choices (the clergy members) are suggesting.”</p><p>Mehta notes that even the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that people would make the moral choice if it was presented to them—arguing that big families may be appropriate for the farm, but they work against African Americans’ self-interest in the city. “He laid out the argument that African Americans have a right to these tools as well to lift themselves out of poverty.”&nbsp;</p><p>Ultimately, Mehta adds, there was and continues to be backlash on both the right and the left, with the right not anticipating the feminist potential of contraception and the left questioning whether birth control is a tool of liberation rather than of racial and patriarchal oppression.</p><p>“And then the center isn’t necessarily super comfortable with prolific non-marital sex,” Mehta explains. “They may be OK with married-like relationships, but they’re generally not OK with an emotionally unencumbered and mutually satisfying one-night stand. And the center wasn’t on board with men needing to pull their weight at home and women being in the workforce and kids being in daycare. We’re still seeing a course correction from the center.”</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about women and gender studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="/wgst/donate-wgst-and-qts-0" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>In new book God Bless the Pill, ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” scholar Samira Mehta delves into the often-forgotten history of how liberal religion helped make birth control broadly available in America.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-04/God%20Bless%20the%20Pill%20header.jpg?itok=krN12Os_" width="1500" height="578" alt="Cover image of book God Bless the Pill"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:20:01 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6359 at /asmagazine ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” scientists honored as AAAS fellows /asmagazine/2026/03/26/cu-boulder-scientists-honored-aaas-fellows <span>ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” scientists honored as AAAS fellows</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-03-26T08:20:24-06:00" title="Thursday, March 26, 2026 - 08:20">Thu, 03/26/2026 - 08:20</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-03/Safran%20and%20Su%20AAAS.jpg?h=19854303&amp;itok=MJNFGQHb" width="1200" height="800" alt="portraits of Rebecca Safran and Tin Tin Su"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1155" hreflang="en">Awards</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/256" hreflang="en">Ecology and Evolutionary Biology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/174" hreflang="en">Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Scholars Rebecca Safran and Tin Tin Su recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for excellence in research, teaching and interpreting science to the public</em></p><hr><p><a href="/ebio/rebecca-safran" rel="nofollow">Rebecca Safran</a>, a professor of <a href="/ebio/" rel="nofollow">ecology and evolutionary biology</a> who has led groundbreaking research on the evolution of new species, and <a href="/mcdb/tin-tin-su" rel="nofollow">Tin Tin Su</a>, professor and chair of <a href="/mcdb/" rel="nofollow">molecular, cellular and developmental biology</a> whose research is leading to novel cancer therapies, have been named <a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-welcomes-449-scientists-and-engineers-honorary-fellows" rel="nofollow">fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)</a>.</p><p>The AAAS fellowship is among the highest honors in the scientific community, recognizing a distinguished cohort of scientists, engineers and innovators who “have been recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching and technology to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public,” AAAS officials note.</p><p>“This year’s AAAS Fellows have demonstrated research excellence, made notable contributions to advance science and delivered important services to their communities,” says Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the <em>Science&nbsp;</em>family of journals. “These Fellows and their accomplishments validate the importance of investing in science and technology for the benefit of all.”</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Rebecca%20Safran%20portrait.JPG?itok=fN2jq3z6" width="1500" height="2000" alt="portrait of Rebecca Safran"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Rebecca Safran is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has led groundbreaking research on the evolution of new species.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><strong>A study of swallows</strong></p><p>Safran, whose passion for biology took root in a plant taxonomy class during her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, and her research team, study <a href="https://www.safran-lab.com/" rel="nofollow">the evolution of new species</a>, focusing on the causes and consequences of individual variation across different scales of time and space.&nbsp;</p><p>Because studying the formation of new species can be difficult—given that most species are millions of years old and what caused them to diverge from their ancestors often can’t be determined—Safran and her team study barn swallows, a very closely related group of populations of migratory birds that are currently diverging. This allows Safran and her team to study the process of speciation in real time.</p><p>Safran won a National Science Foundation Early Career Development award to study speciation in barn swallows across their entire, expansive breeding range throughout the Northern Hemisphere and Middle East. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when it wasn’t possible to conduct research in other countries, Safran and her research team began focusing on the rapid decline in the population of barn swallows and its implications. For their work, Safran and team study the birds using a highly integrative approach including behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives.</p><p>Among other discoveries, Safran and her team found that sexual selection, or the process by which organisms choose mates based on traits they find attractive, drives the emergence of new species. Her team’s research has been published in more than 120 peer-reviewed journals, including&nbsp;<em>Science</em>, <em>Nature</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Current Biology</em>. She also co-edited a recent book on speciation (2024, Cold Spring Harbor Press).</p><p>“None of this work is possible without the incredible collaboration with students, colleagues at CU and around the world, private landowers who allow us to study populations of barn swallows on their properties and continuous funding support by the National Science Foundation and other agencies,” Safran says. “I am especially honored to have worked with so many talented undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students."</p><p><strong>Studying fruit flies to treat cancer</strong></p><p>Su, who attended Woodstock School in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, credits her experiences there, in part, with <a href="https://theampersand.podbean.com/e/tin-tin-su/" rel="nofollow">helping her understand</a> that her ideal environment is one in which “you do respect the elders or people who have had more experience or authority. But at the same time, if it doesn't seem right, you question it.”</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Tin%20Tin%20Su%20portrait.jpg?itok=xtWVulQ5" width="1500" height="1741" alt="portrait of Tin Tin Su"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Tin Tin Su is a professor and chair of molecular, cellular and developmental biology whose research is leading to novel cancer therapies.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>Throughout her career, Su and her research colleagues have sought to develop new ways of attacking cancer. Through research on how tissues and organs in fruit flies regenerate after being damaged by X-rays, they synthesized the chemical SVC112, which helps prevent cancer cells from regrowing following radiation exposure. Su and her colleagues focused on the fruit fly because this insect shares more than 70% of disease-relevant genes with humans.</p><p>SVC112 is based on the chemical bouvardin found in the firecracker bush (<em>Bouvardia ternifolia</em>) that grows in the Southwest United States and Mexico. Su and her colleagues discovered that bouvardin can prevent regeneration of tissues in fruit flies.</p><p>More recently, Su, who also is a member of the CU Cancer Center, and her colleague Antonio Jimeno, co-leader of the CU Cancer Center’s&nbsp;Developmental Therapeutics Program, used SVC112 to target cancer stem cells in head and neck cancers. They are in the process of applying to the FDA to test SVC112 in human trials.</p><p>Su also has participated in the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” <a href="/oce/paces/initiatives-and-programs/community-perspectives" rel="nofollow">Community Perspectives Program</a>, conducting outreach in several rural Colorado communities that led to a research collaboration with Colorado State University Pueblo to assess the effect of heavy metals on the genome in&nbsp;fruit fly&nbsp;and human cells.</p><p>“I do what I do because I love science,” Su says. “The potential to help cancer patients in Colorado and beyond makes it even better. So, to be named a AAAS Fellow is really the cherry on top!”</p><p><strong>ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” the AAAS Fellowship</strong></p><p>The AAAS began naming fellows annually in 1874, people nominated by the AAAS Council to recognize those whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.”</p><p>Safran and Su join a cohort of more than 80 ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” faculty members who previously received the honor, as well as a broader cadre that includes Thomas Edison, W.E.B DuBois, Maria Mitchell, Steven Chu, Ellen Ochoa and Irwin M. Jacobs.<span> &nbsp;</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about natural sciences?&nbsp;</em><a href="/artsandsciences/giving" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Scholars Rebecca Safran and Tin Tin Su recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for excellence in research, teaching and interpreting science to the public.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/AAAS%20hero.jpg?itok=9EZXniti" width="1500" height="559" alt="American Association for the Advancement of Science logo"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:20:24 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6352 at /asmagazine Project harnesses next-generation satellites to preserve Arctic sea ice /asmagazine/2026/03/17/project-harnesses-next-generation-satellites-preserve-arctic-sea-ice <span>Project harnesses next-generation satellites to preserve Arctic sea ice</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-03-17T16:11:24-06:00" title="Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 16:11">Tue, 03/17/2026 - 16:11</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-03/Arctic%20sea%20ice%20thumbnail.jpg?h=1a91228d&amp;itok=U8MgHlc1" width="1200" height="800" alt="Arctic sea ice"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/676" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/428" hreflang="en">Physics</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” researcher Ivy Tan leads a project recently funded by Ocean Visions that aims to assess whether mixed-phase cloud thinning is a viable method for cooling the Arctic</em></p><hr><p><a href="/physics/ivy-tan" rel="nofollow">Ivy Tan</a>, a University of Colorado Boulder assistant professor of <a href="/physics/" rel="nofollow">physics</a>, recently was awarded funding from Ocean Visions for a project she leads that is assessing whether mixed-phase cloud thinning is a viable method for cooling the Arctic and restoring sea ice.</p><p>Tan’s project is one of six funded by <a href="https://oceanvisions.org/" rel="nofollow">Ocean Visions</a>, a nonprofit ocean conservation organization pursuing solutions to counter and reverse climate impacts on ocean health. The selected projects are being funded through Ocean Visions’ <a href="https://oceanvisions.org/arctic-sea-ice-research/" rel="nofollow">Arctic Sea Ice Restoration Research Fund</a>, which was created to identify, prioritize and support research on cutting-edge ideas to slow the loss of Arctic sea ice.</p><p>“Arctic summer sea ice is a critical foundation of the global ocean and climate system, and its rapid loss is creating a series of severe risks to nature and people across the planet,” says Brad Ack, Ocean Visions CEO. “These research projects, and others to come, are intended to help answer the glaring question: Is there anything else we can do to forestall these potentially irreversible outcomes?” &nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Ivy%20Tan.jpg?itok=Jcn0JZ1Y" width="1500" height="1591" alt="portrait of Ivy Tan"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><a href="/physics/ivy-tan" rel="nofollow">Ivy Tan</a>, a University of Colorado Boulder assistant professor of <a href="/physics/" rel="nofollow">physics</a>, recently was awarded funding from Ocean Visions for a project she leads that is assessing whether mixed-phase cloud thinning is a viable method for cooling the Arctic and restoring sea ice.</p> </span> </div></div><p>“This support from Ocean Visions will allow us to better understand the radiative influence of Arctic clouds on the rapidly warming Arctic by spectrally fingerprinting the far infrared radiative signature of clouds using state-of-the-art technology,” Tan says.<span>&nbsp;</span></p><p>Tan and her research colleagues—<a href="/atoc/sebastian-schmidt" rel="nofollow">Sebastian Schmidt,</a> a ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” professor of <a href="/atoc/" rel="nofollow">atmospheric and oceanic sciences</a>, Michael Diamond at Florida State University and Colten Peterson with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center—are developing a new, satellite-based Arctic cloud observation product using recently launched satellites with unprecedented routine measurements of far-infrared radiation (NASA’s PREFIRE CubeSats), as well as collocated radar, LiDAR and imager instruments.</p><p>“We will compare the satellite observations to those made with ESA/JAXA’s recently launched EarthCARE satellite and an aircraft (as part of NASA’s ARCSIX campaign),” Tan and her colleagues explain. “These comparisons will be used to produce and validate an algorithm that provides information on cloud properties and their radiative effects on the Arctic surface on a broad spatial scale. Our framework will uniquely take into account the influence of the vertical thermal stratification of the Arctic atmosphere helping us to determine where and when mixed-phase cloud seeding would, or would not, have potential as a climate intervention strategy.”</p><p>Among their aims is to help make mixed-phase cloud thinning a more viable method for cooling the Arctic and restoring sea ice. For this to happen, however, “there would need to be enough of the right type of cloud present to be thinned by seeding (clouds containing supercooled liquid water), at the right time (polar night), to produce the desired climate forcing (cooling). Unfortunately, accurately measuring these clouds, especially at night, is very challenging with current satellite products,” the researchers explain.</p><p>Ocean Visions selected the six projects through a competitive process, including review by an independent international expert panel. The research to be conducted will provide the foundation for future work, if warranted, to further advance knowledge and address ecological, social and ethical dimensions, as well as develop guidance on safeguards or stage gates for future research, according to Ocean Visions.</p><p>“The research supported through the Arctic Sea Ice Restoration Research Fund prioritizes scientific merit, interdisciplinary approaches, and careful risk assessment through a rigorous review,” says Dr. Ginny Selz, Ocean Visions senior program director. “We are excited to watch this research progress and see how it expands our understanding of potential approaches to protect and restore&nbsp;<a href="https://oceanvisions.org/arctic-sea-ice/" rel="nofollow">Arctic sea ice</a>.”</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about physics?&nbsp;</em><a href="/physics/alumni-and-friends" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” researcher Ivy Tan leads a project recently funded by Ocean Visions that aims to assess whether mixed-phase cloud thinning is a viable method for cooling the Arctic.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Arctic%20sea%20ice%20header.jpg?itok=OQ98vpqS" width="1500" height="527" alt="Arctic sea ice"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:11:24 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6346 at /asmagazine Three ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” faculty named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows /asmagazine/2026/02/17/three-cu-boulder-faculty-named-2026-sloan-research-fellows <span>Three ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” faculty named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-02-17T09:05:06-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 09:05">Tue, 02/17/2026 - 09:05</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-02/Sloan%20Fellowship%20thumbnail.jpg?h=55fbf2f4&amp;itok=iD3mZupm" width="1200" height="800" alt="portraits of Erica Nelson, Andres Montoya-Castillo and Kelsie Eichel"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/254" hreflang="en">Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/837" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/174" hreflang="en">Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Fellowships provide $75,000 in funding for early-career researchers in fields including chemistry, physics, neuroscience and mathematics</em></p><hr><p><span>Three University of Colorado Boulder faculty members have been selected to receive prestigious </span><a href="https://sloan.org/fellowships/" rel="nofollow"><span>Sloan Research Fellowships</span></a><span> in 2026. Winners receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship that can be used flexibly to advance their research.</span></p><p><span>The three College of Arts and Sciences faculty members are:</span></p><ul><li><a href="/aps/erica-nelson" rel="nofollow"><span>Erica Nelson</span></a><span>, assistant professor in the&nbsp;</span><a href="/aps/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences</span></a><span>, for physics.</span></li><li><a href="/chemistry/andres-montoya-castillo" rel="nofollow"><span>Andres Montoya-Castillo</span></a><span>, assistant professor in the&nbsp;</span><a href="/chemistry/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Chemistry</span></a><span>, for chemistry.</span></li><li><a href="/mcdb/kelsie-eichel" rel="nofollow"><span>Kelsie Eichel</span></a><span>, assistant professor in the&nbsp;</span><a href="/mcdb/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology</span></a><span>, for neuroscience.</span></li></ul><p><span>“The Sloan Research Fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines,” said Stacie Bloom, president and CEO of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in announcing the winners Tuesday. “We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields and foster the wellbeing and knowledge of all.”</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/Sloan%20Fellowship%202026.jpg?itok=2L-dFpPi" width="1500" height="788" alt="portraits of Erica Nelson, Andres Montoya-Castillo and Kelsie Eichel"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” researchers (left to right) Erica Nelson, Andres Montoya-Castillo and Kelsie Eichel have been named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows.</p> </span> </div></div><p><span>For 2026, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation named 126 early-career researchers—including Nelson, Montoya-Castillo and Eichel—as&nbsp;</span><a href="https://sloan.org/fellowships/" rel="nofollow"><span>Sloan Research Fellowship</span></a><span> award winners. Fellows from this year’s cohort were drawn from 44 institutions across the United States and Canada.</span></p><p><span>Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, 60&nbsp;faculty from ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” have received one, including this year’s winners, according to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</span></p><p><span>“I’m delighted and honored to receive the support of the Sloan Foundation,” Montoya-Castillo said. “I’m especially grateful to my group, mentors and senior colleagues, both at CU and beyond, who have been immensely supportive and kind.”</span></p><p><span>“It’s a big honor to be recognized by the Sloan Foundation,” Eichel agreed, adding that she is appreciative of the funding for her research. “My lab studies a fundamental question in cellular neuroscience—how neurons build and maintain their polarized architecture. This polarized architecture enables the nervous system to communicate, adapt and ultimately generate behavior. By uncovering the core principles that govern neuronal function, our work will lay the groundwork for developing new strategies to restore neuronal function in neurological diseases.”</span></p><p><span>Nelson said she is thrilled to be named a Sloan Research Fellow and added that the fellowship funding will be a valuable asset to her research.</span></p><p><span>“We’ve discovered mysterious red objects in the early universe with the James Webb Space Telescope that challenge&nbsp;what&nbsp;we thought we knew about the first galaxies and black holes. This fellowship provides crucial support to determine what these objects really are: Are they massive galaxies or a never-before-seen phase in the formation of supermassive black holes? Whatever the answer, it will fundamentally reshape our understanding of cosmic dawn in our universe,” she said.</span></p><p><span>Sloan Research Fellowships are considered one of the most prestigious awards available to young researchers—in part because so many past fellows have gone on to become distinguished figures in science. To date, 59 fellows have won a Nobel Prize, 72 fellows have received the National Medal of Science, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics and 25 have received the John Bates Clark Medal in economics.</span></p><p><span>Open to scholars in seven fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth systems, economics, mathematics, neurosciences and physics—more than 1,000 researchers are nominated by their fellow scientists each year, according to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The organization said winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars based upon their research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become leaders in their fields.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about arts and sciences?&nbsp;</em><a href="/artsandsciences/giving" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Fellowships provide $75,000 in funding for early-career researchers in fields including chemistry, physics, neuroscience and mathematics.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/Sloan%20Foundation%20header.jpg?itok=kWY6yHSI" width="1500" height="512" alt="Alfred P. Sloan Foundation logo on blue background"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:05:06 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6326 at /asmagazine John Cumalat named Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award winner /asmagazine/2026/02/10/john-cumalat-named-big-12-faculty-year-award-winner <span>John Cumalat named Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award winner</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-02-10T09:00:37-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 10, 2026 - 09:00">Tue, 02/10/2026 - 09:00</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-02/John%20cumalat%20thumbnail.jpg?h=25e825df&amp;itok=h63yIB6d" width="1200" height="800" alt="portrait of John Cumalat"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1155" hreflang="en">Awards</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/428" hreflang="en">Physics</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>He and fellow honorees represent ‘what makes college campuses thrive as places of learning and growth’</em></p><hr><p><a href="/physics/john-cumalat" rel="nofollow">John Cumalat</a>, a University of Colorado Boulder Professor of Distinction in the <a href="/physics/" rel="nofollow">Department of Physics</a>, has been named a <a href="https://big12sports.com/news/2026/2/6/general-big-12-announces-faculty-of-the-year-award-honorees.aspx" rel="nofollow">2026 Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award</a> winner.</p><p>The award celebrates a top faculty member from each Big 12 school, recognizing their excellence in innovation and research. The 16 honorees “represent what makes college campuses thrive as places of learning and growth,” according to Big 12 officials.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/John%20cumalat.jpg?itok=uJtsc8Xw" width="1500" height="1940" alt="portrait of John Cumalat"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Professor of Distinction John Cumalat has been named a 2026 Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award winner.</p> </span> </div></div><p>"We are constantly looking for ways to highlight how Big 12 faculty continue to educate and inspire the next generation of leaders," said Big 12 Chief Impact Officer Jenn Hunter. "From the arts and filmmaking to business and engineering, this year's cohort showcases the vast opportunities available to students pursuing an education on Big 12 campuses."</p><p>The Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award is also an opportunity to showcase the diversity of research breakthroughs and educational opportunities afforded to students attending Big 12 institutions and helps attract future students, according to Big 12 officials. Faculty of the Year Award winners were nominated by their institutions in conjunction with Big 12 faculty athletics representatives, provosts and other university leaders.</p><p>“I am fortunate and humbled to be recognized with the Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award from the University of Colorado, as I am well aware there are so many talented peers in my department, my college and across the campus,” Cumalat says. “My selection is a great honor for my Department of Physics and my colleagues in high-energy physics.”</p><p>Cumalat, who last year was recognized with the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” <a href="/asmagazine/2025/04/11/professor-john-cumalat-wins-2025-hazel-barnes-prize" rel="nofollow">Hazel Barnes Prize</a>, is best known for his research in particle physics and for developing state-of-the-art particle-detector technology and instrumentation.</p><p>After earning his PhD in physics from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1977 and completing postdoctoral work as the first Robert Rathbun Wilson Fellow at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fnal.gov/" rel="nofollow">Fermilab</a>&nbsp;in Batavia, Illinois, Cumalat joined the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” physics faculty in 1981. He has been recognized with multiple honors at CU, including the Best Should Teach Award in 2003, the Robert L. Stearns Award in 2010 and the BFA Excellence in Service Award in 2013. He became a College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Distinction in 2014.</p><p>Cumalat is a member of multiple professional organizations, as well as the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at&nbsp;<a href="https://home.cern/" rel="nofollow">CERN</a>, the current principal investigator of the CU High Energy Physics Department of Energy Grant and the principal investigator of the Professional Research Experience Program with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.</p><p>Cumalat has authored or co-authored more than 1,500 publications and has been cited more than 200,000 times, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://inspirehep.net/" rel="nofollow">INSPIRE</a>, an online hub that collects scholarly work in the field of high-energy physics. He has also served on several dozen graduate-student committees and on approximately 150 undergraduate-student thesis committees.</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about physics?&nbsp;</em><a href="/physics/giving" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>He and fellow honorees represent ‘what makes college campuses thrive as places of learning and growth.’</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/Big%2012%20Faculty%20header.jpg?itok=0O4-iKsk" width="1500" height="530" alt="text reading 'XII Faculty of the Year Spotlight'"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:00:37 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6310 at /asmagazine Karolin Luger wins Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science /asmagazine/2026/02/02/karolin-luger-wins-vilcek-prize-biomedical-science <span>Karolin Luger wins Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-02-02T11:01:29-07:00" title="Monday, February 2, 2026 - 11:01">Mon, 02/02/2026 - 11:01</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-02/2026-VFP-Karolin-Luger-005.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&amp;itok=r-UQJVbp" width="1200" height="800" alt="portrait of Karolin Luger wearing safety glasses"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1155" hreflang="en">Awards</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/767" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/863" hreflang="en">News</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>The award recognizes ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” biochemist’s career dedication to the study of nucleosomes and groundbreaking discoveries</em></p><hr><p><a href="/biochemistry/karolin-luger" rel="nofollow">Karolin Luger</a>, a distinguished professor of <a href="/biochemistry/" rel="nofollow">biochemistry</a> and the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Endowed Chair of Biochemistry, has been awarded the <a href="https://vilcek.org/" rel="nofollow">2026 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science</a>.</p><p>The $100,000 award recognizes her career dedication to the study of nucleosomes—research that led to the groundbreaking capture of a high-resolution image of chromatin and resulted in the development of novel drug treatments for diseases including cancer.</p><p>The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science honor immigrants who are leading advancements in biomedical research in the United States. Prize co-founder Jan Vilcek—whose research led to the development of the drug Remicade—established prizes to support distinct ingenuity in scientific inquiry.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/2026-VFP-Karolin-Luger-003.jpg?itok=YbAuESNy" width="1500" height="1000" alt="portrait of Karolin Luger using machine in lab"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><a href="/biochemistry/karolin-luger" rel="nofollow">Karolin Luger</a><span>, a distinguished professor of </span><a href="/biochemistry/" rel="nofollow">biochemistry</a><span> and the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Endowed Chair of Biochemistry, has been awarded the </span><a href="https://vilcek.org/" rel="nofollow">2026 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science</a><span>. (Photo: Vilcek Foundation)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>Presented annually since 2006, the Vilcek Foundation prizes honor immigrant contributions to societal advancement in the United States and recognize excellence in the arts and sciences. Since the prizes program began 20 years ago, the Vilcek Foundation has awarded $9.6 million to individuals “whose perspectives, creativity and vision have enriched the United States.”</p><p>“The Vilcek Foundation community are unwavering champions of the immigrants and leaders who advance every facet of our culture,” said Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel. “The United States is a nation defined by freedom of expression, imagination and opportunity. This 20th group of prizewinners demonstrates our unshakeable commitment to honor those who embody the spirit of resiliency that defines our country and society.”</p><p>Luger, who is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, became interested in science at an early age, using a microscope to study the plants and soil in her garden at the microscopic level. She earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in biochemistry from the University of Innsbruck in Austria and a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of Basel in Switzerland before immigrating to the United States in 1990.</p><p>“I came (to the United States) to join this amazing scientific enterprise that is the envy of the entire world,” Luger said.</p><p>As an immigrant from Austria who has participated in international research collaborations throughout her career, Luger notes that cross-cultural perspectives are essential to continued scientific advancement.</p><p>“Diversity is key because everything becomes clearer and more three-dimensional when illuminated from all sides,” said Luger. “To borrow a concept from structural biology: You need to see ‘all orientations!’ This can only be achieved with a diverse workforce where people constantly question each other’s assumptions.”</p><p><strong>‘The central dogma’</strong></p><p>In her postdoctoral studies at ETH ZĂŒrich in Switzerland, Luger focused on the atomic structure of nucleosomes, the discovery of which would help scientists understand fundamental aspects of the human genome. After eight years of research, Luger and her colleague, Tim Richmond at ETH ZĂŒrich, published a groundbreaking paper that has influenced innumerable studies and changed how researchers understand the interactions of proteins within the nucleosome, how proteins are modified and how this controls gene activity.</p><p>Since its publication 28 years ago, the paper has been cited more than 12,000 times and is included in biology textbooks and classes as part of “the central dogma.”</p><p>Because of Luger’s discovery, many diseases have since been found to stem from mutations in the nucleosome, resulting in the development of successful drug treatments. Luger continues to study nucleosomes in her laboratory work.</p><p>“Like many others, my lab has built on this original discovery, and we continue to be surprised by the elegant and complicated ways in which DNA access is regulated by nucleosomes,” Luger said. “I am proud to have contributed a bit of beauty and knowledge to the world.”</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about biochemistry?&nbsp;</em><a href="/biochemistry/giving-biochemistry" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The award recognizes ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” biochemist’s career dedication to the study of nucleosomes and groundbreaking discoveries.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-02/Vilcek%20Foundation%20logo.jpg?itok=5AUS_JIw" width="1500" height="785" alt="Vilcek Foundation logo written in red"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:01:29 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6301 at /asmagazine Sanctuary brims with happy tales (and tails) /asmagazine/2025/12/02/sanctuary-brims-happy-tales-and-tails <span>Sanctuary brims with happy tales (and tails)</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-12-02T07:30:00-07:00" title="Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 07:30">Tue, 12/02/2025 - 07:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-11/Tails%20Myles%20and%20Jess%20with%20menagerie.jpg?h=84071268&amp;itok=89a_NKaI" width="1200" height="800" alt="Myles and Jess Osborne with goats and yak"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1355"> People </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Division of Arts and Humanities</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/178" hreflang="en">History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1354" hreflang="en">People</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/clint-talbott">Clint Talbott</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary, founded and run by ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” alumna Jess Osborne and her husband, ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” Professor Myles Osborne, gives unwanted or neglected animals a safe, comfortable forever home</em></p><hr><p>Why did <em>this</em> chicken cross the road? No one knew. And this was no joke.</p><p>Late last month, the chicken was strutting on Magnolia Road in the mountains near Nederland—a place inhabited by coyotes, fox and other canines. Three passersby stopped to help, and, together, they captured the bird by wrapping it in a shirt, whereupon one good Samaritan drove the bird to Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary.</p><p>Friends of the sanctuary posted the news to the local Facebook group, called Nedheads, hoping to find the chicken’s owner. No one claimed the bird.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Myles%20and%20Jess.jpg?itok=-q-E1-XJ" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Myles and Jess Osborn with goats"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Myles (left) and Jess Osborn founded Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary to rescue "<span>unwanted and discarded animals and provide them with high-quality food and medical care to live out their natural lives.” (Photos: Clint Talbott)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>It’s possible that the chicken wandered away from its home, through the forest, to this road. It’s also possible that the bird, which appears to be a rooster, was dumped on the side of the road because it won’t produce eggs. (Discarding roosters is common.)</p><p>Jess and <a href="/history/myles-osborne" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow">Myles Osborne</a>, who founded the sanctuary, have adopted the rooster and named it Chamonix, after the resort town in France. Like his namesake, Chamonix is striking, but why name a bird after a town? Thereby hangs a tale.</p><p>Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit launched in 2021 by Jess, who graduated in 2005 from the University of Colorado Boulder with degrees in communication and <a href="/academics/bfa-art-practices" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow">fine arts</a>, and Myles, ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” associate professor of <a href="/history/" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow">history</a>.</p><p>The sanctuary, just south of Magnolia Road west of Boulder, aims to rescue “unwanted and discarded animals and provide them with high-quality food and medical care to live out their natural lives.”</p><p>On the sanctuary’s 23-acre parcel, more than two-dozen animals—horses, pigs, goats, ducks, dogs, plus a cat, yak, donkey, turkey and, now, chicken—enjoy lives they otherwise would not have had.</p><p><strong>And an oink-oink here
</strong></p><p>Consider the pigs, named Bolton and Berlin, which a friend of the Osbornes noticed wandering on another roadside near Nederland. The pigs had broken out of their home because they were starving and didn’t have water, and their owner gave the OK to take the pigs. Bolton and Berlin now sleep, snort and snuffle, in the sanctuary’s loving embrace.</p><p>Each animal <a href="https://www.tailsoftwocitiessanctuary.org/our-animals" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow">has a backstory</a>.</p><p>Wilbur, a dog named for Wilbur, Washington, came to the sanctuary after his foster family refused to put him down, against the advice of three veterinarians, to join his biological brother, Ziggy, named after Zagazig, Egypt.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Chamonix.jpg?itok=4zPucjYi" width="1500" height="1125" alt="rooster in a chicken yard"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Chamonix the (suspected) rooster came to Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary in October after being found strutting alone on Magnolia Road near Nederland; attempts to find an owner were unsuccessful.</p> </span> </div></div><p>The brothers were both born with the same neurological disorder. Wilbur also has a dog version of Wilson’s disease, which makes him retain excessive amounts of copper. He takes medicine to remove copper from his blood.</p><p>Wilbur was in a wheelchair but now can walk, though unsteadily. Ziggy suffers from spells resembling seizures that prevented him from walking or standing at least 30 times a day. He often had to be carried.</p><p>Wilbur and Ziggy are clearly happy, though, and Jess dubs them the “wiggle brothers.”</p><p>Talkeetna (Alaska), a yak usually called “Tallie,” was born prematurely and was unlikely to survive. She was donated to the sanctuary, which took her to Colorado State University and gave her a shot at survival. These days, Tallie is hale and hearty and hangs around with the goats. She seems to enjoy gently headbutting people who walk by.</p><p>London and Brooklyn are mini horses who had been awfully neglected. Both had severely overgrown hooves when they were rescued from a kill pen at auction. Brooklyn had suffered some kind of trauma when she was younger, and her <a rel="nofollow">left eye has been removed once at Tails&nbsp;</a>to give her the same standard of care as humans and dogs.</p><p>Both mini horses love being taken for walks and chomping as much roadside grass as possible in the broad meadow that sits under a stunning vista featuring James Peak, South and North Arapahoe Peaks.</p><p>A herd of elk often gathers nearby, drawing curious glances from many of the animals, perhaps none more than Rio, a 2,000-pound draft horse whose head is higher than the eaves of the sanctuary.</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="lead"><a href="https://www.tailsoftwocitiessanctuary.org/" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow"><em>Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary</em></a><em> provides a loving home and high-quality care to animals in need</em> <em>and creates a welcoming place for humans to experience the love, joy and healing</em> <em>of connecting with animals.</em></p></div></div></div><p>When Tails adopted her from a rescue in Montana, Rio had a crooked foot and still needed extensive veterinary care to make sure she was comfortable and could walk comfortably. Now, she’s playful and mischievous, sometimes inadvertently crushing pieces of the aluminum fencing around the horses’ area.</p><p><strong>Animals soothe the human psyche</strong></p><p>Jess Osborne has always loved animals. As a kid in Gunbarrel, she collected the critters her mother could afford (and their home could accommodate): frogs, geckos, chickens and dogs.</p><p>Animals helped her feel better, much better. She has grappled with ADHD&nbsp;and anxiety since childhood. As she speaks, her focus can drift into several sometimes-related topics.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Jess%20Osborne%20with%20yak%20and%20dog.jpg?itok=a04fDV48" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Jess Osborne with yak and dog"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Jess Osborne with Tallie the yak (left) and Wilbur the dog.&nbsp;</p> </span> </div></div><p>But focusing on animals is no problem. “Even though I can’t remember history or make it through any of Myles’ books without falling asleep, when it comes to medicines and animal care and stuff like that, I go down the hyper-focusing tunnel,” she told <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2025/03/09/colorado-animals-tails-of-two-cities-sanctuary/" rel="nofollow">The Colorado Sun</a>.</p><p>And the animals helped other people, too, Jess noticed. Nine years ago, when she was working at a nursing and memory-care facility in Boulder, Jess brought her dogs Dublin and Brisbane. The residents loved the dogs.</p><p>After adopting Brisbane and Dublin, who died in 2023, Jess and Myles adopted a bunny and, later, the mini horses.</p><p>This was the seed of an idea: Elderly people often can’t care for (or aren’t allowed to have) pets. Unwanted and abused animals need forever homes where they can live their best lives. And rescued animals can bring comfort and joy to people who—for many reasons—don’t have animals in their lives.</p><p>This was true for Jess’ grandmother, whom Jess and Myles took care of and who died in 2021. It was also true for a neighbor’s boy, who was on the autism spectrum.</p><p>He rode and brushed the horses to build core strength and fine motor skills. Occupational and physical therapists have shown that movement and interaction with horses can improve physical, cognitive and emotional well-being in people with varying conditions.</p><p>In the career world, Jess had not found her place, but launching an animal sanctuary was her calling. She and Myles bought the sanctuary’s current home, which is large enough to allow the sanctuary to help more animals and humans. There, they have room for large horses and the rest of the menagerie.</p><p>But what to call the sanctuary? Happy Tails wasn’t quite right. Given Myles’ extensive travel and his English background, Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary seemed to fit, even though the place is not Dickensian.</p><p>The name reflects the fact that both Jess and Myles love to read and travel.</p><p>Of course, the place, which had been a regular home with a two-car garage and a large deck, had to be converted to serve its primary residents, the animals. The garage was turned into a barn, and an additional shelter for the goats was built adjacent to the newly fashioned barn.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Myles%20with%20yak%20and%20goats.jpg?itok=2UgctcSa" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Myles Osborne on deck with goats and yak"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Myles Osborne with several of the eight goats, who often lounge on the sunny deck and fall asleep, snoring.</p> </span> </div></div><p>A sunny enclosure next to the deck serves as a warm spot for the pigs and sometimes the eight goats, who often lounge on the sunny deck and fall asleep, snoring.</p><p>Below the deck, the chicken, Chamonix, the newest feathered child, and ducks (Louise, Abe and Albie, after Lake Louise and Lake Abraham, Canada, and Lake Albert, Uganda) have their own petite house called the Duck Tails Saloon, which resembles an Old West bar, next to a small fenced area.</p><p>Jess, Myles and sanctuary volunteers build and mend fences, string electric fencing (which keeps big horses in and bears out), fashion goat playgrounds, and spend their days raking muck, preparing special food for two-dozen different palates and attending to the animals’ medical needs.</p><p><strong>Being as bold as your dreams</strong></p><p>It’s a lot of work and, no doubt, a fair amount of stress. As he talks about this, however, Myles’ demeanor remains steady and calm, just as it does when he discusses the history of colonialism in Africa, the necessary steps to refashion a horse fence or his attempted climb of Mount Everest, which he abandoned in the “death zone”<a href="https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan_feb07/features1.html" rel="nofollow"> to save a man’s life</a>.</p><p>Myles suggests that the decision to start a sanctuary was a no-brainer:</p><p>“If you have a dream and something that you are excited about, you have to lean into it. And if you are in your early 40s and financially secure, if you're not gonna do it, then when are you gonna do it?”</p><p>He observes: “I do think that generally when people are brave and people lean into things that seem intimidating, it works itself out. 
 And why not be brave? Why not go for it? And it clearly is Jess’ passion in life. It's what she was put on the earth to do, very clearly. So it wasn't that tough of a decision.</p><p>“Now, keeping the numbers reasonable is a bit more of an ongoing conversation,” he adds. There are bills for veterinarians, racks of hay, tons of animal feed, walls of sawdust (for sleeping and padding) and more. The operation is 40% self-funded (down from 70% self-funded last year).</p><p>But it’s worth it, they say.</p><p>The couple still visit elder-care facilities in which there will be 25 or 30 people in wheelchairs in a circle. “And we just release 2,000 pounds of goats and yak and the dogs. And they all know exactly how to behave, how careful they need to be. And (the animals) will walk around the circle, they will greet everybody, everyone pets them.”</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Tallie%20the%20yak.jpg?itok=Z2FJ16Ma" width="1500" height="1000" alt="black yak on wooden deck"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Tallie the yak was born prematurely and given scant odds of survival, but these days she is hale and hearty and hangs around with the goats. She seems to enjoy gently headbutting people who walk by.</span></p> </span> <p>Myles also relates a story about a blind woman who came to the sanctuary and walked onto the deck. Goats quickly crowded around her. The woman petted them and marveled aloud that four goats were pressing into her.</p><p>Myles told her there were actually six goats. Goats (seeking treats) can become pushy around fully able-bodied people, but they took it easy on this visitor.&nbsp;</p><p>“And then we said to her that there has actually been a 500-pound yak who has been two yards away from you for the past 15 minutes, who clearly understands that you have some issue that she's not familiar with and she's holding back and she's waiting.”</p><p>The animals, he adds, “understand instinctively when people are old or disabled or young or blind or something, they get it.” And for the woman, the experience was “profound.”</p><p><strong>The next horizon</strong></p><p>Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary has more its leaders hope to do. Chief among them is to build a “proper” barn that has more room for the animals, whose design facilitates feeding, cleaning, visitors’ experiences and volunteers’ work.</p><p>While that’s on the horizon, more immediate tasks remain. On a recent evening, Myles and three volunteers worked to rearrange and refashion the fence that keeps the horses from wandering away and separates the minis from the large horses and Murphy, the donkey.</p><p>As Myles worked here and there, tools usually in hand, Stanley, the turkey (named for Istanbul), followed Myles around.</p><p>Stanley came from a backyard homestead whose owners didn’t have the heart to slaughter him. And no wonder. Jess describes him as “the friendliest turkey on Earth.”</p><p>Stanley’s gobble, a cheerful trilling song, often punctuates the background sounds of barks, whinnies, bleats, clucks and snorts. Stanley tends to follow people around the sanctuary.</p><p>With Myles in the horse pen, Stanley performed some “turkey dances,” with Myles’ gentle encouragement and praise.</p><div><p>So there they were, human and animal, working and strutting, talking and gobbling. Two tales as one.</p></div><p><em>Learn more about Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.tailsoftwocitiessanctuary.org/" rel="nofollow"><em>at this link</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our n</em></a><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>ewsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about history?&nbsp;</em><a href="/history/giving" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Tails of Two Cities Sanctuary, founded and run by ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” alumna Jess Osborne and her husband, ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” Professor Myles Osborne, gives unwanted or neglected animals a safe, comfortable forever home.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-11/Tails%20Myles%20and%20Jess%20menagerie%20header.jpg?itok=3yEY8is3" width="1500" height="512" alt="Myles and Jess Osborne with goats and a yak"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 02 Dec 2025 14:30:00 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6265 at /asmagazine Space physicist MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi honored as 2025 professor of distinction /asmagazine/2025/10/24/space-physicist-mihaly-horanyi-honored-2025-professor-distinction <span>Space physicist MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi honored as 2025 professor of distinction</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-24T13:47:36-06:00" title="Friday, October 24, 2025 - 13:47">Fri, 10/24/2025 - 13:47</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-10/Mih%C3%A1ly%20Hor%C3%A1nyi%20thumbnail%203.jpg?h=4804c63f&amp;itok=0TByr6RJ" width="1200" height="800" alt="portrait of MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/428" hreflang="en">Physics</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>College of Arts and Sciences leadership and peers recognize the physics professor’s service, teaching and research with the award</em></p><hr><p><a href="/physics/mihaly-horanyi" rel="nofollow">MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi</a>, a University of Colorado Boulder professor of <a href="/physics/" rel="nofollow">physics</a>, has been named the&nbsp;<a href="/artsandsciences/about-us/our-people/professors-distinction" rel="nofollow">2025 College Professor of Distinction</a>&nbsp;by the College of Arts and Sciences&nbsp;in recognition of his exceptional service, teaching and research.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-10/Mih%C3%A1ly%20Hor%C3%A1nyi.jpg?itok=EffsHyAM" width="1500" height="2100" alt="portrait of MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>MihĂĄly HorĂĄnyi, a ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” professor of physics, has been named the 2025 College Professor of Distinction by the College of Arts and Sciences.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>The college presents this prestigious award annually to current faculty members who are scholars and artists of national and international renown and who are recognized by their college peers as&nbsp;</span>teachers and colleagues of exceptional talent.</p><p>“I’m truly surprised and honored by this recognition from my peers,” HorĂĄnyi says. “LASP and the Physics Department at ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” are extraordinary communities of talented and passionate people who continually push the boundaries of scientific discovery and space exploration. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate with so many inspiring colleagues over the past 30 years.”</p><p>HorĂĄnyi&nbsp;is a physicist who conducts theoretical and experimental investigations of space and laboratory complex (dusty) plasmas. He also studies electrodynamic processes and their role in the origin and evolution of the solar system, comets, planetary rings, and plasma surface interactions; dust charging, in situ and remote observations of dust; and dusty plasma laboratory experiments and space hardware development.</p><p>He received an M.S. degree in nuclear physics and a PhD in space physics at the Lorand Eotvos University in Budapest, Hungary. While a graduate student, HorĂĄnyi worked on the Vega mission to comet Halley. At that time, the Russian probes Vega 1 and Vega 2, as well as the European Space Agency Giotto and Japanese missions, were happening, and “the large international interest and the excitement of building instruments that would fly in deep space was mesmerizing to me,” he recalled in <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/people/mihaly-horanyi/" rel="nofollow">an interview with NASA.</a> “For me, figuring out the most important science questions to ask, which measurements to make, and what is the right balance between capability, reliability, mass, power needs, schedule, and cost remains challenging and exciting ever since.”</p><p>HorĂĄnyi joined the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in 1992 and the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” Department of Physics in 1999. He served as a co-investigator for the dust instruments onboard the Ulysses, Galileo, and Cassini missions and as a principal investigator for the dust instruments built by LASP: the Student Dust Counter (SDC) onboard New Horizons, the Cosmic Dust Experiment (CDE) onboard the AIM satellite, and the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the LADEE mission. He is the principal investigator for the Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) onboard the recently launched IMAP mission.</p><p><span>He is the author or coauthor of more than 300 refereed publications and is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Geophysical Union. The International Astronomical Union renamed Asteroid 1998 AX9 as 164701 HorĂĄnyi in his honor.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about physics?&nbsp;</em><a href="/physics/giving" data-entity-type="external" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>College of Arts and Sciences leadership and peers recognize the physics professor’s service, teaching and research with the award.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-04/Old%20Main%20panorama.jpg?itok=QLS7WWjH" width="1500" height="493" alt="panorama of ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” campus with Old Main building in foreground"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 24 Oct 2025 19:47:36 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6246 at /asmagazine ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” instructor named a 2025-2026 Fulbright Scholar /asmagazine/2025/07/16/cu-boulder-instructor-named-2025-2026-fulbright-scholar <span>ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” instructor named a 2025-2026 Fulbright Scholar</span> <span><span>Kylie Clarke</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-16T17:45:20-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 17:45">Wed, 07/16/2025 - 17:45</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/NSCI-MAG-banner%20copy-web.jpg?h=2d703ee9&amp;itok=RXG_UfUF" width="1200" height="800" alt="Division of Natural Sciences | 2025-2026 Fullbright Scholar"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/46"> Kudos </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1155" hreflang="en">Awards</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/240" hreflang="en">Geography</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/56" hreflang="en">Kudos</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/863" hreflang="en">News</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>Award will allow Associate Professor Katherine Lininger to teach at the University of Trento and conduct research on the Tagliamento River floodplain in Italy</span></em></p><hr><p><a href="/geography/katherine-lininger" rel="nofollow"><span>Katherine Lininger</span></a><span>, a University of Colorado Boulder&nbsp;</span><a href="/geography/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Geography</span></a><span> associate professor, has received a U.S. Fulbright Scholar award starting in fall 2025 to study and teach in Italy. The award is provided by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Scholarship Board.</span></p><p><span>The Fulbright award will allow Lininger to investigate interactions among floodplain vegetation, downed wood, water flows and sediment fluxes to better understand and predict changes in floodplains over time. With collaborators at the University of Trento, she will conduct fieldwork, geospatial analyses and numerical modeling to understand ecogeomorphic processes in the Tagliamento River floodplain in northeastern Italy.</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/Katherine%20Lininger-01_0.jpg?itok=KV9Ch99E" width="750" height="750" alt="Katherine Lininger"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Katherine Lininger is an associate professor of geography whose research has mainly focused on large floodplain rivers. Her research methods include fieldwork, statistical modeling and remote sensing.</span></p> </span> </div> <p><span>Additionally, Lininger will lecture in courses at the University of Trento, lead field trips, give research seminars and mentor graduate students. She said her project will advance ecogeomorphic understanding of floodplains, which provide important ecosystem services, and will support her career trajectory and goals.</span></p><p><span>“I’m honored to take part in the Fulbright program and look forward to building internation connections and collaborations,” Lininger said. “With this award, I will work with researchers at the University of Trento in Italy, investigating interactions between river flows, sediment fluxes and plants to better understand and predict physical and ecological changes in floodplains over time. Our work will inform management and restoration of river floodplains.”</span></p><p><span>Each year, more than 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 talented and accomplished students, artists and professionals with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad. Notable awards received by alumni include 63 Nobel Prizes, 98 Pulitzer Prizes and 82 McArthur Fellowships.</span></p><p><span>“The benefits extend beyond the individual recipient, raising the profile of their home institutions. We hope University of Colorado Boulder can leverage Katherine Lininger’s engagement abroad to establish research and exchange relationships, connect with potential applicants and engage with your alumni in the host country,” the Fulbright Program said in its award announcement.</span></p><p><span>Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.&nbsp;</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about geography?&nbsp;</em><a href="/geography/donor-support" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Award will allow Associate Professor Katherine Lininger to teach at the University of Trento and conduct research on the Tagliamento River floodplain in Italy.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/NSCI-MAG-banner-KUDOS-web.jpg?itok=vpwy6GhL" width="1500" height="550" alt="Division of Natural Sciences | 2025-2026 Fullbright Scholar"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 16 Jul 2025 23:45:20 +0000 Kylie Clarke 6186 at /asmagazine Artist features the beauty of nature on a 140-foot canvas /asmagazine/2025/06/20/artist-features-beauty-nature-140-foot-canvas <span>Artist features the beauty of nature on a 140-foot canvas</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-06-20T09:21:21-06:00" title="Friday, June 20, 2025 - 09:21">Fri, 06/20/2025 - 09:21</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-06/tender%20hand%20of%20the%20unseen%20thumbnail.jpg?h=e2ed66ce&amp;itok=2TGM46VC" width="1200" height="800" alt="Tender Hand of the Unseen projection on D&amp;F Tower in Denver"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/438" hreflang="en">Art and Art History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Division of Arts and Humanities</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/813" hreflang="en">art</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/rachel-sauer">Rachel Sauer</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>‘The Tender Hand of the Unseen,’ an immersive video installation by ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” artist Molly Valentine Dierks, is featured through June on D&amp;F Tower in downtown Denver&nbsp;</em></p><hr><p>It happens most often in autumn and winter, when large flocks of starlings roost in protected spots like woodlands, marshes and even buildings. Before settling for the night, often in the gloaming twilight, they sometimes paint the sky in formations called murmurations.</p><p>Hundreds—sometimes thousands—of starlings dance in undulating, ever-shifting shapes, a spontaneous choreography that fills the sky like the liquid fall of silk.</p><p>One day after class while she was earning her MFA at the University of Michigan, <a href="/artandarthistory/molly-valentine-dierks" rel="nofollow">Molly Valentine Dierks</a> saw a murmuration of starlings. She pulled out her phone to capture it—footage that wasn’t as good as she’d like it to be but that nevertheless captured a transcendent moment of ephemeral sculpture in the sky.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/Molly%20Valentine%20Dierks.jpg?itok=ZiSO9Pro" width="1500" height="1643" alt="portrait of Molly Valentine Dierks"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Molly Valentine Dierks is <span>an assistant teaching professor in the ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” Department of Art and Art History.&nbsp;</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>Memories of that murmuration guided her in creating “<a href="https://www.denvertheatredistrict.com/artists/molly-valentine-dierks" rel="nofollow">The Tender Hand of the Unseen</a>,” an immersive video installation that is a featured work through June on D&amp;F Tower in downtown Denver, part of the <a href="https://www.denvertheatredistrict.com/night-lights" rel="nofollow">Night Lights Denver</a> program.</p><p>For Dierks, an assistant teaching professor in the University of Colorado Boulder <a href="/artandarthistory/" rel="nofollow">Department of Art and Art History,</a> her work represents a confluence of many influences, musing on the nature of time and referencing periods of growth and rebirth.</p><p>As a <a href="https://mollyvdierks.com" rel="nofollow">sculptor and interdisciplinary artist</a>, “and also a nature geek—I’m really interested in the idea of this physical sculptural performance in the sky,” Dierks explains. “They’re stunning, the patterns are beautiful, the way that they change is really gorgeous, plus there’s something about the idea of moving intuitively as a group that I think as human beings we don’t have or we’re not comfortable with. This society of beings is so in sync with one another that they can move as a fluid unit, and it’s also performance and also art.</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-left ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">If you go</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-arrow-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>What</strong>: "The Tender Hand of the Unseen" immersive video installation</p><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-arrow-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>Where</strong>: D&amp;F Tower, 1601 Arapahoe Street, downtown Denver</p><p><i class="fa-solid fa-circle-arrow-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>When</strong>: Evenings through June</p><p class="text-align-center"><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://www.denvertheatredistrict.com/artists/molly-valentine-dierks" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Learn more</span></a></p></div></div></div><p>“As an artist and educator, particularly in the classroom I really encourage my students to get in touch with their intuition and develop spiritual understanding of who they are. For me, as an artist, there’s something about looking at big flocks of birds that gets me in that state. We’re all so comfortable looking at screens, for example, but as a society we’re not really encouraged to just look at sky. (This piece) is an excuse to encourage people to look at sky, even though it's a screen that is sneakily subverting that tension.”</p><p><strong>A 140-foot canvas</strong></p><p>Public, site-specific art and installations are defining aspects of Dierks’ practice for their ability to foster healing, stillness and growth, she explains. So, when a friend told her about the Night Lights Denver program, she contacted the curator, David Moke, with her idea for a large-scale installation focused on starling murmurations.</p><p>When her proposal was accepted, the work of art began. The murmuration she recorded in Michigan didn’t work—there were a lot of trees in the way—so she worked with<span> </span>footage shot in the Netherlands that would be crisp and clear when projected onto the side of D&amp;F Tower, a 140-foot canvas.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/tender%20hand%20of%20the%20unseen%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=9Z9Y61zE" width="1500" height="882" alt="Tender Hand of the Unseen projection on D&amp;F Tower in Denver"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Molly Valentine Dierks' immersive video installation "The Tender Hand of the Unseen" will show on D&amp;F Tower in downtown Denver through June. (Photos: Molly Valentine Dierks)</p> </span> </div></div><p>She manipulated and sculpted the footage on her computer, then did test projections from the parking garage near the tower that houses the Night Lights Denver projection center.</p><p>“I would bring a thumb drive with an hour-and-a-half of tests, and I just sat there and took a bunch of notes to figure out the best settings,” Dierks says. “(The footage) was taken at different times of day and in different weather conditions, so I could start to see that if the background was too dark or too blue or too purple, I couldn’t see the starlings as well as I wanted.</p><p>“I played with timing as well, slowing the footage down in spots and thinking about grains of sand or sand in a timer. I was looking for crescendos—not just contrast and brightness, but does it feel like a piece of music?”</p><p><strong>The tender hand</strong></p><p>The name of the work is a line from the poem “On Pain” by Kahlil Gibran, which also says:</p><p><em><span>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span>And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;</em></p><p><em><span>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span>And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.</em></p><p>“We all go through difficult times: we go through grief, we go through breakups, and I found poetry kind of a resting spot for me,” Dierks explains. “I could read a poem and get outside the nuts and bolts and bureaucracy of everyday life and get to the heart of what I feel, after a while I started naming my pieces after lines in poems that spoke to me about certain stages in my life.”</p><p>In describing the work, Dierks wrote, “The work is my way of confronting a socially fractured landscape, where screens more frequently mediate our understanding of self 
 overshadowing more embodied connections to each other and the natural world.”</p><p>The piece is Dierks’ first large-scale projection, and although there’s really nowhere to hide with a 140-foot public canvas, Dierks says she wouldn’t want to. “There’s something really nice when you install in public, outside of the art world, (where) people don’t have to go to a gallery 
 I prefer it in a lot of ways.</p><p><span>“(D&amp;F Tower) is in this beautiful area on 16th Street and there’s a park so people can walk around and look at it. When I did the first test last August, I could see people stopping and looking at it, looking at these beautiful formations, these birds in flight—just taking that moment to stop and look.”&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="field_media_oembed_video"><iframe src="/asmagazine/media/oembed?url=https%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DjBlkSQa8Vlc&amp;max_width=516&amp;max_height=350&amp;hash=9KxNBL6aA0dNzPIYGUskwBpf-KQWGjvgBWsUGS71nJ8" width="516" height="290" class="media-oembed-content" loading="eager" title="The Tender Hand of the Unseen"></iframe> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about art and art history?&nbsp;</em><a href="/artandarthistory/give" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>‘The Tender Hand of the Unseen,’ an immersive video installation by ÎȚÂëÊÓÆ” artist Molly Valentine Dierks, is featured through June on D&amp;F Tower in downtown Denver.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/D%26F%20Tower%20header.jpg?itok=uDjMoMLW" width="1500" height="491" alt="&quot;The Tender Hand of the Unseen&quot; video projected on D&amp;F Tower in Denver at night"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 20 Jun 2025 15:21:21 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6160 at /asmagazine