Celebrate

Beverly Kingston, Samuel Ramsey awarded for advancing societal impact

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:57:02 +0000

Beverly Kingston, Samuel Ramsey awarded for advancing societal impact Megan M Rogers Thu, 04/09/2026 - 13:57

Two ��Ƶ researchers are among the recipients of the 2026 Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society Awards, which recognize outstanding research with societal impact.

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CU Athletics honors student athletes' academic success

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:59:23 +0000

CU Athletics honors student athletes' academic success Megan M Rogers Thu, 04/09/2026 - 12:59

The University of Colorado Department of Athletics celebrated another banner year for student athletes, who excelled and set records in the classroom.

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��Ƶ honors 2026 Student Employees of the Year

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:12:09 +0000

��Ƶ honors 2026 Student Employees of the Year Megan M Rogers Tue, 04/07/2026 - 14:12

Learn about this year's Student Employee of the Year recipients, with two students earning national recognition and one named the Overall National Student Employee of the Year.

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22 faculty recognized as exceptional mentors

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:20:29 +0000

22 faculty recognized as exceptional mentors Megan M Rogers Thu, 04/02/2026 - 11:20

The Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Award recognizes the work that faculty mentors do to improve the graduate student experience.

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Regents honor William King, Alice Mortenson with honorary degrees

Megan M Rogers — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:29:21 +0000

Regents honor William King, Alice Mortenson with honorary degrees Megan M Rogers Mon, 03/30/2026 - 08:29

The University of Colorado Board of Regents has announced its selection of recipients of honorary degrees, distinguished service awards and university medals for 2026, including two ��Ƶ affiliates.

Given since 1882, the regent awards include:

Honorary degrees, which recognize outstanding achievement in one or more of the following areas: intellectual contributions, university service, philanthropy and/or public service.
Distinguished service awards, which recognize those persons whose achievements and contributions are particularly associated with the state and/or nation.
University medals, which recognize those persons whose achievements and contributions are particularly associated with the university.

The 2026 ��Ƶ awardees are William King, the second tenured African American professor at ��Ƶ, and Alice Mortenson, a renowned philanthropist and community leader who co-founded the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience.

William King, honorary degree

King, professor emeritus at ��Ƶ, is a distinguished scholar, educator and community leader. He was the second tenured African American professor at ��Ƶ and the university’s longest-serving Black professor (1972–2012) in history, known for pioneering contributions to Black studies, transformative teaching and dedication to social justice.

During his 40-year career, King played a pivotal role in establishing ��Ƶ Black studies curriculum, which later evolved into the Department of Ethnic Studies. He designed and taught numerous groundbreaking courses, including Black Religious Life in America and The Civil Rights Movement, inspiring generations of students. A founding member of the National Council for Black Studies, King also served as its chairman and historian, shaping the discipline nationally.

An accomplished author, King has published books, scholarly articles and essays that explore African American history, science and public policy. His widely cited work has enriched academic discourse.

Beyond academia, King has served as chairman of the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver and contributed to organizations such as the Black American West Museum and Colorado Historic Preservation Review Board.

Alice Mortenson, honorary degree

Mortenson is a renowned philanthropist and community leader who has made exceptional contributions to education, public service and global development. Her enduring legacy of advocacy, collaboration and generosity has left a profound impact on ��Ƶ and communities worldwide.

Mortenson—alongside her late husband, M.A. “Mort” Mortenson Jr.—co-founded the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience at ��Ƶ in 2009. The center has impacted over five million lives globally through innovative solutions addressing water, sanitation and resilience challenges.

The center and its affiliates are involved in such international research programs as the Sustainable WASH Systems partnership, Bill Gates’ Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, and the Drought Resilience Impact Platform. Graduate students participating in field practicums benefit from partnerships developed in over 80 countries.

Beyond ��Ƶ, Mortenson has made significant contributions to education and community development. She and Mort co-founded the Mortenson Family Foundation, which focuses on expanding opportunities for children and families, sustaining environmental systems and strengthening developing communities.

She established the Alice D. Mortenson/Petrovich Chair in Russian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has served in leadership roles for numerous organizations, including Macalester College, Westminster Presbyterian Church and the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches.

The CU Board of Regents announced its selection of recipients of honorary degrees, distinguished service awards and university medals for 2026. William King was the second tenured African American professor at ��Ƶ. Alice Mortenson, who co-founded the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience, is a renowned philanthropist and community leader.

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4 ��Ƶ professors honored as AAAS fellows

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:30:31 +0000

4 ��Ƶ professors honored as AAAS fellows Megan M Rogers Thu, 03/26/2026 - 06:30

Two professors from the College of Arts and Sciences—Rebecca Safran and Tin Tin Su—and two professors from the College of Engineering and Applied Science—Aaron Clauset and R. Steven Nerem—have been elected 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

They are among nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized this year for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements by one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals. They also join a cohort of more than 80 ��Ƶ faculty members who previously received the honor.

Safran is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has led groundbreaking research on the evolution of new species; Su is a professor and the chair of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, whose research is leading to novel cancer therapies. Clauset is a professor of computer science and an internationally recognized expert on network science, data science and complex systems; Nerem is a professor of aerospace engineering and an expert in satellite remote sensing and geodesy.

A tradition dating back to 1874, election as an AAAS fellow is a lifetime honor, and all fellows are expected to meet the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity. Distinguished past honorees include Alan Alda, Steven Chu, W.E.B DuBois, Thomas Edison, Grace Hopper, Ayanna Howard, Irwin Jacobs, Mae Jemison, Maria Mitchell and Ellen Ochoa.

“This year’s AAAS fellows have demonstrated research excellence, made notable contributions to advance science, and delivered important services to their communities,” said Sudip Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science journals. “These fellows and their accomplishments validate the importance of investing in science and technology for the benefit of all.”

Read more about ��Ƶ's latest AAAS lifetime fellows.

Read more

College of Arts and Sciences: ��Ƶ scientists honored as AAAS fellows

College of Engineering and Applied Science: AAAS honors two CU Engineering researchers as lifetime fellows

Aaron Clauset

Clauset has been a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and the BioFrontiers Institute since 2010. Clauset’s research interests are broad, from using computational analysis to predict ovarian cancer outcomes, to shining light on potential biases in journal paper acceptance.

In 2025, he made Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list for demonstrating “broad and significant influence” in his field. He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science. Clauset also serves as an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute.

Clauset said he is honored to be elected as a fellow of AAAS, a group that has long championed the role of science in society.

“Science offers the best way to find order and meaning in the complex and often chaotic world we live in. My research shows how powerful computational tools can reveal the hidden structures of complex systems, and helps us use that understanding for the public good,” he said.

“I am grateful to my students and colleagues at ��Ƶ. This honor reflects our shared commitment to using data-driven science to understand and, ultimately, improve the complex social structures we all inhabit.”

Aaron Clauset, Professor, Computer Science

R. Steven Nerem

Nerem is an aerospace engineering expert with over 30 years of experience. He was recruited to ��Ƶ in 2000 as a full professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and currently serves as director of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research.

Nerem uses satellite-based techniques to monitor changes in Earth’s shape and gravity field due to shifts in sea level, distribution of water and ice planetwide, and vertical crustal motion. The AAAS election makes Nerem the second member of his family to be part of the prestigious body.

“This is a great honor. I really enjoy doing research—it’s like a hobby,” Nerem said. “The most important thing to me about my selection is that my father, who passed away in 2020, was also an AAAS fellow, so it’s nice to follow in his footsteps.”

Nerem has been part of multiple NASA missions, including the ongoing GRACE-FO and Sentinel 6B satellites. He leads an active research group, with more than 480 publications, including 12 in 2025 alone. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was the inaugural recipient of the Earth Science and Applications Award from the American Astronautical Society.

R. Steven Nerem, Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Rebecca Safran

Safran, whose passion for biology took root in a plant taxonomy class during her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, is a professor in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She and her research team study the evolution of new species, focusing on the causes and consequences of individual variation across different scales of time and space.

Because studying the formation of new species can be difficult—since 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.

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 team began focusing on the rapid decline in the population of barn swallows and its implications—using a highly integrative approach including behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives.

Her team’s research has been published in more than 120 peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature and Current Biology. Safran also co-edited a recent book on speciation.

“None of this work is possible without the incredible collaboration with students, colleagues at CU and around the world, private landowners 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.”

Rebecca Safran, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Tin Tin Su

Su is a professor in the department of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology. Su, who attended Woodstock School in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, credits her experiences there, in part, with helping her understand 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.”

Throughout her career, Su and her research colleagues have sought to develop new ways of attacking cancer. Through research on how tissues and organs regenerate after being damaged by X-rays in fruit flies, 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.

SVC112 is based on the chemical bouvardin found in the firecracker bush (Bouvardia ternifolia) that grows in the Southwest U.S. and Mexico. Su and her colleagues discovered that bouvardin can prevent regeneration of tissues in fruit flies.

More recently, Su, who also is a member of the CU Cancer Center, and her colleague Antonio Jimeno, 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.

Su also has participated in the ��Ƶ Community Perspectives Program, 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 fruit fly and human cells.

“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 an AAAS fellow is really the cherry on top!”

Tin Tin Su; Professor and Chair; Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Aaron Clauset, R. Steven Nerem, Rebecca Safran and Tin Tin Su have been recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for excellence in research, teaching and interpreting science to the public.

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Ralphie's Green Stampede claims zero-waste honors for 3rd straight year

Megan M Rogers — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:28:12 +0000

Ralphie's Green Stampede claims zero-waste honors for 3rd straight year Megan M Rogers Wed, 03/25/2026 - 14:28

The University of Colorado Athletic Department's signature sustainability program, Ralphie's Green Stampede, continues to achieve national recognition, earning 2025 GameDay Football Zero Waste Touchdown Challenge honors from the National Wildlife Federation.

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BFA announces Excellence Awards winners, celebratory ceremony April 7

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:11:33 +0000

BFA announces Excellence Awards winners, celebratory ceremony April 7 Megan M Rogers Thu, 03/05/2026 - 10:11

The Boulder Faculty Assembly is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 BFA Excellence Awards and invite members of the campus community to attend this year’s in-person ceremony in celebration of the recipients. BFA Excellence Awards recognize outstanding contributions by faculty in the areas of teaching; service and leadership; and research, scholarly and creative work.

The awards, which are peer-nominated, are presented in three categories. The 2026 BFA Excellence Award categories and winners are:

Excellence in Leadership and Service

Professor Jennifer Fluri, Geography
Clinical Professor of Law Violeta Chapin, School of Law
Associate Teaching Professor Dan Riffell, Mechanical Engineering

Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Creative Work

Professor Michael McGehee, Chemical & Biological Engineering
Professor Juliet Gopinath, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
Professor Bhuvana Narasimhan, Linguistics

Excellence in Teaching

Assistant Professor Natalie Mendoza, History
Teaching Professor Abby Hickcox, Arts & Sciences Honors
Associate Professor Chase Raymond, Linguistics

If you go

Who: Campus community
What: 2026 BFA Excellence Awards ceremony and Hazel Barnes address by John Cumalat
When: Tuesday, April 7, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Where: UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom

Hors d'ouerves and host bar to follow

In addition to honoring this year’s winners, the ceremony on April 7, will feature a faculty address by 2025 Hazel Barnes Prize awardee John Cumalat. A reception will follow afterward for attendees to share personal congratulations with each of the award winners.

The campus created the BFA Excellence Awards in the early 1980s to recognize outstanding work and concerted effort in advancing the mission of the university and the academy at large.

These prestigious awards are made possible through financial support from the chancellor, enabling the BFA to grant each recipient a $5,000 monetary award.

The Hazel Barnes Prize is the largest and most prestigious single faculty award funded by ��Ƶ. It was established in 1991 by former Chancellor James Corbridge in honor of Philosophy Professor Emerita Hazel Barnes to recognize “the enriching interrelationship between teaching and research.”

Hazel Barnes, one of our campus’s most accomplished scholars, received a BFA Excellence in Teaching Award in 1983.

Find out who received this year's Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence Awards, and plan to celebrate at an upcoming ceremony featuring the Hazel Barnes faculty address.

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��Ƶ's Nathan Mertens awarded National Endowment for the Arts grant

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:44:45 +0000

��Ƶ's Nathan Mertens awarded National Endowment for the Arts grant Megan M Rogers Thu, 02/19/2026 - 13:44

College of Music

The College of Music is proud to announce that Assistant Professor of Saxophone Nathan Mertens has been awarded an NEA Grants for Arts Projects award. This is the college's first GAP grant, representing an important step forward for ��Ƶ in national arts funding.

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3 ��Ƶ faculty named Sloan Research Fellows

Greg B Swenson — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:12:15 +0000

3 ��Ƶ faculty named Sloan Research Fellows Greg B Swenson Wed, 02/18/2026 - 09:12

Kelsie Eichel, Andres Montoya-Castillo and Erica Nelson have received Sloan Research Fellowships—awards that provide $75,000 in funding for early career researchers in fields including chemistry, physics, neuroscience and mathematics.

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