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How a California dude became 缅北禁地鈥檚 provost

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 19:23:49 +0000

How a California dude became 缅北禁地鈥檚 provost Rachel Sauer Fri, 06/06/2025 - 13:23

Clint Talbott

Before finding the joy of exploration as a university professor and chief academic officer, Russell Moore found it traveling the world

When Russell Moore went to college, the Vietnam War, Kent State killings, Watergate and an energy crisis dominated the nightly news.

Moore was studying biochemistry at the University of California, Davis, and those tumultuous days made academics less than entrancing. 鈥淭here was so much going on in the world, and as for college, well, I just didn鈥檛 see the point,鈥� Moore recalled recently.

Biochemistry seemed 鈥渕aybe interesting,鈥� but it also seemed mostly focused on process, and the purpose wasn鈥檛 clear, Moore said.

Russell Moore (right) talks with Reiland Rabaka (right), director of the Center for African and African American Studies, before the State of the Campus address. (Photo: Glenn Asakawa/缅北禁地)

So after two and a half years of college, he dropped out to travel the world. At the time, his sister was a flight attendant for Pan Am Airways, and he got long-haul tickets 鈥渧irtually free.鈥� He went to the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

Once back in the United States, he got a job but soon realized that 鈥渢his job thing鈥� also wasn鈥檛 compelling. So, he returned to college and began working in a research lab.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when things changed,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen I saw the point.鈥�

He was working in the lab of Irwin Segel, then a professor of biochemistry, who framed the scientific enterprise this way: 鈥淲hen you make a scientific discovery, you know something no one else on the planet knows, even if it鈥檚 minuscule and for only a few minutes or hours.鈥�

Segel also told his students that science rarely progresses in large leaps; most of the time, it takes small steps. 鈥淚 thought that was cool, like I could be part of something that was significant,鈥� Moore said.

鈥淚 could see myself in that process, even though I wasn鈥檛 the quarterback. I was just a small contributor,鈥� but playing that role got him 鈥渧ery, very interested in the research enterprise.鈥�

After earning his BS in biochemistry from UC Davis, Moore studied physiology and earned a PhD from Washington State University.

Leaving college and returning was not so much a detour in his academic journey as a necessary part of the path. As he puts it, the experience widened his aperture, which helped him realize his eventual role as a university professor and chief academic officer for the 缅北禁地.

Initially, academic life seemed not to offer a foray into the unknown. 鈥淲hat I love about traveling is just a sense of exploration. And part of what I learned about myself is, particularly being in very foreign environments, you don鈥檛 have to fear the unknown. You can view it also as an exciting thing.鈥�

Now, he eyes another journey into the unknown. He is about to retire.

From professor to administrator

Today, he is the university鈥檚 provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. He has served as provost since 2010 and is a professor of integrative physiology and an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Moore was appointed associate vice chancellor for research in 2006 and was named interim vice chancellor for research in 2009. He has taught at 缅北禁地 since 1993 and served as chair of the Department of Integrative Physiology from 1994 to 2001.

Russell Moore (front center, wearing blue shirt) and 缅北禁地 deans at a "The Big Lebowski"-themed tribute to Moore at the UMC Connection.

Before the department became dedicated to integrative physiology, it was the department of kinesiology, which had grown out of the university鈥檚 physical-education program.

A core group of faculty members launched the move to transform the kinesiology department into a department of physiology. By the early 2000s, 缅北禁地鈥檚 Department of Integrative Physiology鈥檚 graduate program was ranked among the nation鈥檚 top 10.

Moore鈥檚 lab contributed to that reputation, focusing on the cellular basis for exercise-induced protection of the heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury and on the influences of diet and exercise on cardiac energy metabolism.

Moore said he appreciates the physical-education roots of his department. Paraphrasing an early 20th century physiologist, Moore said you can study a locomotive at rest, disassembling its engine and examining its parts, but that won鈥檛 really tell you how it works.

鈥淵ou need to be able to study the locomotive while it鈥檚 moving,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淎nd you can study physiology while I鈥檓 sitting in this chair, but I have arms and legs, and they鈥檙e not designed for me sitting in the chair. They鈥檙e designed for me to run and pick fruit and whatever.鈥�

Studying organisms under stress, as they鈥檙e designed to function, is more revealing. Another thing that drew him to physiology is that much scientific research focuses on pathology rather than physiology. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e not necessarily just reverses of each other. They鈥檙e two different paths. That just gets back to the exploring part, and that鈥檚 what鈥檚 fun.鈥�

Similarly, conducting research is a different enterprise than becoming an academic administrator. Moore came to that when he 鈥渄rew the short straw鈥� and was named chair of his department.

鈥淚t was hard, really hard. I think department-chair jobs are the hardest jobs on campus, because if you鈥檙e making hard decisions, you鈥檙e making them with people whom you know really well,鈥� he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to make hard decisions when you鈥檙e further removed interpersonally. I always know when I make a tough decision is impacting people. But it鈥檚 different when you鈥檙e working with peers-slash-friends.鈥�

Moore volunteered for a campus-wide committee with a light workload, the research-misconduct committee, which hadn鈥檛 heard a case in years. Within months, allegations arose against Ward Churchill, a former ethnic-studies professor whom the university later fired for plagiarism and academic misconduct. Moore co-chaired the inquiry committee that initially investigated the charges against Churchill.

Churchill was also a controversial figure, calling victims of 9-11 terrorist attacks 鈥渓ittle Eichmanns,鈥� a reference to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

Responding to a question about why such an initiation into academic administration was compelling, Moore said the experience taught him about research administration and research compliance.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know all of that stuff existed,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥淏ecause I have such an affinity for research and discovery, I got really interested in that.鈥� So he applied to be associate vice chancellor for research.

"You need to be able to study the locomotive while it鈥檚 moving. And you can study physiology while I鈥檓 sitting in this chair, but I have arms and legs, and they鈥檙e not designed for me sitting in the chair. They鈥檙e designed for me to run and pick fruit."

This, too, was a natural fit, he said, noting that he鈥檚 always loved research and scholarly endeavors on campus, whether they鈥檙e in science, arts and humanities, music; 鈥渋t鈥檚 all incredibly interesting to me,鈥� because all these disciplines involve the discovery or creation of things that are novel.

The regular-person leader

Bronson Hilliard, 缅北禁地 senior director of academic communications, has worked with six university presidents, five campus chancellors and a host of mid- and upper-level administrators in three decades of university service.

鈥淩uss Moore is a complete human being,鈥� Hilliard said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not only a good administrator; he鈥檚 a good human being. He鈥檚 brought into the role of being provost an abundant life experience 鈥� of erudition and education and training. But Russ adds to all of that a kind of regular-person quality that I鈥檝e not seen in any administrator I鈥檝e ever worked with.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 very much in touch with the impact of education on real people鈥檚 lives,鈥� Hillard said, adding, as an example, that Moore worked to ensure a smooth path for students transferring from community colleges to 缅北禁地.

Student success is one of Moore鈥檚 passions. As he tells it, in regular meetings with new employees, he鈥檇 ask every person a question for which there was, he emphasized, one right answer.

The question: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 your job?鈥�

Employees might reply with, 鈥済roundskeeper鈥� or 鈥渁dvisor,鈥� for instance.

鈥淭he right answer is, 鈥業鈥檓 here to make students successful,鈥欌€� Moore observed, adding that Nobel laureates, groundbreaking spinoff companies, startling discoveries about the solar system, soaring musical scores鈥斺€渨e can鈥檛 do it without everybody鈥檚 contribution.鈥�

Student success, along with knowledge discovery and dissemination, is 鈥渨hy we鈥檙e all here.鈥�

Moore, Hillard said, has never lost touch with his roots; he grew up in Northern California, worked as a river-raft guide, enjoys fly fishing, loves to camp and hike and 鈥渒nows his way around a backyard barbecue grill.鈥�

鈥淓very day I came to work with Russ, I knew I had a real human being at the center of the work,鈥� Hilliard said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 the stereotype of an ivory tower, and Russ Moore is the antithesis of an ivory tower. If there is a Russ Moore tower, it鈥檚 made of very earthy substances, not ivory.鈥�

That relatively unflappable, regular-person quality figures prominently in Moore鈥檚 favorite movie, The Big Lebowski. 鈥淗e appreciates the character of the dude, who stays true to himself from the beginning of the movie to the end, even though all these things around him get completely unhinged,鈥� Hilliard said.

鈥淭he dude abides,鈥� a line from the film, suggests equanimity in the eye of a storm.

鈥淪o, Russ abides," Hilliard opined, "just like the dude.鈥�

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Before finding the joy of exploration as a university professor and chief academic officer, Russell Moore found it traveling the world.

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Tree rings offer clues to small-population growth

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:54:21 +0000

Tree rings offer clues to small-population growth Rachel Sauer Thu, 06/05/2025 - 09:54

Daniel Long

In a recently published paper, PhD student Ellen Waddle and her coauthors provide some clarity on a decades-old problem

When researching what drives the growth of small populations, ecologists consider several factors, says Ellen Waddle, a PhD student in the 缅北禁地鈥檚 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

鈥�There鈥檚 climate. There鈥檚 density, which can be thought of as both the total number of individuals in a population or how crowded or spread out individuals are. And then there鈥檚 stochasticity, which is this big word that just means variance鈥� or random chance.

缅北禁地 scientists Ellen Waddle (left), a PhD student in ecology and evolutionary biology, and Dan Doak (right), a professor of environmental studies, and their research colleagues found "that climate data alone did a pretty poor job of predicting population growth (in small tree populations)."

But whether any of these drivers matters more than the others is a question that has challenged researchers since at least the 1950s, and one that Waddle and her coauthors Mark R. Lesser, Christopher Steenbock and Dan Doak take up in a paper recently published in Ecology and Evolution.

Time and perspective

Researchers have tended to fall into opposing camps with this question, Waddle explains.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of people that think if we can perfectly predict what the climate鈥檚 going to be in an area, we鈥檙e going to be able to perfectly predict how that population is going to grow through time. And then you have another set of ecologists that argue, well, it also really matters how many individuals you have in the population.鈥�

Yet in their paper, Waddle and her coauthors come to a less divisive conclusion. By analyzing the rings of two long-lived tree species, Ponderosa pine and limber pine, 鈥渨e found that climate data alone did a pretty poor job of predicting population growth. We needed to include other drivers (in our predictive models), like competitive density effects and stochasticity, to accurately reconstruct population dynamics over time.鈥�

This means that no individual driver proved more influential than the others. They all mattered.

Which was somewhat surprising, Waddle says, considering the long timescale she and her colleagues were dealing with鈥攎any hundreds of years. (The oldest tree they sampled dates back to 1470, half a century before Queen Elizabeth I was born.)

鈥淲e're averaging over such a long timeframe that you might be tempted to think that random fluctuations and stochasticity are less important, but this sort of study highlights that that's not always true. There's a lot of uncertainty in how long it's going to take small populations to grow.鈥�

鈥淭he most important aspect of our work, to my mind,鈥� adds Doak, professor of environmental studies at 缅北禁地 and head of the Doak Lab, 鈥渋s showing that simplifying assumptions we often make about population growth don鈥檛 seem to hold up.鈥�

鈥楾he entire history of a tree鈥檚 life鈥�

Tree rings, says Waddle, are a gold standard for measuring a tree鈥檚 history, one with which most people are familiar. The center, or pith, signifies when the tree established, or secured its roots and became capable of growing on its own, and each concentric ring around it represents a year of growth.

缅北禁地 researchers studied small populations of Ponderosa pine (seen here) and limber pine to better understand how drivers such as climate data and competitive density affect growth. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

But for their study, Waddle and her coauthors used tree rings鈥攊n the form of tree cores, or centimeter-wide rods extracted from living tree trunks鈥攁 little differently.

鈥淲hat we did, which has not been done often, was to core every single tree in the population,鈥� says Waddle, which enabled her and her coauthors to get a clearer picture of how tree populations changed over time than they would have gotten coring only a handful of trees.

鈥淎nother way to put it: The tree core data basically allows us to reconstruct annual censuses of population from start (1400s-1500s) through present day because we can know exactly how many individuals were alive in each year and when each individual first established.鈥�

The tree-core samples themselves came from Bighorn Basin, a mountain-encircled plateau region in north-central Wyoming about 500 miles from 缅北禁地. Waddle collected some of the tree cores herself in 2017, while an undergrad at CU, for what turned out to be her first camping experience.

Yet the bulk of the core samples owe their existence to Lesser and Steenbock. Lesser alone cored around 1,100 Ponderosa pines between 2007 and 2008, in hot, sometimes tense conditions.

鈥淲e (Lesser and an undergraduate field technician) would start hiking to the first trees of the day typically around 5 a.m. to avoid the worst of the heat,鈥� Lesser recalls. 鈥淭rekking up dry streambeds to reach the trees we would encounter multiple rattlesnakes each morning and on one occasion a mountain lion that set us on edge for the rest of the day! Many days we would core fewer than 20 trees due to the low density of the population and the ruggedness of the terrain鈥攇etting from one tree to the next often took an hour or more negotiating cliff faces, ravines and steep slopes.鈥�

But the effort, he says, was worth it.

鈥淐oring the trees itself was an incredibly rewarding experience鈥攕izing up the tree to get a sense of its shape and where the pith was and then extracting the entire history of its life!鈥�

Pick a species, any species

This research on small-population growth is no small matter, says Doak, 鈥渂ecause all populations start small,鈥� and 鈥渦nderstanding what controls the growth of new populations has a new urgency as we try to predict whether wild species can shift their ranges to keep up with climate change.鈥�

鈥淧ick some species you care about,鈥� says Waddle, who is currently writing her dissertation on how mountain terrain affects plant species鈥� ability to follow their preferred climate. 鈥淲hat I care about might be different than what someone else cares about, but there鈥檚 probably a species that matters to you, whether it鈥檚 a food species or your favorite animal.

鈥淚f we want to help keep those populations on the landscape, we need to know how small populations grow and how they persist.鈥�

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In a recently published paper, PhD student Ellen Waddle and her coauthors provide some clarity on a decades-old problem.

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But how鈥檚 the atmosphere there?

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:10:46 +0000

But how鈥檚 the atmosphere there? Rachel Sauer Wed, 06/04/2025 - 12:10

Rachel Sauer

In newly published research, 缅北禁地 scientists study a rocky exoplanet outside our solar system, learning more about whether and how planets maintain atmospheres

In June 2019, Harvard astrophysicists discovered a rocky exoplanet 22 light years from Earth. Analyzing data from the Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS), they and other scientists around the world learned key details about the rocky exoplanet named LTT 1445 A b: It is almost 1.3 times the radius of Earth and 2.7 times Earth鈥檚 mass and orbits its M-dwarf star every 5.4 days.

What they couldn鈥檛 ascertain from those data, however, was whether LTT 1445 A b has an atmosphere, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 a big general question even in our own solar system: What sets how much atmosphere a planet has?鈥� says Zach Berta-Thompson, a 缅北禁地 assistant professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences. 鈥淎tmospheres matter for life, so before we go searching for life on other planets, we need to understand a very basic question鈥攚hy does a planet have atmosphere or not have atmosphere?鈥�

Pat Wachiraphan (left), a PhD student in the 缅北禁地 Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, and Zach Berta-Thompson (right), an assistant professor in the department, collaborated with colleagues around the country to study JWST data about rocky exoplanet LTT 1445 A b.

Now, after detailed analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a lot more is known鈥�and was recently published鈥攁bout LTT 1445 A b, whether it has an atmosphere and what its atmosphere might be if it has one. 缅北禁地 researchers partnered with astrophysicists around the country to build on previous research that ruled out a light hydrogen/helium-dominated atmosphere but could not distinguish between a cloudy atmosphere, an atmosphere composed of heavier molecules like carbon dioxide or a bare rock.

The paper鈥檚 first author, Pat Wachiraphan, a PhD student studying astrophysical and planetary sciences, Berta-Thompson and their colleagues analyzed three eclipses of LTT 1445 A b from the JWST, watching the planet disappear behind its star and measuring how much infrared light the planet emits. From this, they were able to rule out the presence of a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere like the one on Venus, which has about 100 times more atmosphere than Earth. This highlights an important aspect of science: Sometimes just as much is learned from understanding what something isn鈥檛 as from defining what it is.

鈥淲hat I think should be the next step, naturally, is to ask whether we might detect an Earth-like atmosphere?鈥� Wachiraphan says.

Not like Venus

LTT 1445 A b is one of the closest-to-Earth rocky exoplanets transiting a small star, Wachiraphan notes, and thus one of the easiest to target when studying whether and how it and similar rocky exoplanets hold atmospheres.

The JWST is more sensitive to atmospheres of transiting exoplanets around smaller stars, and LTT 1445 A b transits one of the smallest known type stars鈥攁bout 20 to 30% the radius of Earth鈥檚 sun.

In November 2020, Berta-Thompson and several colleagues submitted a proposal to the Space Telescope Science Institute, the international consortium that decides where JWST is pointed and for how long, 鈥渂efore the telescope had even launched,鈥� he says. 鈥淪cientists from all over the world send in anonymized proposals where we make our case for why (JWST) should spend hours looking at this particular patch of the sky and what we would be able to learn from that.

鈥淎 panel reads through the proposals, ranks them, from which a lucky 5% to 10% will be selected as the best possible scientific use of the telescope. It is such a precious resource that we care really deeply that the choices about who gets to use the telescope are made fairly; every minute of its time is accounted for.鈥�

Rocky exoplanet LTT 1445 A b is in a three-star system; the star it orbits is an M-type star, also known as a red dwarf. (Artists' illustration: Luis L. Cal莽ada and Martin Kornmesser/European Southern Observatory)

Studying data from three eclipses sent back by JWST, Wachiraphan, Berta-Thompson and their colleagues were able to chart thermal emission consistent with instant reradiation of incoming stellar energy from a hot planet dayside. 鈥淭his bright dayside emission is consistent with emission from a dark rocky surface, and it disfavors a thick, 100-bar, Venus-like CO2 atmosphere,鈥� the researchers noted.

鈥淪o, you can imagine that if you have a planet that is just a rock, with no atmosphere, it would be hot on day side and cold on the night side, but if it has atmosphere, then the atmosphere could redistribute heat from day to night,鈥� Wachiraphan says.

In the case of LTT 1445 A b, 鈥渨e were basically putting an infrared thermometer up to the planet鈥檚 forehead and learned its average temperature is around 500 Kelvin,鈥� Berta-Thompson says. 鈥淭he whole planet is like the inside of a hot oven, basically.

Based on the data sent back by JWST, there could be several ways to detect atmosphere on LTT 1445 A b. 鈥淲e came up with an observation with this planet passing behind its star. When the planet is behind its star, we鈥檇 just get light from the star itself, but before and after the eclipse we鈥檇 get a little contribution from the planet itself, too.鈥� Wachiraphan explains. 鈥淏ut you can also detect an atmosphere when a planet passes in front of its star. 鈥淭he starlight coming out could pass through the atmosphere of the planet and get absorbed, and we could observe that absorption.鈥�

More observations are currently planned for LTT 1445 A b, led by other scientists and using this complementary method of observation, Berta-Thompson says鈥攐f collecting data as the planet transits in front of its star. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot more we can learn using different wavelengths of light and different methods that allow us to more sensitively probe these thinner atmospheres.鈥�

Like the inside of a hot oven

One of the most fascinating questions for researchers studying exoplanets, Berta-Thopson says, is 鈥渨hat does it take for a planet to retain or maintain atmosphere? Learning more about that is an important step in the process toward finding a planet maybe like this one鈥攖hat has a surface, has an atmosphere, is a little farther away from its star, where you can imagine it has liquid water at the surface. Then you鈥檙e asking, 鈥業s this a place where life could potentially thrive? Is there a place where life is thriving?鈥�

These questions are so interesting, in fact, that they鈥檝e prompted the formation of the Rocky Worlds Program, with which Wachiraphan and Berta-Thompson will work closely, to support international collaboration on the next phases of exploration of rocky exoplanets using satellite data.

鈥淯sing this really magnificent telescope that is the collective effort of thousands of people over decades, let alone the broader community that found this planet, is the kind of thing that is under threat right now,鈥� Berta-Thompson says. 鈥淎ll of this science and this discovery requires a really long, big, sustained investment in telescopes, in scientists, in education.鈥�

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In newly published research, 缅北禁地 scientists study a rocky exoplanet outside our solar system, learning more about whether and how planets maintain atmospheres.

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Rocky exoplanet LTT 1445 A b tightly orbits its parent star, which in turn orbits two other stars in a three-star system. (Artist's rendering of LTT 1445 A b: Martin Kornmesser/European Southern Observatory)

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Anthropologists awarded major early-career development support

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 30 May 2025 21:44:15 +0000

Anthropologists awarded major early-career development support Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/30/2025 - 15:44

缅北禁地 scholars William Taylor and Fernando Villanea have been named 2025 National Science Foundation CAREER award winners

Two 缅北禁地 anthropologists have been named 2025 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award winners by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support their research of animal domestication and genomic variation.

William Taylor, a 缅北禁地 assistant professor of anthropology and CU Museum of Natural History curator of archaeology, has been awarded a $419,696 grant for his research project 鈥淯nderstanding Animal Domestication and Human-Environmental Relationships.鈥� Fernando Villanea, an assistant professor of anthropology, has been awarded a $579,010 grant to study 鈥淎rchaic Hominin Genomic Variation in Modern Human Populations.鈥�

William Taylor, a 缅北禁地 assistant professor of anthropology and CU Museum of Natural History curator of archaeology, has been awarded a $419,696 NSF CAREER grant for his research project 鈥淯nderstanding Animal Domestication and Human-Environmental Relationships.鈥�

The NSF CAREER Program offers the foundation鈥檚 most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty 鈥渨ho have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,鈥� according to the NSF. 鈥淎ctivities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.鈥�

鈥淔unding from this grant means my research team鈥檚 salaries will be supported for the next five years, including hiring a new post-doctoral scholar, to explore the effects of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry in living people,鈥� Villanea says. 鈥淎 portion of the grant will also fund functional genetic experiments in collaboration with scientists at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine.鈥�

Taylor notes that this award 鈥渋s a tremendous honor and a huge step forward in our scientific investigation of the past. Ancient Mongolia was deeply intertwined with so many parts of the story of animal domestication, from dogs to horses, reindeer, and beyond. It鈥檚 exciting we will be able to start exploring that with our interdisciplinary team at CU over the years ahead.鈥�

Doing community archaeology

Taylor鈥檚 research aims to understand animal domestication and human-environmental relationships on northeast Asian prehistory through archaeology.

His NSF CAREER project will investigate rare, well-preserved archaeological and biological assemblages recovered from archaeological field research in western Mongolia鈥攊ncluding new finds from high mountain snow and ice features and excavation of stratified dry caves鈥攕panning the last four millennia and beyond.

The research will be paired with a multifaceted program of museum education and outreach, building on Taylor鈥檚 past findings, providing infrastructure for the protection of cultural resources and the cultivation of international scientific cooperation while supporting early-career scientists and expanding public education in Mongolia and the United States.

The NSF CAREER support will aid Taylor and his Mongolian partners, including the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and National Museum of Mongolia, to analyze ancient animal remains, artifacts and ecofacts with cutting-edge techniques from archaeozoology, biomolecular sciences and paleoenvironmental data from the Mongolian Altai. The research team will seek to establish data-driven models for the introduction and dispersal of domestic livestock to northeast Asia; the timing and role of Mongolian cultures in the innovation of large animal transport, including the chariot, the saddle/stirrup and reindeer riding; and the relationship of key social developments to ancient environments in the eastern Steppe.

Fernando Villanea, an assistant professor of anthropology, has been awarded a $579,010 NSF CAREER grant to study 鈥淎rchaic Hominin Genomic Variation in Modern Human Populations.鈥�

鈥淟everaging partnerships and expertise from scientists and institutions at home and abroad, this award will produce key scientific research on animal domestication and the human story,鈥� Taylor noted, adding that the CAREER award will help 鈥渢o build important educational tools and capacity for a future generation of scientists and scholars, along with strong international partnerships and scientific cooperations between Mongolia and the United States.鈥�

Archaic genetics, modern applications

Villanea鈥檚 NSF CAREER research begins with the concept that 鈥渓iving people carry archaic genetic material inherited from other hominins such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. This genetic inheritance can affect fitness and health, and its persistence and effects cannot be fully understood unless studies consider each group鈥檚 unique population history and the evolutionary processes that shaped them,鈥� he explained.

The goal of Villanea鈥檚 study is to assess the presence and evaluate the impact of archaic hominin ancestry in groups with a complex population history by applying sophisticated computational genetic techniques to existing information. Villanea and his research colleagues aim to develop educational tools, provide training opportunities for students at different educational levels and build capacity in a new generation of scientists.

This research advances knowledge of archaic ancestry in groups with complex admixture. To separate the archaic ancestry contributions from those derived from modern groups, this study analyzes the genomes of individuals that predate well-documented historic processes as well as those from modern peoples. To improve admixture models, the study creates computational tools that benefit from artificial intelligence techniques. The study examines the relationship between archaic gene variants and phenotypic traits.

Villanea鈥檚 research will focus on the Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry distribution in Indigenous American and descendant Latin American genomes, promoting understanding of the forces of evolution as they acted in Indigenous American and descendant Latin American genomes. A goal is that the knowledge gained will empower underrepresented students to access higher education in medical and STEM fields.

鈥淐omputational and statistical competency is a lower cost of entry to STEM and medical sciences than hands-on experience in laboratory techniques, and I believe that this trend is democratizing access to genomics research across all institutions,鈥� Villanea noted. 鈥淭he trend towards free access to scientific resources is exemplified by the public availability of modern and ancient genomes, and the acceptance of preprint services to remove paywalls to exciting new results and methodologies.

鈥淔or this reason, I advocate for the inclusion of computational competency in the curriculum for all students, and see an opportunity for online resources to provide an early form of access to evolutionary theory for pre-college level students that can both grow their interest in biology and improve their chances at academic development by equipping them with high-level theory they can be self-taught supplementing their school curriculum.鈥�

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缅北禁地 scholars William Taylor and Fernando Villanea have been named 2025 National Science Foundation CAREER award winners.

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Students are shaping (and leading) CU鈥檚 climate response

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 27 May 2025 18:12:47 +0000

Students are shaping (and leading) CU鈥檚 climate response Rachel Sauer Tue, 05/27/2025 - 12:12

Cody DeBos

Fueled by a passion for climate justice and a commitment to student involvement in the university鈥檚 future, interdisciplinary graduate student team designs and teaches undergrad course on climate action planning

As the 缅北禁地 continues to advance its Climate Action Plan (CAP), an interdisciplinary group of graduate students has championed a new way to involve students in shaping a more sustainable future.

Initially, the CU steering committee creating the CAP did not involve students. In response to the exclusion of student voices, a group of graduate students began work to give students a seat at the table and engage the undergraduate community in CU鈥檚 climate-planning work. First, the group launched a petition calling for student participation in the drafting of the CAP. Then the group helped pass a resolution through student government to grant student seats on the committee implementing the CAP in the future.

鈥淪tudents have always been key drivers of sustainability and climate action on campuses across the U.S., including at 缅北禁地,鈥� the team says. 鈥淎s young people, our futures are jeopardized by the climate crisis, so we have a collective stake in rapidly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.鈥�

The graduate students and faculty who co-designed and now teach an undergraduate course on climate-action planning include (left to right) Brigid Mark, Nadav Orian Peer, Jonah Shaw, Sean Benjamin, Mariah Bowman and Sara Fleming.

But the group didn鈥檛 stop there. Fueled by a shared passion for climate mitigation and the belief that students should help shape the university鈥檚 future, the group of five graduate students from four different departments spent hundreds of hours co-designing and now teaching an undergraduate course on climate-action planning.

The course gives undergrads hands-on experience with CU鈥檚 campus emissions data, collaboration opportunities with university stakeholders and a chance to develop sustainability strategies that could be implemented campuswide.

Their efforts recently earned the group 缅北禁地鈥檚 2025 Campus Sustainability Award for Student Leadership. The group also won a $5,000 scholarship from the women-led nonprofit Zonta Foothills Foundation, in recognition for their groundbreaking work in climate education and advocacy. The CU School of Engineering, following advocacy from generous faculty members David Paradis and Carol Cogswell, was also gracious enough to provide funding for their work.

A more engaging climate classroom

The group of graduate instructors brings an interdisciplinary approach and myriad perspectives to the classroom.

The teaching team includes Mariah Bowman (law), Sara Fleming (geography), Sean Benjamin (mechanical engineering), Brigid Mark (sociology) and Jonah Shaw (atmospheric and oceanic sciences). Each has worked to tackle climate-related issues through the lens of their expertise, from Indigenous environmental justice to climate-change modeling.

The team鈥檚 diverse makeup is reflected in the design of their course and has fueled their success. But the road to this point hasn鈥檛 been easy.

鈥淭his is a labor of love,鈥� the team says. 鈥淲e are doing this because we care. Funding and the time required have been challenges.鈥�

Before the course launched, each graduate instructor spent many unpaid hours creating the syllabus, listing the course and building campus partnerships to access emissions data. During the semester, they spend many hours a week on teaching responsibilities that come in addition to their regular duties.

Financial support from the School of Engineering and the Zonta Foothills award has helped, but long term, the team hopes to see the course institutionalized and funded.

The team says, 鈥淚nstitutionalizing the course so that it runs each year and guaranteeing funding for instructors and teaching assistants would ensure the longevity and sustainability of this course. It would ensure continued involvement of students in the Climate Action Plan, and a more robust, actionable plan.鈥�

An interdisciplinary group of graduate students (holding plaques) who worked work to give students a seat at the table and engage the undergraduate community in CU鈥檚 climate-planning work received 缅北禁地鈥檚 2025 Campus Sustainability Award for Student Leadership.

Hands-on climate action

From the start, the group has viewed student involvement as essential, not symbolic.

At the start of the semester, students gain foundational knowledge on topics like climate justice, global carbon budgets and emissions accounting. From there, they split into teams to tackle different emissions categories on campus: commuting, waste, business travel and student/parent flights.

鈥淪tudents work in four teams, each focused on a different category of campus emissions. They鈥檙e developing strategies to reduce emissions for their category, adding depth and student perspective to the high-level strategy suggestions in the CAP,鈥� the instructors say.

Guest speakers, including administrators and national experts, round out the curriculum. Students have heard from Stanford University鈥檚 sustainability team and 缅北禁地 faculty like Professor Karen Bailey (environmental studies) and Professor Nadav Orian Peer (law). They also meet with stakeholders across campus to refine their proposals.

The team believes this approach is the best way to facilitate opportunities to create actionable, equity-centered climate strategies grounded in real data.

鈥淚nvolving students in climate initiatives enables them to apply knowledge about climate change to their own institution, experience they will carry to become leaders in climate action in their future workplaces and communities,鈥� says Mark.

The results are already visible on campus.

One student team is working with CU鈥檚 transportation specialist to revise the campus commuting survey. Another is working on a survey for better tracking of student and parent air travel. Others are collaborating with dining services and facilities to reduce waste and consulting with faculty to provide more accurate emissions calculations of flights taken by faculty and staff.

鈥淪tudents often learn about the gravity of climate change without learning about solutions, which can be quite depressing,鈥� says Mark.

An interdisciplinary team of graduate students teaches the climate-action planning course for undergraduate students.

鈥淚nvolving students in climate-action planning and implementation can combat feelings of hopelessness and enable participation in creating real change.鈥�

Impact on both sides

This student-led course has already sparked engagement on both sides of the classroom. One undergraduate took the initiative to launch a campus club to raise awareness about the CAP. Others hope to join implementation committees or pursue careers in sustainability.

鈥淭o me, this demonstrates that students are hungry for interdisciplinary courses that enable them to apply their skills and creativity to issues on campus and engage with solutions to the climate crisis,鈥� Fleming says.

For Bowman, the most rewarding part of the experience is the students themselves. 鈥淭hey are passionate, knowledgeable, interested, hardworking and fun to be around! It has been deeply meaningful to get to train them on something I care so much about, and have them care about it in return,鈥� she says.

And for Fleming, designing and teaching the course has also given her much. She adds, 鈥淭eam teaching is so much fun, and I鈥檝e learned so much from each of my teammates on both content and pedagogical skills.鈥�

As for the future, the graduate instructors each plan to continue fighting for climate action in their respective fields, using their knowledge and experience to make a difference on campus, in state government and in the community.

They also hope CU continues what they started so future students can participate in a course that gives them a voice in the climate conversation through data, creativity and real-world collaboration.

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What is 鈥榳oke鈥�? Who knows?

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 19 May 2025 13:30:00 +0000

What is 鈥榳oke鈥�? Who knows? Rachel Sauer Mon, 05/19/2025 - 07:30

Bradley Worrell

缅北禁地 PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew鈥檚 search for an answer to that question finds that Barbie is, book banning isn鈥檛, and that female Democrats are more likely than male Democrats to be seen as 鈥榳oke鈥�

Is Chick-fil-A 鈥渨oke鈥�?

Seeing that question posted on Twitter (now X.com) back in 2023 made Benjamin VanDreew ponder: Who decides what qualifies as 鈥渨oke鈥�?

鈥淚 was on Twitter, and for whatever reason, trending that day was the question: Had Chick-fil-A gone woke?鈥� says VanDreew, then an undergraduate at Utah Valley University and now a 缅北禁地 PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science studying American politics. 鈥淪eeing that post made me question: Is there a cohesive definition for woke? Or is it just kind of an anything-and-everything term?

缅北禁地 PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew was inspired to research wokeness after seeing a post on X and wondering, "Is there a cohesive definition for woke? Or is it just kind of an anything-and-everything term?"

鈥淚 really wanted to put the term to the test, because I think having specific definitions鈥攅specially in politics, when people are throwing around buzzwords鈥攊s incredibly important,鈥� he adds.

鈥淭he term woke seems like it鈥檚 taken on a life of its own, so I don鈥檛 think anybody has felt the need to elaborate on it or explain it themselves. And if everything can just be tossed onto the pile of what the word means (definitionally), to me it makes the word have less meaning.鈥�

In the absence of any widely recognized definition for woke, VanDreew says he was inspired to investigate how average Americans determine what constitutes 鈥渨oke.鈥� To do so, he and his coauthors commissioned a polling firm to query a demographic sampling of people nationwide about their own definitions of woke by asking them to choose between a series of two lists, with each list containing one political party, one sexual orientation, one gender group, one religious group, one political figure, one historical event, one profession, one higher education institution, one political movement and one political policy.

Those responses were then coded by whether the respondents self-identified as Republican, Democrat or independent and conservative, moderate or progressive.

The authors detailed their findings in the article 鈥�What鈥檚 woke? Ordinary Americans鈥� understandings of wokeness,鈥� recently published in the journal Research and Politics.

Who (and what) made the 鈥榳oke鈥� list

Politicians who appeared on the selection lists for survey respondents to consider included President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, former congressman Matt Gaetz, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Specific groups included Antifa, Black Lives Matter, the Ku Klux Klan, Moms for Liberty and the Proud Boys, while specific policies included affirmative action, book bans, pro-life, pro-choice, aid for Ukraine, aid for Israel and admitting fewer immigrants.

鈥淲e tried to pick people and things that our survey respondents would be aware of by keeping choices as modern as possible,鈥� VanDreew explains of the survey list selections.

He says forced choices resulted in some interesting decisions when survey respondents had to decide what constituted woke. For example, Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi were deemed woke by respondents, while Biden and Schumer were not鈥攅ven though all four are Democrats who share similar politics. That鈥檚 likely because Republicans, in particular, tend to associate gender (particularly female) with wokeness, he adds.

Meanwhile, survey respondents placed Trump firmly in the anti-woke camp, but not Desantis鈥攅ven though he made crusading against woke a part of his failed presidential campaign (famously stating that his home state of Florida is 鈥渨here woke goes to die.鈥�) VanDreew says while it鈥檚 not clear why Desantis did not score higher as anti-woke, it may be that part of his messaging did not resonate with survey respondents.

Left: Protestors at a Jan. 20, 2018, march in Calgary, Canada (Photo: Joslyn MacPherson/Wikimedia Commons); right: President Donald Trump speaks during the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference. (Photo: Hermann Tertsch and Victor Gonzalez/Wikimedia Commons)

When it came to evaluating groups and policies, respondents deemed the Civil Rights movement, Black Lives Matter, lesbians and being pro-choice as being woke, while Republicans, Proud Boys, the KKK, book bans, aid to Israel and admitting fewer immigrants were judged as being anti-woke.

鈥淲e were able to see that partisanship does show up across a lot of these things as far as, if something more associated with the Democratic Party, it鈥檚 more likely to be viewed as woke, and if it was Republican-associated it would be viewed as less woke. Also, things that are associated with feminism or LGBTQ are more likely to be considered woke, and things that are conservative related to gender and race were seen more as anti-woke,鈥� VanDreew says.

Reviewing the survey results, VanDreew says there was actually a fair amount of agreement between Republicans and Democrats on specific areas of what was deemed woke, as Democrats joined Republicans and independents in identifying certain individuals, groups and causes as woke.

鈥淲hat was different was the connotation as to whether they viewed woke as a negative or a positive. It鈥檚 an interesting thing that they agreed but also completely disagreed on certain subjects,鈥� he says.

Meanwhile, independents as a whole had much less consistent views, tracking more closely with Democrats when it comes to some considerations, while more closely aligning with Republicans on others, he adds. In particular, independents were generally in agreement with Republicans regarding gender issues, which suggests that the political right has been especially successful in reframing gender progressivism as woke, the authors state in their paper.

Other survey responses showed that those polled generally don鈥檛 generally consider the religions, careers or products/companies listed in the survey as especially woke or anti-woke鈥攚ith one major exception: Barbie.

In late 2023, around the same time respondents were surveyed, the movie Barbie debuted and was recognized for addressing gender and stereotyping issues, which may account for the fact that Barbie placed in the woke category, VanDreew says.

Today鈥檚鈥榳oke鈥� is different than yesterday鈥檚鈥榳oke鈥�

"For the sake of voters, we need politicians on both sides to do a better job about transparency when it comes to woke or other buzzwords, and what they鈥檙e platforming."

Based upon the survey results, VanDreew says there are some conclusions that can be drawn about woke. First, the term has undergone a radical transformation in recent years.

鈥淲oke is typically attributed to coming about during the Civil Rights movement, as kind of a discrete way for people to show support for the struggle. It may not have been just the word woke by itself, but it could be terms like 鈥榮tay woke,鈥欌€� he says.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where it started, and I would say that definition stuck until more modern times, when we鈥檝e seen it take on a completely different context, which is a confusing and not well-organized context.鈥�

Second, research suggests some on the political right have co-opted the term and used it to include anything deemed politically correct, liberal or 鈥渁nti-American,鈥� VanDreew says. Despite this conceptual stretching, however, the term remains linked to social justice, he adds.

At the same time, research shows that how ordinary Americans view woke as a whole remains unclear. Given that the research paper determined there are implied meanings and associations with woke鈥攂ut not a clearly spelled-out definition鈥擵anDreew says it reinforces his belief that politicians on either side of the woke issue owe it to their constituents to explain exactly what they mean when they use the word.

鈥淔or the sake of voters, we need politicians on both sides to do a better job about transparency when it comes to woke or other buzzwords, and what they鈥檙e platforming,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think a better understanding of the word (woke) as it鈥檚 used by people in power would only help us as a country. That was my only intention here. I didn鈥檛 come at this (topic) trying to be polarizing in any direction; I just came at it with a question and the data led to the published results.鈥�

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缅北禁地 PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew鈥檚 search for an answer to that question finds that Barbie is, book banning isn鈥檛, and that female Democrats are more likely than male Democrats to be seen as 鈥榳oke.'

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India and Pakistan once again step back from the brink

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 16 May 2025 16:44:25 +0000

India and Pakistan once again step back from the brink Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/16/2025 - 10:44

Rachel Sauer

缅北禁地 historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent tensions between the two nations, incited by the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir, are the latest in an ongoing cycle

When a gunman opened fire April 22 on domestic tourists in Pahalgam, a scenic Himalayan hill station in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 26 people, the attack ignited days of deadly drone attacks, airstrikes and shelling between India and Pakistan that escalated to a perilous brink last weekend.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire Saturday evening diffused the mounting violence between the two nuclear-armed nations that increasingly seemed on a trajectory toward war. It was the latest in a string of escalations spanning many decades between India and Pakistan, which invariably led to the question: Why does this keep happening?

缅北禁地 historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent conflict between India and Pakistan is part of a broader history that includes not only religion, but water, maps and territorial integrity.

Lucy Chester, an associate professor in the 缅北禁地 Department of History and the International Affairs Program, has studied the region and relations between the two nations for many years; her first book, Borders and Conflict in South Asia, explores the drawing of the boundary between India and Pakistan in 1947.

Despite President Donald Trump鈥檚 assertion that the origins of the conflict date back a thousand years, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not the case,鈥� Chester says. 鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 mainly about Kashmir, with some additional issues at play this time around that changed the dynamics a bit.鈥�

When more than a century of British colonial rule of India ended in August 1947, the Indian subcontinent was divided into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan鈥攁 bloody, devastating event known as Partition. An estimated 15 million people were displaced and an estimated 1 to 2 million died as a result of violence, hunger, suicide or disease.

The first Indo-Pakistani war ignited two months after Partition, in October 1947, over the newly formed Pakistan鈥檚 fear that the Hindu maharaja of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu would align with India. The Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 and the the Kargil War of 1999 followed, as well as other conflicts, standoffs and skirmishes.

Chester addressed these and other issues in a recent conversation with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.

Question: These decades of conflict are often framed as Hindu-Muslim conflict; is that not the case?

Chester: There鈥檚 an older dynamic of Hindu-Muslim tension that definitely plays a role in this, but a significant aspect of the conflict over Kashmir is a conflict over water, which is really important. It has to do specifically with Kashmir鈥檚 geopolitical position and how a lot of the water that is important to India, that flows through India into Pakistan, originates in Kashmir.

It was a lot about popular pressure this time鈥擧indu nationalist pressure鈥攐n (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, which is a dynamic that he has very much contributed to. So, in that sense, it could be framed as Hindu-Muslim tension.

But it鈥檚 also about territorial integrity鈥攖hat鈥檚 a phrase that kept coming up鈥攁nd it鈥檚 a very loaded phrase that does go back to 1947 and the kinds of nations that India and Pakistan were conceived of in the 1940s and the kinds of national concerns they鈥檝e developed in the years since.

Question: What role did Hindu nationalism, which has been very much in the news since Modi鈥檚 re-election last year, play in this recent conflict?

Chester: Hindu nationalism has been important in South Asia since the late 19th century, certainly, and it鈥檚 become more important since the 1930s. It鈥檚 one strand of the larger Indian nationalist movement鈥擨ndian nationalism was behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. So, it鈥檚 always been there, but Modi, of course, has really ramped it up. For a while he distanced himself from the BJP (the Bharatiya Janata Party political party associated with Hindu nationalism), but he鈥檚 since made it very clear that he is very much in line with Hindu nationalist ideals and played on those symbols and those dynamics centered to what Hindu nationalist voters wanted.

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi addresses the media about Operation Sindoor at the National Media Centre in New Delhi May 7, 2025. (Photo: Government of India Ministry of Defence)

This whole idea of Hinduness gets back to the various ways both India and Pakistan are conceived of as nations. Hindutva (a political ideology justifying a Hindu hegemony in India) conceives India as a fundamentally Hindu nation, and that idea has gotten so much more reinforcement from Modi and the national government over last 10 years. So, part of what happened with this awful terrorist massacre two weeks ago is that it created a lot of pressure on Modi to respond in a way that previous Indian administrations haven鈥檛 felt they had to respond.

Question: In the recent conflict, India accused Pakistan of perpetrating the attack, which Pakistan denied, and framed the response as a defense of 鈥楳other India.鈥� What does that mean?

Chester: Sumathi Ramaswamy explained it best in her book (The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India), where she talks about Mother India as this cartographed divine female figure who鈥檚 very much identified with the cartographic body of the nation. So, any attack on the territorial integrity (of India) is an attack on this woman, this mother figure.

The (recent) Indian Operation was called Operation Sindoor鈥攕indoor is the red coloring that married Hindu woman put in the part of their hair鈥攁 call-out to this idea of Mother India and a call to the nation鈥檚 sons to be willing to die for her or to kill for her in this case.

In 1947, with the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan, the conception for many in India was a really tragic carving up of the body of the nation, and for a number of Hindu nationalists, that was a specifically female body. For a lot of people in India to this day, the 1947 Partition is this massive failure and an amputation of key elements of the national body. On the other side in Pakistan, for many it鈥檚 this great narrative of victory, but on the Indian side there鈥檚 this recurring existential fear that further parts of the country could be carved off this way. I think a big part of why conflict keeps happening is that both sides feel very strongly about defending the national territory because it was torn apart in such a violent way, and I think that fear is just most vividly present in Kashmir.

Question: How does the history of Kashmir in terms of British rule and Partition come into play?

Chester: In terms of British India, there were areas that were directly ruled and areas that were indirectly ruled. The indirectly ruled areas were princely ruled, and this is important because Kashmir was a princely state with a Hindu maharaja and a majority-Muslim population. With princely states, in theory they could decide for themselves whether to accede to India or Pakistan, and the maharaja of Kashmir, most would say he was angling for some kind of autonomy or independence and delayed the decision on whether to accede to India or Pakistan.

In October of 1947, militia groups鈥攁lmost certainly supported by Pakistan鈥攊nvaded Kashmir and the maharaja appealed to India for help. India airlifted troops in, because there was no all-weather road efficient for deploying troops, which gives you a sense for both how remote Kashmir was and parts of it still are, and also that there weren鈥檛 a lot of infrastructure connections.

So, the first Indo-Pakistan war was in 1947 to 1948, then a second war in 1965 and a third in 1971. This reinforces that fear of the country fragmenting and losing parts of the national body, because it was after the 1971 war that Bangladesh became independent (from Pakistan).

In 1949, India and Pakistan established a Ceasefire Line that became the Line of Control in 1972 with the Simla Agreement. The Line of Control is significant because it鈥檚 treated as an international boundary鈥攏ot de jure (existing by law or officially recognized), but de facto. In 1972, officials came up with a textual description for the Line of Control and they define it up to NJ9842, which is the northernmost point on the map where it ends. The text of treaty says something like, 鈥淧roceed thence north to the glaciers.鈥� This territory is so remote, so geopolitically useless, that no one at the time thought spending time to define where boundary line ran was important.

In the mid-1980s, both India and Pakistan sent troops to the Siachen Glacier, creating one of the highest more-or-less permanent military bases at about 22,000 feet. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

So, north of NJ9842 is this really undefined area鈥攜ou鈥檝e got Pakistan-controlled territory, India-controlled territory, China is right there, the Karakoram Pass is right there. What happened in the late 1970s, and possibly earlier even into the late 1960s, was Pakistan began issuing permits to international climbing expeditions, and in the early 1980s Indian troops discovered evidence of these international climbing expeditions. India realized that Pakistan had been exercising a certain form of administrative control over this undefined territory, and that鈥檚 what triggered the mid-1980s sending of troops from India and Pakistan to the Siachen Glacier. It includes what I think is the highest more-or-less permanent military base at something like 22,000 feet.

As a map geek, I find it really interesting that maps have contributed in pretty direct ways to these conflicts. One of the really tragic elements is that we know that on the Indian side, 97% of conflict casualties in that area are due to terrain and weather, and we can assume similar numbers on the Pakistani side. You鈥檝e got these two countries fighting this battle, but they鈥檙e also fighting Mother Nature. In fact, the 1999 Kargil War happened because Pakistan tried to move some of its troops to a higher altitude where they could overlook an Indian road that supplied these high-altitude posts.

Question: What role did water play in the recent conflict?

Chester: All of the water that feeds the rivers that run downstream into western India and Pakistan originates in that region, which gives it real geopolitical value. One of the things that had me particularly concerned this time was India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty from 1960, which was a really landmark agreement governing the sharing of these waters. Some of these rivers flow through India before they get to Pakistan, and at this point India doesn鈥檛 have the infrastructure to turn off the water. But Pakistan has said if India starts building that infrastructure, they will consider it an act of war.

Question: Is there anything that makes you feel even slightly hopeful amid these ongoing tensions?

Chester: Over the last two weeks, both sides have been very carefully walking this fine line between being very visibly seen to acknowledge popular pressure on them to stand up strongly to their adversary, but also making very carefully planned choices that as far as possible avoided uncontrollable escalation. Everyone is keenly aware these are both nuclear-armed powers. I was very concerned that it escalated as much as it did on both sides, particularly in the use of airstrikes, but I think both sides were doing their best to leave themselves and their adversaries an off-ramp.

Part of the significance of (the Kargil War in) 1999 was both sides had just come out of the nuclear closet, so everyone was watching that conflict very closely, but both sides were able to walk back from edge. That gives us a lot of reason to hope and to believe that there are very professional people on both sides鈥攊n addition to people who are whipping up popular frenzy鈥攚ho have a good sense for what the limits are, what signals they can send, and who are saying to the population, 鈥淲e listen to you, we respect your grievances,鈥� but they also know where the edge is and aren鈥檛 crossing it.

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缅北禁地 historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent tensions between the two nations, incited by the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir, are the latest in an ongoing cycle.

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When the homework is happiness

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 09 May 2025 13:30:00 +0000

When the homework is happiness Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/09/2025 - 07:30

Clint Talbott

June Gruber鈥檚 Science of Happiness course doesn鈥檛 map the way to unmitigated joy; on the contrary, the science of emotional wellness is more nuanced, and her students are sharing this message outside the classroom

The Declaration of Independence famously extols the 鈥減ursuit of happiness.鈥� But what, exactly, is happiness, and how should one pursue it? Also, should we even view it as something to be pursued?

Those questions underlie countless magazine articles, TV documentaries and self-help courses. More rigorously, they鈥檙e the focus of a popular Science of Happiness course taught by June Gruber, a professor of psychology at the 缅北禁地.

Gruber鈥檚 course does not unfold a map to unmitigated delight. Rather, Gruber鈥檚 course pores over the developing research鈥攕ome of it Gruber鈥檚 own鈥攖hat reveals a more nuanced view and even a 鈥渄ark side to happiness.鈥� The course also asks students to summarize and share the science of happiness for 鈥渙utreach鈥� to general audiences.

June Gruber (front row left, checked blazer) and her Science of Happiness students pause for a class photo on the last day of the semester. (Photo: June Gruber)

As Gruber has shown in her peer-reviewed research, a TEDx talk and this 缅北禁地 course, it is not that happiness is bad. Rather, evidence suggests that happiness is one of several human emotions to which people should be open, and excesses of apparent happiness can signal problems such as mania (or bipolar disorder), excessive spending, problem gambling or high-risk sexual encounters.

Perhaps counterintuitively, Gruber cites a growing body of evidence that the act of pursuing happiness can leave the pursuers, paradoxically, less happy. They report being less able to be emotionally present in moments that could be happy, and they are more likely to experience mood difficulties and anxiety. That鈥檚 one 鈥渄ark side鈥� of happiness.

New evidence for old advice

As it happens, modern science reflects ancient wisdom. In the final class of her spring 2025 semester, Gruber showed her class a quotation from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, 鈥淭hose who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.鈥�

The English philosopher John Stuart Mill, whom Gruber quotes, said, 鈥淭hose only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness: on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.鈥�

And that 鈥減ursuit of happiness鈥� phrase from the Declaration of Independence was lifted from the philosopher John Locke, who said the 鈥渉ighest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty.鈥�

Locke himself was influenced by Aristotle and Epicurus, who viewed happiness as a laudable goal but who defined happiness as leading a purposeful and contemplative life. Happiness, Aristotle said, 鈥渋s the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.鈥�

Gruber discusses this older concept of happiness, sometimes called eudaimonic wellbeing, vs. hedonic wellbeing. Unlike purposeful and meaningful experiences, hedonic pleasures, which tend to be those people in Western societies equate with happiness, are peak experiences, like watching a stunning sunset or blissing out to the 鈥淥de to Joy.鈥�

Putting lessons into practice

In addition to reviewing researchers鈥� findings and ruminating on ancient wisdom, students in the Science of Happiness course (PSYC 4541) complete weekly 鈥渟cience-to-life鈥� exercises, which apply the theories and practices learned in class to everyday existence.

For instance, students kept gratitude journals, performed random acts of kindness and completed the UPenn Authentic Happiness Inventory. Students also took 鈥�awe walks,鈥� in which they visited novel, physically vast spaces and observed their surroundings mindfully.

Beyond the exercises and coursework, the students also have done outreach projects, the goal of which is to share the science of happiness outside the classroom and in the broader community.

One student, Franco Devecchi, produced a flyer highlighting research on the potential benefits of music therapy for those with autism. The flyer cites studies showing evidence that music therapy can strengthen autistic individuals鈥� sense of well-being, helping them feel more confident, accommodated and socially acceptable.

Devecchi conversed with people in campus buildings in which he distributed the flyers. In one case, Devecchi spoke with another person with autism, recalling, 鈥淲e bonded over how developmentally important music was for us growing up and discussed the gap in research when it comes to autistic adults!鈥�

Another student, Indiana Wagner, completed an outreach project on the intersection of awe, psychedelics and well-being. Wagner made a presentation to Naropa University鈥檚 Intro to Psychedelics Studies course.

Wagner noted that the transformational mechanisms of awe (which can foster happiness) 鈥渉ave a lot of crossover with the transformational mechanisms of the psychedelic experience.鈥�

Wagner added, 鈥淏oth awe-inducing experiences and psychedelic experiences have the ability to create a sense of 鈥榤ystical experience,鈥� which can be followed by these transformations; there's a lot of interesting literature, particularly within Johns Hopkins University, on the mystical experience from psilocybin being associated with positive changes.鈥�

Wagner said many of the Naropa students seemed very interested after the presentation and asked questions relating to the subject of awe, how to incorporate it, practice it and Wagner鈥檚 own experiences with it.

And student Kate Timothy produced an outreach project on the relationship between sleep, happiness and well-being. Timothy, who completed an honors thesis about sleep disruptions and their effect on Alzheimer鈥檚 biomarkers, wanted to further understand how sleep affects well-being and share that knowledge with others.

She developed a trivia event for college students in which the questions focused on how to improve sleep and thus happiness. Timothy is a dormitory worker, and her audience was the dormitory population. 鈥淚 just asked students as they went by some trivia questions and also passed out some chocolate prizes,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a fun and easy way to get important information about sleep to my peers!鈥�

Gruber has been recognized for her teaching. She is a President鈥檚 Teaching Scholar, has won the 缅北禁地 Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award, the UROP Outstanding Mentor Award and the Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction. The last award is named for and funded by Craig Cogswell, a three-time alumnus of 缅北禁地, who says Gruber is an 鈥渁mazing educator and teacher.鈥�

Gruber also has developed a free online Coursera #TalkMentalIllness course to tackle stigma and mental health and has written articles for Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science about the importance of teaching students about the positive side of psychological disorders. She also shares career and professional advice for students in Science Careers. She is currently co-authoring a textbook on the science of happiness with Dacher Keltner and colleagues at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

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An apple a day? It鈥檚 the 缅北禁地 way

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 08 May 2025 17:18:27 +0000

An apple a day? It鈥檚 the 缅北禁地 way Rachel Sauer Thu, 05/08/2025 - 11:18

Rachel Sauer

Newly planted apple orchard on 缅北禁地 campus is a nexus of university and community partnerships and will be a living classroom for students and educators

For now, they are twiggy little things, all spindly adolescent limbs that nevertheless hint at future harvests. Saturday morning, one even wore a scattering of creamy white blossoms鈥攆lowers that, in years to come, once roots have gained hold and branches have stretched up and out, will grow into apples.

Is there anything more hopeful than planting a tree? Yes, planting a whole orchard of them.

On Saturday, years of planning, research and partnership-building bore fruit on an L-shaped plot in front of the 缅北禁地 30th Street greenhouse, where more than two-dozen volunteers planted 30 apple trees in what had previously been a scrubby patch of turf.

Funded by a $90,000 Sustainable CU grant, the apple orchard will not only be a classroom and a living lab, but a nexus for community, a carbon sink and a vibrant example that sustainability can be delicious.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so exciting to see this happening,鈥� says Amy Dunbar-Wallis, who this semester completed her PhD in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and collaborated with 缅北禁地 faculty and students and community partners to bring the idea of the first orchard on 缅北禁地 campus to fruition.

鈥淚t represents how so many people on campus, so many people in the community, have come together to plant this orchard that will be a place to learn and a place to preserve a really neat part of 缅北禁地鈥檚 history.鈥�

In search of old apple trees

The new apple orchard grew from the 缅北禁地 Apple Tree Project, an initiative that began almost 15 years ago with a simple observation: There seemed to be a lot of old apple trees in 缅北禁地.

Katharine Suding, a professor of distinction in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, had recently moved to the area, 鈥渁nd I was really surprised to see so many old apple trees everywhere,鈥� she recalled during the 2022 Apple Symposium. 鈥淚 realized I had no idea about the histories and particularly the history of apples, so looking into it a little more, it was clear there are trees here that are remnants of past histories starting in the turn of (20th) century.

Amy Dunbar-Wallis (left) and Tiffany Willis (right, EBio'22) consult a chart designating where each tree would be planted in the new apple orchard in front of the 30th Street greenhouse Saturday morning. Willis, who lives in 缅北禁地, took EBIO 1250 online during Covid lockdowns and was a lab assistant for the class in 2021.

鈥淭here are apple trees in Colorado and in 缅北禁地 that are remnants from old orchards that still exist. There are also remnants of trees that were planted when people came and built ranches or had farms here, and often they were bringing along apple trees from where they came from, whether it was Germany, whether it was the Midwest, whether it was Scandinavia.鈥�

In fall 2017, the 缅北禁地 Apple Tree Project (BATP) sprouted, combining historical sleuthing with cutting-edge genetic testing and grafting to not only locate and catalog 缅北禁地鈥檚 historic apple trees, but also to revive its legacy of apple growing. In the ongoing project, researchers gather data on the age and health of the trees, as well as the type and flavor of the apples, and the genetic diversity that the trees offer to future populations.

Suding and BATP co-principal investigator Lisa Corwin, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, have worked with undergraduate and graduate students not only to gather data, but also to develop the EBIO 1250 course, during which students conduct research on 缅北禁地鈥檚 apple trees; curricula and materials in partnership with the CU Museum of Natural History; a database and app in collaboration with computer science students; an interactive map of apple trees that have been tagged and studied; and the A Power of Place Learning Experience and Research Network (APPLE R Net), a multi-institution research network directed by Corwin that introduces students to field research by involving them in a project examining apple trees across the Rocky Mountain region.

BATP also is part of the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group, which connects Colorado researchers with other apple-exploring groups and researchers across North America.

Mia Williams (left) waters a newly planted apple tree Saturday morning. Williams, who will graduate this summer, is double majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and environmental studies.

鈥淭his project has grown so much since our initial community engaged Apple Blitz in 2018,鈥� says Dunbar-Wallis. 鈥淲e've tagged over 1,000 trees and created a database, taught multiple course-based undergraduate research experiences at CU and at colleges across Colorado and northern New Mexico, started a data-collection app and interactive map in collaboration with CU computer science capstone students and installed a demonstration orchard in collaboration with 缅北禁地 Open Space and Mountain Parks.鈥�

The demonstration orchard, planted two years ago, functions as a teaching and research laboratory to explore how biodiversity affects the functioning of apple orchards and their services to human well-being, including efficient water use, pollinator habitat and structural complexity supporting natural pest control.

A part of the narrative

The idea for the 30th Street orchard was revived by a group of six undergraduate and two graduate students almost two years ago, who proposed resubmitting a grant application that hadn鈥檛 been accepted in 2019.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a group who really love what we do and love apple trees and working with the soil,鈥� says Katie Mikell, an ecology and evolutionary biology student who is graduating today and who was a member of the team that crafted and submitted the grant proposal.

鈥淏efore, (the orchard plot) was a lawn full of monoculture turf grass, so part of our argument was that if we put in an apple orchard, it would create a carbon sink (a system that absorbs more carbon than it releases), it would save the school money and anyone walking by could pick an apple. Plus, once the trees are producing, we can donate apples to the food pantry. Everyone can benefit from an apple orchard.鈥�

Deidre Jaeger (right, PhDEBio'22) and her sons Sage, 4 (left), and Cedar, 1 (center), plant apple trees at the 30th Street orchard Saturday morning. Jaeger was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and an advisor for the Center for Sustainable Landscapes and Communities and is a researcher with the 缅北禁地 Apple Tree Project.

Students prepared the 30th Street site during fall semester, working with departments and organizations across the university, as well as many community partners. The trees planted Saturday are about three years old and were obtained from Widespread Malus and Benevolence Orchard in 缅北禁地.

鈥淥ur students are at the core of the university, and their passion and ingenuity are critical to our values around infusing sustainability throughout 缅北禁地. This orchard exemplifies that pursuit in so many ways,鈥� says Vice Chancellor for Sustainability Andrew Mayock.

鈥淚t is not only helping to protect biodiversity in our community. It will help feed those in need on our campus and create a living-learning laboratory space where sustainability leaders of the future will learn and develop strategies for urban agriculture planning.鈥�

Fifteen varieties of apples are represented in the orchard, including locally grown historic cultivars like Wolf River and Colorado Orange. A beloved apple tree on the Bobolink Trail is even represented in a newly planted graft.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much learning that can happen in an orchard,鈥� says Manuela Mejia, an ecology and evolutionary biology PhD student who will conduct her doctoral research, which will include studying insect diversity, at the orchard. 鈥淪o many facets of science are represented here.鈥�

In addition to trees, the orchard will include an understory of native, drought-tolerant grasses and pollinator-friendly wildflowers, notes Mia Williams, who is majoring in environmental studies and ecology and evolutionary biology and will graduate this summer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting that this orchard will become a part of the story of agriculture in this area,鈥� Dunbar-Wallis says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e tagged more than 1,000 trees (through BATP) and some of them are a hundred years old, so you think about everything they鈥檝e seen and been through, the history that they hold, their stories, and now these trees鈥攚hich are little now and probably won鈥檛 produce fruit for two or three years鈥攁re part of that narrative.鈥�

Sophie Small (left) and Amy Dunbar-Wallis (right) fill a wheelbarrow with compost Saturday morning to prepare for planting an apple orchard in front of the 30th Street greenhouse. Small, a freshman who is studying biomedical engineering, learned about the project through the CU Farm and Garden Club.

Sophie Small (left), Isaac Kou (center) and Kyrie MacArthur dig a hole Saturday morning before planting an apple tree in it. Small is studying biomedical engineering, Kou just graduated with a major in computer science and a minor in ecology and evolutionary biology and MacArthur is studying history and education.

Amy Dunbar-Wallis (PhDEBio'25) digs a hole for a young apple tree Saturday morning.

Amy Dunbar Wallis (left, black vest) educates student and community volunteers Saturday morning before they plant 30 apple trees in front of the 30th Street greenhouse.

The apple trees planted in the 30th Street orchard Saturday morning, one of which even bloomed, are three years old and should begin producing fruit in two or three years.

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Newly planted apple orchard on 缅北禁地 campus is a nexus of university and community partnerships and will be a living classroom for students and educators.

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Four Buffalo Bicycle Classic scholars earn Latin honors

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 07 May 2025 19:09:21 +0000

Four Buffalo Bicycle Classic scholars earn Latin honors Rachel Sauer Wed, 05/07/2025 - 13:09

Beneficiaries of the annual scholarship ride win high praise from faculty, set their sights on next academic ventures

The Buffalo Bicycle Classic boasts that it helps promising young scholars, which it identifies as 鈥渟ome of Colorado鈥檚 brightest.鈥� Four of its beneficiaries have emphatically underscored that point, winning top honors while conducting novel research on Alzheimer鈥檚, breast cancer and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Four recipients of the 缅北禁地 Buff Bike Classic scholarships are graduating this month with Latin honors, and one of those four has earned two summa cum laude distinctions.

Danya Al Nazal is graduating in neuroscience summa cum laude.

The Buffalo Bicycle Classic, which refers to itself the BBC and is not to be confused with the British broadcaster, is a multi-distance bicycle fundraiser for scholarships in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Paul Beale, 缅北禁地 physics professor and the BBC鈥檚 faculty director, said the BBC鈥檚 team is 鈥渆cstatic that four of our graduating seniors earned Latin honors this year, including a rare double summa cum laude by Danya Al Nazal.鈥�

He noted that the BBC partners with the Arts and Sciences Honors Program to select incoming first-year scholars. 鈥淭hat fact that nearly half of our graduating scholars completed honors research projects and successfully wrote and defended honors theses demonstrates the dedication and academic excellence of the students supported by the Buffalo Bicycle Classic Scholarship Fund,鈥� Beale said.

The four BBC scholars earning Latin honors are:

Danya Al Nazal, who is graduating in neuroscience summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淭he Effect of Sleep Disruption on Subclinical Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease.鈥� Al Nazal also earned summa cum laude honors for a second thesis, titled 鈥淪heltered but Still at Risk: Addressing Tuberculosis Prevention, Mitigation, and Treatment in a Homeless Shelter.鈥�
Kate Timothy, who is graduating with a degree in neuroscience summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淓ffects of Time-of-Day and Circadian Misalignment on Blood-based Alzheimer鈥檚 Biomarkers.鈥�
Maria Smolyar, who is graduating with a degree in international affairs summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淭he Geopolitical Chessboard: The Russia-Ukraine War and the Logic and Consequences of Carrots and Sticks.鈥�
Stephanie Araiza Acuna, who is graduating with a degree in integrative physiology magna cum laude and whose thesis is titled 鈥淭he Effects of Zinc Availability on the Cell Cycle and Proliferation in MCF-7 and T-47D Breast Cancer Cells.鈥�

Acuna explained that her research finds evidence that zinc deficiency reduces the proliferation of two lines of breast-cancer cells. Her findings provide the foundation for using zinc as a means of enhancing the efficacy of standard cancer treatments.

Kate Timothy is graduating with a degree in neuroscience summa cum laude.

Acuna began working in the lab of Amy Palmer, professor of biochemistry, last summer. There, she said she became interested in looking at the quiescence-proliferation decision in the cell cycle via fluorescent reporters in cells.

鈥淎fter years of studying mitosis in textbooks, I found the images I took of MCF-7 (breast cancer cells) to be both scientifically fascinating and visually beautiful, with each phase of the cell cycle vividly displayed frame by frame,鈥� Acuna said.

She added that she appreciates the faculty who supported her during her undergraduate work. 鈥淵ou made me see science not only as a discipline, but as beautifully intricate art,鈥� she said, adding: 鈥淎 huge thank you to the Buffalo Bike Classic. Your generosity to students makes research like mine possible. Your support fuels learning, exploration and meaningful scientific progress.鈥�

Acuna plans to take a gap year after graduation to prepare for the medical school application cycle and hopes to earn a medical degree. She wants to become a cardiologist.

Smolyar noted that the Russia-Ukraine war is complicated. 鈥淚 spent months researching, talking to my professors and my dad (who is from Ukraine), and I still barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn and know about the war.鈥�

Smolyar said the war has undergone a 鈥渘uanced evolution鈥� to get to the point it is today. 鈥淐urrently, there needs to be changes in diplomatic dialogue at the government level if we want to see it end. And the rise of China and the alliance between Russia and China is scary for America.鈥�

Smolyar鈥檚 parents are from Ukraine, and she has family in both Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, she noted, her interest in Russia began in high school when she wrote an essay on Lenin. That interest grew as she took Russian studies and Russian history classes in college.

Maria Smolyar is graduating with a degree in international affairs summa cum laude.

After graduation, Smolyar hopes to attend law school and/or pursue a PhD in political science, although she hasn鈥檛 decided yet.

Al Nazal said attending 缅北禁地 has allowed her to conduct research that directly pertained to her interests: Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and tuberculosis among unhoused people.

Al Nazal said the BBC scholarship gave her the ability to 鈥渢ake time off of work so I can focus on research, which ultimately lead to me being able to pursue two honors theses.鈥�

She plans to take two gap years, during which she will focus on research and then apply to MD/PhD programs.

Timothy noted that her honors thesis found that potential blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease are affected by circadian misalignment and time-of-day. 鈥淭his means that the protein is changing depending on if an individual is circadian misaligned (their behaviors such as eating and sleeping are out of alignment with their circadian rhythm) versus in circadian alignment and time-of-day at which the protein is assessed (drawn from the blood),鈥� she said.

The overall implication is that future studies identifying a more robust blood biomarker for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease should account for time-of-day and circadian timing, she added.

After graduation, Timothy said she plans to attend graduate school to study clinical psychology with a focus on sleep. 鈥淭his project allowed me to bridge my two interests while developing skills that are going to support me throughout my entire career. Additionally, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other neurodegenerative diseases are becoming an increasing concern for the aging population,鈥� she said, adding:

鈥淚 am honored to have worked on a project that addresses the concern that we will all face one day.鈥�

Stephanie Araiza Acuna is graduating with a degree in integrative physiology magna cum laude.

Timothy offered advice for current students: seize every opportunity. 鈥淭his is your moment to make your mark and set yourself up for success in the long-term.鈥� She also thanked the supporters of the Buffalo Bicycle Classic and all those who supported her at 缅北禁地:

鈥淚 wish I could eloquently describe how significant that support has been for me. The journey to graduate as a first-generation college student is difficult, but my success here is made possible by the generosity of this community.鈥�

The Elevations Credit Union Buffalo Bicycle Classic was founded in 2003 and, with contributions from volunteers, riders, sponsors and endowed funds, the event offers one-year scholarships of $4,000 to 30 students, renewable each year if they maintain full-time status and at least a 3.0 grade point average.

Additionally, endowed funds provide $10,000 annually to three junior or senior students in Arts & Sciences, also renewable under the same conditions. The BBC鈥檚 newest corporate sponsor, Zorbent, funds two additional $10,000 scholarships to top continuing BBC scholars.

The students served by the BBC are some of Colorado鈥檚 brightest, with each entering CU with over a 4.0 high school GPA.

鈥淥ur student scholars also demonstrate strong financial need, which makes this scholarship particularly important,鈥� the BBC states. 鈥淥ur scholarships for these promising students makes higher education attainable.鈥�

Since 2003, the event has raised more than $3.9 million, funding more than 450 scholarships for high-achieving, financially needy Colorado high school graduates.

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Beneficiaries of the annual scholarship ride win high praise from faculty, set their sights on next academic ventures.

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