Computer Science

Shaping the future of quantum systems

Susan Glairon — Fri, 09 May 2025 11:53:41 +0000

Shaping the future of quantum systems Susan Glairon Fri, 05/09/2025 - 05:53

Susan Glairon

Ramin Ayanzadeh's research focuses on trustworthy quantum computing to enhance the reliability and security of quantum systems.

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Engineering double major and student leader of the year

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 06 May 2025 15:20:36 +0000

Engineering double major and student leader of the year Jeff Zehnder Tue, 05/06/2025 - 09:20

Jeff Zehnder

Pore (right) being recognized as the Boettcher Student Leader of the Year.

Aaditya Pore is an engineering senior double majoring in aerospace and computer science. He is an extremely active student, serving as senior class president, competing in the Daniels Fund National Ethics Case Competition and earning the 2025 Boettcher Student Leader of the Year award.

As he prepares to graduate, he reflects on his time at �山�� and how he juggles all of his classes and extracurricular activities:

What does it mean to you to be recognized as Boettcher Student Leader of the Year?

Gaining this recognition is such an amazing culminating achievement for my time at CU. Majoring in engineering, leadership isn’t always directed as a focus, and there’s not as much representation of engineers in campus wide leadership. Having had the chance to not participate in shared governance at CU but also make a meaningful contribution to bettering campus has been an opportunity I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Most importantly, being able to have gained support from my community, inside and outside of the College of Engineering, has enabled me to reach this point. I see this accomplishment as a tribute to those who contributed so much to me during my journey – advisors, professors, mentors, friends, and family.

You are a double major in aerospace and computer science and are the Senior Class Council President. When do you sleep?

Whether it was being involved in CU Student Government as the Legislative Council President, the President’s Leadership Class as their Professional Development Coordinator, CU Milana as a member of the dance team, or the Senior Class Council as President, my involvements have indubitably been the most important part of my time in �山��.

I’ve found that when you value something, you can find time to prioritize it, regardless of how busy your schedule gets. Of course, this comes with sacrifices. There were many days where I stay up far too late to do homework, missing out on fun memories with friends or adequate sleep to prepare myself for the next day. But, those were all costs I was willing to take, and steps towards the balance I desired in my life.

My goal with an optimal balance was always one of playing roughly just as hard as I worked. Sleep wasn’t always on that priority list, and often got overlooked. Thought, I look back at my time over the last four years and feel content: with the memories I made, the impact I had, and the great experiences I’ll remember moving forward.

What drew you to engineering as opposed to another field of study?

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to work on rocket ships. Something about the mystery of the night sky always drew my interest. When I was in kindergarten, we had an assignment to make a poster about ourselves – our family, our hobbies, etc. There was a section about what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I still remember writing ‘NASA Scientist’ in the box.

Thankfully, through the Pathways program at NASA, that dream has come true, and it is in large part because of the Aero program at CU. The quality and ranking of Smead Aerospace brought me here from Kansas, and wanting to be at the forefront of integrating software and hardware development led me to take on CS as well.

I’ve dabbled in other programs in my time at CU: Political Science, Leadership Studies, and more; but engineering has always felt like home. Being able to solve the complex problems we do in the manner we’re enabled to is an experience that’s hard to get anywhere else, and I’m forever grateful for my decision to follow this path.

As class president, you will be speaking at commencement. Few students have the opportunity to address the entire student body. What do you hope to share?

I hope my speech is a source of motivation for those that come after me. In today’s political climate, effective leadership is more important than ever. Not just in a political space, necessarily, but even in our day-to-day: in our workplaces, our communities, even our homes.

Being a leader isn’t just about making large scale change and solving world peace; rather, being a good leader can just mean being the person that puts a smile on everyone’s face every day; being a source of support for a community; or, just doing the right thing whenever you can.

I aspire for my success and words to show other students on campus that anyone can be a leader, and in the face of the division and polarization that we see in our society today, it is imperative that we all – regardless of background - step up and play a role in leading our community to prosperity. Moreover, coming from an engineering background, I hope it serves as a sign to those who may also be in STEM but aspire to do more on the leadership front. We are all equally equipped to be change makers, it’s just a matter of acting on that potential.

Anyone can make an impact on the world, and the skills that engineering gives you makes that an easier feat to accomplish."

When did you feel like you hit your stride or felt like you were "officially" an engineer.

Two moments stand out to me. The first was actually before I even came to CU. I graduated in 2020, right when COVID started to shut down our communities. A friend and I quickly acted to try and see how we could help our local area, even if we were just high school kids. We quickly made a nonprofit that 3D printed personal protective equipment for healthcare facilities that needed them, and quickly patched a gap in supply chains that would otherwise cripple their services.

Over about two and a half years, we produced and delivered over 8,000 units of PPE to hospitals nationwide, from California to New York. In that moment, even though I hadn’t even started an engineering degree yet, I learned that anyone can make an impact on the world, and the skills that engineering gives you makes that an easier feat to accomplish. It validated that engineering was the right path for me, and I’ve been on it ever since.

The second would be when I started working at NASA. I’ve done two rotations there now, and each and every one has been one of the most professionally motivating experiences I’ve ever had. Being able to see the knowledge I’ve gained from my classes being put to work to pushing society’s frontier in space has been eye opening, and I can’t wait to continue to grow on my journey in my further work.

A project I worked on during my first internship at NASA is going to the ISS soon, and I’m so excited to see what accomplishments come next.

What accomplishment are you most proud of, either academically or personally?

By far my most proud accomplishment so far has been helping three other students, two from CU, get into the NASA Pathways program. I’m a firm believer that our legacy is defined not by what we accomplish, but rather, by what we helps others achieve.

My mom always instilled in me the value of giving back to your community, even when it may feel inconvenient, and I’m glad to have acted to have acted on that advice.

My greatest memories at CU will not be tied to things I did, but those that I worked with, made smile, helped succeed, and built long lasting relationships with.

I look forward to continuing to help facilitate the growth of those that come after me in any way possible as I progress through my professional and personal journey. I implore others to try it out, as well. Mentorship is an unbelievably rewarding journey, for yourself, and for those that you help.

Aaditya Pore is an engineering senior double majoring in aerospace and computer science. He is an extremely active student, serving as senior class president, competing in the...

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Aaditya Pore at Machu Picchu.

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�山�� launching master’s degrees in artificial intelligence

Emily Adams — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000

�山�� launching master’s degrees in artificial intelligence Emily Adams Wed, 04/23/2025 - 07:00

To meet increased workforce demand, the Department of Computer Science is introducing a Master of Science degree in AI that will be available both in-person and online through Coursera.

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Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students

Michelle Wiese — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:45:18 +0000

Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students Michelle Wiese Mon, 04/21/2025 - 09:45

On Friday, April 25 at the �山��, engineering students will present their capstone design projects at the annual Engineering Projects Expo. This year's event will feature projects from mechanical engineering; computer science; electrical, computer and energy engineering; biomedical engineering; and civil, environmental and architectural engineering.

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�山�� leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:15:44 +0000

�山�� leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project Jeff Zehnder Thu, 04/10/2025 - 15:15

Jeff Zehnder

Eric Frew is heading a major project to improve drone communications in anticipation of a future when autonomous aircraft regularly whizz overhead for everything from product deliveries to emergency response.

A professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the �山��, Frew is the principal investigator of an $8 million, four-year NASA University Leadership Initiative grant to ensure safe and assured operation of commercial autonomous aircraft in populated areas.

“These are complex scenarios -- a drone flying from Denver International Airport to �山�� to drop off a package or using drones to monitor wildfires. Consider the benefit if the �山�� Fire Department could dispatch a drone the moment there’s an incident t so it gets there before police or fire crews,” Frew said.

Communications with consumer-grade quad copters are fairly standardized, but Frew’s team will be studying a much more complex problem – drones that navigate miles from their operator across challenging terrain where line-of-sight communication with a base station is no longer possible.

In such cases, cellular networks are the most likely solution for controlling the drone, but that presents unique challenges.

“Wireless communication is hard,” Frew said. “We’ve all had cell phone signals drop out. That’s fine on the phone with a family member. But if you’re commanding a flying drone, that’s a problem.”

The project team comprises some of the best minds in drones, radio signaling and computer science across 10 universities and colleges; the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing research partnership; Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences; and the nonprofit Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

Ismail Guvenc is a partner on the project. An electrical engineering professor at North Carolina State University, he leads a major aerial experimentation laboratory that will offer the team opportunities to develop and test uncrewed aerial system concepts in a real-world outdoor testbed.

“This is advancing the state of the art in an area of critical and timely significance for the United States. We’ll be modeling the behavior of agents, interference, and data in hybrid airborne-terrestrial networks and their impact on the overall performance of the communication network. We will also be supporting real-world experiments and testing needs of project partners at Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW),” Guvenc said.

Part of the research will focus on designing flight corridors that ensure continued communication. In the case of a trip from DIA to �山��, that could mean designing a pathway that stays close to cell towers, rather than following the most direct route. Another possibility is using multiple drones as a mesh relay network.

“The transmission would multi-hop back through each drone. We can’t control the ground communications, but we can exploit our own,” Frew said.

Relay networks will be particularly important in sparsely populated areas with fewer cell towers, like during wildfire response in the Rocky Mountains.

This is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society. The goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.” - Eric Frew

“How do we organize stakeholders in that environment? We want to be able to manage team formations, routing and planning so we can work in a hybrid communications system that alternates between air-to-air and air-to-ground communications seamlessly,” Frew said.

Managing that complex interplay will be an area of study for multiple partners on the project, including Philip Brown, an assistant professor in computer science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His work focuses on using game theory to inform the design of networked control systems.

“My lab studies the way that network structure impacts team performance for loosely connected teams, which is what a group of drones are in this case. We’re evaluating and predicting the performance of network structures, and also using network structures to inform the decisions made by individual autonomous aircraft,” Brown said.

A key objective of the project is technology transfer to industry. While some grants focus more on early stage research, Frew emphasized their plan to develop software and data to assist business and government going forward.

“This is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society,” Frew said. “The goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.”

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ATLAS alum wins PECASE award for research on crisis informatics and disinformation

Emily Adams — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:26:30 +0000

ATLAS alum wins PECASE award for research on crisis informatics and disinformation Emily Adams Fri, 02/07/2025 - 10:26

Kate Starbird is now an associate professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering.

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Robotics in action: CU Engineering demonstrates interdisciplinary research at showcase

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:33:11 +0000

Robotics in action: CU Engineering demonstrates interdisciplinary research at showcase Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/24/2024 - 15:33

Caroline Harrah

Standing-room-only event was part of �山��’s annual Research & Innovation Week held Oct. 14-18

The College of Engineering & Applied Science welcomed a packed audience to its Robotics Showcase on Oct. 17. The standing-room-only event, part of �山��’s annual Research & Innovation Week, drew students, faculty and robotics enthusiasts, including middle and high school students and the general public, eager to explore the latest advancements in research shaping the future of the field.

The event emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of CU’s robotics research, showcasing collaborations across electrical, computer and energy engineering; mechanical engineering; aerospace engineering sciences; and computer science to tackle complex societal challenges.

Attendees were treated to demonstrations of bio-inspired robots (Kaushik Jayaram and Nicole Xu), autonomous drone systems (Nisar Ahmed), robots with human-like dexterity (Nikolaus Correll), and robot skin technology (Alessandro Roncone), as well as Boston Dynamics’ Spot. The demos highlighted technologies poised to transform fields such as search and rescue, deep-sea exploration and industrial maintenance in challenging environments, while improving human-robot capabilities and interactions.

In addition to the research on display, CU Engineering introduced its new graduate degrees in robotics— two master’s programs (Master of Science in Robotics thesis option and Master of Science in Robotics nonthesis option) and a PhD in Robotics—launched in 2023. These programs offer students immersive, hands-on research opportunities that engage them with the technologies featured at the showcase, preparing them to lead in the evolving robotics landscape.

CU Engineering’s Research Support Office extends its thanks to all the participants who made the event a success. For more details, check out media coverage by the �山�� Daily Camera in the article “Take Humans Out of Dangerous Equations: �山�� Showcases its Progress in Robots” and Denver7’s “�山�� Hosts Robotics Showcase to Celebrate Research & Innovation Week,” which spotlight �山��’s leadership in robotics research and innovation.

Showcase Highlights

The Robotics Showcase featured a range of innovative research that exemplifies �山��’s interdisciplinary collaboration and commitment to addressing real-world problems. Highlights included:

Shape-Morphing Insect-Scale Robots
Kaushik Jayaram (ME, Robotics)
Hari Hari Prasad presented insect-scale robots capable of changing shape to adapt to their environment. These shape-shifting systems demonstrate agility and adaptability, essential for real-world applications in challenging environments.
Human-Centered Autonomy for Dynamic sUAS Target Search Operations
Nisar Ahmed (AERO, Robotics)
Hunter Ray demonstrated advances in autonomous drone systems that enhance collaboration with human operators. These drones are designed for search and rescue missions, leveraging real-time data from operators to improve decision-making.
Open World Manipulation
Nikolaus Correll (CS, Robotics)
William Xie demonstrated robots with human-like dexterity, integrating sensors, actuators, and communication capabilities into composite materials to create robots that mimic the functionality of muscles, skin, and bones.
Bioinspired and Biohybrid Robotics
Nicole Xu (ME, Robotics)
Yunxing Su demonstrated research on aquatic robots for environmental monitoring. These robots combine natural and engineered designs to create energy-efficient, maneuverable systems for tracking climate change.
Robot Skin and Dynamic Human-Robot Interaction
Alessandro Roncone (CS, Robotics)
Dusty Woods, Caleb Escobedo and Claire Lohrmann demonstrated robot skin technology that enhances human-robot interactions. These modular sensor units, placed on robot manipulators, enable robots to safely and intuitively respond to external contact.
NSF IUCRC Center for Aerial Autonomy, Mobility, and Sensing (CAAMS)
Zachary Sunberg (AERO, Robotics)
Sunberg’s lab demonstrated autonomous drones in wilderness search and rescue operations. By integrating human operators into the decision-making process, these drones improve the efficiency and safety of missions in remote environments.

CU Engineering welcomed a packed audience to its Robotics Showcase on Oct. 17. The event, part of �山��’s annual Research & Innovation Week, drew students, faculty and robotics enthusiasts, including middle and high school students and the general public, eager to explore the latest advancements in research shaping the future of the field.

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Getting to Know Your Robot

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2017 06:00:00 +0000

Getting to Know Your Robot Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/10/2017 - 00:00

Computer scientist envisions a world where robots have that human touch

Just mention the words “drone” or “robot” and some will conjure unsettling visions of a future in which computers threaten to take over the world.

Dan Szafir, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and ATLAS Institute, envisions a day when robots can be found making beds at understaffed nursing homes, drones fly over fields providing precise measurements of crop yields, and flying automatons hover around the International Space Station, handling mundane chores so astronauts can tendto more important tasks.

Rather than seeing such intelligent machines as replacements for people (as is so often the fear), Szafir views them as integral collaborators, able to help DIY-ers with household projects.

“The ultimate goal is to design robots that can better support human activities—to improve usability, efficiency, and how much people enjoy interacting with them,” Szafir says.

With an undergraduate degree in history and a PhD in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Szafir arrived at CU in 2015 with a reputation—at age 27—as a key player in the burgeoning multidisciplinary study of human-robot interaction.

“There are a lot of good technology people and a lot of good social scientists, but individuals who bridge the gap between the two are rare. Dan is one of them,” says Bilge Mutlu, an assistant professor at UW and Szafir’s mentor.

Remotely controlled robots have long been used in factories, bomb disposal and space-exploration. But as they transition to more complex, autonomous and intimate work alongside people—vacuuming homes like the iRobot Roomba, or assisting shoppers like Lowes’ new robotic greeters—it’s becoming critical that humans and robots understand each other better, Szafir says.

With funding from NASA, the National Science Foundation and Intel, Szafir has rolled out several new research initiatives.

One aims to improve robots’ ability to understand nonverbal cues, like eye gaze, hand gestures and changes in voice intonation. “As people, we are coded to use gestures. It’s something we do naturally, and we are very good at untangling what they mean,” Szafir says. Robots, not so much. For instance, he explains, if you’re working on a car with a friend, you might say, “Hey, can you grab that wrench?” while pointing or glancing at the toolbox across the room. If your co-worker were a robot, you’d have to say: “Next, I need the 7 mm wrench. It is on this particular table in this particular place. Go pick it up and put it in my hand.”

Szafir and his graduate students will first videotape teams of human volunteers building something in the lab, painstakingly documenting their verbal and nonverbal cues. Next, he hopes to develop probabilistic models (if a human gestures like X, there’s a 90 percent likelihood she means Y) that could someday be used to develop software for more intuitive robots.

He’s also exploring ways to design robots so humans can better predict their actions. “Right now, drones are loud, very robotic looking and hard to predict,” he says. “People find that unsettling.”

Szafir is also developing ways robots, drones and hand-held consumer devices can interact, sharing information gleaned from their myriad sensors to paint a fuller picture for a remote human user. Can’t make it to that football game? “We could potentially combine footage from drones overhead, ESPN, and pictures and videos from your friends’ cell phones to create a full, reconstructed 3D map of the environment and port it back to you at home using a virtual reality device. You’d get the sense that you were right there,” Szafir says.

Sound like science fiction? Maybe so. But Szafir, well aware that some are creeped out by his chosen field, believes the potential for good far outweighs the potential for harm.

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Computer Science

Shaping the future of quantum systems

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Engineering double major and student leader of the year

What does it mean to you to be recognized as Boettcher Student Leader of the Year?

You are a double major in aerospace and computer science and are the Senior Class Council President. When do you sleep?

What drew you to engineering as opposed to another field of study?

As class president, you will be speaking at commencement. Few students have the opportunity to address the entire student body. What do you hope to share?

When did you feel like you hit your stride or felt like you were "officially" an engineer.

What accomplishment are you most proud of, either academically or personally?

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�山���� launching master’s degrees in artificial intelligence

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Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students

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�山���� leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project

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ATLAS alum wins PECASE award for research on crisis informatics and disinformation

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Robotics in action: CU Engineering demonstrates interdisciplinary research at showcase

Showcase Highlights

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Getting to Know Your Robot

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�山�� launching master’s degrees in artificial intelligence

�山�� leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project