On July 29, 2023, a reckless driver hit and killed 17-year-old Magnus White, a U.S. National Team Cyclist, on the Diagonal Highway outside of Boulder. To raise awareness of thousands of pedestrians and cyclists killed annually by drivers, White’s parents, Michael (EnvDes’00) and Jill White (Mktg’99; MOrgMgmt’23), created a nonprofit called . 

In November 2024, the Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠKA) fraternity — known as ”Pike” — held a fundraiser on CU Boulder’s campus for The White Line and to honor Magnus White, who was a friend of several of the fraternity members. For six days, Pike members traded shifts riding outside on a stationary bike, even through a snowstorm. They rode near a memorial of more than 8,400 candles that represented each pedestrian or cyclist killed by a driver in 2023. 

“Looking out at the 8,423 candles was a true reminder of how valuable every single moment was,” said Graydon Abel (Fin’27), who helped create the fundraiser with his brother Gavin (Fin’27) and their fraternity brother Sebastian Edwards (Econ’27). “Change is needed, and we hope this effort makes a difference.” 

Start: 

Nov. 2, 5:05 p.m.

Finish: 

Nov. 8, 12:28 p.m.*  

(*12:28 p.m. was the exact time Magnus White was struck in 2023.) 

$51,007

Money raised

2,100 

Miles ridden, the equivalent of biking from Boulder to Miami, New York City or Mexico City. 

8,423 

Total minutes, representing the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed by drivers in 2023.

23 

Degrees: Coldest temperature during the fundraiser.

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After an extraordinary 11-1 season with the Buffs in 1994, running back Rashaan Salaam (Soc ex’96) . Salaam, then a junior, was the fourth Division I player to top the 2,000-yard rushing barrier. He also led the nation in scoring.

“It was a special season, especially after the Miracle at Michigan game,” said Dave Plati (Jour’82), who was assistant athletic director for sports information during Salaam’s time at CU. 

Thirty years later, cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter (�ʲ��⳦��’26)&�Բ�����;, the university’s second, bringing Salaam’s name back into the spotlight.

“Rashaan hated the attention he was receiving,” said Plati. “He was the consummate team player, and after he won all his awards, most of his comments were directed at saying his success was due to his teammates.”

Salaam died in 2016 at the age of 42. 

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Photo courtesy Heisman Trophy Trust

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Last fall’s Día de los Muertos “Altar Crawl” invited the CU Boulder community to engage with several altars honoring the lives of deceased loved ones. Altars were located across campus, including in the Guggenheim Building, the Koenig Alumni Center, the CU Museum of Natural History, the Center for Community and the Miramontes Baca Education Building. The crawl — hosted by the Forever Buffs Latinx group, the BUENO Center, the Latin American and Latinx Studies Center, UMAS y MECHA, Sigma Lambda Beta and the Center for Inclusion and Social Change, among others — highlighted the cultural significance of the day with moments of remembrance and celebration. 

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Photo courtesy Daniela Martinez Carpizo; Nelson R. Castro; Karla Rosete Nunez

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on Dec. 14, 2024, Travis Hunter (Psych’26) became the second Buff to claim the Heisman Trophy, widely considered the most prestigious recognition in college sports. CU running back Rashaan Salaam (Soc ex’96) won the award in 1994. 

During the 2024 regular season and bowl game, Hunter played cornerback and wide receiver for the Buffs. On defense, he played 748 snaps and recorded four interceptions and 11 pass breakups. On offense, he played 712 snaps, which included 96 receptions and 15 touchdowns. 

After thanking his fiancée, parents and several others in his acceptance speech, he turned to coach Deion Sanders and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Soc’25) and declared, “You changed my life forever.”

as a top-five pick in the NFL Draft this April.

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Photo by Heisman Trophy Trust

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In 1968, Sandy Hildner (A&S’67) was among CU’s first woman Olympians after training with the men’s ski team under coach Bob Beattie. In 1967, she won the Roch Cup downhill in Aspen, Colorado (pictured), and was the U.S. National Giant Slalom Champion before racing in the Olympic women’s downhill event in Grenoble, France, the next year.

Hildner died in January 2019. On Aug. 27, 2023, she was inducted into the in Vail, Colorado.

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Photo courtesy Hildner family

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A Few Courses:

• Art and Environment
• Forest and Fire Ecology
• Field Ornithology
• Field Methods in Vegetation Ecology

Research Examples:

• Microplastics in Mountain Ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range
• Temporal dynamics of plant-pollinator networks
• Scaling the consequences of extended summers to arthropod communities at Niwot Ridge
• Causes for the hybridization of black-capped and mountain chickadees in areas disturbed by humans
• Spectroscopic measurements of chemical composition of organic aerosol particles collected at urban and rural locations

Just over eight miles north of Nederland, Colorado, and nestled off the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway lies a serene area dotted with tiny cabins, peaceful walking trails and ample forest land. And while the setting is very different from the bustle of CU Boulder’s main campus, the amount of groundbreaking work happening there is the same.

CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station, located 25 miles from campus, is an interdisciplinary facility associated with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, which serves students and scientists interested in mountain-based study. The scope of projects is wide — ranging from arthropods to microplastics to weather — and as many as 80 people can be studying at the station at once.

“The Mountain Research Station is a place where,for over 100 years, scientists, students and the public have come together to advance our understanding and appreciation for mountains, which are inspiring, formidable and increasingly at risk,” said Scott Taylor, director of the station.

1920

Mountain Research Station established in its current location 

1945

Five professors taught 80 students.

1953

Former director John Marr founded the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), now the oldest institute at CU Boulder. 

1980

National Science Foundation starts its Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, which funded the Niwot Ridge LTER. 

Located at 9,500 feet 

3

short interpretive trails open to the public 

25–45

students conducting research, depending on the summer

110

largest amount fed in the dining hall at once 

33

seasonal cabins 

75

students in courses over a year 

6

labs on the property

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Photos courtesy Mountain Research Station and William Bowman (mountains) 

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LOOK: CU vs. Nebraska 

On Saturday, Sept. 9, the CU Buffs celebrated a over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The game launched the with 53,241 fans, the highest game attendance in 15 years. Enthusiastic students, including the Buffs Going Bananas club (pictured), came in droves to support the team — many as early as two hours prior to the 10 a.m. kickoff. 

After the game, thousands of fans flooded the field in celebration.

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Photos by Glenn Asakawa and Casey A. Cass

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In the summers of 1958 and 1960, CU Boulder’s first curator of

• This skull was found near Kit Carson.
• The remains from about 200 bison were found in a dry arroyo bed.
• These bison lived about 10,000 years ago.
• More than a dozen well-preserved skulls were found at the site.
• 3D scanning helps reconstruct broken specimens. 

 anthropology, Joe Ben Wheat, excavated the Olsen-Chubbuck site, an area near Kit Carson, Colorado, that contained remains of bison dating to 8200 B.C.

The site gave insight into techniques Native hunters used to kill the approximately 200 bison more than 10,000 years ago, which would have provided them with about 60,000 pounds of meat.

“Wheat’s detailed analysis of the bison remains helped researchers under-stand the sophistication of ancient bison hunting tactics; reconstruct how and why they were processed, butchered and prepared; and demonstrated the importance of the bison and buffalo in the lives of the earliest people of Colorado and the Front Range,” said William Taylor, assistant professor and archaeology curator at the CU Museum of Natural History.

Now, with the help of a grant from the History Colorado’s State Historical Fund, Taylor’s team is working to preserve these bison artifacts for the

 future, including making 3D scans of the fossils, such as the one pictured here. The team is also rethinking the ways they care for the animal remains in the museum collections, said Taylor, who also teaches and conducts research in archaeozoology, the study of ancient animal remains.

“We are working with tribal partners to develop culturally informed practices and policies that will restore respect, transparency and care of these resources to the communities they belong to,” he said.

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Photo © University of Colorado Museum of Natural History

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Sepp Kuss (Advert’17), center, won the Vuelta a España, one of professional cycling’s three European Grand Tours.He is the first .

“At some point, I felt it was possible. I was getting stronger and more confident every day,” Kuss said after the race.“This is an achievement I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Kuss is from Durango, Colorado, and was a bike racer at CU Boulder as a student.

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Photo Courtesy Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

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THEN 
2020 

In 2020, cornet player and composer Ron Miles (MMus’89) released his last album, . A fixture in the Denver music scene, Miles’ warm jazz melodies dazzled audiences. He last served as director of jazz studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he taught for more than 30 years. Miles , from complications from a blood disorder. 

“If you played a Ron Miles song right, in the best of moods you'd be crying,” pianist Jason Moran told NPR in March 2022. 

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Photo by Elliot Ross

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