Student

Celebrating a new school year with our first-year students

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 21:39:04 +0000

Celebrating a new school year with our first-year students Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/25/2023 - 15:39

On Aug. 24, we kicked off the 2023-24 academic year with the first-ever residents of the Engineering Connections Residential Community. As part of a new tradition, first-year engineering students gathered with their classmates, faculty and staff for a BBQ lunch, lawn games and a drone-captured class photo on the Williams Village lawn.

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Catalyze CU’s 2022 cohort wraps with Investor Day, life-changing impact for participants

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 15:16:06 +0000

Catalyze CU’s 2022 cohort wraps with Investor Day, life-changing impact for participants Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/18/2022 - 09:16

Casey Darmody

It doesn’t matter how much public speaking you’ve done or how experienced you are in the spotlight. Pitching your company in front of prospective investors will get your palms sweating.

“I’m an instructor at CU and a former Miss Colorado competitor, so I’m usually pretty good with public speaking. This was the first time that I have actually had some terrible nerves,” said Laura Moore (Psych’11), founder and CEO of Silk by Laura LLC.

Moore’s pitch at Investor Day was the culmination of her experience with Catalyze CU. Silk by Laura LLC was one of four ventures in the 2022 Catalyze cohort, a 12-week summer startup accelerator for ideas and technologies by students, faculty and staff at CU Boulder.

“Investor Day was amazing, even more than I anticipated,” said Moore. “I’m still very well connected with many of the investors, and I received validation that my pitch is the right pitch and I’m headed in the right direction.”

This year’s Investor Day was a new culminating event for Catalyze CU. The program has previously celebrated the conclusion of each cohort with a Demo Day capstone.

“This year's cohort all achieved some level of traction, including some companies with initial sales. We decided a dedicated Investor Day would be a great way to finish the program since investment would be the next natural step,” said Karen Crofton, Catalyze CU program director and Stephen M. Dunn Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship & ESCEND®.

The 2022 cohort was also the most diverse in the program’s history, with a majority of participants from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the venture community.

Supportive programs like Catalyze are crucial to building an inclusive innovation community. Program participants get the customized help they need to break through barriers for things like startup capital and gaining access to valuable founder and investor networks. Level the playing field makes entrepreneurship more welcoming and accessible for everyone.

Local investors evaluating the teams’ pitches included Rachel Anderson, associate at Caruso Ventures; Peter Adams, managing partner at Rockies Venture Fund; David Brown, partner at Zintinus; Kevin Allen, managing director at New Community Transformation Fund; and Shannon Flahive (MBA’21), senior venture associate at Ensemble Innovation Ventures.

“The quality of the pitches was inspiring,” said Flahive. But just as impressive to her was the wide range of support that the university provides for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“I think it’s incredible that CU Boulder offers these programs for students. This type of program and resourcing is not widely available. CU Boulder does a fantastic job supporting entrepreneurial pursuits from both a programming and monetary perspective,” she said.

For Leo Nguyen (IDEN’23), another participant in this year's cohort, the program’s impact was deeply personal.

“I wanted to be an entrepreneur when I was younger but thought I didn’t have the resources or knowledge to do it. This was one of my most life-changing experiences. It empowered me to pursue entrepreneurship and to pursue greater things,” said Nguyen.

Nguyen gave up a competitive summer internship opportunity to participate in Catalyze CU. The program guided his team through the full spectrum of business planning, from market research to financial modeling and developing a pitch. He’s convinced the experience was more valuable than any internship.

“Even though I gave up my summer internship to do this, it was 100% worth it. You learn from so many people, like CEOs and venture capitalists. The mentorship and support you get—you can’t put a price on that,” said Nguyen.

That’s exactly the experience that Crofton hopes to share with future cohorts of Catalyze CU participants.

“It’s a lot of work for the teams,” she said. “But the lessons and connections our entrepreneurs gain through Catalyze CU will stay with them for a lifetime.”

Four Catalyze CU startups pitched their ventures to local investors in the culmination of the 12-week accelerator program.

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ESCEND program brings entrepreneurship to engineering students

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0000

ESCEND program brings entrepreneurship to engineering students Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/11/2022 - 00:00

A new program at the �鶹��Ƶ guides engineering students on an “entrepreneurial journey to learn the business side of innovation."

The ESCEND program, led by the Stephen M. Dunn Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship & ESCEND® Karen Crofton and made possible through the support of Steve Dunn (ArchEngr’69), allows students to turn their ideas not only into reality, but into a product able to be commercialized.

The program combines entrepreneurship courses with experiences and resources that give CU Boulder engineering students the chance to create a product and then pitch it to investors.

“We’re applying experiential learning in order to mimic real life,” said Crofton. “By learning the entrepreneurial process, students are able to apply these skillsets to any future endeavor.”

Several of the students utilizing the ESCEND program have even been competing in the New Venture Challenge, the final round of which will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, at the Boulder Theater.

One of the groups applied the cross-disciplinary aspects of ESCEND to participate in the NVC 15 Cross-Campus Collaboration Prize Night. Delta Horizons was awarded first prize and $5,000 in March for their new self-stopping braking system for four-wheeled walkers. The group has student team members from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Leeds School of Business.

“This is a deeply personal topic for all of us,” said project manager Ben Finan, a senior engineering student. “As a team, we noticed a lack of innovation in current mobility devices and thought, ‘We can do better.’ We all have aging loved ones in our lives, and we were motivated to use our passion and engineering background to make a difference in this field.”

The braking system that Delta Horizons created works automatically when the walker stops. It is also engineered to deploy a second brake in the event of a person falling.

After the team proposed the walker idea, they conducted a significant amount of outreach and research, speaking with medical experts and mobility walker users.

Finan said the most important entrepreneurial lesson he learned while working with Delta Horizons was to listen to people.

“Everyone has problems in their lives,” he said. “If engineers are able to listen to those problems and create a solution, that can change the world. Understanding your customers’ pain point is absolutely critical to product success.”

Crofton said that by teaching the engineering students about entrepreneurship and business simultaneously, they can think not only about good technical solutions, but also about creating a product that people will want to purchase.

“It is easy for engineers to get focused on technical details,” she said. “By working with students from other disciplines, all team members are able to support a viable, feasible and desirable product.”

Finan can attest to the experience, which he said has been incredible and a great introduction to the real world of engineering. He knows what he learned will benefit him after he graduates in May.

“I have been so lucky to work with a truly fantastic team of smart, kind and motivated people,” he said. “I am also supported by an incredible network of people from the Business and Engineering colleges. Being able to pivot from a business pitch to a technical analysis has made me fluent in so many types of communication. I have also learned a lot about myself and my own passions, which will serve me well as I navigate the professional landscape.”

A new program guides engineering students on an “entrepreneurial journey to learn the business side of innovation." The ESCEND program combines entrepreneurship courses with experiences and resources that give CU Boulder engineering students the chance to create a product and then pitch it to investors.

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Engineering residential community coming to Williams Village in 2023

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 17:52:47 +0000

Engineering residential community coming to Williams Village in 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/13/2021 - 10:52

The engineering residential community will be a holistic residential academic experience for all of our first-year students, in partnership with Student Affairs and other campus partners.

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Planning for life on Mars

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 21:46:26 +0000

Planning for life on Mars Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/03/2021 - 15:46

Jeff Zehnder

Above: Hume getting a hand putting on the EVA suit.
Header Image: Posing in front of the Mars Desert Research Station sign.

Shayna Hume and a team of fellow students are trying out life on Mars through a unique Earth-based experience.

An aerospace engineering PhD student at the �鶹��Ƶ, Hume recently returned from a two-week stay at the Mars Desert Research Station, an “analogue” astronaut research facility in the remote Utah desert. Operated by the Mars Society, the center gives scientists and engineers the opportunity to test out future space experiments in an environment closer to home.

“Going to these stations produces a whole field of knowledge,” Hume said. “Until you start putting planned research into action, you can’t experience all the flaws. You have to test things before you send them out into space because sending stuff to space is expensive and it’s dangerous. We are testing how things will work in these other places, experiencing life and the pitfalls.”

The station aims to give participants a realistic look at life on another planet, including close quarters, limited communication with the outside world, and requirements to wear spacesuits during any trips outdoors.

“Living and working with a group of people in a 30-square-foot area is a different experience entirely,” Hume said. “We were always on call. If a problem comes up, you have to handle it immediately or we wouldn’t have water for the next day.”

At work in the laboratory

Hume’s team included students from universities across the country. The group met as 2018 Matthew Isakowitz Fellows, an internship and mentoring program that aims to inspire the next generation of aerospace leaders.

The Mars Desert Research Station offered them the chance to come together again and expand their horizons.

“It was a unique experience. In some analogue astronaut programs, you’re a crew coming in and doing other people’s work. But MDRS lends itself to the crew’s creativity; you build your own experiments,” Hume said. “My career will be in helping us live and work on other planets. Learning to be a field scientist is one of the biggest takeaways I got from this. It’s a different skillset that you don’t get on the computer doing digital simulations.”

As humans consider future crewed missions to Mars or other planets, an important focus will be the search for life.

While gray-skinned, big-eyed aliens are highly unlikely to be lurking in the shadows on Mars, scientists believe the planet may once have had microbial life. In searching for it, Hume says it is important astronauts don’t accidentally “discover” bacteria on Mars that really came from Earth.

“The most important part for me was learning about planetary protection. We had cleaning procedures before we went into our clean room. Clean surfaces, clean hands, clean gloves,” she said. “Then go in and do a second clean before we entered the mock air lock. We don’t want to engage in any contamination, bringing something with us that would make the science falsely exciting for an entirely different reason than it actually is."

Shayna Hume and a team of fellow students are trying out life on Mars through a unique Earth-based experience. An aerospace engineering PhD student at the �鶹��Ƶ, Hume recently returned from a two-week stay at the Mars Desert Research Station, an...

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CU Boulder leads with 5 Brooke Owens fellows

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:43:19 +0000

CU Boulder leads with 5 Brooke Owens fellows Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/27/2021 - 09:43

Five �鶹��Ƶ students have earned Brooke Owens Fellowships. The highly competitive program provides paid internships and mentoring to exceptional undergraduate women seeking careers in aviation or space exploration.

Students Grace Antonucci, Giselle Koo, Erica McNamee, Maria Callas, and Jasmin Chadha, with majors from across the College of Engineering and Applied Science, have been named 2021 winners.

CU Boulder has the most 2021 honorees of any university.

The program honors the memory of Brooke Owens, a space industry pioneer and accomplished pilot. Owens’ career took her to NASA, the X-Prize Foundation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the White House. Her enthusiasm and passion for aerospace led friends and colleagues to create a foundation to inspire and train exceptional undergraduate women with the same zeal for space exploration.

Grace Antonucci (AeroEngr’22)

Host Institution: Blue Origin

Grace Antonucci is a junior studying aerospace engineering at the �鶹��Ƶ. Ever since Grace was a little girl, she was a planner. When other kids were out on the playground, she was with her best friend debating the intricately fine details of their imaginary boarding school. If those little girls on the picnic bench saw Grace now, they would say “CUT!”. She is behind schedule and off-script.

Truth be told, Grace never planned to be an aerospace engineer. The thought of a STEM career only occurred to her senior year of high school after coming to terms with the fact that medical school might not be a great choice for someone who looks away during the surgical scenes of Grey’s Anatomy.

So, Grace made another plan. She enrolled in the engineering college for applied math and soon after added a degree in engineering physics. Grace began research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology on an indoor localization system aimed to save firefighters in burning buildings. This project was her first taste of the career she had thought she wanted. Frankly, it never felt as rewarding as she’d imagined it would.

Almost two years ago, Grace left her plan and switched her major to aerospace engineering. All the planning in the world can’t predict the feeling; she feels like she has already made it. Space feels like home. In the summer of 2020, Grace had the wonderful opportunity to work at Sierra Nevada Corporation, conducting structural analysis on the Dream Chaser’s wing design.

Grace knows now that planning is not the same thing as dreaming. Her planning is finished. Grace is incredibly excited to work with her host institution, Blue Origin, and can’t wait for the opportunities in store for the summer of 2021.

Giselle Koo (ElCompEngr’21)

Host Institution: HawkEye360

Giselle Koo is a junior studying Electrical and Computer Engineering at the �鶹��Ƶ. She is a non-traditional student, originally dropping out of college in her first semester. For the next six years she held various jobs: a computer lab assistant at a middle school, a handmade jewelry assembler for a local small business, a fabric cutter at a craft store. She also volunteered time at a wildlife rehabilitation clinic and served as a mentor for her high school's FIRST Robotics team. Eventually, after taking the time to heal and grow, she worked up the courage to pursue a career in engineering, enrolling at Tunxis Community College in Connecticut and earning an A.S. in Engineering Science before transferring to CU Boulder in 2019.

During her first semester at CU, Giselle developed an interest in Radio Frequency (RF) engineering through the mentorship of her Embedded Systems professor, Arielle Blum. Professor Blum encouraged her to take on an ambitious final project: to design a radio beacon that could fit inside the nosecone of a model rocket in order to help ease the recovery process after landing. Working with two teammates, she researched many topics far beyond the scope of the class and together they designed two custom PCBs, wrote C drivers from scratch, and integrated and tested a beacon system and data logger that did not quite work. Nevertheless, the team considered the project a success, and Giselle continued to grow her interest in RF systems.

Since then, she has completed two consecutive NASA internships during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Over the summer, Giselle worked remotely with researchers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Science Data Processing Branch to develop use-cases for the Software Defined Radio (SDR) card being developed for their SpaceCube processing platform. She researched requirements and methods for the implementation of a Global Positioning System (GPS)/Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiver, which is a critical capability for guidance and navigation in space, from Low Earth Orbit to the Moon, and maybe even beyond.

During the fall semester, Giselle joined NASA Glenn Research Center's Power and Avionics and Cognitive Signal Processing branches to provide Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design support for their Cognitive Radio Communication projects. She designed and implemented a register map interface compatible with their SDR development platform, resolving a critical roadblock for the project. The new interface allows the team to upgrade the support package and access important features on the SDR platform that will enable advancements in Cognitive Radio technology, including applications of machine learning to enhance space communication system performance.

This spring, Giselle is working at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the �鶹��Ƶ. She is on a team working on the electronics for a Lunar Electrostatic Dust Analyzer.

As a 2021 Brooke Owens Fellow, Giselle will be interning with HawkEye 360 in Herndon, VA. She is excited for the opportunity to work with their Processing and Space teams on electrical engineering projects varying from digital signal processing development to avionics design for their spacecraft.

In the future, Giselle hopes to pursue a master's in Electrical Engineering and work on RF systems to support space science missions. She also is passionate about cultivating the community of gender-minority peers around her in STEM and connecting them with people, ideas and opportunities in the field.

In her free time, Giselle works on avionics projects at CU Boulder's collegiate rocketry team, CU Sounding Rocket Lab. She also likes to explore the outdoors, work on sewing, art and craft projects, and hang out with her pet dove, Noodle. Feel free to contact her @gisellegk8 on Instagram or Twitter.

Erica McNamee (ChemEngr'22)

Host Institution: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Erica is currently a junior at the �鶹��Ƶ studying chemical engineering and hopes to pursue a career in scientific journalism after graduation. Within this field, she aims to focus her writing on the space industry and renewable energy.

Starting as early as elementary school, Erica was interested in both science and writing, but once she began her college education, she was having difficulty finding a career path that included both facets. When she discovered scientific journalism after taking a course on science writing, she knew she had found her path. She immersed herself in various journalism activities – to become accustomed with the field and to supplement her STEM-focused classes.

Whenever the opportunity presents itself, Erica writes about topics related to the space field, as a result of her interest in the industry and the science behind space travel. She hopes that by communicating science information to the public, she will be able to inspire younger generations of aspiring female scientists to pursue careers in space and other STEM fields. As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Erica will be working within the news and communications center creating and sharing content related to the work being done at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

At CU, Erica writes for the CU Independent where she completes stories for the news team, focusing on a variety of topics that pertain to the university. She also plays alto saxophone in the Golden Buffalo Marching Band in support of the football, basketball, and volleyball teams at their home games. In her spare time, Erica enjoys reading, listening to and playing music, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.

Maria Callas (AeroEngr'22)

Host Institution: Rocket Lab

Maria Callas is a junior at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder majoring in Aerospace Engineering with minors in Electrical Engineering, and Systems & Signals.

In Spring 2020, Maria did a six month co-op at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Boston, MA. She worked as a performance engineer on a hazard detection ladar system for JPL’s Europa Lander concept. She was also involved in test engineering for an International Space Station optical payload experiment. At Lincoln Laboratory Maria planned and participated in STEM outreach activities for local middle school girls.

Previously, Maria worked under Dr. Allison Anderson and Dr. Torin Clark in the CU Bioastronautics Laboratory. She received a UROP grant and contributed to research investigating multi-modal stochastic resonance to enhance astronaut perceptual performance. At the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in Boulder she worked in mission operations and operational software for Mars Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), a Mars orbiter currently investigating how the planet’s climate has changed over time.

At CU, Maria is a Norlin Scholar and a Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity Scholar. Growing up outside of Boulder Maria has always spent her free time in the mountains hiking and skiing. She enjoys climbing, running, cooking Greek food with her family, and drawing.

Maria is excited about the commercial space industry and making space more accessible. Her goal is to use her creative and technical skills to contribute to climate science, modeling and mitigation. She is passionate about remote sensing, communication systems, and using space infrastructure to improve environmental monitoring. Maria is also interested in space sustainability. She plans to pursue graduate school for Electrical Engineering concentrating in optics and photonics.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Maria will be interning at Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA.

Jasmin Chadha (AeroEngr'22)

Host Institution: Virgin Orbit

Jasmin is a junior studying Aerospace Engineering at the �鶹��Ƶ. She is proud to have been born and raised in the city of Chicago, where she loves exploring different worlds within the city and encountering all walks of life on the L train. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for a year before transferring to Boulder and loves waking up to the mountains every day.

Jasmin has dreamt of being an astronaut since she was three years old, and has been captivated by space since then. In her childhood, she saved newspaper clippings of space news, read books about the solar system before bed, and visited Kennedy Space Center, all of which contributed to her ongoing fascination with space. One of her favorite memories is her trip to Carbondale, IL to witness the total solar eclipse in 2017 right before her senior year of high school, which further inspired her to reach for her dreams of working in the field of aerospace - and hopefully becoming an astronaut someday.

At Boulder, Jasmin is currently the Secretary of the CU Boulder chapter of SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space), the Vice Chair of the CU Boulder chapter of AIAA (American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics), and an active member of the Zeta chapter of Chi Omega. She loves working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at BioServe Space Technologies, where she helps the company support life science research experiments conducted by astronauts in the ISS National Lab, a role that constantly excites and amazes her. While her schoolwork and outside commitments keep her quite busy, Jasmin enjoys using her free time to bake for friends and coworkers, hike, and learn how to play guitar.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Jasmin is elated to join the team at Virgin Orbit to continue opening space for everyone.

Honoree bios from BrookeOwensFellowship.org. Check out their website for information on all of the winners.

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“The sky isn’t the limit” - NASA intern Demetrius M. Ross

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2020 20:05:12 +0000

“The sky isn’t the limit” - NASA intern Demetrius M. Ross Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2020 - 14:05

Alexandra Wilson

Demetrius Ross

CU Boulder aerospace junior Demetrius M. Ross is preparing for an internship with NASA. Due to COVID-19, he will no longer be traveling to the Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but he’ll still be keeping busy.

Working remotely between teams of professional engineers and his mentor, NASA project systems engineer Timothy Ayres, he’ll have to find innovative ways to connect and learn. Luckily, Ross says he isn’t afraid of hard work.

New Sky

The project, New Sky, wants to use aerial images collected by a new camera to demonstrate its high resolution capabilities. This could eventually be used to determine features of other planets, or for a host of environmental data collection efforts. Finding other creative applications is also part of Ross’ internship.

Ayres will be providing Ross with hands-on experience, preparing him with a knowledge base to develop different creative tools for use with data collected. Ross is also expected to connect with a variety of experts and gain a deeper understanding of how parts of the project fit together.

Finding a path

That hands-on experience is something that Ross also appreciates about the aerospace program in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

“It’s what really makes our program stand out against other programs, and it’s going to make me a better engineer in the future,” he said.

Another valuable asset has been the BOLD Center.

“The BOLD community gave me everything. They gave me a family and a support system that I probably wouldn’t have found anywhere else,” he said. As a freshman, Ross struggled to find his path, but BOLD connected him to an academic success advisor who helped him see the way forward. Now Ross has grown, exemplifying leadership himself through his work as a BOLD peer mentor.

“Every time a student had a different problem I had to find the best way to support them, and I feel like that translates to general problem solving,” Ross said.

NSBE Board Members in 2019, Ross at center in back

As a National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) officer, where he has served both as vice-president and public relations chair, Ross also learned professional development skills. The internship came from a NSBE career fair at a regional conference, where he first connected with NASA-JPL.

His passion for aerospace, however, stretches back much further.

Ross’s father, also named Demetrius, works for the United Launch Alliance, and when Ross was young, he was taken to a real rocket launch. At that moment, he knew he wanted to be a part of aerospace.

Big Dreams

Looking to the future, Ross eventually wants to own his own aerospace company. He’s fascinated by the fields of bioastronautics and jet propulsion. Bioastronautics, as Ross describes it, is “anything in space having life in mind with the design.”

This involves space habitat design, as well as solving one of the most difficult problems with space travel - protection from radiation. When becoming a rocket scientist, you have to dream big.

“Keep your mind open! In aerospace, the sky isn’t the limit!” Ross said.

(Alexandra) Grace Wilson is the BOLD Center Communications Coordinator in the College of Engineering & Applied Science.

CU Boulder aerospace junior Demetrius M. Ross is preparing for an internship with NASA. A BOLD peer mentor and National Society of Black Engineers board member, Ross is a leader, ready to succeed.

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