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Maria Pacheco empowers LGBTQ+ community through service leadership

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:20:58 +0000

Maria Pacheco empowers LGBTQ+ community through service leadership Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/12/2024 - 12:20

Charles Ferrer

Assistant Professor Maria Pacheco is driven to connect LGBTQ+ individuals with opportunities both in and outside of the classroom.

Pacheco, based in the Department of Computer Science, earned the 2024 Dr. Evelyn Hooker Advocacy Award presented by the Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (oSTEM) organization at CU Boulder. oSTEM honors one faculty member or teaching assistant of the campus community annually who has inspired LGBTQ+ students through mentorship or research to flourish in STEM.

“Maria has been advocating to create a safe and welcoming environment for her students,” a statement from the oSTEM executive board said. “We are honored to give Maria the recognition she deserves for supporting the LGBTQ+ community on campus.”

Pacheco, although early in her tenured-track career, has already left an impactful mark on the students she serves. One of her students, Juan Vasquez, received mentorship even before he began his PhD journey.

“Dr. Pacheco supported me as a queer Latin American student in academia,” said Vasquez, “and she offered specific advice about how to face some particular issues I might encounter given my particular identity.”

That advice helped him land several PhD offers and grants, and now as one of her lab students, he sees how he’s improved as a researcher. Pacheco understands that queer PhD students come from diverse backgrounds and face unique challenges, and is always discussing how she can better support them, he notes.

“Her openness to diversity makes her an incredible asset to academia. True mentors foster their mentees’ strengths while also celebrating their unique identities,” said Vasquez.

Service through leadership

“My own motto is essentially to get involved so we can empower each other in our communities,” said Pacheco. “As a LGBTQ person myself, sometimes just serving in professional spaces is helpful for students.”

Pacheco, who wanted to be part of a queer community interested in AI/ML issues, first became connected with the Queer in AI organization as a graduate student at Purdue University.

Queer in AI is a global grassroots organization that raises awareness of queer issues in AI/ML through a community of queer scientists. She recommends any student who wants to connect to join their Slack group through Queer in AI where they can pitch ideas for workshops, bounce ideas for research opportunities, raise funds for conferences and network with industry and NGOs.

Pacheco is chairing the diversity and inclusion committee at the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL) taking place in Mexico City this summer, where she will provide support for the Latinx in AI and Queer in AI affinity groups. She expressed excitement since this is the first time the conference is being hosted in Latin America and expects strong participation from Latin American institutions.

She encourages students to submit their work in progress to affinity group workshops like LatinX in AI, Black in AI and Queer in AI, which are usually co-located with these larger, wider conferences like the NAACL and the International Conference on Machine Learning. She said it can be a welcoming and supporting environment for early career students and a stepping stone to publishing in the main conference.

Even if students are not ready to present, Pacheco hopes students can participate in conferences to connect and receive feedback from researchers in their community and meet people who share similar identities.

Inclusive advocacy

Through Pacheco’s collective leadership with other Queer in AI organizers, the group has focused on making professional conferences more inclusive. Conference organizers have laid out guidelines to add pronouns to name tags and publications. Her fellow organizers are starting to tackle the high costs for attending the conferences, a major pressure point for students and the community.

She maintains inclusive practices by hiring graduate students in her lab who belong to the LGBTQ+ community where individuals from many different communities can feel supported.

Then, there’s her research group, the Boulder Language and Social Technologies (BLAST). BLAST explores queer topics that are not usually at the forefront of research, but because she recruits students with diverse interests and backgrounds.

Her students draw from their personal experiences to inform their natural language processing research focusing in areas like education, media and journalism and views on economy at the national level.

Vazquez, her PhD student, is interested in going beyond hate speech detection and diving into the linguistic patterns of what constitutes hateful speech against LGBTQ+ folks and how it can be weaponized against vulnerable populations in Mexico.

“When you show up and start meeting folks, you start to band together with individuals who have shared interests,” said Pacheco, who is now one of the core organizers for the group.

Core organizers are researchers, graduate students or individuals from industry who are passionate about AI/ML who have academic backgrounds in computer science, engineering, robotics and neuroscience, among others.

Pacheco, who is in her first year as a faculty member, is balancing the role as an assistant professor, researcher, advocate and mentor.

“I think sometimes it’s hard because it feels like a lot of the service falls on us as well,” she said, “but at the same time, it is very rewarding to create these spaces for both yourself, peers and students, so I’d say it’s really worth it.”

About the Dr. Evelyn Hooker Advocacy Award

oSTEM presents the Dr. Evelyn Hooker Advocacy Award to commemorate an individual’s work and emphasize the importance of advocacy. Nominees are selected by CU Boulder students and alumni, and the winner will be selected by a diverse board of staff from the BOLD Center, Center of Inclusion and Social Change and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Assistant Professor Maria Pacheco from the Department of Computer Science earned the 2024 Dr. Evelyn Hooker Advocacy Award for her leadership in supporting LGBTQ+ students at CU Boulder.

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CU Engineering faculty land prestigious multidisciplinary Department of Defense projects

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +0000

CU Engineering faculty land prestigious multidisciplinary Department of Defense projects Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/18/2024 - 00:00

Charles Ferrer

Three faculty members from the CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science are conducting projects awarded through the U.S. Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Program.

The highly competitive research program has been enabling major contributions to military capabilities and producing commercial sector applications since 1985.

“Our college emphasizes collaboration across various research disciplines,” said Michael Gooseff, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. “By prioritizing programs like MURI, we harness the diverse expertise across STEM fields to push the envelope for scientific breakthroughs.”

The three new MURI projects in the college include:

Mahmoud Hussein, professor in aerospace engineering sciences and in physics, will improve air flow across the wings and bodies of hypersonic aircraft through the use of phononic subsurface materials;
Francois Barthelat, professor in mechanical engineering, will develop and validate models for the failure of materials and structures under extreme loads; and
Scott Diddams, professor in electrical, computer and energy engineering and in physics, will examine the fundamental limits in heterodyne detection of thermal radiation with laser light.

Hussein is the main principal investigator and represents CU Boulder as the lead institution for that MURI project. Barthelat and Diddams will be collaborating on projects led by faculty from other peer institutions.

Each project will receive an average award of $7.5 million over the next five years.

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Zoya Popovic elected to the National Academy of Inventors

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 21:26:19 +0000

Zoya Popovic elected to the National Academy of Inventors Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/08/2024 - 15:26

Distinguished Professor Zoya Popovic is among 162 inventors named 2023 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. Election as a fellow in the academy is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

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CU Boulder researchers advance electronic technologies with photonic chips

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 22:56:45 +0000

CU Boulder researchers advance electronic technologies with photonic chips Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/07/2024 - 15:56

ECEE researchers introduce a new approach that leverages light and integrated photonics to generate microwave signals that could enable entirely new capabilities in communications, navigation and sensing.

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Electrical and computer engineer gets real-world experience with aerospace internship

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Electrical and computer engineer gets real-world experience with aerospace internship Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/01/2024 - 00:00

Kofi Asare, a second-year electrical and computer engineering student, is taking his interest in avionics to greater heights by interning at Stoke Space, a space launch company.

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New Indigenous art flourishes CU Engineering Center

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

New Indigenous art flourishes CU Engineering Center Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/21/2023 - 00:00

Charles Ferrer

When you enter the Engineering Center, you’ll notice a new flourish of murals blending together science, art and Indigenous culture.

Denver-based award-winning artist and activist, Danielle SeeWalker — Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota — is the creative force behind these two beautiful artistic pieces.

This endeavor was in close collaboration with the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the campus’ Cultural Events Board (CEB), whose focus was on honoring the Native and Indigenous community through art across CU Boulder.

“I wanted to have a distinct Native American representation in the building,” said SeeWalker, “and really have it be centered around the Indigenous students so they can feel represented and proud.”

With the help of the CEB, the most important step SeeWalker took in the early stages of planning was to meet with Indigenous students and faculty members and hear how they wanted to be represented.

Kaylan Madrid (AeroEngr'25), a member of the CU Boulder's American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) chapter reflected on the murals, "to me it encapsulates the link between Indigenous means of knowledge and Western science."

"Many Western technologies rely on Indigenous traditions and technologies," said Madrid. "For example, printed circuit boards relied on Navajo/Dine textile weavers who were adept at layering, which is the basis for the layering composite of printed circuit boards."

From there, SeeWalker incorporated their collective ideas along with her own vision and started to sketch out some designs, ultimately landing with the murals — “Indigenous Knowledge” and “Buffalo Nation”.

Charles Ferrer caught up with SeeWalker about the creative process and her thoughts on CU Boulder Engineering’s latest murals.

Award-winning artist, Danielle SeeWalker, is the creative force behind two new beautiful murals at the Engineering Center blending together science, art and Indigenous culture.

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CU Boulder leads $5.9 million marine carbon dioxide removal monitoring effort

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 22:44:07 +0000

CU Boulder leads $5.9 million marine carbon dioxide removal monitoring effort Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/14/2023 - 15:44

CU Boulder is advancing marine carbon dioxide removal techniques to cut harmful greenhouse gasses by providing new methods for monitoring verification and reporting, as part of a major federal endeavor to combat climate change.

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CU Boulder’s AISES chapter sweeps First Nations Launch Moon Challenge 2023

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0000

CU Boulder’s AISES chapter sweeps First Nations Launch Moon Challenge 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/01/2023 - 00:00

Charles Ferrer

CU Boulder’s chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) participated in the 2023 First Nations Launch (FNL) as the ‘CU Trailblazers’, sweeping first place in all their categories and a grand prize trip to the Kennedy Space Center.

“We're blazing trails and having fun,” said Evie Clarke (BioMedEngr'24), current AISES president and biomedical engineering student.

FNL offers active AISES collegiate chapters from across the U.S. and Canada the opportunity for undergraduate students to demonstrate engineering and design skills through direct fabrication in rocketry.

The competition required teams to conceive, design and create their rockets while meeting specific parameters on rocket motors and dimensions. FNL is designed for students with no prior experience working with high-powered rockets and challenges them on technical knowledge, creativity and imagination.

Nazhoné Morgan (CompSci’24) recalled the moment of truth, "we weren't sure how our rocket was going to perform," they said, but the team came through, winning first place in oral reports, written reports and the overall category for the Moon Challenge.

“I’m very proud of our team!” said Clarke. “When you have the interest and experience to do something like FNL, we know at the end of the day we’re more than capable of doing it and exceeding expectations.”

This year’s winning team drew students’ expertise from various backgrounds in aerospace engineering, computer science and exploratory studies.

Blastoff at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

“My favorite moment was watching the SpaceX launch at 3 a.m. from the NASA guest stand,” said Morgan.

None of the members had seen a live launch up close before, so witnessing the SpaceX Crew-7 was a sight to behold. Knowing that it was an international crew going to the International Space Station made that experience even more memorable and awe inspiring.

“Before FNL, I was looking at different careers, but after working in avionics and technical aspects of rockets through computer science and aerospace, I’m now interested in pursuing something in embedded systems,” said Morgan. “This trip solidified that I'm intrigued in taking what I’ve learned from my cybersecurity class and applying that in the space field.”

What this means for AISES and the Indigenous community

Claiming victory for the First Nations Launch means so much for the CU Trailblazers.

Al Bitsoi, a second-year student in the Program in Exploratory Studies who hopes to transfer into mechanical engineering, highlighted how this experience uplifted the achievements of Indigenous students.

“If we can do it, this is an outstanding message to other Indigenous students that this is something you all can do as well,” said Bitsoi. “There are Indigenous students here wanting to pursue engineering and accomplishing this is a way of making our voices heard here on campus.”

Through the FNL, the CU Trailblazers were able to meet NASA scientists like Aaron Yazzie. Yazzie, a mechanical engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and member of AISES, gives back to the Native community by mentoring students and serves as a judge for FNL.

“Connecting and mentoring Native students is quite important, especially those pursuing STEM,” said Yazzie. “I was exactly like them in college and wish we had competitions like FNL because it gives students access to opportunities they hope to do one day. I’m impressed by CU Boulder and FNL in general.”

Clarke noted how the FNL helps to bring aspiring Native Americans engineers, who made up 0.3% of awarded engineering bachelors degrees nationally in 2020, more broadly together.

“You see the same teams from across the country and build relationships with them and you’re rooting for each other,” said Clarke. “Celebrating the bond and success we all have brings Indigenous solidarity with each other. It’s a wonderful community to have.”

“When you’re watching the growing success of Native engineers, it warms my heart,” she said.

Greater heights ahead

This academic year brought new members for AISES which meant more new learning experiences for those students and an exciting opportunity for their organization.

“There were a lot of sophomores and juniors who didn’t know we had AISES, so it’s cool seeing their eyes light up when they know we’re here,” said Clarke.

In addition, AISES plans to partner with Native American Culture and Education through Denver Public Schools. They hope to provide workshops about rocketry and hopefully encourage students to pursue higher education while speaking about their different backgrounds.

The CU Trailblazers are gearing up already for the 2024 First Nations Launch and have entered into the more daring Mars Challenge at the recommendation of some judges. This will require them to build a rocket capable of reaching greater heights, with an added component - being able to deploy a drone and safely piloting it to a landing zone.

“It’ll really push our limits, but we have a larger team, so we’re excited to see how we all work together to bring our different majors and backgrounds,” said Clarke. “It’s just fun to try something new with all the students we have.”

After two rocket launches—one in Wisconsin and another in Florida—that brought profound experiences, the CU Trailblazers hope to prevail once again next year with new possibilities awaiting them.

Title Photo: CU Boulder AISES' team at the Kennedy Space Center. Top Photo: The CU Trailblazers from AISES with their winning rocket for First Nations Launch 2023. Middle Photo: SpaceX launch at 3 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2023. Bottom Photo: Bitsoi and Morgan with Aaron Yazzie from NASA.

CU Boulder’s chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) participated in the 2023 First Nations Launch as the ‘CU Trailblazers’, winning first place in all their categories and a grand prize trip to the Kennedy Space Center.

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Hispanic Heritage Month: Prevailing with Grit and Community

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:43:10 +0000

Hispanic Heritage Month: Prevailing with Grit and Community Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/25/2023 - 09:43

Charles Ferrer

‘Welcome to the familia’.

It’s a greeting that welcomed Erika Antunez (IntDesEngr’24) when she first joined CU Boulder’s chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) as a first-year student.

Familia takes on a whole new meaning for Antunez and her own family.

“My parents worked so hard to give my sister and I a better life,” said Antunez. “I saw my parents struggle, and my struggle is really nothing compared to what they had to go through just to have my sister and I in good schools. Now, we're all doing the hard stuff, and we got the grit to do it.”

Numbers at first sight

Antunez’s parents have owned a food truck business in the Denver metro area for 22 years. Her love for math and sciences sparked in the second grade as she supported their family business across different baseball parks.

“I always joke around saying I’ve been working since being in the womb. I was their weekly cashier. I had no calculator. I didn't write anything down, and all the orders and prices were in my head,” said Antunez.

Those early experiences with mental math set her on the path to CU Engineering’s Integrated Design Engineering program with an emphasis in electrical engineering and a minor in business.

“During my freshman year projects, I was pretty much the electrical person of my group and became really interested in electrical. When I realized engineering management & entrepreneurship could be a concentration, I knew that was going to be a great fit.”

Lessons learned from sports

In every game, we know there are winners and losers. Antunez is no stranger to that, having played intramural volleyball at CU, basketball and soccer in high school and dabbled in taekwondo and tennis early on.

“I always grew up in sports and when you lose, you're actually winning because you're learning. In sports, it hurts to lose because it was physically hurting. But then in college I was losing academically, and it’s a different type of hurt.”

Antunez recalled a final exam when she needed to get a perfect score to pass the course and knew quite well that the odds were stacked against her. However, she knew one thing was going to prevail - grit.

“We're still going to take the final no matter what. In my mind, I still had to,” she said with determination.

As Antunez set her sights on improving the following semester, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Going remote was difficult as for most students, but she was relentless in persevering and attended office hours.

“No matter how much I've failed and no matter how much it felt like I was losing, it’s OK,” said Antunez. “How do I go from failing to actually passing the class? It’s learning the actual resources you have and actually getting out of your circle and asking for help.”

Embracing culture and community

There aren’t many places on campus where you find conchas - a traditional Mexican pan dulce or sweet bread. Antunez knew she belonged at SHPE, one of nine affinity-based student societies supported by the BOLD Center, after seeing conchas at their general meetings. This sense of belonging guided her journey both as a student and for her future aspirations.

“As a first-generation Hispanic student, I don't see a lot of people like me in engineering. That's fine because I'm telling people, ‘don't let this be a fear and just keep going’. It’s really empowering,” she said. “There’s also some classes where I was the only girl in that class, but it was me and the professor that were the only women in my class. I'm here to do me.”

Whether it’s her BOLD scholarship group or the SHPE organization, where she is now the vice president, Antunez thrives in an environment where her amiable spirit shines through.

“With SHPE, we are there for each other and building a community. We're engineers at the end of the day, we already do a lot of hard work. We try to build that professional and academic development, but let's have fun as well.”

Her favorite parts of being involved with SHPE are community events such as last year’s mocktail night with trivia. This year, SHPE hosted an Afro-Latino Night as a collaboration with National Society Of Black Engineers, where they brought in a dance instructor for food, camaraderie and fun.

Risk it all. Risk it now.

This past summer, Erika studied abroad in Croatia as part of an international business & management global seminar. It’s only appropriate that immediately after her Maymester abroad, she embarked on a 10-week internship at Deloitte, one of the largest international consulting companies.

“On my team, I worked on identity access management, which is basically cybersecurity kind of work with authentication for technology applications and onboarding,” she said. “I was literally doing the mixture of both business and engineering blending the best of both worlds and doing a lot of product development.”

Antunez’s strong internship performance helped her secure a full-time infrastructure apprentice position for Deloitte’s technology global group working with the same team.

As for the future, “I'm very business-oriented, so eventually I’d like to start my own business,” said Antunez. “My 20s is the time to risk it all and might as well risk it now and see what I can do for myself.”

From failing a few classes along the way, getting involved with SHPE to studying abroad and landing a full-time career before graduating spring 2024, Antunez proved that failure is an important recipe for success.

“My parents did something honestly right, and their hard work paid off. Little 10-year-old self may be cashing you out back in the day, but it all was worth it. The work that we put in came out as well as it could be,” said Antunez.

Top photo: Erika and her mom at CU Boulder. Middle photo: Erika and her BOLD scholarship peers. Botton photo: Erika at her Deloitte internship in summer 2023.

CU Boulder Engineering recognizes that the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” do not describe the community’s identity as a whole. We also recognize that a term that feels right for one person may not adequately capture the experience of another. We seek to celebrate this month as broadly and inclusively as possible, and to encourage individuals to proudly claim whatever label(s) best describe how they personally identify.

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Tend to get sick when the air is dry? New research helps explain why

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 19:52:16 +0000

Tend to get sick when the air is dry? New research helps explain why Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/23/2023 - 12:52

Recent research from CU Boulder may have finally revealed why humans tend to get sick from airborne viral diseases more often in drier environments.

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