2022 CU Engineering Magazine

Smoke in the water

Anonymous — Wed, 11 May 2022 19:25:31 +0000

Smoke in the water Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/11/2022 - 13:25

Josh Rhoten

Engineers examine effects on land and water after wildfires are extinguished

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In the air, on the ground and everywhere in between

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 20:52:13 +0000

In the air, on the ground and everywhere in between Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/21/2022 - 14:52

Josh Rhoten

Engineers put remote sensing to work for sustainability

Farmers know how much fertilizer they spread over their fields each year and how much water they use every day. But fine-tuning those amounts can be a challenge because the results from the field either are not available or are hard to analyze.

But what if there were a few tiny, wirelessly linked sensors lodged inside plants throughout their fields? The sensors would constantly measure ambient air temperatures or soil moisture levels and report back in real time about potential issues in their specific sections. They could even test a plant’s sap frequently to check key metrics for growth and suggest actions farmers could take to improve them.

Engineers at CU Boulder are working to make that a reality. It’s one of many interdisciplinary efforts to use the power and promise of remote sensing to help solve food supply, pollution and water scarcity problems around the globe.

Elliot Strand is a PhD candidate in the Materials Science and Engineering Program, studying with Professors Greg Whiting and Robert McLeod. He leads a project that focuses on creating fully printed ion-selective organic electrochemical transistors that can detect macronutrient concentrations in whole plant sap.

Essentially, Strand said, the team has developed a sort of “diabetes test strip for plants” that can quickly measure nutrients like potassium.

“To collect the data, we simply take a drop of sap and put it on these cheap, flexible and disposable sensors,” Strand said. “The best part is we can quickly 3D print these sensors on basically anything — even paper. That means we don’t need expensive and complicated equipment way out in the field to get this valuable, real-time data, and it opens up opportunities to compost or recycle the material after use.”

Elliot Strand drops a sap sample onto an ion-selective organic electrochemical transistors that can detect macronutrient concentrations.

Whiting, a professor in mechanical engineering, said the next phases of the research will likely focus on inserting these sensors into plants. The team will also be looking at different metrics that can be tracked, such as air temperature or specific plant hormones.

A high-level goal when it comes to sustainability, he said, would be helping farmers increase crop yields by fine-tuning the use of water and fertilizer based on sensor readings.

“We have developed a very real stepping stone towards those goals that is also quite usable right now for agriculture or conservation work,” he said.

While Whiting and his team are approaching these problems from the ground, Associate Professor Evan Thomas is coming in from the air. As director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, he and his team are developing the Drought Resilience Impact Platform (DRIP), an integrated systems-based approach to reducing the effects of drought and improving water quality and soil health.

The platform combines NASA satellite data about drought conditions with information from sensors installed on groundwater pumps across hundreds of sites in Africa that alert the network if a pump is failing or in need of routine maintenance. This dual approach — along with modeling and other work — is being used to ensure communities in Kenya and Ethiopia have the knowledge, access and infrastructure to get the water they need.

Thomas said the interdisciplinary work showcased in DRIP and related projects is a great example of the work that needed to be done over the next decade around the globe.

“This platform can also be used in Colorado or anywhere around the globe where water is becoming a scarce resource,” Thomas said. “Over the next few years, I hope we can start to get this data into the hands of regional providers and leaders on the ground to help inform their decision-making and potentially avoid costly and dangerous drought emergencies.”

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Mission ready

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 15:46:19 +0000

Mission ready Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/15/2022 - 09:46

Emily Adams

Alumnus launches new startup at CU to inspire climate action

Scott King (ElEngr’85) admits that the idea for his newest business venture “started out kind of dark.”

In 2018, King sold ReadyTalk, the communication services company he had founded with his brother Dan King (ChemEngr’82; MBA’89), and retired early. But as the longtime entrepreneur was learning how to be retired, he was also becoming concerned about how former President Donald Trump’s administration was approaching climate change.

“Pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, rolling back emissions, decimating the EPA,” he said. “You just watched one thing after another.”

[video:https://youtu.be/HLrPbdZ4bqo]
The Super Zero team from CU Boulder developed a model home to help people relate their home to the power it consumes. It gives the user the ability to control the energy and see what it means to be carbon zero.

Watch more Mission Zero videos

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and the contentious 2020 election. King said he started to feel hopeless about the country’s ability to tackle complex issues and started building a shelter in his house to protect his family.

“I woke up one day and I’m like, ‘What are you doing? You’re designing a bunker in your house. That’s not good,’” King said. “I’m a really optimistic person, and I thought there’s got to be something I can do besides just taking care of my family.”

So he looked at what he could personally bring to the table when it came to combating climate change.

“I had a little bit of money because we sold ReadyTalk, and Dan and I are doing fine. And I know technology, and I know entrepreneurship,” he said.

King also knows CU Boulder. In spring 2020, he was co-teaching an entrepreneurship course in the Leeds School of Business. When they transitioned to remote learning, he gave students the option to pivot their business ideas to something that could help their community during the pandemic.

He was heartened by how many took him up on the offer, and he realized CU Boulder was the perfect place to center his new business venture, which he named Mission Zero.

His goal with the company is to harness the knowledge of faculty, passion of students and growing interest from alumni and the business community to engage people in changing their behavior on climate change — from small, everyday actions to how they choose elected officials.

King also wants to help make connections across the university between all the people working on climate change issues. He’s been mentoring two electrical and computer engineering senior design teams, working to plan a campus climate conference, providing seed funding for new projects and meeting with anyone who’s willing to talk about opportunities.

“This is a startup, and it is literally being incubated at CU. We’re leaning on students and faculty and advisors and trying to get engagement. Now we’re moving on to business leaders, and we’ll see if it goes,” King said. “But, yeah. I’m not retired anymore.”

A team sponsored by King shows off its carbon-zero home design at a project expo in December.

Alumnus hopes new startup at CU Boulder will inspire climate action.

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The Groovers' Legacy

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:52:40 +0000

The Groovers' Legacy Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/14/2022 - 11:52

Emily Adams

Longtime alumni friendship inspires new engineering student scholarship.

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Another Dimension

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 15:48:49 +0000

Another Dimension Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/12/2022 - 09:48

Rachel Leuthauser

CU engineers bring technical expertise and skills to policymaking

From air quality improvements to aerospace innovation, the underlying goal of any engineering project is to solve real problems and enhance lives.

Top: Ben Capeloto, left, holds a meeting with his cabinet.
Above: Tri-Executive Ben Capeloto outside the CU Student Government offices.

Public policy is another dimension to that same pursuit — finding effective solutions for issues impacting society. When policymakers tackle those issues, engineers are often the valuable expert voices, offering concrete and quantifiable solutions.

Marcus Holzinger
Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences

“When you get people who think differently about problems, who all have an earnest desire to solve them and want to provide a benefit to society, there is a lot of room for creative thinking and really transformative outcomes,” said Marcus Holzinger, an associate professor in aerospace engineering sciences.

Holzinger has been working on space situational awareness and space traffic management for 15 years. The subject is growing increasingly important as more nations and companies launch satellites, leading Holzinger to testify before Congress in July 2021.

His testimony focused on developing orbital space rules to avoid collisions.

“When we start talking about public policy related to disciplines like space traffic management, there can be a lack of folks with technical backgrounds that engage at those levels,” Holzinger said. “The field is always evolving, so it is important to have experts that are in touch with what is currently happening.”

A similar case can be made for policy decisions involving air pollution. In Colorado, those decisions are made by the Air Quality Control Commission.

Jana Milford, a professor in mechanical and environmental engineering, serves on that commission, providing insight to improve regulations on emissions.

“Air pollution and air quality are such critical problems facing society because there are tremendous environmental and human health implications,” Milford said. “They are important problems for society to grapple with and areas where the technical information is important to inform policy decisions.”

Milford uses her engineering experience to help ensure the regulations created are both technically feasible and economically reasonable.

Holzinger, left, chats with Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, right, after his congressional appearance.

“I am able to recognize when considerations have been left out or start to be misrepresented,” Milford said. “There are often a lot of uncertainties associated with how regulations might play out. Bringing some engineering judgment helps to assess the likelihood of one outcome or another.”

Real-world impacts by faculty like Milford and Holzinger are also inspiring future engineers like Ben Capeloto.

Capeloto is a senior majoring in aerospace with a minor in computer science. He is the first engineer to serve as a University of Colorado Boulder Student Government president in two decades.

Capeloto is one of three student body presidents, referred to as tri-executives, who were elected in April 2021. Their main mission in the past year has been to address mental health on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Capeloto has gravitated to other scientific issues, as well.

“There have been a lot of opportunities to give our input on science issues such as COVID-19 and climate change, for example,” Capeloto said. “We have supported student environmental initiatives across campus, allowing me to talk about scientific issues in a scientific way. I really enjoy contributing to that coming from a STEM background.”

After he graduates, Capeloto hopes to work in the aerospace industry. Then, perhaps one day, he will follow the lead of faculty like Holzinger and Milford to use his expertise on a state or federal policymaking platform.

“Visualizing and understanding issues at a much higher level than policymakers with no background in engineering is going to be a hugely important element for imposing rules now and in the future,” Capeloto said. “If rules are made without technical knowledge, people could find ways to exploit regulations.”

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Closer to home

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 22:04:44 +0000

Closer to home Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/11/2022 - 16:04 Jeff Zehnder

Award-winning Solar Decathlon team tackles new Boulder project

Call it the ultimate hands-on student project. A team of students is gearing up to build an entire zero-energy house, an initiative that will test their technical skills and creativity.

The University of Colorado Boulder Solar Decathlon team is taking part in a U.S. Department of Energy national college competition to design and build an affordable, energy-efficient home.

“It’s about bringing newer and more sustainable home designs to industry,” said Wes McEvoy, a sophomore electrical engineering student and co-leader for the CU Boulder team.

They have partnered with Habitat for Humanity and the city of Boulder to build a new home in the Ponderosa affordable-housing revitalization project in North Boulder.

The team of about 30 students has split into five subgroups — architecture, structural, electrical, HVAC and systems — to revamp an existing design to incorporate more sustainable solutions and make it net zero energy.

The Solar Decathlon team hosts several design charrettes throughout the competition to get input from industry partners.

“We’re putting a lot of emphasis on envelope design with insulation and airtightness. We’re going to bring in a standard called Passive House that goes above and beyond local code,” said Kyle Biega, an architectural engineering master’s student and fellow team co-leader.

The group has big shoes to fill. CU Boulder has excelled in past Solar Decathlon events, earning first place nationally in 2021 — the third time a campus team has topped the competition.

Last year’s build was in Frasier, Colorado, and Biega is excited the project will be in Boulder this time.

“I can’t say enough about the amazing design last year. It was in a mountain town — traveling out there was difficult, the logistics were difficult,” Biega said. “It turned out so well, but with this project we feel we can get a lot of student and local community involvement because it’s right here in our backyard.”

A critical focus of the competition is repeatability — is the design sustainable both environmentally and financially?

“All of our design decisions come back to that. We want to demonstrate that sustainable design can be affordable, even in affordable housing markets,” McEvoy said.

The team, which is composed of students from across engineering disciplines and from the Program in Environmental Design, is exploring using prefabricated panels wherever possible, installing smart electronic systems, and using passive and active solar.

Concept interior view of a zero-energy home.

“We want to be able to showcase to the community all the things you can do in a home design to make it better for the environment,” Biega said, giving the example of free ways to cool a home using orientation and shading. “We’re delivering the most effective low-cost systems we can implement.”

The competition spans two years. The team has spent the last several months on design and expects to make a final presentation to the Department of Energy in April 2022. Construction is expected to begin this summer, with work completed in early 2023.

“Residential design and build is what I want to get into for a profession,” Biega said. “The competition is almost a full-time job ... but for me, knowing we can make a positive impact — not just in the building industry but also our local community — means so much.”

The CU Boulder Solar Decathlon team took first place overall with the SPARC house in 2020.

SPARC of success

In April 2021, the CU Boulder Solar Decathlon team took home first place overall in the 2020 Solar Decathlon Build Challenge, which was delayed for a year due to COVID-19. Their victory included top rankings in nearly every category, from engineering and architecture to market potential and innovation.

The “SPARC” house (Sustainability, Performance, Attainability, Resilience and Community) represented the efforts of more than 30 students since 2017. Its goal was to address the housing attainability crisis and construction challenges faced by mountain towns across the country.

Fraser residents Kristen Taddonio and Joe Smyth helped to fund the project and have been living in the SPARC house since its completion. The two-story, 1,176-square-foot home includes a separate rental unit and is so efficient that they have been selling energy back to the power grid, even during frigid mountain winters.

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Getting there from here

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 18:58:49 +0000

Getting there from here Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/08/2022 - 12:58

Researchers take steps toward radical transformation in sustainable transportation

Transportation remains one of the key challenges in the push toward broad adoption of renewable and sustainable energy infrastructure. Research into sustainable transportation — from fuel sources to infrastructure to the societal and ethical impacts — can be found across the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Critical research areas for sustainable transportation

Power electronics for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure
Power and energy systems
Transportation asset management
Built infrastructure and society
Air quality impacts of energy and transportation systems
Data-driven modeling and system optimization
Engineering education

Professor Hendrik Heinz and his group in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering are exploring fuel source alternatives and their technological implications. Specifically, they are developing new computational tools and models to better understand how vehicle fuel cells can safely and efficiently convert hydrogen to water to produce the electricity needed to operate.

“For decades, researchers have struggled to predict the complex processes needed for this work, though enormous progress has been made using nanoplates, nanowires and many other nanostructures,” Heinz said. “To address this, we have developed models for metal nanostructures and oxygen, water and metal interactions that exceed the accuracy of current quantum methods by more than 10 times.”

Their computational methods will play a role in the widespread commercialization of hydrogen fuel sources in vehicles, but the challenge goes beyond individual research projects. It is comprehensive, requiring a bridging of science, engineering, environmental studies and civil planning in a decades-long transition.

Hendrik Heinz, left, and his group work on computational methods for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Collaborative effort

The Advancing Sustainability Through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) Engineering Research Center is dedicated to exploring possible multifaceted solutions to widespread electric vehicle adoption, including electrified highways that charge vehicles on the go, charging station deployment, and the workforce and data challenges associated with a massive sustainable infrastructure upgrade.

“Our faculty members are conducting cutting-edge research on a number of topics that are critical for sustainable transportation,” said computer scientist Qin “Christine” Lv, CU Boulder campus director and data research thrust lead for ASPIRE. “This includes power electronics for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure; power and energy systems; transportation asset management; built infrastructure and society; air quality impacts of energy and transportation systems; data-driven modeling and system optimization; as well as engineering education.”

Qin “Christine” Lv
Professor, Computer Science; Research lead, ASPIRE

Lv noted that these diverse research priorities require extensive collaboration and communication.

“ASPIRE integrates efforts across multiple disciplines, including engineering, social science, policy and business through close collaboration with industry, government and community partners,” Lv said. “Transformations are targeted across the transportation and electric utility industries, leading to significant growth in domestic jobs and energy production, improved air quality and public health.”

Lv hopes that research coming out of ASPIRE will contribute to the reduction and stabilization of transportation and logistics costs, as well as to developing the diverse engineering workforce that will be needed for radical infrastructure transformation.

Social context

The rollout of any new technology will also have to be carefully considered in a social context, said Assistant Professor Kyri Baker of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. Baker has done research into how the widespread adoption of electric vehicles may affect already vulnerable communities.

Kyri Baker
Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

“When pursuing any sort of sustainability goal, we have to make sure that the outcomes benefit everyone, not just a small subset of people,” Baker said. “Sustainable transportation is a perfect example of an area where we have to be very cognizant of the assumptions we make and the impact of the systems we design.”

Baker argues that electrifying public transportation is a worthwhile goal, but residents without access to home charging stations simply would not benefit as much as those with dedicated home chargers. The electricity required to charge a single electric vehicle can be more than a typical house consumes in a single day, her research shows.

Such a radical reallocation of power across our infrastructure will have unforeseen consequences, especially considering the 30% of U.S. households that already face energy insecurity, according to the Energy Information Administration.

“There won’t be a silver bullet for every problem in sustainable transportation, but as scientists and engineers, we just need to remember to try to design systems that maximize benefit for a diverse range of communities,” Baker said.

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Research briefs

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:46:21 +0000

Research briefs Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/07/2022 - 14:46

New centers, spaces and projects to watch

NEW INITIATIVE

Quantum Engineering Initiative lead Greg Rieker, right, with Scott Diddams in the lab.

Quantum Engineering Initiative lead Greg Rieker, left, with Scott Diddams in the lab.

A quantum leap forward

The college has launched a Quantum Engineering Initiative to expand internal efforts in the field while strengthening connections to local and regional partners.

The initiative marks a significant and strategic investment into translational quantum engineering research — especially in quantum sensing, which has been a strength in the college for years. It specifically includes educational components, faculty hiring efforts and dedicated lab space for collaboration with partners both on and off CU Boulder’s campus.

The initiative is a new arm of the existing campuswide CUbit Quantum Initiative, which supports the university and state of Colorado’s prominence in quantum information science and technology.

The college took another bold step forward in 2021 by hiring Professor Scott Diddams and several other prominent quantum researchers into faculty roles. Diddams has worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for two decades and conducted prominent experimental research in the field of optical frequency combs and quantum metrology with application to atomic clocks and sensors.

Other recent hires include Assistant Professors András Gyenis and Josh Combes. All three are based in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and are part of a multiyear faculty recruitment plan as part of the Quantum Engineering Initiative.

New centers, spaces and projects to watch

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Message from the Dean

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 20:00:49 +0000

Message from the Dean Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/06/2022 - 14:00

Dear CU Engineering community,

When I began my term as acting dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science in January 2020, my top priority was maintaining consistency with the goals, vision and culture that our community developed in partnership with former Dean Bobby Braun.

As we prepare to welcome a permanent dean, I am proud to say that we have been successful in many of those goals. In both 2020 and 2021, we celebrated record-breaking research funding across the college. In 2021, we were the No. 1 aerospace engineering program in the U.S. in research expenditures. We have made strides in diversity, equity and inclusion with the formation of a college-wide Inclusive Culture Council and a coordinated, accountable effort to implement concrete department- and program-level actions to align with the campus IDEA Plan.

However, I am more proud of how our community excelled in the face of enormous challenges during this time. From the COVID-19 pandemic and Boulder King Soopers shooting to protests over racial injustice and the recent devastating fires in Louisville and Superior, our community has rallied around those who have experienced hardships, uncertainty and sorrow.

Through those challenges, the college has worked tirelessly to build an even stronger, more resilient CU Engineering community. Harnessing the power of virtual events, we have increased engagement with our alumni community. We have strengthened our focus on student success and mental health, building on a community wellness values statement adopted in 2019.

I look forward to what we will accomplish together in the years to come. We’re launching a new Engineering Residential Community, which we will share more about in upcoming communications. Our innovative Quantum Engineering Initiative, evolving Interdisciplinary Research Themes, and growing materials science and biomedical engineering programs hold much promise for research and educational innovation.

Overall, we remain committed to responding to global societal and scientific challenges and to educating the diverse, world-class engineers who will meet future challenges. We hope you enjoy this edition of CU Engineering magazine, which focuses on how our students and faculty are addressing sustainability and the threats of climate change.

Go, Buffs!

Keith Molenaar
Acting Dean

@KeithMolenaar

We remain committed to educating the diverse, world-class engineers who will meet future challenges.

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What's your giving story?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 14:37:27 +0000

What's your giving story? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/21/2022 - 08:37

Suzi Jewett (MMechEngr’00) has been a loyal donor to the BOLD Center for 17 years.

“When I was at CU, I was heavily involved in the Women in Engineering Program. It was a community that supported me and helped me to grow and maintain my motivation to pursue engineering. My parents had instilled in me a heart for giving, so after I graduated and began earning a salary, it was important to me to begin giving back.

I enjoy seeing the growth of CU and how the college is changing its approach to learning and development for engineering students. I recognize the importance of a smaller community for students and believe the BOLD Center provides community, support, guidance and opportunities, allowing students to have higher potential for a meaningful career. I want to be able to bless others how I have been blessed.”

“When I was at CU, I was heavily involved in the Women in Engineering Program. It was a community that supported me." – Suzi Jewett (MMechEngr'00)

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