I’ve been talking with a lot of people in Colorado and beyond about the proven value of a college degree. Everyone should have access and opportunity to earn a college education, given its profound effect on people’s lives and the lives of those around them. Working toward this will always be a top priority at CU. Just as we strive to ensure our campuses reflect Colorado’s diverse people and perspectives – and are places where people from all corners of the state, nation and world can feel a sense of belonging – we continue to work hard to reduce the cost of higher education for students and their families.

When we think more broadly about how higher education adds value to our society and our world, we find truly staggering examples of its impact, as our campuses show us every day. In addition to their amazing scholarly, teaching and creative contributions, our faculty are saving and improving lives with their research and discoveries while also addressing some of our world’s most urgent challenges.

For the sixth consecutive year, our exceptional CU faculty attracted more than $1 billion in sponsored research funding and gifts dedicated to and supporting research – $1.46 billion to be precise. CU’s research expenditures put us at 14th in the nation among the most prestigious U.S. colleges and universities. The funding we receive, which cannot be diverted to non-research expenses, fuels wide-ranging work that ultimately benefits Colorado, the nation and world. It also bolsters Colorado’s economy because it is mostly funded by sources outside our state, including federal agencies, industry and philanthropic partners. But most important is the resulting discovery and innovation. Consider just a small sampling of the groundbreaking research on our campuses:

• University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus: The newly formed Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) is putting CU Anschutz on the map as a world leader in using big data and artificial intelligence to improve patient care and health outcomes. Collectively, DBMI faculty were awarded $30.7 million in new funding in 2021-22, while founding chair Casey Greene, a professor of biomedical informatics at the CU School of Medicine, was awarded nearly $3 million from the National Institutes of Health. His projects include studying tumors, which could pave the way for more personalized cancer therapies.
• University of Colorado Boulder: During hypersonic flight, the temperature of air and other gases around a vehicle can reach thousands of degrees, triggering chemical reactions. A $7.5 million Department of Defense grant allows our scientists to investigate the breakdown and collisions of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon molecules in this environment using advanced computational modeling and experimental tests with molecular beams, shock tubes and hypersonic wind tunnels. Hypersonics is a significant research field around the world for national defense purposes. The research grant includes multiple universities here and abroad.
• University of Colorado Denver: The National Science Foundation awarded $1.3 million to a team of researchers from CU Denver, South Dakota State University and Utah State University to study how vegetation in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska is responding to climate change. Millions of migrating geese depend on the area, which was threatened by warming temperatures, sea rise and flooding in September when remnants of Typhoon Merbok pounded the state, causing millions in damages. The team also is looking at whether the vegetation’s role in taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen is changing. By studying changes in the Arctic, scientists may be able to predict how high-altitude environments – including Colorado – could be affected by and can better prepare for climate change. 
• University of Colorado Colorado Springs: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Brandon Runnels was granted a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, one of the most prestigious awards available to early career academics, to develop faster and more reliable techniques for assessing damage likelihood in materials. The project has been funded with more than $500,000 over five years. His work will use artificial intelligence to identify why and how materials break, to make the world a safer place.

These are only a handful of examples of the transformative work happening on our campuses every day. There are hundreds more. As one of the nation’s leading public research universities, CU has long been steeped in innovation and discovery. That our outstanding faculty and their extraordinary research consistently garner substantial funding helps reaffirm this.  

But if you need further evidence of the value CU adds to Colorado and the world, you can find it in the new engineering solutions coming from our campuses, new treatment therapies, new poems, new partnerships with industry, new symphonies, new literary criticism, new medical treatments and innovations, new climate insights, new cybersecurity advances, new economic stimulation, new workforce development and new ways of thinking. You can also find it in the ways CU faculty are inspiring and preparing the next generation of practitioners, scientists, artists and leaders.

I look forward to sharing more exciting examples of CU scholarship, creative work and partnerships that are changing the world. Our students, faculty and staff inspire me every day. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating these amazing individuals and their ingenuity, dedication and innovation.

CU NEWS

CU Faculty Attract $1.46 Billion in Sponsored Research Funding and Gifts

For the sixth consecutive year, CU’s annual sponsored research funding and gifts supporting research have topped $1 billion. The support fuels far-reaching discovery and impact.

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CU on the Road Again

From May through September, CU leadership engaged in outreach tours across Colorado to listen to and learn about the interests and needs of communities statewide.

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FROM OUR CAMPUSES

CU Anschutz

Researchers from CU Anschutz and CU Boulder are developing an artificial intelligence tool to diagnose dementia at earlier stages, helping patients and providers plan more effective treatment options. The work is funded through the AB Nexus initiative, which supports intercampus collaborative research.

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CU Boulder

CU Boulder recently launched a worldwide education coalition in support of the upcoming Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit to help broaden understanding of the human rights impacts of a changing global climate and galvanize people to take action. The summit is co-hosted by United Nations Human Rights and CU Boulder.

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CU Denver

CU Denver’s Prison Education Program provides incarcerated individuals with the skills and confidence to return to their communities, which helps reduce Colorado’s recidivism rate.

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UCCS

The altitude chamber at the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center gives users a chance to train at various elevation levels by changing the oxygen percentage in the air and mimicking low or high altitude.

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