Faculty

Why do we get a skip in our step when we’re happy? Thank dopamine

alse6588 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 20:09:04 +0000

Why do we get a skip in our step when we’re happy? Thank dopamine alse6588 Fri, 02/27/2026 - 13:09

Professor Alaa Ahmed is leading a study that highlights the central role that dopamine, a brain chemical associated with reward, seems to play in making people move faster when they want something. The findings could one day help scientists understand and even diagnose a range of human medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and depression.

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What causes snow slopes to collapse? Vriend explains, with tips for surviving

alse6588 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:48:14 +0000

What causes snow slopes to collapse? Vriend explains, with tips for surviving alse6588 Thu, 02/19/2026 - 13:48

Avalanche deaths are rare inside the boundaries of ski resorts, but the risk rises in the backcountry. Thirty backcountry avalanche deaths were reported in the U.S. during the 2022-23 season, 16 the following year, and 22 in 2024-25. In this article published by The Conversation, Associate Professor Nathalie Vriend explains what happens in an avalanche and techniques for surviving one.

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Global collaboration to limit air pollution flowing across borders could save millions of lives

alse6588 — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:44:38 +0000

Global collaboration to limit air pollution flowing across borders could save millions of lives alse6588 Fri, 02/13/2026 - 10:44

A first-of-its-kind study, led by Professor Daven Henze and collaborators at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, assesses how health benefits of aggressive climate policy travel across international borders. The researchers say that ambitious climate action to improve global air quality could save up to 1.32 million lives per year by 2040.

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Donated blood has a shelf life. A new test tracks how it's aging

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:08:11 +0000

Donated blood has a shelf life. A new test tracks how it's aging Alexander Jame… Wed, 01/21/2026 - 10:08

Roughly 6.8 million people donate blood in the United States alone, helping save millions of lives, according to the American Red Cross. But just like groceries sitting on store shelves, red blood cells age over time. That's why Associate Professor Xiaoyun Ding and medical collaborators at CU Anschutz have created a new chip device to help give blood centers and hospitals a reliable way to monitor the quality of red blood cells after they sit for weeks in storage.

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New materials, old physics – the science behind how your winter jacket keeps you warm

Alexander James Servantez — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 20:43:25 +0000

New materials, old physics – the science behind how your winter jacket keeps you warm Alexander Jame… Mon, 01/05/2026 - 13:43

Assistant Professor Longji Cui is a materials expert who develops high precision instrumentation and computational techniques to explore energy transport, conversion, and dissipation at extreme scales. In this article by The Conversation, Cui explains how even something as simple as winter jackets that keep you warm during chilly days are a testament to centuries-old physics and cutting-edge science.

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Engineers develop real-time membrane imaging for sustainable water filtration

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:32:55 +0000

Engineers develop real-time membrane imaging for sustainable water filtration Alexander Jame… Tue, 12/16/2025 - 15:32

Professor Victor Bright, Professor Emeritus Alan Greenberg and PhD student Mo Zohrabi have helped develop a laser-based imaging method called stimulated Raman scattering to improve the performance of desalination plants by allowing real-time detection of membrane fouling. The advance could help make desalination more efficient and reliable as global demand for clean water rises.

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Xu selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 20:13:11 +0000

Xu selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow Alexander Jame… Wed, 12/10/2025 - 13:13

Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow. The program supports faculty in achieving their research and innovation goals and promotes collaboration through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities.

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Wind tunnel research could help predict how wildfires spread

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:15:00 +0000

Wind tunnel research could help predict how wildfires spread Alexander Jame… Fri, 12/05/2025 - 11:15

PhD student Laura Shannon, alongside Professors Greg Rieker and Peter Hamlington are setting fires inside wind tunnels to gain a better understanding of how fire spreads across different terrain. The team says their findings could help keep communities safer in a world where climate-driven wildfire is becoming more common—and more dangerous.

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Brewing engineers: Inside 91��ý’s new food engineering program

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 21:00:27 +0000

Brewing engineers: Inside 91��ý’s new food engineering program Alexander Jame… Wed, 12/03/2025 - 14:00

Alexander Servantez

For Carmen Pacheco, food isn’t just something you eat. It’s a complex, interconnected set of culture, stories and engineering that she is using to build one of 91��ý’s most innovative academic ventures.

Pacheco, a faculty member in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, is the architect behind the Food Engineering Graduate Certificate. Launched in 2024, the program was designed to introduce engineering students to the science behind their favorite foods and career opportunities in the food industry.

The certificate program, inspired by a pioneering Design of Coffee course at UC Davis, is among the first of its kind in higher education. Pacheco says it can reinforce scientific concepts that students can apply to any engineering discipline.

“We use universally recognized products like coffee and cacao as mediums to learn engineering principles, but they also have the ability to provide transferable skills,” said Pacheco. “We aren’t trying to produce baristas or chocolatiers. We want students to gain an understanding of engineering systems—understanding and evaluating the process from the beginning all the way to the final product.”

Early path to food engineering

Growing up in an immigrant family, Pacheco felt a close connection to food. She learned all the cultural dishes that embodied her youth, even creating a bilingual cookbook to preserve her family’s traditional recipes.

Faculty member Carmen Pacheco (middle) working with students in the Design of Coffee course.

As her cooking skills grew stronger, Pacheco found herself thinking about food in a new way. It wasn’t just recipes anymore—she also began questioning the functions of ingredients and thinking about the ratios of spices and herbs.

One day, while selling her homemade mole sauce, Pacheco asked herself an interesting question: How can food become a fun educational tool for teaching engineering students?

“I used to bring salsa into my freshman-level chemistry class to teach mechanical engineers about acidity, like the pH of a tomatillo versus a roasted tomato, or understanding hydrogen-ion concentration,” Pacheco said. “The students had a nice response to using food in the classroom, and I became extremely passionate about it.”

That next semester, Pacheco founded the university’s first food engineering course: Design of Coffee.

“Boulder is a mecca for natural foods and people love coffee here. I pitched the class to my faculty chair, explained its importance, demonstrated the teaching and before we knew it there was a class,” she said. “I didn’t know if people were going to sign up for it, but they did.”

Crafting a complete student experience

After the success of the Design of Coffee class, Pacheco was given the opportunity to take the one-off idea and sculpt it into a complete student experience. She added two additional food engineering courses—Design of Chocolate and Design of Beer—and worked with Associate Teaching Professor Dan Riffell to curate the curriculum and align the classes with a wide range of elective offerings, creating a full-fledged graduate certificate program.

But Pacheco’s vision for the program wasn’t just about brewing coffee or malting beer.

Students working together in groups to brew coffee in the Design of Coffee course.

According to Pacheco, all foods have a story and understanding that story is crucial to its creation.

Take chocolate, for example. Over 75 percent of cacao is harvested in Africa via slavery and exploitation of cheap labor. It’s then shipped in bulk, often to privileged countries like the U.S. and Europe.

However, Africa sees little, if any, economic value, from its hard work.The profit is seen in countries where cacao is developed into chocolate bars and other treats.

“When the students learn the history of chocolate and its journey, they value and appreciate it more,” Pacheco said.

Coffee also has a story. Coffee trees take three to five years to mature and are extremely sensitive to climate change. They require heavy maintenance and chemicals to survive, which can be harmful to the environment.

That’s why Pacheco emphasizes sustainability as a key pillar in the course’s curriculum. Students learn to process coffee from scratch, using the least amount of energy possible.

“It’s important to educate students to close the gap between consumers and producers,” said Pacheco. “If consumers know where their food comes from or how it's made, they are more likely to be engaged in conversations about sustainability.”

The future of the program

In just one year, Pacheco has seen encouraging enrollment numbers. But she believes there’s room to grow.

She envisions a day when students will have access to a food engineering lab—a one-stop shop equipped with everything they need to roast coffee, process chocolate or malt beer.

She also hopes the program can one day be opened to a broader range of students across campus. Right now, only engineering students can apply, but allowing students from other majors could enrich classroom conversations.

The potential is endless, but Pacheco says the program’s core values will always stay the same.

“At the end of the day, engineering is not just math and machines—it’s the story of the people behind all of these materials,” Pacheco said. “We want this program to be a sustainable resource for both the local community and beyond.”

Faculty member Carmen Pacheco is the architect behind the Food Engineering Graduate Certificate, one of 91��ý's most innovative academic ventures. Launched in 2024, the program was designed to introduce engineering students to the science behind their favorite foods and career opportunities in the food industry, but it can also reinforce scientific concepts that students can apply to any engineering discipline.

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A window underground: New sensors measure emissions from soil in real time

Alexander James Servantez — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:20:57 +0000

A window underground: New sensors measure emissions from soil in real time Alexander Jame… Thu, 11/20/2025 - 14:20

Soil is comprised of an intricate network of bacteria and other microbes that humans depend on, but this complex environmental system is constantly shifting, making it difficult for scientists to measure. Associate Professor Gregory Whiting and his team of researchers are developing reliable, inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors that monitor soil in real time to help farmers optimize their use of fertilizers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money in the process.

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