CU-Boulder expands degree options for energy and water professionals

June 17, 2014

A new educational partnership at the University of Colorado Boulder will provide expanded degree options for working professionals interested in specialized graduate education focused on energy and water. Beginning this fall, qualified students can earn both a Master of Engineering (ME) degree and a Professional Certificate in Renewable and Sustainable Energy or a Professional Certificate in Water Engineering and Management. The degree and certificates can be earned either via distance education or in campus classes and may be pursued either part- or full-time.

The relationship between obesity, life satisfaction and where one lives

June 16, 2014

A new study on obesity and people’s happiness by CU-Boulder sociology researchers suggests that it’s not obesity by itself that determines whether a person is happy with their body image but where you live. According to study co-author Philip Pendergast, a doctoral student in sociology at CU-Boulder, if a person who is obese lives in a community where people share the same body type they are more likely to be happier.

Solar image courtesy of NASA

Astronomers discover first Thorne-Żytkow object, a bizarre type of hybrid star

June 4, 2014

In a discovery decades in the making, scientists have detected the first of a “theoretical” class of stars first proposed in 1975 by physicist Kip Thorne and astronomer Anna Żytkow.

CU-Boulder payload selected for launch on Virgin Galactic spaceship

June 3, 2014

A University of Colorado Boulder payload carrying a novel device designed to reduce the weight and cost of spacecraft fuel pumping systems has been manifested for launch on a suborbital space plane called SpaceShipTwo developed by the aerospace company Virgin Galactic.

Rocky Flats raid, history topic of June 6 - 8 event

June 3, 2014

Friday, June 6, marks the 25th anniversary of the FBI and EPA raid on Rocky Flats, the former U.S. nuclear weapons facility in Arvada. In an effort to recognize a significant part of Colorado’s history, the Arvada Center of the Arts, in partnership with CU-Boulder's Center of the American West , will host a weekend-long event, " Rocky Flats Then and Now: 25 Years After the Raid ," June 6 - 8. CU-Boulder Professor Emeritus Len Ackland will give the event’s introduction talk, “Rocky Flats Then and Now” on Friday, June 6, at 7 p.m.

CU-Boulder appoints Bradley J. Birzer as second Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy

June 3, 2014

Bradley J. Birzer has been appointed the second Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy, the University of Colorado Boulder announced today. Birzer, a professor of history and the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies at Hillsdale College in Michigan, will begin his one-year appointment beginning in fall 2014. “Dr. Birzer brings impressive breadth to CU, primarily in the discipline of history as well as areas of literary significance,” said Steven R. Leigh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at CU-Boulder.

Reporters using more ‘hedging’ words in climate change articles, CU-Boulder study finds

June 2, 2014

The amount of “hedging” language—words that suggest room for doubt—used by prominent newspapers in articles about climate change has increased over time, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder. The study, published in the journal Environmental Communication , also found that newspapers in the U.S. use more hedging language in climate stories than their counterparts in Spain.

Student filmmakers hail the crowd for support

May 29, 2014

Good art springs from the “horrible inclemency of life,” Aldous Huxley said, and two young filmmakers at the University of Colorado Boulder personify his point. Their work—which tackles the human toll of depression and drug addiction—is being supported in part by a university-sponsored pilot program in crowdfunding.

HHMI logo

CU-Boulder receives $1.5 million award for undergraduate science education

May 29, 2014

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded the University of Colorado Boulder $1.5 million over five years to continue to transform science education by encouraging more real-world research experiences for undergraduates, ranging from cancer studies to screenings for new antibiotics.

Consumers infer coolness from brand autonomy, says CU-Boulder study

May 28, 2014

Consumers perceive a brand to be cooler when it suggests it’s true to itself and follows its own motives regardless of individual or societal norms and expectations, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study involving Texas A&M University. However, the autonomous behavior of the brand needs to be contextually appropriate -- not over the top -- in order to be seen as cool as opposed to weird or rude, according to the paper published last week online and slated for the August edition of the Journal of Consumer Research.

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