HANK BROWN’S CU-BOULDER CLASS HEADS TO WASHINGTON TO STUDY ART IN U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING
Nov 8th
University of Colorado President Emeritus Hank Brown will lead a CU-Boulder political science class on a trip to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 11-13.
The trip is part of his “Icons of the American Republic” class, which introduces students to the founding period of the United States through the events, concepts and individuals depicted in art exhibited in the U.S. Capitol Building. The 21 CU-Boulder students, along with five students from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, will get an extremely rare opportunity to visit the floors of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
This is the third consecutive year Brown has led students on the visit to Washington. The class trip is made possible by financial contributions from external donors.
According to Professor Ken Bickers, chair of the CU-Boulder political science department, “This is a remarkable opportunity for our students. They learn about the American experiment in national self-governance in the heart of the government itself from someone who has been an influential participant in that experiment.”
Brown has 30 years of public policy experience as a legislator, congressman, U.S. senator and higher education executive. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1991 and in the U.S. Senate from 1991 to 1997.
He retired from the CU-Boulder faculty last year, but continues to teach the Icons of the Republic course through the political science department. He served as president of the University of Colorado from 2005 to 2008. Following his presidency, he was a tenured professor of political science and held the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership at CU-Boulder.
SOURCE: CU NEWS RELEASE
WHITE HOUSE NAMES CU-BOULDER PROFESSOR ONE OF TOP YOUNG 100 SCIENTISTS IN 2010
Nov 8th
University of Colorado at Boulder faculty member Ivan Smalyukh is one of only 100 men and women in the United States to be awarded a coveted 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE.
The PECASE awards are the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent careers. President Barack Obama announced the awards on Nov. 5. The award includes $600,000 of funding from the National Science Foundation over five years.
Smalyukh, an assistant professor in CU-Boulder’s physics department and a member of the university’s Liquid Crystals Materials Research Center, and his students are studying the organization of nanoparticle andmolecular self-assembly related to precisely controlled structures in liquid crystals. The research is expected to help scientists develop new electrically and optically controlled materials that could lead to a number of technological breakthroughs, including more efficient conversion of solar energy into electricity using inexpensive solar cells and the development of flexible display and data storage devices.
“As a scientist and educator, I receive this great honor with deep gratitude,” said Smalyukh. “The PECASE award is a strong encouragement for me and for my students. It will help us in achieving many important and ambitious research goals.”
Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the awards are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected on two criteria — the pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and a commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education or community outreach.
Smalyukh also was a winner of the 2009 National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER award, the agency’s most prestigious awards to junior faculty members around the nation. The NSF nominated Smalyukh for the 2010 PECASE awards.
He also is a founding fellow of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, a joint center of CU-Boulder and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Nine federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the outstanding young scientists and engineers for the PECASE awards. The recipients are researchers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America’s leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies’ missions, according to the White House.
This year’s recipients will be honored at a White House ceremony with Obama in early 2011.
SOURCE: CU MEDIA RELEASE
