What’s in a name? Ask Rodger Kram, director of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder’s Locomotion Lab. 

Long before Nike unveiled its Zoom Vaporfly 4%, Kram was busy testing how fast the now-famous shoe really was. Nike had come to Kram with a request: They’d developed a shoe they suspected could make running significantly more efficient but needed scientific evidence before making that claim. 

Kram enlisted 18 super-fast men and ran tests comparing their performance while wearing the prototype to that in two other high-end shoes. “Every day at every speed, every runner used less energy with the prototype,” Kram said. On average, 4 percent less. That’s enough to make a sub-2-hour marathon possible for the first time. 

Nike ran with the name. So did Boulder-based Shalane Flanagan, who won the 2017 New York City Marathon in her “4%s.”

Principal investigator
Wouter Hoogkamer

Funding
Nike

Collaboration + support
Rodger Kram; Shalaya Kipp; Integrative Physiology; ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Locomotion Lab

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With the explosion of social media has come a feast of data for scientists to analyze. But with this opportunity have come sticky questions about what’s legal, what’s ethical and how privacy should be protected. 

Casey Fiesler, assistant professor of information science, is working to find answers and develop guidance in a field so new it lacks standards. 

In one study, she found that 62 percent of Twitter users have no idea scientists study their tweets. Most assume it’s not allowed. (It is.) She’s now studying what companies’ fine print says about sharing data for research, how such research affects vulnerable communities and why certain studies bother people more than others. 

“I don’t want to suggest we shouldn’t be doing research using Twitter data at all,” Fiesler says, “but just because data is easy to get doesn’t mean we should be able to do whatever we like with it.”

Principal investigator
Casey Fiesler

Funding
National Science Foundation (NSF)

Collaboration + support
Information Science; University of Kentucky

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The world is changing; it seems natural that prices for large purchases such as homes would change, too. However, the sale price of homes exposed to sea level rise (SLR) could be less about change than about how people perceive and value that change. 

ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Leeds School of Business Assistant Professors Asaf Bernstein and Ryan Lewis have been investigating how perception can affect real-world markets through the curious pricing of beach properties. 

After researching thousands of land parcel sales from 2007 to 2017, Bernstein and Lewis discovered that SLR-exposed properties sold for an average of 7 percent less than comparable properties that were not exposed. 

Why the discount? Buyers, especially “sophisticated buyers” purchasing properties as investments, appear to factor SLR exposure into their valuation of coastal properties. 

Principal investigators
Asaf Bernstein; Ryan Lewis

Funding
University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder

Collaboration + support
Leeds School of Business; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Penn State University; Zillow

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The soft robots of the future are strong, nimble and adaptable

Clunky, metallic droids like C-3PO? Old news. ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder engineers have created a new class of soft, flexible robots that rival biological muscles, pointing the way to the future of prosthetics, automation and other human-robot interactions.

Developed by Assistant Professor Christoph Keplinger and his colleagues, these electrically activated devices expand and contract when voltage is applied, allowing them to gingerly grasp a raspberry or lift a gallon of water. But instead of bulky pistons and motors, the robots are constructed from the same elastomer material as potato chip bags, lowering their production cost to mere cents.

The invention, which made headlines worldwide, represents a significant advance in the field of soft robotics and could one day displace heavier, more expensive machinery.

“We draw our inspiration from the astonishing capabilities of biological muscle,” Keplinger said. “The devices reproduce the adaptability of an octopus arm, the speed of a hummingbird and the strength of an elephant.”

The robots, formally known as HASEL actuators, look unassuming enough. Each one consists of a doughnut-shaped pouch filled with canola oil and hooked up to a pair of electrodes. When voltage is applied, the liquid displaces and changes the flexible shell’s shape. Flip the switch off and the device relaxes, resuming its original form.

The liquid also provides HASEL with another crucial attribute: self-healing. When biological muscles contract using electrical impulses, they recover instantaneously, allowing them to be used again right away. Keplinger’s robots achieve a similar effect. The oil inside each pouch reliably recovers its conductive properties after each jolt of current, making it possible to fire the artificial muscle quickly and repeatedly.

Resilient self-healing abilities allow the devices to be rigged together in parallel, increasing their combined strength to rival or exceed that of a human biceps. They can also be positioned opposite each other on a rigid structure and contracted together to grip objects. 

“The ability to create electrically powered soft actuators that lift a gallon of water several times per second is something we haven’t seen before,” said Eric Acome, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering.

The simplicity, versatility and cost-efficiency of HASEL’s design could make it an appealing platform technology for the robotics industry as companies seek out nimbler automation tools.

“We can make these devices for around 10 cents, even now,” said Nicholas Kellaris, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “The materials are low-cost, scalable and compatible with current industrial manufacturing techniques.

Keplinger and his students—several of whom are undergraduates—plan to continue optimizing the HASEL design and have secured design patents with the assistance of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder’s Technology Transfer Office. Next up: advanced fabrication techniques that could lead to next-gen prosthetic limbs.

Principal investigator
Christoph Keplinger

Funding
University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder

Collaboration + support
Technology Transfer Office; Department of Mechanical Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering Program

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At this year’s New Venture Challenge (NVC), a rowdy annual ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder startup competition at the Boulder Theater, well-known entrepreneur and venture capitalist Brad Feld witnessed a transformative moment for the campus.

“The dynamic of trying to get everybody across campus to feel like entrepreneurship is accessible . . . and that there is a way for everyone at the university to engage with it, is super powerful,” said Feld, a speaker at the event. “That’s what I saw today.” 

Dan Caruso, the renowned Boulder serial entrepreneur who shared the stage with Feld that evening, also conveyed his enthusiasm. In addition to showing his support onstage at the NVC, Caruso and his wife, Cindy—both active philanthropists—are donating $2 million to support innovation, entrepreneurship and diversity at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. 

Behind this new energy is an array of coordinated campus programs that are either part of or complement the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative, given a boost by Terri Fiez, vice chancellor for research and innovation. The initiative is a high-voltage hub for the many classes, academic pathways, clubs, workshops, internships, events and competitions (such as the NVC) that foster an entrepreneurial mindset among students, faculty, staff and community partners. 

Combined with a record number of spinoff companies facilitated by the Technology Transfer Office (TTO), the campus is increasingly “walking the walk” as an innovation engine for the region, the state, the nation and the world. 

Since a reorganization in 2016 to expand its resource offerings and mission, the TTO has boasted the formation of 17 new startups (a 40 percent increase over its five-year historical average), 98 license and option deals, 184 new inventions in fiscal year 2018 (a 70 percent increase over the five-year historical average) and over $300 million raised by ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder startups. 

Catalyze ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ, a 10-week summer startup accelerator for ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ students, faculty and staff, welcomed its first cohort of companies in summer 2014. Over the past four years, Catalyze ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ has developed a track record of launching successful ventures. Selected teams receive world-class mentorship and equity-free grants to support promising ideas and technologies—from funky clothes () to a new environmentally friendly resin (). 

Meanwhile, at its 10-year mark, the NVC is fast becoming a “who’s who” of Boulder’s burgeoning startup scene. If you win the NVC, you get a good chunk of change and a higher profile among venture capitalists and other investors. 

Specdrums is a perfect example of how it all comes together. This student-founded company, which creates rings that transform ordinary surfaces into a musical keyboard based on color, participated in Catalyze ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ, then went on to win the grand prize in this year’s NVC championship. The company was recently acquired by interactive toy and robot maker Sphero. 

“The Specdrums team took an ‘all you can eat’ approach to the entrepreneurial offerings on campus by taking advantage of a range of the opportunities and resources we make available. They really embody what is possible for innovators here at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder,” Fiez said. 

Other notable innovation and entrepreneurship programs include the Global Entrepreneurs in Residence and the Campus Startup Hub at the Village Center, a new physical space for students to meet and tinker with new ideas. 

“Entrepreneurial opportunities are permeating every college and school, from law to business to music to engineering and beyond,” said Sarabeth Berk, director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative. “We’ve definitely dialed up the reach of our campus startup ecosystem.”

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Mass media representations of space weather—variable conditions in space that can affect the technological systems modern society depends on—often evoke visions of catastrophic power grid failures and global chaos. The result can be gripping film or literature but, while such worst-case scenarios are possible, they can distort our understanding of space weather’s more frequent and broader effects.

“Our concerns about space weather focus more on things like ground-induced currents disrupting power grid operations, atmospheric drag shifting satellite orbits, ionosphere disturbances interrupting high-frequency communications and GPS signals, and radiation exposure affecting satellite operability and human space activity,” said Jeffrey Thayer, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. 

These are some of the less flashy day-to-day effects of space weather, or the ebbs and flows of energy from the sun to space. Solar winds blow and bluster, disturbing satellite orbits and damaging pricey scientific instruments in space.

Minimizing the dangers posed by this flow and facilitating systemic coordination between space weather researchers and space operators are key objectives of the newly launched Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center (SWx-TREC) within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. The center, a main component of the university’s Grand Challenge: Our Space. Our Future., brings together diverse research on space weather occurring across the university and the Front Range.

The “Grand Challenge: Our Space. Our Future.” initiative launched the ambitious Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center in 2017, reinforcing ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder’s leadership in Earth and space sciences.

“It’s a recognition that space weather activities have been going on for some time at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ in a variety of capacities, in the scientific arena but also in the technological arena, including mission concepts, instrument development and satellite operations,” said Thayer, SWx-TREC principal investigator and research office lead for the center.

There’s a lot to build on, too. ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder has long been a national leader in understanding the physics of space weather and its implications for people on Earth. That reputation draws on the contributions from researchers in aerospace engineering, astrophysical and planetary sciences, atmospheric sciences, the , and more. When LASP, for example, started launching rockets into space in the 1950s and 1960s, many of these early missions explored the influence of the sun on Earth’s atmosphere.

The new ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder center, which kicked off in 2017 with a three-year mandate, will deliver practical tools for people around the world, said Thomas Berger, director of SWx-TREC. When it comes to predicting how solar winds might cause spacecraft to drift, satellite operators have few accurate resources to draw on, he said. SWx-TREC will work to develop new computer simulations that can give these operators a heads-up on impending hazards up to three days in advance. 

That’s not an easy scientific feat, Berger said. Traditional weather forecasters, for comparison, only have to worry about a relatively narrow region of Earth’s atmosphere. 

“We’re creating a forecasting system that extends weather models from zero to 60 kilometers to 1,000 kilometers to cover low Earth orbit—a much larger volume with more complex physics to deal with,” said Berger, who previously directed the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. 

SWx-TREC will also help to develop new space missions and educational opportunities at the university, including a space weather certificate that undergraduate and graduate students will soon be able to earn. 

Daniel Baker, director of LASP, added that the focus on space weather shows that ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder isn’t just interested in exploring the physics and wonder of space. The university also wants to make a difference in the lives of people on Earth. 

“We recognize that basic research is hugely important,” said Baker, a co-investigator at SWx-TREC. “But basic research that has practical utility is also extremely important in this day and age.”

Principals
Jeffrey Thayer; Thomas Berger

Funding
ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder’s Grand Challenge

Collaboration + support
Aerospace Engineering Sciences; Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences; Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES); Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP); College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and federal and commercial entities.

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How many stars does a black hole eat? The answer to this riddle, at least for some supermassive black holes, is one per year. 

New research from astrophysicist Ann-Marie Madigan and colleagues provides an explanation for the unusual way that stars circle the central black holes of certain galaxies. In such galaxies, including the Milky Way’s nearest neighbor, Andromeda, the orbits of the inner stars are elongated like a stretched-out rubber band. Such shapes are the remnants of ancient collisions between two separate galaxies. 

And they may mean dinner, the researchers found. “Eventually, a star reaches its nearest approach to the black hole, and it gets shredded,” Madigan says. In fact, that can happen at a rate of one star per Earth year, or 10,000 times more often than previous estimates suggested.

Principal investigator
Ann-Marie Madigan

Funding
NASA

Collaboration + support
University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Leicester

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What’s a feast without the occasional belch? A team led by ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Assistant Professor Julie Comerford explored another consequence of the collision between two galaxies. The researchers found evidence that the supermassive black hole sitting at the heart of a galaxy called J1354 had turned on and off not once, but twice—each time ejecting jets of hot gas far into space. The cause seemed to be another galaxy that had strayed too close to J1354. In the process, J1354’s black hole gobbled up material from the “companion” galaxy in two separate events over the span of about 100,000 years. “We are seeing this object feast, burp and nap, and then feast, burp and nap again,” Comerford says.

Principal investigator
Julie Comerford

Funding
NASA (through Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center and Space Telescope Science Institute)

Collaboration + support
R. Scott Barrows, Francisco Müller-Sánchez and Rebecca Nevin; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences; Princeton University; Trinity University; California Institute of Technology

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ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder researchers are investigating collisions between much smaller objects in space. In this case, it’s the specks of dust that spin around a star in the early life of a solar system. 

A team led by Senior Research Associate Jacob Simon set out to discover how such cosmic dust bunnies could become enormous planets like Earth or Jupiter. Theory suggests that these tiny grains glom together over time to form asteroids called planetesimals, which can then form planets. 

Simon and his colleagues, however, wanted to know if starting conditions matter in such a process. In other words, can a collection of pea-sized fragments form the same range of planetesimals as rocks the size of plums? 

Using computer simulations, the team discovered that the answer was yes. It turns out that, with enough time, even the smallest speck can become a Jupiter.

Principal investigator
Jacob Simon

Funding
NASA; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Collaboration + support
Philip Armitage; JILA; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences; Southwest Research Institute; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Arizona

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There’s no I in drone. 

A new project led by Professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences Eric Frew is exploring how teams of drones could work together to gather information even without a pilot—a feat of coordination that could be useful for monitoring wildlife from on high or finding hikers lost in the wilderness. 

To enable the study, Frew and his colleagues obtained a first-of-its-kind approval from the Federal Aviation Administration that allows a single operator to control multiple drones at once. 

The researchers, part of the Integrating Remote and In Situ Sensing (IRISS) initiative, tested their linked drones over three weeks at the Pawnee National Grassland near Greeley, ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ. The planes were successful at working together to locate and chase down moving radio beacons.

Principal investigator
Eric Frew

Funding
ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Grand Challenge; Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Collaboration + support
Federal Aviation Administration; Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

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