ARRA and CU

lion construction award for its

new Systems Biotech Building, the

University of Colorado at Boulder

ranks No. 1 among its peers for

NIH funding, according to the CU

Office of the Vice President for

Finance.

CU-Boulder’s NIH grants

funded by federal stimulus dollars

put it ahead of peers such as the

University of California-Berkeley,

the University of Oregon, the

University of Texas-Austin and the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Compared to its peers for Na-

tional Science Foundation grants

funded through ARRA, CU-

Boulder ranks third behind the

University of Illinois and UC-

Berkeley.

See ARRA grants, Page 2

DENVER — University of Colo-

rado researchers were highly

competitive in the American Re-

covery and Reinvestment Act, or

ARRA, research grant process.

CU researchers applied for

more than 920 research grants

totaling $564.8 million. As of April

12, 2010, they had received 279

ARRA grants totaling $151 million.

Like other sponsored research

awards, the stimulus grants can

only be used for specific research

projects, and cannot be redirected

to CU’s general fund.

And, while the grants advance

the work of CU researchers, they

cannot make up for steep state

funding cuts to higher education.

“I know how hard our faculty

researchers worked to win these

awards,” said CU President Bruce

D. Benson. “In a down economy,

this kind of financial support can-

not be underestimated.”

The National Institutes of

Health provided most of the uni-

versity’s ARRA research awards.

The NIH has awarded CU 194

research grants totaling $82 mil-

lion.

With the addition of a $15 mil-

CU researchers are highly competitive in ARRA grant process

CU backfills budget with state stabilization funds in 2009-10

DENVER — Federal stimulus

dollars are helping the University

of Colorado weather one of the

worst economic downturns in

memory.

In fiscal year 2009-10, CU was

awarded $121 million in ARRA

“state fiscal stabilization” funds to

backfill its budget and make up for

deep state funding cuts.

CU has received two types of

ARRA dollars: research awards

(see above) and state fiscal stabili-

zation funds administered by the

governor’s office. CU used the

latter to help offset state cuts.

Both pools are one-time funding

that will disappear in fiscal year

2011. To prepare for what is being

described as a “fiscal cliff,” the

university is implementing work

force reductions, administrative

efficiencies, and is searching for

revenue-enhancing opportunities.

“Our budget is being squeezed,

and we are searching for ways to

cut our costs even more,” said

Kelly Fox, CU’s chief financial

officer.

See BUDGET, Page 2

University of Colorado: Boulder Colorado Springs Denver Anschutz Medical Campus

April 2010

ARRA and CU How t h e Amer i c an Re cove r y a nd Re i nve s tmen t Ac t i s He l p i n g t h e Un ive r s i t y o f C o l o rado

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

ARRA Research Grants

by the Numbers

AMC/UC Denver

139 grants, $58 million

CU-Boulder


UCCS

Six grants, $1.7 million

Total CU System


Inside this issue:

State centralizes ARRA reporting

2

Stimulus supports capital projects

3

NIH challenge grants

4

Prof searchers for better batteries

5

Grants mean sum-mer jobs

5

ARRA advances space research

7

Young researchers win big, too

7

ARRA from Page 1

The University of Colorado

Anschutz Medical Campus is

fourth among peers for NIH

stimulus grants after Oregon

Health and Science University, the

University of Texas Southwestern

Medical Center at Dallas and the

University of Medicine and Den-

tistry of New Jersey.

The CU system’s next largest

granting agency was the NSF with

76 awards worth $34 million.

CU researchers also received

grant awards from the federal

Department of Human Health and

Services, the Department of En-

ergy, the Department of Education

and the Department of Agricul-

ture.

The university’s largest ARRA

research grant came from NASA,

the National Oceanic and Atmos-

pheric Administration, and the

Department of Commerce.

The $26 million in funds will

support an existing contract, and

will enable scientists at CU-

Boulder’s LASP (Laboratory for

Atmospheric and Space Physics)

to launch a climate change moni-

toring project that will gather data

for climatologists around the

globe.

On Feb. 17, 2009, President

Barack Obama signed the $787

billion ARRA into law in Denver.

Of the funding set aside to help

stimulate the U.S. economy, only 3

percent was directed toward sci-

ence-related construction and

research.

Peer comparisons on Pages 8-9

puses to compile information. The

Office of the Vice President for

Finance then synthesized the data

to meet state and federal report-

ing requirements.

“This was a huge undertaking,”

said CU Deputy Controller Roger

A. Cusworth. “We had to keep

track of state fiscal stabilization

funds as well as 272 different re-

search grants from large federal

DENVER — The federal govern-

ment required an unprecedented

reporting process to track federal

stimulus funding, university admin-

istrators said.

To meet the requirements, the

state implemented a centralized

reporting system. The University

of Colorado system administration

put its own centralized process

into place, as well, asking its cam-

funding agencies such as the NIH.”

The overall auditing process

required CU to report 99 differ-

ent types of data, including work

location, dollars spent, contrac-

tors (if any), and others, he said.

CU met its first reporting dead-

line in October 2009, and is sub-

mitting additional reports every

three months.

ARRA grants to help CU faculty advance scientific research

State, CU centralize ARRA reporting process

Budget reductions necessary as state cuts higher education

an uncertain future.

The university has cut 339 per-

manent positions, and top univer-

sity leadership have taken a 5 per-

cent pay cut.

CU expects to reduce its budget

by $51 million before the end of

fiscal year 2010-11 to offset a

permanent reduction to its state

funding base, Fox said.

CU President Bruce D. Benson

said the university could not wait

to implement cost-cutting meas-

ures to offset state funding cuts,

because Colorado citizens expect

CU to be a good public steward.

“We are taking prudent steps to

ensure we sustain our academic

and research enterprises, and

continue to serve our students

and the state,” he said.

www.cu.edu/cubudgets

BUDGET from Page 1

Since July 2009, CU’s state fund-

ing has plummeted by nearly 60

percent. About 3.3 percent of the

university’s annual budget now

stems from state contributions.

Ongoing higher education cuts

in Colorado are posing unprece-

dented challenges for public uni-

versities, and CU has adopted

proactive measures to prepare for

“Our budget is being

squeezed, and we are

searching for ways to

cut our costs even

more.” — Kelly Fox,

CU’s Chief Financial

Officer

Page 2 ARRA and CU

CU President Bruce D.

Benson recognized the

efforts of faculty who ap-

plied for research grants.

Colorado implemented a

centralized reporting proc-

ess to track federal stimu-

lus dollars.

DENVER — What’s the differ-

ence between state fiscal stabiliza-

tion funds and ARRA research

grants? How are federal stimulus

dollars helping higher education in

Colorado?

These are a few of the questions

the public can find answers for at

a university Web site dedicated to

tracking federal stimulus funding

received by the University of

Colorado’s four campuses.

The site is part of CU’s strategy

to keep the public apprised of the

ARRA reporting process, and how

federal stimulus funds have bene-

fited the university.

The Web site features profiles

on researchers and how they are

using ARRA grants to advance

their scientific work in fields as

varied as medicine, earth sciences

and atmospheric and space phys-

ics.

Visitors also can get grant totals

by campus and federal agency, and

read about press coverage on CU

projects funded by federal stimu-

lus dollars.

“This site is a useful tool for

our faculty, staff and other stake-

holders,” said Leonard Dinegar,

senior vice president for admini-

stration and the president’s chief

of staff.

“It’s also an important part of

our efforts to hold ourselves ac-

countable to students, faculty,

donors and all of our stake-

holders,” he added.

Visit the CU ARRA Web site,

at www.cu.edu/stimulus

zette of Colorado Springs.

In December, Richard J.

Traystman, Ph.D., vice chancellor

for research at UC Denver, inter-

viewed with several media outlets

to describe the competitive proc-

ess medical researchers followed

to win their grants.

“In fact, it is what I have re-

ferred to as a grant frenzy,”

Traystman told Colorado Public


rado researchers began submitting

grant proposals for federal stimu-

lus funding last spring, and their

stories have since garnered signifi-

cant press coverage.

Stories about CU researchers

and their ARRA-funded projects

have appeared in The Denver Post,

the Denver Business Journal, the

Boulder Daily Camera and The Ga-

Radio. “Everybody is writing

grants.”

Traystman told the Denver Busi-

ness Journal the stimulus dollars

had the potential to uncover sci-

entific breakthroughs and spin off

new companies in Colorado.

Read more press coverage at

www.cu.edu/stimulus

CU system stimulus Web site a portal for the public

Colorado press covers research projects funded by stimulus dollars

approved the allocation of the

volume cap for three projects that

will benefit the CU Anschutz

Medical Campus.

The projects include the

Fitzsimons Village, a full-service

hotel and conference center

southwest of the campus; the

Colorado Science and Technology

Park at Fitzsimons, and the Hyatt

Place Hotel; and a Denver Health

adolescent psychiatry facility that

will provide training opportunities

to health care professionals.

These private facility bonds are

tax exempt for public or privately

owned projects that can include

public-private partnerships. The

projects must promote develop-

ment in an economic recovery

zone.

http://

www.forestcityscience.net/

AURORA, Colo. — Colorado

received $148.5 million in private

facility bonds for capital projects

that are owned by or will benefit

higher education institutions.

State law requires the Recovery

Zone Private Facility Bond volume

cap to be allocated for projects

approved by the Colorado Com-

mission on Higher Education.

In December, the commission

The Colorado

Commission on Higher

Education approved

three projects to

benefit the Anschutz

Medical Campus.

Page 3

Federal stimulus funds support capital projects to benefit CU

S to r i e s f r om t h e F i e l d

Emily Yeh, an assistant

geography professor at CU

-Boulder, is one of several

CU researchers profiled at

the CU ARRA Web site.

Richard Traystman

AURORA, Colo. — The Univer-

sity of Colorado Anschutz Medical

Campus’ Research One will get a

much-needed energy efficiency

makeover.

Federal stimulus dollars chan-

neled through the Qualified En-

ergy Conservation Bonds, or

QECB, program are funding two

projects worth a combined $4.3

million.

Adopted by Congress in 2008,

the program aims to reduce the

nation’s energy consumption.

“These projects will apply ad-

vanced and proven energy effi-

ciency technologies that will dem-

onstrate benefits in decreased

electric consumption and green-

house gas emissions,” said M. Roy

Wilson, M.D., chancellor of the

University of Colorado Denver.

“In addition, the projects are

providing architecture, engineer-

ing, manufacturing and construc-

tion jobs,” he said.

Last year, ARRA appropriated

$32.2 billion nationally to fund

QECB projects. The bonds are no

-interest loans, and the principal is

repaid over a 10-year period from

savings realized from the projects.

In Colorado, the Governor’s

Energy Office is responsible for

allocating $45 million in available

funds.

Upgrades at Research One will

improve the facility’s HVAC sys-

tem and retrofit the north and

south towers with more energy

efficient equipment., campus offi-

cials said.

Metabolism and Diabetes, is col-

laborating with colleagues in Colo-

rado and from New York’s Me-

morial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center on a two-year project

focused on primary cancer cell

research.

“This challenge grant was a real

honor for our research program

here at UCD, since there are

many excellent labs from around

AURORA, Colo. — A $1 mil-

lion NIH challenge grant will ad-

vance the University of Colorado’s

international reputation as a

leader in the field of thyroid can-

cer research, a CU grant recipient

said.

Bryan Haugen, M.D., a professor

of medicine and pathology at the

CU School of Medicine and head

of the Division of Endocrinology,

the country competing for this

funding,” Haugen said. “It opens

up a new avenue of research that

we would likely not have been

otherwise able to do.”

Haugen said postdoctoral fel-

lows at CU and elsewhere already

are making good use of cell lines

generated through the ARRA-

funded study to corroborate pre-

vious cancer research.

Bond projects to improve energy efficiency at Research One

CU researcher’s challenge grant ‘opens up new avenue’

NIH issues list of challenge grants for highest priority research

science research deemed impor-

tant enough to speed through the

federal funding pipeline. Research

progress is expected in two years.

To qualify for the challenge

grants, CU researchers had to

establish that their work would

advance NIH goals in 15 areas.

The NIH identified areas aimed

at addressing specific knowledge

gaps, and those that focus on sci-

entific opportunities, new tech-

nologies, data generation and

innovative research methods.

Challenge areas cited by the

NIH included behavioral change

and prevention; bioethics; bio-

marker discovery and validation;

clinical research; genomics; health

disparities; regenerative medicine;

and stem cell research.

See related story below.


rado researchers have received 17

“challenge grants” worth $12.3

million in ARRA funding from the

National Institutes of Health.

The NIH designated $200 mil-

lion in fiscal year 2009-10 for the

NIH Challenge Grants in Health

and Science Research.

The new program funded more

than 200 grants for health and

The NIH designated

$200 million in FY

2009-10 for the

Challenge Grants in

Health and Science

Research.

Page 4 ARRA and CU : Stor i e s f rom the F ie ld

Research One will get an

energy efficiency make-

over through the QECB

program.

Bryan Haugen, M.D.

BOULDER, Colo. — Twenty

University of Colorado at Boulder

students earned invaluable, hands-

on research experience last sum-

mer thanks to National Institutes

of Health grants.

“It’s great to have a summer job

where I am gaining valuable ex-

perience, and one where I am

given a great deal of responsibility

to help with real-world research,”

said undergraduate student

Makenzie Lewis.

Lewis worked in the lab of psy-

chology and neuroscience Profes-

sor Linda R. Watkins, Ph.D.,

where she helped with research

aimed at improving the clinical

effectiveness of pain control drugs.

The summer jobs were made

possible by $200,000 in ARRA-

funded grants from the NIH. Last

summer, more than 3,000 high

school and college students na-

tionwide worked in research labs

funded by federal stimulus dollars.

“The students working with me

would not have been able to par-

ticipate in research over the sum-

mer if it had not been for these

stimulus funds,” Watkins said.

“Our students are working on

projects all the way from cell cul-

ture to molecular biology to phar-

macology to anatomy.”

CU-Boulder students also

worked in labs focusing on diet,

exercise and vascular aging, herpes

virus cures, tissue engineering and

regeneration, and the effect of

neuromuscular changes on the

steadiness of older adults.

NIH grants mean hands-on experience for CU students

“This allows me to do independ-

ent research.”

Plett’s grant also is making it

possible for him to supervise

UCCS graduate students who are

helping him conduct research the

general auto industry may not

necessarily be interested in—right

now.

That could soon change. Plett is

collaborating with University of

Michigan and General Motors

engineers on an advanced battery

coalition funded by a $5 million

ARRA grant. In total, Plett will

receive $750,000 in research dol-

lars over the next five years.

So far, the electrical and com-

puter engineer has used the fund-

ing to buy lab equipment to collect

data and monitor electric battery

quality.

This summer Plett and his team

will collaborate on a project with a

Colorado company.

“Colorado is home to a number

of EV (electric vehicle) industries.

We look forward to being able to

work with them to help them suc-

ceed,” he said.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

— Gregory Plett likes innovation.

Visit his Web site, and you'll see a

photo of the smiling engineering

professor on a Segway, the upright

electric device billed as the

world’s leader for “personal green

transportation.”

It’s obvious that Plett, an associ-

ate professor of engineering at the

University of Colorado at Colo-

rado Springs, is keenly interested

in clean energy alternatives—

especially electric batteries for

electric and hybrid vehicles.

Last year, he received a

$415,477 ARRA grant from the

National Science Foundation to

search for high-performing batter-

ies for cars and trucks of the fu-

ture.

“This grant is very important. In

the past, I have been dependent

on industry to supply data, and the

priorities of industry and academia

are not always the same,” he said.

“In the past, I have

been dependent on

industry to supply

data, and the priorities

of industry and

academia are not

always the same.” —

Gregory Plett, Ph.D.

Page 5

UCCS engineering professor searches for better car batteries


Makenzie Lewis was

one of 20 CU-Boulder

students who worked in

five research labs last sum-

mer thanks to ARRA

grants.

New equipment

will allow UCCS

researcher

Gregory Plett,

Ph.D., to gather

data on battery

cells and systems

for electric car

batteries.

BOULDER, Colo. — A Univer-

sity of Colorado at Boulder com-

puter science professor has

launched a five-year study to find

out how technology can empower

low-income families who want to

get fit and manage health issues.

Katie Siek, Ph.D., received a

$600,000 ARRA grant through the

National Science Foundation’s

Faculty Early Career Development

(CAREER) program to start her

research.

The funding enabled her to hire

several student research assis-

tants, who are volunteering at two

Denver community centers.

The team is working in an

emerging field called “wellness

informatics,” and will help people

establish personal health records,

or PHRs. Siek said her study

would contribute to CU’s growing

base of related research at CU-

Boulder and UC Denver.

Step Diet: Count Steps, not Calo-

ries to Lose Weight and Keep it

off Forever,” and his lab has stud-

ied obesity prevention for the past

10 years.

“The University of Colorado

Denver is gaining a reputation as

one of the best, if not the best,

obesity research centers in the

world,” Hill said.

“ARRA funding has helped by

AURORA, Colo. — James O.

Hill, Ph.D., is stepping up his re-

search over the next two years

with the help of a $1.5 million

ARRA research grant from the

National Institutes of Health.

Co-founder of America on the

Move, Hill is a pediatrics professor

in the CU School of Medicine and

director of the Center for Human

Nutrition. He co-authored “The

facilitating research that contrib-

utes to our reputation.”

Hill’s NIH grant created three

new jobs in his lab, and has helped

him provide salary and benefits to

existing staff, he said.

The Colorado Nutrition Obe-

sity Research Center and the

Look AHEAD: Action for Health

in Diabetes trial will also benefit

from Hill’s NIH grant.

Can technology help low-income families get and stay fit?

Hill steps up obesity research with NIH grant

UCCC docs win ARRA grant to study head, neck cancer

tumor’s bulk, making it difficult to

find them.

“Scientists have identified mark-

ers for cancer stem cells in hema-

topoetic cancers and skin cancer,

but head and neck cancer stem

cells are significantly short of

markers,” said Xiao-Jing Wang,

M.D., director of the UCCC head

and neck cancer program. “If you

know the marker, you can target

it for treatment.”

Some 55,000 Americans were

diagnosed with head and neck

cancer in 2009, according to the

American Academy of Otolaryn-

gology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Wang’s co-investigators are

medical oncologist Antonio

Jimeno, M.D., Ph.D., oral surgeon

John Song, M.D., and medical pul-

monologist Stephen Malkowski,

M.D., Ph.D.

AURORA, Colo. — University

of Colorado Cancer Center doc-

tors have won several National

Institutes of Health challenge

grants. Among them is a two-year,

$870,000 study to pinpoint bio-

logical markers for head and neck

cancer stem cells.

Scientists believe cancer stem

cells start most cancers. But the

cells make up less than 0.1 per-

cent, or one in 1,000 cells, of a Xiao-Jing Wang, M.D.

Page 6 ARRA and CU : Stor i e s f rom the F ie ld

Computer science

Professor Katie

Siek (center) and

her students will use

ARRA funds to con-

duct “wellness infor-

matics.” (CU photo

by Glenn J. Asakawa)

In 2007, the National

Science Foundation

ranked CU seventh

among public institu-

tions in federal re-

search and develop-

ment expenditures in

engineering and sci-

ence.

James O. Hill, Ph.D., is a

nationally renowned obe-

sity prevention expert.

DENVER — As of April 12,

2010, University of Colorado

researchers had been awarded

279 research grants funded by

federal stimulus dollars.

CU investigators have received

ARRA funding for a wide array of

projects. Cancer research, space

exploration, technology and obe-

sity prevention are only a few

examples of the areas covered.

Other grants won by CU re-

searchers include a $1.4 million

grant to study leukemia; an $11

million grant to be shared among

five research centers to study fatal

lung diseases; and a $500,000

grant to study the effectiveness of

digital and synthetic communica-

tion devices for children with

neurodevelopmental disabilities.

CU researchers also are using

stimulus dollars to search for new

thyroid cancer cell lines; to under-

stand China’s emerging environ-

mental movement; to delve into

seasonal Arctic sea ice loss; and to

search for better treatments for a

devastating respiratory condition

that afflicts people who have spent

seven days or more connected to

a mechanical ventilator support.

ARRA grants also are support-

ing the work of the university’s

newest investigators. Among them

are (at right, from top left) Mi-

chael Hermele, Tobin Munsat,

Alysia Marino and Arthi Jayara-

man.

The CU-Boulder assistant pro-

fessors are sharing in a pool of

$85 million in stimulus funding to

advance the work of early career

scientists.

Broad array of CU research being funded by stimulus dollars

with wavelength. Both are needed

to determine the Earth’s energy

balance, to understand how

sunlight interacts with Earth’s

surface and atmosphere, and how

climate responds to changes from

the sun’s output.

The data will help scientists

worldwide differentiate between

natural climate change, and change

caused by humans, said principal

investigator Peter Pilewskie.

Up to 300 jobs nationwide

could be affiliated with the project

at the height of manufacturing.

The mission also will involve about

15 to 20 CU-Boulder undergradu-

ate and graduate students.

B O U L D E R , C o l o . —

Researchers at the University of

Colorado at Boulder’s LASP

(Laboratory for Atmospheric and

Space Physics) will use $26 million

in ARRA funding to develop solar

instruments to monitor global

climate change.

The project has been seven

years in the making. It is being

funded by a $44 million federal

contract that includes an ARRA

grant the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) gave to NASA, and

NASA gave to LASP.

Known as the Total Solar Irradi-

ance Sensor, or TSIS, the CU

instruments are scheduled for

delivery in 2012, and for launch in

the 2013 timeframe as part of the

NASA/NOAA Joint Polar Satellite

System, or JPSS.

The CU instruments will meas-

ure the total light from the sun

and how sunlight is distributed

Page 7

LASP to play big role in climate change research


Artist’s concept of JPSS courtesy of NOAA

CU receives more

NASA funding

than any other

public research

university in the

United States.

CU has 18 alumni

astronauts.

CU is the only

research institution

in the world to

have designed and

built NASA instru-

ments that have

launched to every

planet in the solar

system.

Four CU-Boulder re-

searchers are among 69

nationwide who will share

$85 million in stimulus

dollars to support innova-

tive early career research.

Peer groups as determined by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS)

ARRA NIH grants: How CU stacks up

“Scientific inquiry and

discovery play an

essential role in both

short-term recovery

and long-term

economic growth.”

Page 8 ARRA and CU: Stor ies f rom the F ie ld

The CU Anschutz Medical

Campus ranks fourth among

peers for NIH research

grant awards.

As of March 2010, CU-

Boulder ranked No. 1

among its peers for NIH

stimulus grant awards.

“CU has been

extremely successful in

having research

proposals funded by

agencies supported by

ARRA.”

Page 9 S to r i e s f r om t h e F i e l d

CU research gets long-term boost from stimulus dollars

DENVER — The American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act,

or ARRA, set aside $21.5 billion

for scientific research and devel-

opment, the purchase of scientific

equipment, and science-related

construction projects.

While one of the smallest pieces

of the stimulus measure—less

than 3 percent of the total $787

billion—this funding will have a

long-lasting affect on higher educa-

tion in Colorado and elsewhere.

“Scientific inquiry and discovery

play an essential role in both short

-term recovery and long-term

economic growth,” federal policy-

makers wrote in an ARRA report.

University of Colorado cam-

puses have been extremely suc-

cessful in having research propos-

als funded by agencies supported

by ARRA. Research funding is a

highly competitive process to start

with, and the recovery act’s short

deadlines raised the stakes for

researchers across the United

States seeking funds for new and

ongoing projects.

Many of these projects have

been years in the making, and CU

researchers expressed gratitude

for additional federal dollars set

aside to speed their projects

through the funding pipeline.

When compared to their peers,

CU’s campuses are leaders in their

research endeavors. With regard

to ARRA funding, CU stacks up

well against peer institutions, too.

Most of CU’s ARRA awards

have been from the National Insti-

tutes of Health, or the NIH, and

the National Science Foundation.

As of the last week of March

2010, CU had received $81 million

from the NIH and $34 million from

the NSF. However, award data

changes daily as new grants are

reported or current ones are

modified, according to Teresa

Osborne, director of capital assets

in the CU Office of the Vice Presi-

dent for Finance.

The charts on these two pages

illustrate how competitive the

University of Colorado Denver

and Anschutz Medical Campus and

the University of Colorado at

Boulder have been during the

ARRA research grant process.

For more than a year, the CU

system has worked with the cam-

puses to aggregate all of the uni-

versity’s federal stimulus funding

data, Osborne said.

Research funding is a highly

competitive process, and

CU researchers are lead-

ers among their peers.

At the end of March 2010,

CU-Boulder ranked third

among its peers for ARRA

research grants allocated

by the National Science

Foundation.

Stories from the Field

“There are exciting

opportunities for a new

generation of leaders

who understand net-

working, wireless com-

munication and secu-

rity in the context of

the energy industry.”

— Timothy Brown,

Ph.D.

Need more information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)? Check these Web sites for

more details about federal stimulus funding:

www.cu.edu/stimulus

www.colorado.gov/recovery

www.recovery.gov

CU will train a ‘smart grid’ work force for Colorado’s future

CU-Boulder receives funding to train workers for green economy

BOULDER, Colo. — The Uni-

versity of Colorado at Boulder

will play a key role in training a

high-tech work force for the

state’s new energy economy.

CU-Boulder is home to one of

54 programs nationwide that

shared nearly $100 million in fed-

eral stimulus funding to build

training programs focused on

smart-grid technologies.

CU-Boulder Professor Timothy

Brown, Ph.D., director of the

campus’s Interdisciplinary Tele-

communications Program, will

help oversee the effort, which will

be funded by $2.4 million in ARRA

dollars.

“We know that our future gen-

erations will use and create energy

differently than we do, and smart-

grid technologies will be critical to

how we manage our energy con-

sumption,” Gov. Bill Ritter said in

an April 12, communiqué an-

nouncing the ARRA grant.

“Congratulations to CU-Boulder

for receiving these funds and mov-

ing Colorado forward.”

The U.S. Department of Energy

made the ARRA funding available

to CU-Boulder, which will use the

money to build a sustainable engi-

neering graduate program with a

focus on networking, wireless

communications and cyber-security

within electric power systems.

The program is for students

seeking a master’s degree or a

shorter certificate, and can be

completed on campus or through

online courses.

The joint program will be of-

fered by the Interdisciplinary Tele-

communications Program and the

department of electrical, com-

puter and energy engineering in

the CU-Boulder College of Engi-

neering and Applied Science.

The Department of Energy said

the funding would help the nation

prepare the next generation of

workers in the utility and electri-

cal manufacturing industries. Some

30,000 Americans are expected to

receive training under the pro-

grams.

“New technologies for distrib-

uted generation, communications

and control, facilities automation,

renewable energy sources and

operations management are all

changing the work force require-

ments for the industry,” Brown

said.

“There are exciting opportuni-

ties for a new generation of lead-

ers who understand networking,

wireless communication and secu-

rity in the context of the energy

industry,” he added.

Timothy Brown, Ph.D.

The University of Colorado is a premier public research university with four campuses: the University of Colorado at

Boulder, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado An-

schutz Medical Campus. Academic prestige is marked by the university’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows,

18 alumni astronauts and 19 Rhodes Scholars. Learn more at www.cu.edu.

University of Colorado at Boulder,

founded 1876

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs,

founded in 1965

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical

Campus, founded in 1999

University of Colorado Denver, founded in

1912

University of Colorado Boulder Colorado Springs Denver Anschutz Medical Campus

http://www.colorado.edu




http://www.uccs.edu

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http://www.uccs.edu

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University of Colorado, Office of the President 1800 Grant St., Suite 800

Denver, CO 80203-5627

Main: 303-860-5600 Fax: 303-860-5610

[email protected]

Media Contact: Deborah Méndez-Wilson, Director of Communications, University Relations, 303-860-5627

[email protected]

Documents

ARRA and CU