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“I hope to help inspire the next generation of space explorers,” said Voss, who earned his master's degree in aerospace engineering at CU-Boulder in 1974 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2000. He holds the Roubos Endowed Chair in Engineering, which is supported by a gift from CU-Boulder alumni Gary and Terie Roubos. He also will serve as an ambassador for CU, speaking at local events and promoting the college and campus. “Jim brings a wealth of hands-on experience that will benefit both the educational and research missions of our university,” said Dean Robert Davis. “It is a privilege to have him on our faculty.” Voss was a U.S. Army flight test engineer before he went to work at NASA's Johnson Space Center in 1984. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987, after which he trained for Space Shuttle flights and as a back-up crew member to the Russian space station Mir. His first spaceflight came in 1991, and he flew again in 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2001. During 2001, Voss lived on board the International Space Station for 163 days as a member of the Expedition2 crew. At CU Voss will teach a new undergraduate course, “Introduction to Human Space Flight,” mentor graduate student projects in the area of human space flight, and help to develop the department's graduate program in bioastronautics. You can hear Jim Voss speak at the CU Engineering’s Denver Alumni Event on Thursday, November 12 at the Museum of Nature and Science. >>More info CU Researchers to Build Next-Gen Technology for Emergency Response
Assistant Professor Leysia Palen has conducted extensive research on people's use of social networking sites such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook during disasters ranging from hurricanes to wildfires. Now, a nearly $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation will help take her group’s leading-edge investigations to the next level. The new grant is aimed at developing a suite of specialized mobile and Web applications that will integrate information from multiple social media sources to help users assess the context, validity, source, credibility, and timeliness of the information generated by citizens during emergencies. Palen will work with her colleagues in the computer science department to develop tools that make the information posted by citizens more accessible, comprehensible, and trustworthy to help people make safe decisions and coordinate with family, neighbors, and officials during times of crisis. “When situations are dire, and the magnitude of an emergency affects a region, we know that people are quite resourceful at doing what they can to survive and to help others,” Palen said. “Today this means turning to online sources to collate information from many places to try to make the best decisions possible.”
CU Student Studying Alternatives to Burning Coal in ChinaCivil engineering graduate student Abby Watrous is on her second year-long visit to China, tracking a contributing factor to one of the world’s worst environmental problems. The fourth-generation engineer from New Jersey was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2009-10 academic year to develop hands-on teaching modules on renewable energy for Chinese and American elementary students, while researching alternatives to coal for cooking and heating in rural China. China is the world’s top producer and consumer of coal. In addition to generating about 75 percent of the country’s electricity, coal is burned in home stoves, especially in rural areas where almost 700 million people live. Cheap and abundant, coal exacts a heavy toll on human health and the environment with its high levels of carbon dioxide emissions. “I’m looking at the data on what people are burning, what kind of stoves they use, and how much energy they’re using,” Watrous said. “On a small scale the coal fumes are not healthy for the women and their children. On a larger scale the fumes are affecting climate change.” Watrous, who has taught Colorado youngsters about engineering as a National Science Foundation graduate fellow for two years, also has written an instructional booklet on renewable energy for English and Chinese elementary students titled Let’s Explore Energy.
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