Solar 05 Page 2

RESEARCHERS AND LEARNERS

Students from two CU campuses won the 2005 Solar Decathlon competition in Washington, D.C. Students from the College of Architecture and Planning and the College of Engineering and Applied Science collaborated on the 800-square-foot solar home. Constructed in Colorado, the home made the 2,500-mile round trip to the nation’s capitol using 100 percent biodiesel fuel made from vegetable oil. CU previously won the competition in 2002, and regained the top spot at the 2005 national competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The competition challenged students to design and build the most attractive, efficient and comfortable solar home, while educating the public about alternative energy technologies. CU’s solar home was a two-year effort, with Professors Julee Herdt of architecture and Michael Brandemuehl of engineering serving as faculty advisers. The CU home features patent-pending structural insulated panels containing bio-based foam (called Bio-SIPs) and a retractable roof that can be raised two feet to create a cathedral ceiling to allow for added daytime lighting. Team members included graduate students Jeff Lyng, Frank Burkholder, Kristin Field, Adam Courtney and Jon Previtali and undergraduate students Mark Cruz, Drew Bailey, Jimmy Chambers, Bryce Colwell, James Dixon, Jacob Uhl and Ryan Drumm.

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evening CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business MBA students, Geoff Synder and Jeanine Lee, have worked with Roger Kram, associate professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, to evaluate the business aspects of his leg swing invention during their business plan class with Frank Moyes, instructor in the CU-Boulder Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. While studying the muscle activation and metabolic requirements of walking, Kram developed a system that prevents falls and enables active facilitation of the leg swing needed to walk.

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Just the Facts - Research and Graduate Education

● Hamilton

Bean, a CU-Boulder PhD student, received a $5,000 fellowship from the National Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Bean is working on a qualitative study of how federal agencies use e-mail threat bulletins to assess terrorism-related information. The Department of Homeland Security sponsored the grant via START.