Innovation and entrepreneurship leaders from UCCS and the CU system recently traveled to Palo Alto, California, to visit Stanford University’s famous Design School (d.school), exploring the ways it approaches teaching and learning. “The CU system is recognized as one of the leading hubs for innovation in the world,” said Benjamin Kwitek, Ph.D., director of innovation and co-founder of C3 Innovation at UCCS. “We need to make sure we continue to learn from the best to increase our edge and fuel the economic vitality of Colorado and beyond.”
October is widely known as the spookiest month of the year and not just because of Halloween. It’s also Cybersecurity Awareness Month, when we consider how to protect ourselves from cybercriminals lurking in dark corners on the internet. Fortunately, Brad Judy, CU’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and the university’s cybersecurity teams make things a lot less scary. Every day, they’re hard at work navigating the latest cyberthreats to keep CU and its information secure while shining a light on how we can reduce our risks online.
Following its successful debut last year, CU’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Showcase returns Sept. 15 as part of Colorado Startup Week in downtown Denver. The shift helps signify the power of CU’s innovation engine, which continues to drive change and impact across the state and nation. This year’s showcase includes Inspiration Hall, an expo with more than 60 innovators, entrepreneurs and industry leaders displaying and demonstrating their work; and a keynote session featuring world-class innovators sharing their experiences.
The 2025 CU Presidential Outreach Tour concluded last week with a visit to Colorado’s Western Slope, where President Todd Saliman, Regent Ray Scott and system administration leaders visited Mesa and Montrose counties. The tour capped off CU’s summer effort to strengthen relationships with communities across the state, demonstrating how CU is for all of Colorado.
Five University of Colorado researchers have been named to the 2025 class of Boettcher Investigators, each receiving a $250,000 grant from the Boettcher Foundation’s Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program. This year’s class, announced May 22 by the Boettcher Foundation and the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), represents the next generation of scientific excellence and marks another milestone in the Boettcher Foundation’s 16-year commitment to strengthening Colorado’s biomedical research ecosystem.
The CU system office and CU Boulder have won a $220,000 award after participating in the inaugural Scalable Tech Track Adopters cohort, an initiative of Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). “We’re proud to be leading the way in implementing real-world solutions that directly impact our campus and the broader community,” President Todd Saliman said. “This project highlights CU’s continued dedication to sustainability, and we’re excited by its potential for use in other CU buildings and a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
The University of Colorado Board of Regents has announced the 2025 list of individuals receiving Honorary Degrees, Distinguished Service Awards and University Medals. Honorary Degrees recognize outstanding achievement in one or more of the following areas: intellectual contributions, university service, philanthropy and/or public service. Distinguished Service Awards recognize those persons whose achievements and contributions are particularly associated with the state and/or nation. University Medals recognize those persons whose achievements and contributions are particularly associated with the university.
The Board of Regents Finance Committee on Wednesday received some preliminary data on the CU system’s economic impact: $11.6 billion across the state last year, significant dividends of the four CU campuses delivering exceptional teaching, research, community engagement and health care. As detailed during the committee’s meeting held via webinar, the total economic impact grows to an even more impressive $19.3 billion when also factoring in CU’s two affiliate hospitals – UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado – at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The figures come from a new study of the 2023-24 fiscal year completed by the Business Research Division of CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and part of cybersecurity awareness is understanding how cybercrime connects with your daily life and work. “Cybercrime is not just a distant news story,” said David Capps, chief information security officer for the University of Colorado system. “It is a daily reality for the CU community and our information security teams are your partners in tackling this modern crime wave.” Everyone at CU can work together to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of attempted cybercrime.
On Oct. 4, the University of Colorado Showcase will bring together all that is great about entrepreneurship and innovation across the four campuses. Among those taking part in the event, helping to represent the CU community’s diverse industries and perspectives, is UCCS alumnus Rafael De La Vega. He is the founder and CEO of Salt, a sports-tech company specializing in odor-control solutions for athletic applications.
