Environmental Design

Mean machine

Ellie Chase — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:59:38 +0000

Mean machine Ellie Chase Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:59

Joe Arney

Illustrations by Dana Heimes

“What are you doing about A.I.?”

Outside of where to find a good cup of coffee or what the Wi-Fi password is, there’s perhaps no question you’re more likely to hear on a campus than how
generative artificial intelligence is changing the college experience.

Mostly, you’ll hear how professors are teaching students to use it like a tool, not a magic trick, or to think critically about it. But that’s exactly what they said about Wikipedia a generation ago. What’s really happening around A.I.?

We asked people across CMDI to tell us how they’re actually studying and using—or not—A.I., whether in teaching, practice, research or creativity. (And for fun, we asked each person to describe A.I. in one word.) Here are their stories.

‘Apocaloptimist’

“Move fast and break things” is the mantra of the tech industry. In his A.I.-infused art and teaching, Christopher Carruth instead embraces what he calls “a slow, contemplative resistance.”

“My practice is about using technology to interrupt, interrogate and agitate conventional systems,” said Carruth, an assistant teaching professor of information science.

An example from his creative practice is american made machines, in which he took algorithmically curated digital spaces—Facebook feeds, recommender engines, inboxes—and used code to disrupt their underlying visual logic, rendering them as abstract shapes.

“These systems are increasingly shaped by A.I. and predictive algorithms to capture attention,” Carruth said. “This work interrupts that rhythm. Rather than extracting attention, it creates a space where viewers can become conscious of how their attention is being shaped in the first place.”

Notably, his work is not about rejecting A.I.: In his classes, he encourages students to debate ethical issues—self-driving taxis, predictive policing, facial recognition—to get them to slow down, too. He enjoys when students disagree and challenge their own ideas about technology.

“For a student who is focused on how to build a large language model, I hope to shift the thought process to how the data will be collected, and what consideration they have for copyright,” he said. “And having that dialogue without making it about right-vs.-wrong.”

‘Paradoxical’

Pooja Iyer likes experimenting with technology, so it’s no surprise she was among ChatGPT’s early adopters. “I remember immediately thinking this was search on steroids—so, personalized ads on steroids,” she said.

Iyer, an assistant professor of advertising, studies the interplay of data, privacy and personalized marketing. As A.I. platforms embrace ads, it’s clear we’re not going back on the ad-supported model of the internet.

“But how do we build this balance of being ethical and mindful about the data I, as an advertiser, use to sell my product?” Iyer said. “Because we’ve never asked the public what data they’re OK with advertisers using.”

Her research is trying to answer that question.

“Can I use your demographic data to show you a personalized ad—your behavioral data, health data, voting behavior data?” she said. “Research has consistently found that people like personalized ads, but there are ethical questions about how deep in the data we should go.”

Iyer typically opens her classes with a project where she doesn’t offer guidance on whether, or how, A.I. can be used.

“I wind up with 10 projects where I cannot tell one from the other,” she said. “And these students are competing for the same jobs. So, if this is your output, and it all looks the same, why should I hire you? Why not just plug it into A.I. myself?”

‘Overrated’

Ask Greta Kerkhoff (Jour’26) where the CU Independent stands on A.I., and she’ll point you to a very concise, one-word statement forbidding staffers from using it in their work.

“We pretty much have a zero-tolerance policy,” Kerkhoff, who served as editor-in-chief of the CUI last year, said.

“If we don’t set some parameters around it, we’re going to live in this world of increasing digital murkiness.”

Greta Kerkhoff (Jour’26)

Kerkhoff completed internships at KGNU and the Denver Gazette; she also published a report on regulatory shortcomings around A.I. in The Colorado Sun late last year.

She isn’t a Luddite—she recognizes these tools can be helpful for brainstorming, for instance. But she doesn’t buy the hype that it makes journalists more efficient.

“Even if there was a way to ethically use it, it creates more work for reporters because you can’t trust it’s telling you what’s right,” she said. “And the models are trained on existing information. If you rely on an algorithm to suggest sources, it will just regurgitate what’s already been done.”

Before Kerkhoff became its editor, the CUI briefly published a piece that the staff eventually determined to be written by A.I. It included multiple hallucinations and led to the dismissal of a writer and an editor.

“There are such ethical dilemmas around this technology,” she said. “If we don’t set some parameters around it, we’re going to live in this world of increasing digital murkiness.”

‘Unavoidable’

Chris Vargo calls himself a lifelong computer nerd but someone who “barely spoke the language of the country he was in”—until he discovered ChatGPT.

“Now, I can climb Mount Everest, with software,” said Vargo, an associate professor of advertising who specializes in analytics.

Vargo has published plenty of papers that rely on A.I. to uncover insights in datasets from Reddit, YouGov and others. A recent paper co-authored with Toby Hopp, also an associate professor of advertising, and PhD student Shahed Rahman examined the different customer journeys of people who use large language models, or LLMs.

“This dataset is two years old, but even then, one-third of the people were using LLMs,” Vargo said. “Yet advertisers haven’t updated their thinking beyond the traditional customer journey funnel.”

That funnel, which guides consumers from awareness to action, is collapsing—LLM users tend to make faster buying decisions, cutting out the middle—and business hasn’t responded.

“Ten years ago, to generate leads, you put a white paper behind a gate and made people sign up with their email,” Vargo said. “But if the agent can’t access that information, it can’t suggest you to users.”

He recommends companies put relevant information in easy-to-scrape text files—something he’s done with his own work, so A.I. agents will extend its reach.

“If marketers make it hard for agents to get the right data, they make it hard for their own products to be found,” Vargo said.

‘Hopeful’

Don’t think A.I. has its eyes on religion? Tell it to Jesus. Specifically, an A.I.-generated messiah that hears confessions in a Lucerne, Switzerland, church.

“I don’t have all the answers, because it’s moving so fast,” said Nesrine Mansour, assistant professor of architecture. “But A.I. is affecting how people are interpreting religion and thinking about architecture, authority and spirituality.”

Mansour studies spaces in digital religion—like games, televised services and apps—and the interplay of sacred architecture, religion and digital media. She’s developed guidelines for virtual sacred buildings to support architects, artists and game designers.

“I surveyed these virtual churches in game environments, and found most of them were replicas of real ones,” she said. “In a virtual realm, where they aren’t restricted by budget—or gravity—why do people re-create real churches?”

A book she edited, Religion in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, explores how A.I. shapes our day-to-day and spiritual lives, so that we might engage with it more thoughtfully. And A.I. is key to her teaching: Mansour incorporated diffusion models and LLMs into classes when the technology was just months old, and constantly tinkers with how to use A.I. in class.

“In architecture, we care a lot about how the building or rendering looks in the end,” she said. “But in terms of learning, I really think ethical workflow processes and prompt engineering deserve more attention.”

‘Beware’

A.I. is not all bad, Mehak Sawhney tells her students, but nor should we be all in on the technology. Instead, she advises A.I. be small scale and for special purposes.

Sawhney, an assistant professor of media studies, studies the environmental—especially water—costs of A.I., surveillance and other topics.

“A.I. needs to be understood across scales: global, regional, national and hyperlocal,” she said. “It is only through a combination of these scales that a nuanced understanding of A.I.’s role in financial bubbles, its varied adoption and its environmental impact can be understood.”

It’s the sort of humanities-focused approach she’s brought to a new graduate course on A.I. and the environment that she’s teaching.

“From an ethnographic perspective, it is important to see what A.I. means in different contexts,” Sawhney said.

For instance, people in developing nations might approach A.I. as an equalizing tool, especially for non-English speakers, while those living under authoritarian rule might see it as a progressive research field.

“However, this points more toward the colonial hegemony of English, ethnic and religious supremacy, and lack of resources in many parts of the world, rather than A.I.’s ability to solve structural problems,” she said.

‘Transformational’

By day, Priscilla Rain Hopper is a teacher who specializes in A.I. By night, she is … also a teacher who specializes in A.I.

Hopper (InfoSci’22; MS’23) is a lecturer of information science who works for an A.I. company—“which I said I would never do,” she admitted—that provides teachers and K-12 school districts with tools that allow them to more effectively plan lessons and provide support to students.

What drew her to MagicSchool AI, where she is a senior LLM quality analyst, “is that it’s A.I. for good.”

“My students want to fight the bad,” Hopper said, noting their concerns about ethics, environmental impact and employment prospects. “But you can’t do that from the sidelines. So, my message to them is: If you believe the rest of the world has the same ideas, intentions and solutions as you, fine. But I don’t think that’s the reality; otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

At CMDI, her focus is teaching students to see the ways different A.I. tools can be used together to improve productivity—so, to be conductors of the orchestra, instead of experts in a single instrument. She also created a website for students that prepares them to position themselves in a competitive job market where the A.I. skills core to the information science major can prove a differentiating factor.

‘Repulsive’

It’s not wholesale A.I. that upsets Lori Emerson. Rather, it’s how far we’ve landed from the idealism of the 1940s and ’50s, when A.I. was first theorized.

“This shift we’re living through—where corporate A.I. is embedded into every piece of software and every platform—is not inevitable,” said Emerson, a media historian and professor of media studies. “This is being foisted on us by corporations trying to make as much money as possible.”

“Thinking, writing, producing, researching on their own terms—without it being done for them—is maybe the heart of what it means to be a human.”

Lori Emerson, professor

Last year, Emerson published Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook, which pushes back on the idea of inevitability—“that every change rolled out by technology companies is for the best, and makes things easier and more efficient.” She challenges students to question the narrative that they will be irrelevant if they object to A.I., and encourages them to think about older, analog technologies—like books, pen and paper, and typewriters—that enable creativity and invention, without conceiving of the user as purely a worker striving for efficiency.

“Partway through the semester, students begin to understand that thinking, writing, producing, researching on their own terms—without it being done for them—is maybe the heart of what it means to be a human,” Emerson said. “That’s why they come to college.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Let’s get past the platitudes on artificial intelligence. We asked students, alumni and faculty how they’re really using A.I. to work, teach, learn and create.

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Change of plans

Ellie Chase — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:21:14 +0000

Change of plans Ellie Chase Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:21

Kirsten Ring Murray is no stranger to mentorship—she played a key role in designing the internship program at Olson Kundig, where she is an owner and principal. She recently joined the CMDI advisory board to find other ways to support students. Photo courtesy Kirsten Ring Murray.

Hannah Stewart

According to Kirsten Ring Murray, design is all about change. Like when she first started at Olson Kundig and realized an internship program could benefit the company and its new hires.

“When I first came into practice, one of the first things I noticed was that there wasn’t a very easy transition after school,” said Murray (EnvDes’86). “My supervisors were supportive of my dream to start an internship program, and I had a significant role in shaping it.”

Now, she’s an owner and principal of the Seattle-based architecture and design firm; under her guidance, Olson Kundig has grown to more than 350 employees and maintains an international book of work that’s generated significant acclaim.

More recently, she became a member of the college’s advisory board—a position she took on because she likes to join projects at the early stages. In both settings, she said, she gets to mentor “the smart young people who want to change things.”

But meaningful change can’t happen in isolation. As a student, she learned to value collaboration, and she has since sought to create opportunities for interdisciplinary connections through mentorship.

“Kirsten is really good at bringing everybody together to find the strongest design and make a project special,” said Cameron Shampine, an associate at Olson Kundig.

Shampine (EnvDes’13) joined the firm early in his architecture career, starting as an intern in the very program Murray created. Now, he has come full circle as one of its coordinators.

His growth at the firm, Shampine said, would not have been possible without the culture of leadership Murray has cultivated. He said her dedication to including various voices and perspectives reflects the interdisciplinary structure of environmental design at CMDI.

“The degree set me up well since it can fuse so many different paths,” he said. “You’re constantly evolving in this field because design is an adventure you’re going on with your clients.”

Murray said one of the great values of environmental design—and CMDI as a whole—is the commitment to finding connections, in terms of both network and practice.

“Having interdisciplinary relationships enriches our work. Every day, I get involved in branding, messaging, storytelling, research and history,” Murray said.

“I have really tried to strengthen the connections between what you learn and what you practice in the real world. That’s why it’s important for us practitioners to work alongside the academics.”

Hannah Stewart graduated in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news at the college.

Kirsten Ring Murray says design is all about change, and was eager to be part of shaping the future of CMDI by joining its advisory board.

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Strokes of genius

Jayden Fortner — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:40:46 +0000

Strokes of genius Jayden Fortner Tue, 09/29/2026 - 13:40

CMDI’s environmental design department curated a collection of work by Ping Xu and her students that was unveiled during a ceremony celebrating her impact as a teacher and researcher. Photo by Jack Moody.

Joe Arney

When it was time to register for her design studio course, Sophie Burke was a woman on a mission: to do whatever it took to get into Ping Xu’s class.

“It was like buying concert tickets,” Burke (EnvDes’25) recalled with a laugh. “Everyone wanted to be in her studio.”

In retrospect, getting into that studio course was even sweeter, as it turned out to be the last one Xu taught: In the spring, she retired from teaching architecture after 36 years at the University of Colorado, her home since completing advanced degrees from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. She is now professor emeritus of environmental design at CMDI.

And while her design studio course emphasized what Xu called “step by step, slow technology”—sketching and model building by hand—it wasn’t the only course where she brought different perspectives to generations of architects. She also taught popular courses on watercolor and feng shui; in all her classes, she emphasized experiential learning as a way of inspiring students’ creativity and critical thinking skills.

One of the best pieces of advice Sophie Burke got from Ping Xu was to not lose a great idea when it enters your head. ‘It doesn’t need to be perfect; you just need to get it out’ before you lose it,’ she said. Burke, right, poses with Xu after graduating in 2025. Photo courtesy Sophie Burke.

“She taught us about feng shui as a type of systems thinking,” said Burke, who recently left her role as an architectural designer with Boulder-based Coburn Architects to pursue work in New York.

“Ping taught us to see feng shui as a set of rules to base a design premise on, a starting point for your creativity. I think about it all the time in my work.”

Xu, a well-known consultant and prolific researcher on feng shui, published a plethora of papers on the ancient Chinese practice, often tying it to broader themes like how Indigenous peoples chose where to build or explaining wildfires and other disasters.

Doing well in her watercolor classes, meanwhile, meant mastering concepts like sketching, color, Impressionist theory, even using the brush correctly. Mackinzi Taylor (EnvDes’17) became a teaching assistant to Xu after completing the course, which she described as “less about art technique, and so much more about developing an eye for the world.”

“Her watercolor technique trained you to be an observer who looks for patterns and connections,” said Taylor, a project manager at the nonprofit Community Builders, in Glenwood Springs. “It forced you to become thoughtful and careful, and develop an attention to detail that every design professional needs.”

Xu also taught not to let that attention to detail stifle early-stage creativity.

“We can all relate to having a creative thought but losing it before you can express it,” Burke said. “Ping taught us to just sketch it—it doesn’t have to be perfect; you just need to get it out.”

Students said Xu recognized the difficulty of intense studio courses, and worked to create friendships in the class—Burke recalled a site visit where Xu asked passing hikers to take photos of the group. It was one way Xu balanced the demanding nature of the work with empathy for the challenges of succeeding in what she called “a moody and difficult major.”

“She demanded excellence, but with a warmth and a humor that made you want to do the hard work and grow,” Taylor said. “She asks something extra of you—and when you find out you can give it, it’s incredibly rewarding.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Her classes were nontraditional, but Ping Xu’s techniques—forged from her expertise in feng shui, watercolor and tai chi—have inspired students as architects and creators.

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Street smart

Joe Arney — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 21:55:22 +0000

Street smart Joe Arney Mon, 09/28/2026 - 15:55

Joe Arney

Illustrations by Dana Heimes

When your car crawls through a stretch of road where a crash is being investigated, you may think about your own driving behavior in the moments before you were forced to slow down. Were you speeding? Aware of the cars around you? Distracted by a phone?

“It shouldn’t just go back to normal—because normal, for whatever reason, just killed somebody.”

Kevin J. Krizek, professor, environmental design

But chances are, your self-reflection ends when the gridlock does.

Now, the city of Spokane, Washington, is trying to change that, with an assist from faculty and students in CMDI’s environmental design department.

Last spring, students in an interdisciplinary design studio course created plans to roll out a proposed solution, Emergency Streets, on a pilot basis in the city.

Under Emergency Streets, when a crash occurs, workers set up traffic-calming devices like drums, cones and panels that force motorists to drive at or below the speed limit in the miles around the site of a fatal wreck. The installations remain in place for two weeks, drawing attention to a systemic failure in the planning process that led to a death.

“If you reduce the speed at which a crash occurs, the outcome will probably be better,” said Kevin J. Krizek, a professor of environmental design and a former senior advisor to the U.S. Department of State. “And you’re changing expectations about what the road should look like after a crash. It shouldn’t just go back to normal—because normal, for whatever reason, just killed somebody.”

Krizek’s academic and government work led him to conclude that crashes are a failure of infrastructure planning and a public health crisis.

“In my architecture classes, I learned about urban planning principles and how cars have taken over American cities,” he said. “Then, my civil engineering classes would teach you how to move more of those cars across a city at higher speeds. And this dichotomy is baked into our policy, legislation, modeling—everything.”

A matter of physics, not blame

Krizek co-taught the studio course with Tila Duhaime, an instructor, lawyer and former chair of Boulder’s transportation advisory board. What she most emphasizes about Emergency Streets is its focus on the simplest contributing factor.

“This is about reducing the kinetic energy in the system—reducing the potential of harmful energy being released on human bodies, whether on a bike, in a stroller, on a bus, using a walker, or in a car or motorcycle,” Duhaime said.

“If you set aside blame and say, it’s just physics—well, we can do something tomorrow to address the physics involved in a crash and improve outcomes.”

For Spokane, Emergency Streets was intriguing, but the city needed communication plans to notify residents of what they were about to encounter.

Nick Haseman (InfoSci’26), who graduated with a minor in environmental design, worked as a design lead, tightening up presentations to different stakeholder groups—a skill he honed in two internships.

“My information science classes taught me a lot about user experience and user interface design,” he said. “When we started telling personal stories of crashes in our presentations, and connecting them to how Emergency Streets could help address this challenge, it really helped our audiences understand the problem and our proposal.”

Students working on public outreach designed infographics, door hangers, digital materials and more to introduce residents to Emergency Streets. Leighton Warner, a senior majoring in sustainable planning and urban design, said the course challenged students to approach the problem like entrepreneurs.

“This is a hard problem we’re trying to solve, and you could tell from their work that the students really took it to heart.”

Jon Snyder, director of transportation and sustainability, city of Spokane

“In a lot of studio courses, the professor kind of holds your hand, to make sure you’re on the right path,” Warner said. “There was more freedom to take chances in this studio. And the realism of the project—having a partnership with a real city—was incredibly motivating.”

At the conclusion of the course, Jon Snyder, director of transportation and sustainability for Spokane, visited the class to meet with students, who ran a simulated field test and demonstrated communication strategies showing how experts might deploy Emergency Streets.

“I was pleased that it’s not just conceptual. We will adapt some of these creative ideas and use them directly,” said Snyder, who helped secure a grant to develop and implement Emergency Streets. “This is a hard problem we’re trying to solve, and you could tell from their work that the students really took it to heart.”

By the end of the class, the seriousness the students brought to the work was on full display, and not just in their presentations. Duhaime created a sign counting the days since the last “accident” in the course, but it’s not what you think: She set the counter to zero every time someone referred to a car crash as an accident. By the time of Snyder’s visit, it had been two weeks since an accident.

“‘Accident’ is a loaded, weighted term, implying that this event was unavoidable,” she said. “If we are responsible, we talk about crashes, collisions or incidents.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

The city of Spokane is piloting a low-tech roadway safety initiative that was developed by CMDI faculty experts and students.

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‘I love it here’: CMDI’s Class of 2030 eager to turn creative passions into careers

Ellie Chase — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:21:55 +0000

‘I love it here’: CMDI’s Class of 2030 eager to turn creative passions into careers Ellie Chase Thu, 09/24/2026 - 07:21

Ellie Chase

When it came time for Nolan Vuldy to choose a university, he thought back to the lights, lasers and sounds that captivated his childhood.

The chance to dive deeper into production effects, and build a network and career path that will allow him to further explore his interests, led him directly to ��ñ��’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information.

“I hope to start a production company someday,” Vuldy said. “CMDI stood out the most to me—I think this is a place that can help me with my career goals.”

Originally from France, Vuldy’s family moved to Colorado when he was a child to pursue opportunity. Now, he joins CMDI’s Class of 2030, one of 516 new first-year students eager to make their mark on ��ñ��.

Though new-student enrollment is slightly down from last year—following years of growth after the pandemic—students in CMDI’s Class of 2030 are among the high-achieving undergraduates in the college’s history. Here are some highlights:

54% of students enrolled were in the top 25% of their high school class.
The average SAT score among enrolled students rose to 1243, from 1230 last year.
CMDI also welcomes 62 new transfer students and 50 new graduate students.

“Each opportunity I’ve had to speak with our new first-year students—whether during their orientation or seeing them around campus over the last few weeks—has left me impressed with both their intellectual curiosity and their passion for creativity,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college. “I’m really excited about the potential this group has to shape CMDI and, with what they’ll learn here, the world.”

Chris Bell (PhDMediaSt'09), speaks with new CMDI students after his speech for CMDI Go. (Kimberly Coffin)

Vuldy, a media production major, is a self proclaimed DJ and producer who hopes his peers can influence his future projects.

“I’m a very creative person, so being around other creative people is something that really excites me,” he said.

Dawson Justus, a Texas native who is studying architecture at CMDI, is also pursuing his degree based on an early fascination. In his case, it’s design.

Justus has family in the architecture industry who introduced him to the discipline. His dream is to design an aquarium or a zoo—both of which were among his favorite places as a child.

“I’ve always been drawn here, mostly by the architecture and environmental design department,” Justus said. “I really appreciate how we get to diversify our studies, learning about product design, urban planning and landscape architecture in our first year.”

The family trade is no stranger to Charlotte Callahan, who draws inspiration from her mom, formerly a traveling journalist for Inside Edition. Callahan grew up admiring her career and adventures abroad.

With a passion for speaking with people and sharing their stories, Callahan will be pursuing a journalism degree from CMDI. Her interest in the environment is what drew her to Boulder, and she’s considering environmental science as a second major.

Her dream job? Working for National Geographic.

“Journalism is so important, especially now,” she said. “We really need good journalism and better access to information.”

Callahan’s recognition of Boulder’s remarkable environment is not lost on other new students. The campus’ beauty and vibrant student life brought Elizabeth Lockhart from California to CMDI.

“I toured campus and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love it here.’ When I got accepted, I almost cried,” she said.

Lockhart is majoring in strategic communication, with an emphasis in public relations.

Her goals in public relations offer a perfect intersection of youthful passions with career—she wants to work for Disney. She also has interest in PR for Formula One drivers, seeing an opportunity to bridge the gap in gender representation in motorsports.

“There’s not many women in F1—and it’s detrimental because a lot of their fan base is women, but you don’t see representation,” Lockhart said.

“I just love the campus and the people—everyone is so friendly. It feels good knowing I’ve already found my people.”

Violet Valentin

Violet Valentin shares Lockhart’s enthusiasm for public relations. Valentin is a strategic communication major, as well, and spent part of her summer with the Pathways to Excellence program. The summer bridge program introduces incoming students to CMDI’s majors and builds community before school starts.

“I just love the campus and the people—everyone is so friendly,” Valentin said. “It feels good knowing I’ve already found my people.”

Information science is the smallest major in the incoming class, but its unique blend of computing, social science and the humanities interested Heidi Welsh, who is curious about hospital technology, which involves studying data to create preventative technology.

“I want to be hands on,” she said. “I want to go out in the world and apply what I know to help people. I’m so excited for all of my classes—I think it’s going to be so different from anything I’ve ever done.”

Ellie Chase is studying journalism at CMDI, with a minor in business. She covers students and student news at the college.

CMDI welcomes its Class of 2030, an academically accomplished group with big dreams for the future.

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Heads of the class

Joe Arney — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:39:27 +0000

Heads of the class Joe Arney Tue, 08/18/2026 - 12:39

Joe Arney

Meghan Sobel Cohen

One of Meghan Sobel Cohen’s most lasting memories of studying journalism at ��ñ�� was Cokes with Voakes—office hours that then-Dean Paul S. Voakes would host to get to know students outside of class over sodas.

It’s a tradition she carried forward in her time as chair of the communication department at Regis University, in Denver, and is excited to bring back to the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information as an associate professor of journalism.

“Coming back to CU feels like such a full-circle moment for me,” she said. “So, maybe we’ll start coffee with Cohen, or cookies with Cohen, in the fall.”

Cohen (Jour’09), an expert on media systems in authoritarian contexts and journalism’s role in peacekeeping, is among 13 new faculty—three of them alumni—joining CMDI this fall, with another set to begin in the spring.

“I am so excited by the wealth of experience that our new faculty will bring to CMDI,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college. “The perspectives, knowledge and curiosity they will bring to our teaching, research and creative work will continue to enrich our students and community.”

Cohen said she’s especially excited to return to what she called “a truly inspiring campus.”

“I feel really excited and grateful to be back in Boulder,” she said. “I was here when it was a school of journalism—and it’s inspiring to see the evolution of CU alongside the changes in journalism and communication. I’m excited to become a part of that, to encourage that evolution and help change the way our students think about communication, media and journalism more broadly.”

In addition to Cohen, the following faculty will join CMDI this academic year.

Advertising, Public Relations and Design

Hyun Seung Jin, associate professor. Jin joins the college from the business school of Queensland University of Technology, in Australia. His work explores psychology, creativity and technology.

Richard Khleif (PhDMediaSt’07), assistant teaching professor. Khleif brings decades of global technology industry experience to the college. He also is an emeritus founding member of CMDI’s advisory board, and completed the integrated marketing communication program from the former School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1999.

Communication

Lamiyah Bahrainwala, assistant professor. Bahrainwala was previously chair of the communication studies department at Southwestern University. She studies anti-Muslim sentiment through surveillance, race, the environment and more.

Alicen Rushevics, assistant professor. Key themes in Rushevics’ research include discourses of reparation and apology, indigenous human rights and U.S. imperialism in the Pacific. She completed her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2026.

Environmental Design

Sophie Weston Chien, assistant professor. After completing two master’s degrees in landscape architecture and planning from Harvard University, Chien joined CMDI as a chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow. Her research involves organizing in design, participatory textile research and fabrication, and theorizing contemporary design practice.

Pol Fité Matamoros, assistant professor. Fité Matamoros completed his PhD at the University of California–Berkeley, where he has been a designer in residence since 2025. He examines connections between visual culture, the spatial production of social and racial difference, and regime building.

Priyanka Sen, assistant professor. Sen will join CMDI in the spring after completing her PhD from Cornell University. She studies the intertwined histories of the built environment and agricultural practices tied to South Asian migration.

Nettie Skievaski (EnvDes’22), assistant teaching professor. In addition to her career in graphic design, Skievaski has been an instructor at CMDI since 2022.

Information Science

Jason Lucas, assistant professor. Lucas earned his PhD from Pennsylvania State University. He develops multilingual A.I. systems across underserved languages to advance safe, equitable technology.

Aspen K.B. Omapang, assistant professor. Another Cornell scholar, Omapang researches political relations between Indigenous peoples and settlers in managing natural resources.

Katlyn Turner, assistant professor. Turner has been a research affiliate and instructor with CMDI since 2023. Her work focuses on environmental and climate justice, technology, policy, systems, and self-determination.

Media Studies

Susan Abbott, assistant teaching professor. Abbott brings more than two decades of experience in media development, digital democracy and civil society to her teaching. She was previously a lecturer at CMDI.

Journalism

Meagan Doll, assistant professor. Doll has held postdoctoral roles at the universities of Minnesota and Washington. She studies news consumption and production, with particular interest in perceptions of news in nondemocratic contexts.

Jason Lucas

Interdisciplinary importance

New faculty called the interdisciplinary nature of the college and its work a key factor in their decisions to come here. Cohen, whose work experience includes the U.S. State Department—where she observed the disconnect between the needs of human rights organizations and the limitations of journalists who cover them, leading her to her research niche—said the changing nature of the news business is a call for educators to combine related disciplines, to better prepare students for the challenges that await them after graduation.

Jason Lucas, of information science, said the department’s values and culture of collaboration were major draws to him—though also important is that his wife, Umniya Najaer, has been a postdoctoral fellow at ��ñ�� since July 2025. His work studies artificial intelligence from the lens of language.

“There are 7,000 languages spoken in the world. And only about 20 of them have sufficient digital footprints to train robust models that can be useful for end users,” Lucas said.

It’s a safety concern, not just a usability issue, he said, as models can be attacked based on the data used to train them, leaving certain communities more vulnerable to the spread of disinformation or cybercrime. “And even with reinforcement learning, we cannot solve that basic security issue,” he said. “So we have to concern ourselves with both equity and safety.”

Lucas hopes to engage with these problems through SEAL, the Secure and Ethical A.I. Research Lab, which he’ll direct at CMDI.

Pol Fité Matamoros

Pol Fité Matamoros’ education spanned design disciplines like architecture, urban design and landscape architecture, which drew him to an environmental design department that brings all these areas under one roof. His research interest—which considers the advancement of fascist movements as expressed through visual and spatial culture—draws on these disciplines, plus humanities and social sciences.

“It’s easy to fall into this trap of saying the global rise of nationalist movements we see today is the same as it was in the 1920s. And it’s not,” Fité Matamoros said. “But there are similarities, and I think understanding how fascist movements in the ’20s and ’30s operated gives us a clue as to how they operate today.”

He studies the phenomenon through the lens of his native Spain, which watched its American colonial empire fall apart following war with the United States. The country’s attention turned to Africa, seen as a bountiful land of riches that could offset Spain’s decline—a concept Franco exploited in his rise to power.

He sees some of that today in the United States, where the Trump administration has pushed to rename the Gulf of Mexico and speak of colonizing Greenland and Canada.

Renaming, he said, is not just changing a label, “it repositions a space within a broader narrative of national rebirth. These spatial moves are not only moments of rhetorical excess, they create an appealing spatial argument for a violent nationalist narrative.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

CMDI is welcoming 14 new faculty with expertise in journalism, business, surveillance, technology and more.

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Tea(house) party

Jayden Fortner — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:16:22 +0000

Tea(house) party Jayden Fortner Thu, 06/04/2026 - 13:16

Hannah Stewart

Hundreds of pieces of what appears to be a deconstructed Tajik teahouse like the one in downtown Boulder were found in crates in a Maryland barn. Last summer, a team from CMDI traveled across the country to document the crates' contents. Photo by Eloisa Samper.

Being behind the camera has always been Eloisa Samper’s cup of tea.

As a child, she would simply “capture moments,” but by the time she was in high school, she was taking photos and videos for their sports teams, even making a documentary for one of them. So when it came time to choose a college major, media production at ��ñ��’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information was obvious.

But before she even attended her first class, she had an opportunity most first-year students could only dream of: With her camera, she helped a professor document and authenticate a rediscovered teahouse, packed in dozens of boxes, that had been sitting in a Maryland barn for more than 20 years.

“I would have never considered that this would be a possibility,” she said. “I felt like an archaeologist, almost—like I'm gonna be part of the next big thing.”

And that’s exactly Nate Jones’ hope.

Jones, a lecturer in the environmental design department at CMDI, said he wouldn’t call himself an expert of Tajik teahouses, but he “knows enough to be dangerous.”

As the assistant director of advising and professional development at CMDI, Jones facilitates opportunities for students to get hands-on experience during their undergraduate years. One way has been connecting architecture students with the Tajik artisans who periodically come to Colorado to perform maintenance on Boulder’s teahouse; since 2016, Jones has been on the board of Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities.

A tale of twin teahouses

There had long been whispers about a second teahouse made by the same craftsmen, but records of it had been lost to time—until a contractor was hired to clear out a barn in Maryland and he stumbled upon the disassembled pieces.

His research into what he had found led that contractor to a book, An Architecture of Dialogue: Learning from the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, about Boulder’s teahouse. He then reached out to Jones—who co-authored the book with Shawhin Roudbari, an associate professor of architecture, and Kate Sector Gregg (EnvDes’19)—to see if he could help.

Given his involvement on the Boulder board, Jones contacted a group of Tajik investors who had long expressed interest in creating a cultural center in Colorado. Perhaps, he thought, if the crates could be authenticated, the building could be brought here, studied and reassembled into such a community space.

He reconnected with Sector Gregg, who worked on a Dushanbe teahouse restoration as a student; she now works at a Texas-based architecture firm that does both new construction and historic preservation work. Jones also wanted student help in documenting the process, eventually choosing Samper.

Not all the pieces found in the crates were completely finished. "There were all these things that I think the artists had packed knowing they would want them for the future assembly," said Kate Sector Gregg (EnvDes'19). Photo by Eloisa Samper.

“When you bring together students and professionals, that’s where the magic happens,” Jones said.

The trio embarked on a three-day trip to Maryland. Photos, video footage and rudimentary 3D scans of various pieces in the crates were sent to the Tajik artisans behind Boulder’s teahouse.

“The artists looked at the pieces and they said, ‘We know that work. That was us. We never knew what happened to this,’” Jones said.

He hopes the crates will be sent to Boulder, so their contents can be more thoroughly documented. For example, using lidar would enable the team to create a 3D rendering of the building. Since no blueprints exist, Samper’s photos and initial scans will be key in understanding how the pieces fit together.

“Eloisa represents the first in a hopefully long line of students and other folks in the college participating in this project,” Jones said. “Hopefully we can get the thing here and get students and faculty from other departments involved, too.”

For now, the experience has confirmed for Samper that media production was the right move for her. She said she loved having the opportunity to not only work alongside faculty on a once-in-a-lifetime project, but to connect with the contractor who found the pieces.

“It definitely showed me how much I love documentary work, and it genuinely brought me so much joy,” she said. “I’m confident it’s something that will help me move on to bigger projects in the future.”

Over the course of three days last summer, Nate Jones, Eloisa Samper and Kate Sector Gregg photographed and documented hundreds of pieces they believe belong to a lost Tajik teahouse. Eventually, Jones hopes the pieces can come to Colorado for more students and faculty throughout CMDI to get involved in the project. Photos courtesy of Eloisa Samper and Kate Sector Gregg.

Hannah Stewart graduated in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news at the college.

Before even attending her first class in CMDI, first-year student Eloisa Samper was part of a small team sent to Maryland to authenticate a long-forgotten Tajik teahouse.

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Announcing the spring 2026 dean's list

Ellie Chase — Wed, 20 May 2026 16:52:41 +0000

Announcing the spring 2026 dean's list Ellie Chase Wed, 05/20/2026 - 10:52

More than 700 CMDI students were named to the dean's list for the spring semester. To qualify, students must complete at least 12 credit hours of ��ñ�� coursework for a letter grade and achieve a term grade point average of 3.75 or better. Each person receives a notation on their transcripts and a letter from the dean. Congratulations to all honorees!

Zack Aarons
Matt Abatangle
Marlo Abrahamson
Logan Abrams
Kit Achar
Shea Ackman
Pilar Agostine
Quinn Ahrens
Maria Alali
Charlotte Alberti
Caitlin Alexander
Audrey Altounian
Olivia Alvarez
Ava Ambs
Alexandra Anaya
Marlowe Anderman
Ella Anderson
Julia Anderson
Jacqueline Anderson
Sierra Anguiano
Marina Araujo
Logan Arel
Liliana Arguello
Jazmin Armijo
John Armstrong
Madison Armstrong
Frances Arrighi
Preston Ashley
Ben Asphaug
SJ Bacallao
Claire Bachtel
Sarah Baggot
Alexia Bailey
Hannah Baity
Cadyn Banerian
Katie Barcroft
Caleigh Barletta
Emily Barnes
Blake Barnes
Thomas Barrett
Maddy Barth
Makdes Bass
Ellena Bassoukos
Klaire Bautz
Katie Baxter
Michael Benner
Tess Betman
Eliot Bevier Dill
Charlie Bickham
Teagan Bischoff
Katie Bixler
Miley Black
Grace Blitz
Julian Blumberg
Sophia Bobier
Ella Bode
Dylan Bole
Ella Boles
Sophia Bolich
Anvitha Bompalli
Lucia Bona
Elliot Bowen
Mckenzie Bowman
Dean Bowyer
Arielle Boxt
Grace Boyea
Reed Bracero
Anna Bradburn
Ema Bradley
Harper Bradshaw
Antonio Bravo
Olivia Brehm
Quinn Brewer
Adeline Briggs
Lily Broadhead
Finn Broderick
Jack Bronchetti
Katie Brooks
Zach Brooks
Addison Brower
Chase Browne
Lili Brownell
Emma Browning
Houston Brummet
Tessa Buchanan
Juliana Buck
Ashley Budy
Fatima Bugaighis
Isabella Burkett
Alena Burris
Brooke Bursteen
Parker Burt
Noelia Caballero
Grace Cadman
Claire Cameron
Cuauhtemoc Campos
Bianca Cano
Evan Caplan
Rhiannon Cargo
Ely Cariveau
Kaitlyn Carpenter
Harrison Carswell
Audrey Carter
Meredith Case
Madison Chasin
Mia Castro
James Cecchi
Charles Chambers
Izzie Chan
Jack Chandler
Connor Chase
Ellie Chase
Jesus Chavez
Hayden Chedid
Cameron Cheney
Avery Childs
Luke Chisholm
Michael Chow
Rachel Clapham
Emily Cleary
Avery Clifton
Emme Clymer
Morgan Coffin
Finn Cohen
Kelly Colanto
MacKenzie Cole
Sophie Coleman
Drew Collins
Breah Conradson
Andrew Conroy
Ainsley Coogan
Connor Cook
Sophie Coombs
Ripley Coope
Zenden Copeland
Braedan Corliss
Susie Cormack
Kira Covington
Marissa Crenshaw
Elizabeth Cropper
Maddie Crosier
Micah Crowe
Charlotte Croy
Aidan Crump
Eryn Cryer
Marleigh Cummins
Kaylie Cunningham
Cody Cutone
Avery Czachor
Abikael Daniel
Lacey Daniell
Olivia Darby
Hannah David
John Davis
Turner Davis
Mason Davis
Patrick Dawson
Ramon De Arcos Tapia
Brandon De Pena
Weston Deaton
Lily Defnet
Lily Delgado
Maya Demaree
Clara Denham
Maggie Derr
Eli Deutsch
Charles Deutser
Zach Dial
Leo Dienstfrey
Henry Dietz
Ava Dillon
William Dinh
Merrick Dobin
Sydney Dobriner
Campbell Dokken
Connie Dolati
Lexi Dolsak
Hunter Donovan
Emily Doskow
Sydney Dossa
Daniel Doupe
Averie Dow
Veronika Drab
Simon Drews
Veronica Dryer
Ava Dubroca
Wyatt Duesenberg
Rowan Dulfer
Carolyn Dunlap
Nicollette Dunn
Etienne Dunoyer
Emily Duvall
Olivia Dye
Ryann Dyk
Mattia Echchaibi

Ansley Edelbrock
Avery Ehrig
Collin Eisenach
Kristin Eisenrich
Maeve Eklund
Kaoutar El Ouadi
Molly Elert
Reese Elliot
Libby Emery
Isaac Emmons
Brendan Engel
Lucy Esquival
Desmond Evans
Sienna Fahey
Sofia Faraci
Liam Fehlau-Barton
Sara Fernandes
Oren Figenblat
Emerson Fine
Josie Fineberg
Anjali Flagg
Maddie Flanagan
Aidan Fliszar
William Flockton
Cecilia Florian
Soleil Floyd
Lilli Flyer
Joshua Fong
Callie Forrest
Tatum France-Kelly
Ava Frankel
Natalie Free
Ellis French
Jayne Frey
Devin Friedman
Isabelle Friedrich
Hayes Frith
Sophia Fry
Adelene Frymoyer
Lulu Fuster
Colette Gagliano
Kaija Galins
Teagan Gallagher
Rikki Gallegos
Jacalyn Gamble
Lydia Gammon
Britney Garcia
Greta Gardetto
Violet Garrard
Caitlyn Garza
Abigail Garza
Ella Gates
Samson Gear
Parker Gehde
Carly Gelfand
Callie Gendolfe
Camryn Gerchow
Olivia Gewanter
Ellie Gianola
Caroline Gilchrist
Lauren Gillespie
Danny Gillis
Tal Gispan
Giorgia Glassford
Charlie Goffinet
Susannah Goldsmith
Karlyn Gonsalves
William Gooch
Bella Goodson
Drew Gorman
Pheobe Gorman
Abby Graham
Chloe Graham
Kylie Graham
Logyn Greer
Erica Griffiths
Charlee Grinstead
Lily Groten
Vicky Gutierrez
Owen Guzik
Eva Gyawali
Marin Hackney
Ava Hagan
Evi Hager
Paxton Haines
Sabina Hall
Mack Hammond
Norah Hampford
Mackenzie Hanlon
Ashley Elizabeth Hansen
Sabrina Harris
Brooke Harris
Shaela Hart
Lanier Harvey
Bennett Harvey
Nick Haseman
Josie Hayes
Skyler Haynie
Brooke Haynie
Madison Hays
Caroline Hecht
Ethan Heffern
Makayla Heinke
Alexis Henning
Will Henrickson
Dani Hermosillo
Vanessa Hernandez
Isabella Hernandez Jeppesen
Emily Herrmann
Jane Hershberger
Brandon Heydenreich
Megan Hill
Grace Hilliard
Malley Hirschle
Charlotte Hobosn
Hannah Hoffman
Jason Hoffman
Ellie Hoffman
Jackson Hoffman
Serena Holcomb
Jimmy Holda
Ella Holden
Audrey Ann Holsomback
Caden Homlish
Dylan Hommes
Grier Hopkins
Caleb Horwitz
Taylar Houck
Mira Hougen
Jordan Houten
Emily Howard
Brooklyn Howard
Taylor Hoyt
Maddie Hughes
Livia Hughes
Ronan Huizar
Ellie Hultgren
Wyatt Humble
Daniela Hunt
Camille Hunt
Elliette Igel-Manvitz
Maddie Inglis
Maxine Rosa Inman
Lauren Insul
Sasha Isaacman
Jules Isenberg
Isabella Jackson
Reed Jacobs
Paige Jaegar
Savannah Allyssa Jameson
Emilie Janzen
Grace Jenks
Alana Jenks
Annika Jobanputra
Mia Jochamowitz-Endersby Chikhani
Micah Johnson
Addison Johnson
Liv Johnstad
Teegan Johnstone
Lucien Juilland-King
Max Julian
Charlie Kahane
Doris Kahler
Nina Kanavati
Helen Karnstedt
Bailey Karraker
Skye Karsh
Dylan Kay
Catherine Kaynor
Henry Kelty
Rachel Kennedy
Caleb Kennedy
John Kerklo
Riley Kerstiens
Ella Kest
Amy Kibort
Meika Kinsey
Avery Kissinger
Ava Klein
Alexa Kofman
Jon Kolvereid
Colton Kominski
Ella Komo
Cecilia Konrad
Rian Korb
Jess Kotmel
Ava Kozlak
Sydney Kraabel
Ella Krelovich
Juliana Kirgsman
Katie Krochalis
Simone Kruger
Remi Krupinski
Maria Kuhn
Viktoriya Kukarekina
Avery Kunkel

Brayden Kurzawa
Genevieve Kuykendall
Emily Kwon
Amy Labontu
Genevieve Lacey
Devin Lafave
Ella LaMura
Gabi Larocque
Blake Larson
Maddie Lasker
Simon Lauritzen
Emerson Layne
Nicolai Lazarev
Alex Lazarou
Camille Leach
Lou Leclercq
Alice Lee
Chloe Legere
Peighton Lemp
Aubrey Leneweaver
Miles Lerner
Matt Lerner
Brian Leuthold
Sierra Leverich
Zoë Levitt
Inga Lexa
Kara Liguori
Jasmin Lin
Ahnnali Lindgren
Isabelle Lingo
Mia Lioudis
Margaret Lipscomb
Luke Lloyd
Leif Lomo
Lauren Lopez
Deborah Loseke
Hayes Louden
Linus Loughry
Lucy Lu
Julia Luther
Julia Maclean
Scarlett Maguire
Maxwell Majors
Devon Malling
Jon Mani
Lily Maniotes
Andrew Manson
Alexis Manzo
Nicholas Marcin
Annaliese Markel
Moses Markels
Tyler Markus
Jackson Martin
J Martinez
Eloise Masciola
Andrew Mason
Carolyn Mason
Luca Mastroeni
Nikki Mastroianni
Sarah Matarelli
Cashel Matus
Kylah McAuliffe
Finn Mccarthy
Adri McCarville
Audrey McClure
Evan Mccormick
John Mcdermott
Lucia Mcgetrick-Dima
Matthew McGovern
Madison Mcguire
Annalise McIntosh
Grace Mckee
Delaney Mckernan
Megan Mckew
Sydney Mclaughlin
Abbey McMahon
Jordan Mcphee
Margaret McQueen
Alan Medved
Yordanos Mehari
Ava Melen
Ryan Melson
Alex Melvin
Claire Mercer
Ava Marias
Tatum Merrill
Chase Messner
Olivia Meyers
Hailey Miller
Allison Miller
Channing Miller
Maggie Miller
Brooklyn Miller
Ellen Miller
Madeline Mims
Maya Miniati
Amanda Mitry
Ella Mobeck
Hudson Mobley
Wyatt Moeller
Ashley Mohrbach
Jayde Moniz
Gigi Montgomery
Justice Montoya
Emily Moore
Felipe Moore
Brianna Morgan
Ben Morlan
Adrien Morlet
Jenna Morley
Maya Morse
Mia Mosebrook
Gabriel Mrochek-Moore
Ally Murphy
Rue Murray
Mason Mutz
Addie Myers
Natalie Myslinski
Hailey Nagel
Nicholas Nedostup
Caitlin Neil
Remi Netupsky
Corey Neumeier
Natalie Newmann
Taylor Nichols
Taylor Nickerson
Rebecca Niewood
Rebecca Nishizawa
Grayce Norden
Madeline Northman
Dulce Nunez
Lila Nuttle
Nora O-connor
Quinn O'donnell
Rosie O'Farrell
Aidan O'flynn
Olivia O'Haver
Taylor Oldenburg
Justin Olschewsky
Annabelle Olson
Sofia Olsson
Brinley O'neill
Alexandra Organa
Finn O'Riley
Annika Ort
Maddie Osterkamp
Jonathan Ostrom
Alina Ouligian
Emmett Owenby
Izzy Paradiso
Aly Pardo
Katy Parks
Harley Parsons
Haley Patterson
Kaya Patterson
Madelyn Payne
Trevor Peck
Ingrid Pehrson
Izzy Pell
Lily Pemberton
Salem Peralta
Jaclyn Pereira
Kennedy Perez
Emma Perlmutter
Eliza Perry
Anthony Petro
Ellie Phillips
Bell Piccirillo
Sophia Pike
Mackenzie Pinksa
Elizabeth Piper
Alison Plagge
Skye Platto
Lily Podowski
Sydney Polacek
Lilly Polak
Ashley Pomeroy
Norah Pope
Phoebe Potischman
Elle Pottinger
Dax Prata
Bradley Pratt
Jamie Pressdee
Ingrid Preusser
Addisson Pribble
Trevor Price
Elle Price
Christina Proctor
Mackenna Proffitt
Sutton Raeburn
Samantha Ramirez
Lia Rapka
Stella Ratto
Maya Raulf
Nick Rauscher
Madelyn Ray

Quentin Rebholtz
Molly Reed
Jenna Reed
Hailey Reed
Anna Rehak
Sebastian Reid
Jack Remington
Ella Revivo
Grace Rhile
Brody Rhodes
Peyton Rhodes
Conner Richardson
Mesa Ridgik
Katie Ridgway
Peri Riegner
Maire Riley
Tessa Ring
Jack Rittinger
Jackie Rivera
Eliza Roberts
Michael Robinson
Sarah Robinson
Kate Rogers
Laura Rogers
Aly Rosado
Jenna Rose
Sierra Rosen
Alison Rosenbaum
Eli Rosenthal
Sierra Rossman
Jane Roth
Taylor Roth
Giova Rubenstein
Sophie Rubinstein
Reagan Russell
Sam Russo
Niamh Ryan
Danni Sackstein
Brooklyn Sadler
Sosan Safi
Ana Salazar-Terrazas
Joaquin Salinas
Eloisa Samper
Kevin Sanchez
Yahir de Jesus Sanchez Diaz
Carson Sanders
Lydia Sarbacker
Melanie Scanlon
Kate Schaefer
Stephanie Schmitt
Addie Schneider
Jaimie Schoenke
Holly Schofield
Sydney Schrader
Teagan Schreiber
Ben Schweiger
Paige Searl
Ella Seevers
Iris Serrano
Olivia Shachtman
Krish Shah
Ava Shanrock
Red Shaw
Natalie Sheehan
Charlee Sheinbaum
Jenna Shenbaum
Daniel Sher
Ryan Shigley
Lauren Shindler
Zoe Showalter-Flowers
Anika Siethoff
Matthew Silver
Diego Simental
Finley Simon
Gannett Simonton
Nathaniel Sindt
Zachary Sirkus
Mac Skudlarczyk
Marie Slotnick
Ryan Smith
Shaun Smith
Lucy Snow
Sevi Solari
Jade Solomine
Noel Sookswat
Simon Spillane
Samantha Spiwak
Maria Splawska
Sydney Spoor
Jaden Spriggins
Lindsey Stafford
Bella Stamper
Kaeden Stander
Caidin Steele
Cece Steer
Evan Stellino
Cole Stephan
Ariele Stern
Brendan Stewart
Zoe Stillman
Braden Stirrett
Anna Stout
Mary Strasser
Ava Strauss
Xander Sucich
Elizabeth Suffian
Lucy Suja
Clara Sullivan
Olivia Sullivan
Aoife Sullivan
Dennis Swanson
Livi Sweeterman
Maddy Sweig
Sadie Symonds
Ava Tabor
Willow Tachna
Ben Tal
Rueben Tasler
Tyler Tatman
Owen Taylor
Sarah Taylor
Cecelia Tecu
Angela Testani
Kaira Theisen
Tyler Thime
Channing Thomson
Ella Threlkeld
Tyler Tigerino
Kalyn Tippett
Grace Toomey
Zohair Toor
Clio Torrance
Alexa Tovar
Hendley Tracy
Eduardo Trejo Trinidad
Ricky Tuka
Jack Turpin
Caroline Valdes
Kade Van Steenvort
Maya Vanvleet
Kennedie Vargas
Gia Vasilopoulos
Maddie Veasey
Sophie Vertrees
Bianca Villordo Rosado
Saanvi Vookanti
Laurel Vose
Maya Vu
Fiona Wachter
Nick Walker
Chloe Walsh
Dylan Walsh
Halle Walters
Evie Warner
Leighton Warner
Kadyn Warner
Ryder Watkins
Greta Wattson
Ellery Weil
Hannah Weimer
Nicole Weis
Grace Westling
Ryder Weston
Kobie Weterrings
Annabelle Whitaker
Ella Whittall
Ella Wilkins
Samantha Wilkins
Triny Willerton
Charlotte Willey
Jackson Williams
Abigail Williams
Molly Williamson
Ranney Willis
Piper Wills
Holly Wininger
Emma Winkelbauer
Kaitlyn Winkelmann
Mia Winstead
Chloe Wolfram
Eva Woodruff-Stern
Grace Wymore
Jackie Wynne
Maggie Yalmokas
Indira Yantorno
Genevieve York
Ryleigh Young
Hannah Young
Lily Young-Stallings
Laurel Yule
Madison Zelibor
Elsie Zerega
Zengyi Zhai
Emily Zhou
Devon Zisser
Tatum Zrubek

More than 700 CMDI students were named to the dean's list for the spring semester.

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Shack-a-vole

Jayden Fortner — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:37:23 +0000

Shack-a-vole Jayden Fortner Mon, 05/18/2026 - 09:37

Hannah Stewart

Voles can be affectionate, monogamous creatures, which makes them great research subjects to study bonding behaviors like loss and grief. They’re also diggers, which makes them difficult to study in the wild.

So, how could ��ñ�� researchers study neuroscience in nature without voles running loose all over campus? They brought on students in the environmental design department at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information.

Over the course of two semesters, Voleterra students designed and constructed a research site on CU's East Campus, gaining valuable hands-on experience. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

“If you told me undergrads were going to build a research station, I would have said, ‘that’s cute.’ But I am so impressed with what they’ve been able to do,” said Zoe Donaldson, the lead researcher on the project.

“Did it need to be done this way? No. Is it a much better educational experience for students to work on something that has real-world implications and applications? Absolutely. What’s the point of having a university if we're not training students to go out and ultimately add something beneficial to the world?”

Donaldson, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences who studies behavior and neuroscience, and her team initially approached the campus architect for help developing the site. That led to a connection with Marcel de Lange and Jared Arp, two faculty members in environmental design.

“I think it shows the university values what we do and the knowledge the students have,” Arp said. "Now they have a really deep, genuine understanding of where theory and application meet, where that conflict is—and how to resolve it in the field on the fly.”

A space for neuroscience in nature

Students who took the course said they came to environmental design for the chance to get hands-on experience and develop their technical skills. The voles project—dubbed Voleterra—had the added benefit of emulating what it would be like to work in the real world.

“So many times people focus on the abstract and the computer side of things, and they don't really understand how things fit together,” said Mati Merten, a senior studying environmental products of design who’s been with the project since the beginning.

Voleterra began as a studio class in spring 2025, in which students designed, pitched and ultimately built a 528-square-foot structure. But the biggest challenge wasn’t figuring out how to construct a building on a tight budget. Instead, it was ensuring their proposal met the standards of CU’s Design Review Board.

“They would send us back our proposals marked up with feedback and everything that needed to change. Then I would go through the building codes to figure out how to make it all work,” said Remi Daniel (EnvDes’25), a recent architecture graduate who was on the team last year.

Students on the Voleterra project not only got to design for real-life clients, but they also got the chance to build the structure CU researchers would use to study voles. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Eventually, Daniel—now a master’s student in architecture at the University of Virginia—and another student led their formal presentation approved by the board.

Those delays, plus wintry weather last spring, meant students were late in breaking ground, though many stuck around throughout the summer to make up for lost time. This spring, Voleterra students focused on outfitting the interiors of the buildings, ensuring the office and laboratory spaces were both functional.

Skill(ed) building

For repeat students, the project also provided the opportunity to develop leadership skills.

“I’ve never seen myself as a teacher, but I've taken a bit of a step back so I can share my experience and show new students how to do anything,” Merten said.

Daniel, meanwhile, said being involved in everything from drafting designs to pouring concrete has helped her make better connections between theory and practice as a graduate student.

That included the give-and-take between students and the board.

“The fact that it took us the whole first semester to break ground was very eye-opening for the students working through that process,” Arp said.

“If we were to repeat this, I think we would work within a different building system or framework. Everyone understands this was super valuable for the students, so we need to find a way to create more opportunities like it.”

The students were just as excited about the opportunity.

“This will go into my portfolio as something that shows I have some experience with interior design,” said Nico Ross, a junior studying EPOD who joined Voleterra this spring. “And it also demonstrates my ability to work with a team, including subdividing and delegating tasks.”

He said the process taught him everything from how to integrate client feedback into the design process, to being creative on a tight budget, to technical skills like cutting metal railing for wall panels.

But more than anything, he said, it was fulfilling to be part of a project with purpose.

“It's cool that this is a real client project,” Ross said. “But it’s valuable because we're doing this, not just for them as individuals, but for our school and allowing them to do research.”

Environmental design students studying architecture, environmental products of design and even landscape architecture all participated in building Voleterra, a research site to study "neuroscience in nature." Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Hannah Stewart graduated from CMDI in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news for the college.

Students designed and built a pop-up lab so researchers from the psychology and neuroscience department can help voles find love—and study their behaviors.

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Throwing shade

Joe Arney — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:05:36 +0000

Throwing shade Joe Arney Tue, 04/14/2026 - 10:05

Joe Arney

When you’re thinking about urban infrastructure, the first things that come to mind are probably related to transportation, utilities, communications and public services.

Shade is probably not on that list. But if you’re a mile closer to the sun, as Denver is, it should be, according to an expert in environmental health and urban greenness.

“As the climate changes, many cities have increased their focus on studying sun exposure,” said Sara Tabatabaie, an assistant teaching professor of environmental design. “But they’re doing so mainly from a heat mitigation standpoint, and not necessarily for skin cancer prevention.”

Earlier this year, Tabatabaie received a third grant to continue studying how Denver, and other cities, can engage in sun safety planning and shade design to make the outdoors a less hazardous place for your skin. Worldwide, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer; in Colorado, it is a rising problem, per the National Cancer Institute.

Creating novel guidelines

It’s such a novel consideration for designers and public health officials that Tabatabaie’s work really had to start at the beginning. In the early phases of this project—a partnership between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center—she developed an intensive methodology to assess ultraviolet exposure in different urban environments, or typologies. From there, she proposed design guidelines—customized for different public space typologies—to help neighborhoods hit appropriate sun safety thresholds.

“This work incorporates lived experiences of shade and place into real design guidelines,” she said. To do so effectively, she and student researchers from CEDaR completed extensive surveys—audits, observation, environmental modeling and parametric simulation—to establish design guidelines that could improve UV safety for each typology as the sun moves through the sky during the day.

Sara Tabatabaie’s research looks at sun mitigation from the standpoint of UV protection. Other research has mostly focused on heat prevention. Photo by Nathan Thompson.

Project visualizations illustrate the placement of shade structures related to play areas. This one shows shade at Scott Carpenter Park, in Boulder, in the afternoon.

The current phase of the project is translating her evidence-based findings into actionable strategies that can guide policy and transform neighborhoods for sun safety. Tabatabaie hopes that, through this work, CDPHE can craft stronger urban forestry initiatives, improve streetscape requirements and invest in neighborhoods that lack sun protection.

“In this next phase, I’ll be investigating the institutional and political pathways for shade interventions, so we understand how to integrate these findings into urban policies, regulatory codes and planning frameworks,” she said.

She also plans to perform a cost-benefit analysis of shade.

“We want to be able to share the cost of implementing shade against the health benefits that shade offers to residents,” she said. “We know cost will be an important consideration for helping people understand the value of introducing shade into these typologies.”

Jota Samper

In the first phase of the project, the team—Tabatabaie; Jota Samper, associate professor and co-director of CEDaR; and a team of environmental design students—surveyed six different neighborhoods throughout the city to assess shade and sun risk. The orientation of streets, walkability and sidewalk types were shown to directly affect the sun risk index; the survey also revealed neighborhoods with a higher percentage of children provided limited shade—problematic, as children are more susceptible to sun damage than adults.

“What I found fascinating about Sara is that she took tools that are used in other fields”—like Rhino, a versatile 3D modeling tool, and related applications like Grasshopper and Ladybug—“and applied them to her interest in research,” Samper said. “It was amazing to see how she implemented them not just to measure sun exposure, but to show how different modalities of design could have different impacts, and help us visualize and understand that in a more complex way.”

The work may seem simple on its face, but there are a number of quirks that become apparent the more you look at shade. Cover from trees, for instance, is variable on windy days and mostly disappears in the winter. Meanwhile, surfaces designed to reflect sunlight, and protect from heat, may reflect those UV rays back at people.

“Until now, shade thresholds have not been consistently defined across all typologies, which has made it more difficult to design sun-safe places,” Tabatabaie said.

“Community engagement, and using people’s lived experience, is so important in the design process. Because if people don’t believe in the design, they won’t use it.”

Sara Tabatabaie, assistant teaching professor, environmental design

All this is happening against the backdrop of cities embracing the outdoors and encouraging residents to spend time outside by investing in parks, multiuse trails and micromobility options. But based on average UV levels in Denver, more than 20 minutes of direct sun exposure is not recommended, especially for fair-skinned people.

Balancing more time outdoors with more awareness of sun risk is something Tabatabaie takes seriously in her work.

“Community engagement, and using people’s lived experience, is so important in the design process. Because if people don’t believe in the design, they won’t use it,” she said. “We can’t just design something that looks great. We have to observe how people behave and interact with a design to ensure we’re creating something people want to use.”

Student research impact

That’s a lesson she imparted to the students working alongside her on the project. Gabby Rodriguez, a senior majoring in landscape architecture, studied urban trail systems to help guide recommendations for that typology.

“Looking at the climate we live in today demonstrates that smart landscape architecture projects are more needed than ever—especially at a time when everything is changing so rapidly,” said Rodriguez, who hopes to do more public-oriented projects after graduating this spring. “But the challenging part is definitely putting the scientific processes and methodologies into terms that the general public can understand, so you can convey that importance to people.”

The work is especially important to Rodriguez, who—like many native Coloradans—never turns down an opportunity to be outdoors.

“It’s exciting to see a project like this come to the surface,” she said. “I loved the opportunity to work with Sara, who is one of the most intelligent people I’ve known and is focused on cultivating a good space to bring design solutions for important problems to light.”

Tabatabaie’s gift for encouraging her students to become passionate about these issues speaks to her teaching ability, Samper said.

“The rigor Sara brings to her research really rubs off on her students,” he said. “The students understood the stakes were high, that this was a real client with a serious issue, and that their research was really going to impact policy in Colorado. That elevated the whole output of the students, which was really wonderful.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

More cities are studying ways to mitigate heat from intensely sunny days. One expert is more focused on the dangers posed by UV exposure.

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