Undergraduate Students

Grad’s body of work already changing courses

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:19:01 +0000

Grad’s body of work already changing courses Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/02/2025 - 16:19

Tim Grassley

Rachel Suter, who is earning her BA in neuroscience and arts practices, summa cum laude, is named the College of Arts and Science’s outstanding graduate for spring 2025

Fusing her artistic training and scientific understanding, Rachel Suter highlighted the questionable traditions of using cadavers while exploring anatomy through an artistic lens, and in doing so she has helped change how anatomy classes are taught.

Suter, who graduates this month summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the �鶹��Ѱ�� College of Arts and Sciences. Her thesis is titled “Cadaveric ethics in figurative art instruction: Developing a workshop for an anatomical approach.”

In her thesis, Suter explores the history and ethics of body procurement in cadaver labs, as well as the consequential effects of primarily representing white male bodies in these figures. “I was doing anatomy through an artistic lens,” notes Suter.

Rachel Suter, who graduates next week summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo: Kylie Clarke)

“I created a workshop for artists in the cadaver labs that taught them superficial anatomical structures relevant to figure drawing, and I simultaneously addressed the history of body procurement and dissection to advocate for a more ethical and equitable future.”

Steven Hobbs, who is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, coordinates the anatomy lab and served as chair for Suter’s honors committee, notes that Suter’s project was excellent in its scope and caused him to reconsider his approach to teaching anatomy.

“Rachel’s honors thesis is the most original undergraduate undertaking I have witnessed in my 20-plus years at CU,” says Hobbs. “Her work deftly combines history, art, anatomical sciences and advocacy. Any of these domains would be considered original, masterful and compelling. Together, they form a remarkable whole, born entirely from Rachel’s creative thinking, passion and hard work. Her thesis is the quintessential fusion of ‘arts’ and ‘sciences.’”

While Suter’s bachelor’s degree studies in art practices and neuroscience helped her fuse research techniques and art-making workshops, the project’s interdisciplinarity also offered opportunity to initiate instructional practices that could be incorporated into anatomy labs and figure-drawing workshops right away.

“That was my big goal with the thesis,” says Suter. “It was to put theory into practice and make a tangible change.”

Exploring the ethics of how cadavers are procured, studied and illustrated

Suter began her research intending to learn about the history of how bodies are procured by cadaver labs and medical schools to better understand and critique unethical practices. As she charted the medical history, she discovered that labs commonly obtain “unclaimed bodies,” or cadavers that were not claimed by family or friends for burial or cremation and are then made available for medical education and research by the state.

In her thesis, she argues that knowing this background helps anatomy students see cadavers as more than educational objects—they are people deserving of care and respect.

“Some medical schools still use unclaimed bodies today,” says Suter, “and so my thesis promotes the use of consensually donated bodies in anatomy. I didn't know that my project would also turn into more advocacy and activism for working towards a better future.”

While delving into a cursory history of body-procurement and medical ethics, Suter recognized a relationship between her anatomy classes and art classes. While anatomy is generally taught as a science course, it uses art as one of its primary means of communicating findings about the human body, and a stronger understanding of art-making places figures in context.

As an artist interested in figure drawing, Suter experienced first-hand that her stronger understanding of anatomy helped generate more reliable and variable representations of the human body’s structures.

“I was learning how to figure draw at the same time that I was taking the anatomy lab course, and then I continued to work on my figure drawing while I was simultaneously dissecting bodies in the labs,” reflects Suter. “Having an anatomical knowledge of the human body really supported my representation of bodies in art.”

Rachel Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures. (Photo: Rachel Suter)

Suter noted a tendency for anatomy textbook images and illustrations to rely on white male bodies as representative of all human bodies. She found that this was a common practice historically among medical illustrators and could create misunderstanding among students analyzing these visual representations.

“Anatomy studies people,” says Suter. “In studying people, you want to ensure that you are representative of all of those groups.”

Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures.

The workshops also covered ethical considerations when working with cadavers, the importance of wide representation and individuality in artistic anatomy and methods attendees could use to advocate for a more inclusive approach to dissection and figurative art.

While she plans to pursue graduate programs in medical illustration after a gap year that includes a 10-week intensive workshop in Florence, Italy, Suter’s thesis has a more immediate effect on how anatomy will be taught at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder in the future.

“The anatomy labs here have not previously taught an ethical dimension or historical dimension,” says Suter. “Throughout my thesis, I really tried to advocate for transparency and education in these topics in a cadaver lab setting, and I'm really excited because I'm now talking to Dr. Hobbs about adding some of this content into the anatomy lab curriculum for anatomy students.”

The expansiveness of this project and its effect on teaching were the two characteristics of Suter’s nomination that drew the committee’s attention. Notes Hobbs, “As an instructor of human anatomy for nearly 20 years, I was surprised and inspired by how much I learned from Rachel. Her lessons reshaped my perspective on the human form through the lens of illustration. Rachel’s workshops and honors thesis could be the blueprint for a fantastic interdisciplinary semester course at CU. Every anatomy program should be so lucky to have a Rachel Suter.”

Suter not only feels honored to be the 2025 A&S outstanding graduate, she is also thrilled that her project leaves a legacy of change made possible through thoughtful, scholarly and artistic work.

“I don't think I've really found the words quite yet,” reflects Suter. “I'm really proud that I was able to make an impact on campus and develop a new educational approach that filled some gaps.”

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Rachel Suter, who is earning her BA in neuroscience and arts practices, summa cum laude, is named the College of Arts and Science’s outstanding graduate for spring 2025.

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Top photo: Kylie Clarke/College of Arts and Sciences

Amazing grads share advice and reflect on key lessons

Kylie Clarke — Fri, 02 May 2025 16:10:11 +0000

Amazing grads share advice and reflect on key lessons Kylie Clarke Fri, 05/02/2025 - 10:10

Earning high praise from faculty and staff, students offer words of wisdom and more

Each year, students leave their mark on the College of Arts and Sciences. Their choices, hard work and determination leave a legacy for the next generation.

As graduation approaches, the nostalgia of first days, the pride of achievement and the excitement of what is to come replays in the buzzing minds of almost-graduated students.

To celebrate amazing grads, we asked faculty and staff to nominate remarkable students.

Each nominee answered one of the following questions:

What is your best advice for other students?
What will you carry with you into the next chapter of life?
What does graduating represent for you?

Each nominator answered this question:

In your view, what makes this student amazing?

Q&A
Q: What does graduating represent for you?
Salomé Carrasco, EBIO ‘25: Graduating from college is a representation of the personal commitment and determination I have as a student from a diverse intercultural background, but also the community support and dedication my professors, peers and others have provided for me. This success also represents that students are capable of pursuing higher education despite financial, social and structural inequalities.

Q: What makes Salomé amazing?
Nominator: Salomé transferred to �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder from community college during the fall of 2023. I had the good fortunate of having Salomé in my Art of Science Communication class that term. Since then, Salomé has been an incredibly engaged member of our lab group. She participated in a month-long sampling expedition to western Canada during the summer of 2024 and just defended her honors thesis! Her growth and progress have been outstanding on so many fronts! Our lab is in awe of her artistic and scientific skills. We feel so honored that she has been a part of our research community during her time at CU.

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Earning high praise from faculty and staff, students offer words of wisdom and more

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Scholars aim to build community for women in quantum

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:46:50 +0000

Scholars aim to build community for women in quantum Rachel Sauer Fri, 04/25/2025 - 13:46

Rachel Sauer

Quantum Scholars Emily Jerris and Annalise Cabra started �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum to help women interested in careers in quantum to network and share experiences

First, the good news: Between 1970 and 2022, the percentage of U.S. women workers in STEM jobs grew from 7% to 26%.

The obvious and not-so-good news is that while women represent almost half the U.S. workforce, they hold only a quarter of STEM jobs. And the numbers get even more stark in quantum fields. A 2022 report from the London School of Economics and Political Science found that fewer than 2% of applicants for jobs in quantum fields are female.

Quantum Scholars Annalise Cabra (left) and Emily Jerris (right) gave a presentation about �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum at the December Quantum Scholars meeting attended by �鶹��Ѱ��President Todd Saliman. (Photo: Casey Cass/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

However, in the 100 years since German physicist Werner Heisenberg submitted his paper “On quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relationships” to the journal Zeitschrift für Physik, a July 1925 event that is broadly credited with kick-starting the quantum revolution, the possibilities and potential of quantum science and engineering have grown enormously.

Recognizing that potential, a group of �鶹��Ѱ�� scholars wants to help ensure that women participate equally and fully in quantum science and engineering.

�鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum, founded last semester by Quantum Scholars Emily Jerris and Annalise Cabra, aims to be a community of support, connection, mentorship and networking for women interested in pursuing careers or research in quantum fields.

“Our primary focus,” Cabra explains, “is just to create a space where we can come together, share our experiences and create relationships that are lasting.”

100 years of quantum

Both Jerris and Cabra say that this is an exciting time to be in quantum science and engineering. Not only did the United Nations declare 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and not only did Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week announce the Blueprint for Advancing K–12 Quantum Information Technology, but research happening on the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder campus and in Colorado is swiftly expanding the boundaries of quantum technology.

However, they also add that as exciting as this time is, women in quantum fields still face some of the same roadblocks that women in STEM always have.

“I think if you asked most of the women in the club or just in a STEM major if they’ve had a moment where a peer or coworker has talked down to them or they felt not necessarily fully included in a project because they were the only woman in the group, I think most probably have,” Jerris says. “So, it’s nice to have a space to talk about that—how to navigate situations like that. A lot of us do research, too, and those types of situations are also really prevalent in the research space.”

Jerris and Cabra worked with Michael Ritzwoller, a physics professor of distinction and Quantum Scholars co-founder, and physics Professor Noah Finkelstein to create �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum, which is open to all students, as a place for not only female Quantum Scholars, but for women across campus who are interested in pursuing careers in quantum science, technology or engineering.

Annalise Cabra (left) works with Brooke Nelson (right), a career advisor for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, on her resume during a recent �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum meeting.

Supporting women in quantum

One of the group’s aims is creating networking and mentorship opportunities for members by asking professors and women working in quantum fields to speak at group meetings. This has included Alex Tingle, a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder physics alumna and senior technical project engineer at Quantinuum, who was named one of the Wonder Women of the Quantum Industry by the Quantum Daily.

�鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum gatherings also focus on skill-building, including a recent meeting at which Brooke Nelson, a career advisor for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, gave a presentation on creating and honing a resume.

“One of our goals is to help (�鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum members) narrow in on their interests and build connections,” Cabra says. “And then also having opportunities to see how women in their shoes were able to navigate and build careers in quantum. I think it’s important for a lot of women in the field, too, to go back and encourage other women who are just starting out or just getting interested in quantum.”

The members of �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum also get together for study sessions, “because even if we’re not taking the same classes, with other women you can feel more open and not like you’re the outlier in the group.”

Both Cabra, who is graduating next month, and Jerris, who is completing her third year, are interested in pursuing careers in a quantum field, bolstered by the support they’ve found in �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum.

“It’s so fascinating because it’s just so unintuitive,” Cabra says. “It makes your brain think in such crazy ways, from the ways particles behave to the ways stars don’t collapse or do collapse, to parallel universes, and it all goes back to quantum. I think it’s just so exciting to study.”

Jerris adds that often the common perception of quantum science and technology is that “it’s kind of magic or something we don’t totally understand, but we actually do have a pretty good understanding of quantum. We know what’s going on and can model it, and we’re maybe just one step behind with how we can actually manipulate things. So, it’s not magic; it’s something we do know a lot about and we’re learning more every day.”

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Quantum Scholars Emily Jerris and Annalise Cabra started �鶹��Ѱ��Women of Quantum to help women interested in careers in quantum to network and share experiences.

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Top image: Casey Cass/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

College of Arts and Sciences names 2025 Van Ek Scholars

Kylie Clarke — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:38:02 +0000

College of Arts and Sciences names 2025 Van Ek Scholars Kylie Clarke Wed, 04/16/2025 - 15:38

Seventeen students receive one of the college’s most prestigious honors, recognized for their exemplary academic achievement and meaningful contributions to the campus and broader community

The College of Arts and Sciences has awarded the Jacob Van Ek Scholarship—one of the college’s highest honors—to 17 outstanding undergraduates.

Named in honor of Jacob Van Ek (1896–1999), the award commemorates his remarkable contributions to the university. Van Ek joined �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder in 1925 as a young assistant professor shortly after earning his doctorate from what is now Iowa State University. Within three years, he rose to the rank of full professor and, by 1929, was appointed dean of the College of Liberal Arts—a role he held until 1959.

Students walking across campus.

The following students are this year’s Jakob Van Ek Scholar Award recipients:

Danya Al Nazal, Neuroscience/Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Amaneet Brar, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Michaela De Oliveria Olsen, Integrative Physiology
Rachel Suter, Neuroscience/Art Practices
Nikolaas Steele, Integrative Physiology
Ivory Carpenter, Environmental Studies
Karis Lowe, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
Natalie Sesselmann, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences/Psychology
Brooklyn Phillips, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
Kalen Sieja, Political Science/Evolutionary Biology
Katie Mikell, Evolutionary Biology
Kalvyn Adams, Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences/Physics
Adriana Ripley, Psychology/French/Musical Theatre
Xavier Cisneros, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology/Sociology
Marina Levine, Economics/Psychology
Devayani Ravuri, Physics
Abby Schaller, Political Science

Seventeen students receive one of the college’s most prestigious honors, recognized for their exemplary academic achievement and meaningful contributions to the campus and broader community.

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Picturing climate change in the West

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:57:22 +0000

Picturing climate change in the West Rachel Sauer Wed, 04/02/2025 - 14:57

Rachel Sauer

What began as a hobby for �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder economics undergrad Lucas Gauthier came together as a photographic portfolio documenting the already-evident and potential effects of climate change

Lucas Gauthier and his family moved to Colorado when he was in 6th grade, and after a decade of fairly frequent moves—both parents were in the military—this is where everything made sense: mountains for climbing, runs for skiing, trails for hiking and rivers for rafting.

They took some convincing, but eventually his parents let him venture out on his own—forays that grew longer and longer and took him farther and farther into the Colorado wilderness.

Lucas Gauthier, a senior majoring in economics, has photographically documented his adventures in western landscapes since he was in high school.

About four or five years ago, he began taking pictures along the way, usually on his phone. The photography wasn’t the point, necessarily, “but I found that, especially in Colorado, hiking puts you in some very beautiful places,” he explains. “I hike, and the pictures happen while I’m hiking.”

A through line for what had become a large portfolio of photographs emerged in spring 2024. Gauthier, a senior majoring in economics with a focus on natural resource management, was taking ENLP 3100—Complex Leadership Challenges, a class that requires students to complete three projects during the semester.

The first two projects were more technically focused, but the third emphasized creating something of personal value. So, Gauthier thought about all the places in Colorado that he loves, scrolling through both his memories and his photos. He realized that what began as an almost offhanded hobby was actually documenting places that would be or already were altered by climate change.

From that realization was born Climate Change in the West: A Photographic Journal, a multimedia project that incorporates not only data about things like wildfire, heat wave and drought risk and their potential for significant economic impact, but makes it personal with the scenes of incomparable beauty he has witnessed and documented.

“My interest in water specifically came from my interest in hiking and skiing and an interest in all outdoor sports,” Gauthier says. “When people say there’s going to be less rain, less precipitation, that’s a big deal for me.

“I worked and lived in Breckenridge, which is a tourism-dependent area, so if there’s not enough water, that’s weeks of ski season that are lost, and there might not be a rafting season, so that’s where you start to see the overlaps between how climate change is affecting natural systems and the actual economic impacts on livelihoods.”

Capturing what he sees

“My interest in photography has been in capturing this broad swath of environments that we get to play in—as a way to memorialize the experience for myself, and also to share it with others,” Gauthier says.

He took two photography classes in high school, neither of which focused on outdoor or landscape photography, “but I do think those gave me a good idea for how to compose photos and set them up, how to look for different lighting and visual elements,” he says. “They got me in the mindset of thinking, ‘This is something that strikes me, and I’ll see if I can frame it in way that works with what I want to capture.’”

Gauthier was also in high school when he began tackling ever-more-ambitious climbs and started working his way through Colorado’s 58 fourteeners, a goal he completed over the summer. Of those 58, he climbed at least 45 solo.

“(Climbing solo) is kind of a mix of preference and necessity,” Gauthier explains. “It’s easier when the only person you have to plan for logistically is yourself. And when you’re trying to beat lighting and thunder, it’s best to move light and fast.”

However, he never moves so fast that he can’t look around and, if he’s able, to capture what he’s seeing in a photograph. And he returns to certain favorite places, enough that he can compare them season by season or year by year.

“We’ve had a mix of good and bad snow years, but it’s been very noticeable when a particular area that usually has good (snow) coverage into May or June has already melted,” he says. “And there have been times when I’ve hiked through area and a few years later it’s a burn scar, which is a very visceral sense of change in the environment.

“Then there are little things like aspens are yellowing at a different date, wildflowers are blooming and stop blooming at different times. While it’s not as black and white a change, moving those transition points is definitely something that adds up in aggregate.”

Factors of climate change

Now, as he works his way through Colorado’s 100 highest peaks—he’s summited more than 80—and completes his bachelor’s degree, he still is conceptualizing what it all means. Many climate change models are forecast to take decades—if not centuries—to happen, but Gauthier is already seeing anecdotal evidence of them. What does that mean for how he exists in the outdoors and what he’s going to do after he graduates?

“I feel like there is a lot of doom and gloom, and I definitely feel that, but at the same time I am very much a person who feels like I have to say what I’m going to do about it,” he says. “With my area of emphasis in environmental economics, it’s about acknowledging that we have these issues and asking how we address them through actual, tangible means. For me, that means engaging in actual political and broader social processes. When I’m engaged in something, I feel less powerless.

“I think the main point that I wanted to communicate with this project was emphasizing how each of these different factors of climate change are integrated,” he says. “Fires affect water quality, flooding affects agriculture and all of it impacts places that I and a lot of other people love.”

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Did ChatGPT write this? No, but how would you know?

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 21:34:42 +0000

Did ChatGPT write this? No, but how would you know? Rachel Sauer Mon, 03/03/2025 - 14:34

Collette Mace

In her Writing in the Age of AI course, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s Teresa Nugent helps students think critically about new technology

One of the most contentious subjects in academia now is the use of AI in writing. Many educators fear that students use it as a substitute for critical thinking. And while students fear that they’re going to be accused of using it instead of doing their own critical thinking, some still use it anyway.

Some students, like their instructors, fear what AI is capable of, and they are highly uncomfortable with the risks associated with its use.

Teresa Nugent, a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder teaching associate professor of English, invites students in the Writing in the Age of AI course to experiment with AI as part of their writing process and critically reflect on how these tools influence their ideas.

Teresa Nugent, a �鶹��Ѱ�� teaching associate professor of English, has seen all these perspectives. When she first read the 2023 essay “I’m a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We’re Using ChatGPT” by Columbia University undergraduate Owen Kichizo Terry, she knew that it was time for educators and students to better understand AI use in writing, even though it was scary.

Two years later, she is in her second semester of teaching ENGL 3016, Writing in the Age of AI. In this course, Nugent invites students to experiment with AI as part of their writing process and critically reflect on how these tools influence their ideas. Her students have conversations with chatbots about topics that they know well and evaluate whether the bots actually know what they’re talking about.

Nugent says she hopes that taking a class in which they are encouraged to talk about AI use allows students to explore possibilities, play with these tools, test their capabilities and determine how best to use them. By teaching students how to use AI as a tool to help develop their critical thinking skills instead of just avoiding that hard work, Nugent aims to prompt students to think about the wider implications of AI, and where it can ethically fit into an academic curriculum.

“We as educators have an obligation to help our students develop the skills that they’re going to need in the world that is developing around all of us,” Nugent says. “If we try to pretend AI isn’t here, we are doing students a disservice. We need to find ways to inspire students to want to learn; we need to spark their curiosity and motivate them to find meaningful connections between course content and the world.”

Mixed feelings about AI

Not all students are enthusiastic about AI. Nugent explains that, since the class fulfills an upper-level writing requirement, she has students of all different majors and experience levels. Many students, she notes, come in with a great deal of apprehension about using AI, something the class discusses openly on day one.

Nugent asks her students to think of a story they’ve been told—often by a parent or grandparent—about what life was like before some commonplace technology—like cell phones or the internet—was invented.

“If we try to pretend AI isn’t here, we are doing students a disservice," says Teresa Nugent, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder teaching associate professor of English.

Someday, she reminds her students, they'll tell stories about what the world was like before generative AI. New technology is always emerging, and the best way to adapt to the changing world is to keep learning about it, she says.

Nugent also acknowledges the real risks that come with AI use. She offers students a plethora of readings expressing a range of perspectives on the subject—including Neil Postman’s concerns about the unintended consequences of technological innovations and Mustafa Suleyman’s warning about the need to contain AI in his book The Coming Wave. Students read writings about how current educators have grappled with the release of AI chatbots and science fiction media depictions of AI, including the film Her and the dystopian serial Black Mirror.

Students also read texts about the harmful effects of AI on the environment, the issues of class and social justice that are entangled with AI use and psychological studies concerning AI.

Overall, Nugent says she wants students to leave the class with an informed understanding of AI. For their final project, students are required to research an aspect of AI in which they are particularly interested.

She says this leads to a wide array of research topics, often based on students’ majors; for example, an environmental studies major might research how to use renewable energy sources to power data centers. After writing academic papers, students reframe their research into a “blog” format that a general audience would find easily understandable.

“Knowledge is power,” Nugent says. “Being well informed about something always gives one more of a sense of agency than not being informed.” Ultimately, Nugent says she hopes that students will leave the class feeling confident and prepared to offer their knowledge about AI to society and keep themselves and others informed about this moment in technological history.

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In her Writing in the Age of AI course, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s Teresa Nugent helps students think critically about new technology.

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Outstanding grad unearths roots of challenges to Black women authors

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:10:36 +0000

Outstanding grad unearths roots of challenges to Black women authors Rachel Sauer Fri, 12/20/2024 - 08:10

Clint Talbott

Jane Forman, who is earning her BA in English, summa cum laude, is named the college’s outstanding graduate for fall 2024

Jane Forman has painstakingly recounted evidence that Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones and other prominent Black women authors have faced challenges to the authenticity and quality of their work, and that these critiques emanate from racist and sexist conceptions of who is rightly considered an author and an authority.

Forman, who is earning her BA in English, summa cum laude, deeply impressed her faculty committee, and she has been named the outstanding graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences for fall 2024.

Her thesis is titled “Deconstructing Archival Debris in the Margins: How Black Women Writers Navigate Intersectional Oppression During the Authorial Identity Formation Process.”

Jane Forman, who is earning her BA in English, summa cum laude, is the College of Arts and Science outstanding graduate for fall 2024.

In this work, Forman considers cases of Black women authors who were unfairly denigrated and rebuked because their intersectional identity made them targets. Forman cites troubling episodes of Claudine Gay, former president of Harvard; Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the Pulitzer-winning 1619 Project; Toni Morrison, winner of a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize; and others.

When she spoke recently with Daryl Maeda, interim dean of the college, Forman described her thesis as a “contemplation of how our history continuously influences contemporary figurations of American life.”

In her thesis, she concludes: “The history of slavery is all of ours to confront, disregarding our contemporary racial and gender positionality in America. The virulent debris that emerged from slavery’s formal demolition continues to infect society today … We are all implicated in how this history attempts to exert influence over our collective present and future.”

Jennifer Ho, director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts, Eaton Professor of Humanities and the Arts and professor of ethnic studies, served as Forman’s thesis advisor. In her written narrative to the faculty thesis defense form, Ho said Forman’s thesis was made especially strong by her tracing of the “archival debris” across three periods of Black female authorship:

“Using critical race theory as her main theoretical touchstone, Jane considers the intersectional oppression that plagues Black women writers—the way that they must continuously navigate charges of plagiarism, incompetence and illegitimacy. Combining close reading/explication with theoretical applications of critical race theory, Jane takes readers through the troubling trend of discounting Black women writers due to sexism and racism, linked to U.S. history of anti-Black racism and white supremacy.”

In a letter of support for Forman, Emily Harrington, an associate professor of English who served on Forman’s committee, said Forman’s work “is easily the best senior thesis I have read during my career.”

Through all her thesis chapters, Forman “draws a direct connection between the various ways in which Black women authors have been questioned both in their authenticity and in the quality of their work, from the ‘first’ African American poet to the present day,” Harrington said, adding:

“Having also taken graduate seminars as an undergraduate, Jane is the most advanced undergraduate I have encountered at CU. … She has been a leader in our department, and I cannot think of a more ‘outstanding undergraduate.’”

In the acknowledgment section of her thesis, Forman shares some personal reflection and advice:

“For anyone uncertain of what they should do or where they should go, I urge you to follow the path that leads you toward the most expansive feeling. Three years ago, I dropped out of Georgetown University, unsure of what my life would be like. I didn’t know where I wanted to be, but I knew I couldn’t stay there. Despite the tumultuous journey that led me here, I feel eternally grateful for where I ended up.”

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Jane Forman, who is earning her BA in English, summa cum laude, is named the college’s outstanding graduate for fall 2024.

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�鶹��Ѱ��president urges Quantum Scholars to think critically and creatively

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 23:20:49 +0000

�鶹��Ѱ��president urges Quantum Scholars to think critically and creatively Rachel Sauer Tue, 12/10/2024 - 16:20

Rachel Sauer

At the program’s December meeting, Todd Saliman reaffirmed CU’s commitment to the quantum education and research happening on campus

The way University of Colorado President Todd Saliman sees it, “(quantum) is a sector where Colorado is uniquely well-situated... I want us to be the one. I want us to be front of the line. I want us to be leading the world.”

As for the Quantum Scholars he was addressing Wednesday evening, their mission is to think “critically and creatively, and be dynamic human beings,” Saliman said.

Professor Noah Finkelstein co-directs Quantum Scholars with Michael Ritzwoller. (Photo: Casey A. Cass/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

Saliman was a guest speaker at the December meeting of Quantum Scholars, a program conceived in the �鶹��Ѱ�� Department of Physics and the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) that offers undergraduate students opportunities to learn about the quantum field, including connections with local industry leaders and introduction to new quantum technology.

The Quantum Scholars program includes undergraduates studying physics, engineering and computer science and aims to advance quantum education and workforce development through professional development, co-curricular activities and industrial engagement.

“We’re trying to extend what the Quantum Scholars are learning in class to make their education even more marketable and relevant,” said Michael Ritzwoller, a physics professor of distinction and Quantum Scholars founder with CEAS Dean Keith Molenaar. “More than 80% of our graduates eventually work in industry, so Quantum Scholars helps fill that gap.”

Scott Davis (PhDPhys’99), CEO of Vescent Technologies Inc. and a member of the Department of Physics advisory committee, told students at the Wednesday meeting that they are “at a special place” and cited the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act (S. 5411), introduced in the U.S. Senate last week, which would authorize $2.7 billion over the next five years for quantum research and development at federal agencies and shift focus “from basic research to practical applications.”

“So much of that started because of this institution,” Davis said. “We’re really just at the beginning, and we need �鶹��Ѱ��to keep doing what you’re doing—technical development, workforce development, inventing the future.”

Supporting scholars

For Denali Jah, a senior majoring in engineering physics who has been a Quantum Scholar since the program began in spring 2023, the benefits of participating in it are many. The $2,500 that Quantum Scholars receive during the academic year—supported by the Department of Physics and CEAS, as well as contributions from alumni, industry and external partners—gave his budget some wiggle room so he could participate more fully in research and community initiatives.

�鶹��Ѱ��President Todd Saliman (left) spoke to Quantum Scholars at the program's monthly meeting. (Photo: Casey A. Cass/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

“I was looking for some way to contribute to the physics department and really put my stamp on �鶹��Ѱ��before I left,” Jah says. “Professor Ritzwoller and I were talking and he said, ‘I really want a quantum hackathon to happen here at CU,’ so Annalise Cabra and I organized the quantum hackathon.

“It was a really great success on the whole, and a great opportunity for Quantum Scholars to be able to get some industry initiatives that were much better integrated into our program. One way that I see Quantum Scholars is we’re a curation of student opportunities. Everybody is really working to be able to create more and more initiatives and opportunities throughout campus.”

Luke Coffman, a senior studying physics and mathematics, is leveraging his time as a Quantum Scholar to study “useful ideas for quantum computation,” he noted during the Wednesday meeting. Specifically, he’s interested in molecular simulation for qubit systems and suggested that perhaps quantum sensing will happen before quantum computation.

“Theoretical quantum computing will always be hot,” added Noah Finkelstein, a professor of physics and Quantum Scholars co-director.

In response to a question from Alexander Aronov, a junior studying mechanical engineering, about whether quantum science is in a period of over-hype, Davis noted that the technology field broadly has long existed in a cycle of hype and bust: “Is that happening in quantum?” he asked. “I take a fairly broad view of what it means to be in quantum systems and a quantum player.

“Exploiting quantum to our benefit is not hype; it’s real… It’s been slowly building for a long time, especially the amount of money (dedicated to quantum research and development) on the public side because of national security aspects. We exploit the laws of physics to the advantage of humanity, and that’s not going anywhere.”

Saliman said that as an institution, �鶹��Ѱ��is committed to quantum—to building and leveraging public and private partnerships that help fund the research and development of which Quantum Scholars are or will be a part. “Our job is to support smart people, and translating the discoveries made here into practical applications is going to help pay for it.”

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At the program’s December meeting, Todd Saliman reaffirmed CU’s commitment to the quantum education and research happening on campus.

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�鶹��Ѱ��President Todd Saliman (second from left) talks with (left to right) professors Noah Finkelstein and Tobin Munsat, Scott Davis and Professor Michael Ritzwoller. (Photo: Casey A. Cass/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

Partnering with bots for better learning

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:30:00 +0000

Partnering with bots for better learning Rachel Sauer Mon, 11/25/2024 - 07:30

Cody DeBos

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Professor Mike Klymkowsky uses AI tools to help students develop critical-thinking skills

For many, the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) taking on an expanded role in academia stirs uneasy feelings. Visions of computer-generated tutors and students “writing” essays using a chatbot paint a cold, impersonal destiny for education. However, Mike Klymkowsky, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the �鶹��Ѱ��, pictures a different future.

“It’s a tool that students will need to master, but its role will be largely determined by how the institution sets standards,” Klymkowsky says.

Mike Klymkowsky, a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, is using AI tools in the classroom to help students grow critical thinking skills.

Klymkowsky, a veteran educator and innovator, is experimenting with AI not to provide answers to students, but to prompt intelligent questions and facilitate more effective learning. Through self-made AI assessment tools and interactive, personified tutor bots, he encourages students to shift their mindset from memorizing facts to becoming active champions of critical thinking.

Ultimately, Klymkowsky says, the aim of education is to foster skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

“The goal isn’t just to remember the right answer,” he says; “it’s to understand why that answer makes sense and why the other answers don’t.”

Developing more meaningful feedback and assessment

Klymkowsky argues that traditional grading methods, particularly multiple-choice exams, fail to measure true comprehension; they look only for memorization.

Fortunately, he says, AI tools offer a different solution.

“When ChatGPT came out, it became clear to me and everyone else in the universe that these were tools that allowed you to do things you’d always wanted to do,” he explains.

By automating the analysis of students’ responses to open-ended prompts, AI can quickly highlight which concepts cause them to struggle and where instructors can spend more time. Such tasks involving quick analysis of vast datasets to identify patterns are where AI excels, Klymkowsky says.

“Now you can evaluate instructors on whether their learning goals are meaningful and whether the students are achieving them,” Klymkowsky says.

His “Dewey” AI bot can reduce days of manually combing through exam responses down to minutes, offering insights that allow him to target lectures more precisely and understand if learning outcomes are being reached.

Klymkowsky says this approach is key to helping students understand not just what they got wrong but why—and how to improve.

From cramming to critical thinking

Klymkowsky’s approach to AI addresses a long-standing challenge in academia: the prevalence of rote memorization.

“Whenever a class starts using multiple-choice questions to answer, forget critical thinking. You’re not asking them how they got the answer; you’re asking them whether they recognize it,” says Mike Klymkowsky.

“Whenever a class starts using multiple-choice questions to answer, forget critical thinking,” he explains. “You’re not asking them how they got the answer; you’re asking them whether they recognize it.”

Klymkowsky, an avid proponent of exploratory, inquiry-based learning, created an AI “tutor bot” called “Rita” to enhance his students’ learning. The bot uses a technology known as retrieval-generated augmentation and is trained on information provided by Klymkowsky, including lecture materials and textbooks. Limiting the bot’s knowledge to a select dataset prevents it from “hallucinating”—making up potentially incorrect or misleading answers to questions it doesn’t know.

“Our bots, when you ask them a question they don’t know, they say ‘I don’t know.’ If you ask ChatGPT or Claude a question, it’ll answer whether it knows it or not,” he says.

Klymkowsky views Rita as a patient guide capable of leading students through complex materials at their own pace.

“These bots don’t just spit out answers,” he says. “They respond based on what students already know and ask follow-up questions to deepen their understanding.”

He also explains that the bots can be tailored to specific disciplines with a custom knowledge base. Keeping the bots within their trained parameters ensures students can rely on them to deliver accurate information without straying into unfamiliar territory.

“You want to have the bot be focused on what the learning outcomes of the department are,” Klymkowsky says. “So, if students are engaging with a bot in a biology course, that bot is designed to know what it knows and what it doesn’t know.”

Tutor bots like Rita use the Socratic teaching model to promote critical thinking. They work with students to challenge their assumptions and develop solid explanations for their reasoning.

“Imagine being able to practice asking questions with a bot that makes you feel appreciated because it never loses its patience, right? It’s never snarky,” Klymkowsky says.

Rita won’t simply ask a student for the answer. In the form of a conversation, the bot asks for a reflection on why the student believes their answer is correct—or why it isn’t—to help them grasp the underlying principles of a given topic.

“The goal is not to memorize facts, but to understand the why and how behind them,” Klymkowsky says. “It’s about cultivating the kind of thinking that lets students ask the right questions—and teaches them how to start finding answers independently.”

Engaging students beyond the classroom

In addition to Socratic tutor bots, Klymkowsky is using Notebook LM to explore AI-generated podcasts as a novel tool to spark curiosity. As with Rita, he creates these podcasts using a limited dataset, such as a course textbook.

The AI tool then turns the input into a two-way conversation between virtual speakers. Despite the surreal experience of listening to an entirely non-human conversation, the format allows students to explore high-level information in a more accessible style through a medium many younger adults favor.

“The goal with these podcasts is to give students a jumping-off point—something that piques their interest and motivates them to dig deeper,” Klymkowsky explains.

“The goal is not to memorize facts, but to understand the why and how behind them. It’s about cultivating the kind of thinking that lets students ask the right questions—and teaches them how to start finding answers independently.”

Each podcast episode introduces a biology concept, immersing students through storytelling and examples.

While the application is promising, Klymkowsky knows producing such content is a tricky balancing act of depth and attention span: “What is the attention span of the student? How long are you going to keep them on task before you ask them to do something themselves?”

Despite this challenge, Klymkowsky believes AI podcasts can complement classroom learning by acting as conversation starters.

“It’s more about using the podcast to motivate students to go read the book or the chapter—or to ask questions that they wouldn’t otherwise consider,” he says.

From there, students can bring their questions into class discussions or interact with a tutor bot to reinforce their learning.

By embracing AI tools like Socratic tutor bots and podcasts, Klymkowsky believes it’s possible to create an educational space where students can deepen their understanding through diverse content formats while cultivating a habit of lifelong learning that goes beyond a multiple-choice bubble.

Fueling curiosity, one question at a time

As technology continues to shape academia, Klymkowsky emphasizes that AI, when thoughtfully applied, needn’t be the villain. Instead, it can be a powerful catalyst for cultivating critical thinking.

“If you don’t understand a thing, can you ask an intelligent question?” Klymkowsky says.

With AI as a partner, he says he believes students can learn to ask those questions, and that AI can be used to develop curiosity and intellectual resilience—skills that will serve students far longer than a perfectly memorized breakdown of the Krebs cycle.

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�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Professor Mike Klymkowsky uses AI tools to help students develop critical-thinking skills.

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Scholar learns that ‘language links us all’

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:46:45 +0000

Scholar learns that ‘language links us all’ Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/05/2024 - 10:46

Doug McPherson

Political science undergrad Cooper Baldwin wins prestigious U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to learn ‘one of the most critical languages for future United States policy’

Cooper Baldwin, a junior from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in political science and journalism, has been named a recipient of the 2024 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) from the U.S. Department of State.

The scholarship allows American college and university students to learn languages that are key to America's engagement with the world.

Baldwin is the only �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder student to receive the CLS in the last two years. Just 500 undergraduate and graduate students in the United States are chosen each year from an application pool of more than 5,000 students, according to the Department of State.

Cooper Baldwin, a junior majoring in political science and journalism, received a 2024 Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State and studied Russian over the summer.

As a CLS recipient, Baldwin chose to study Russian (over Arabic and Chinese) and spent the summer learning the basics of the language online from what he calls “an awesome instructional team” based in Chișinău, Moldova. Russian was the language he’s most interested in learning, he says, and he wanted to get the basics down before he applied to go to a Russian-speaking country next summer and study the language in more detail.

“In my opinion, Russian is one of the most critical languages for future United States policy facilitators, executors and diplomats to learn,” Baldwin says. “Not only is it primarily spoken in many Eastern European countries, it’s the cornerstone of many languages and dialects worldwide. So, with such a broad reach, the choice seemed obvious to me.”

He says his initial curiosity about Russian stems, in part, from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The invasion … stoked a connection to that part of the world. To be honest, the invasion seemed entirely surreal to me, and the onset of a full, unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country rattled the conceptions I had about the relative peaceful nature of nations worldwide. I’ve never lived in a world without Russian aggression and a tense atmosphere from the Kremlin toward the United States.”

'A patriot above all'

Baldwin—who is interested in international relations, geopolitical relations, history and national security—calls himself “a patriot above all” who wants to give back to the United States.

“I believe the CLS program is the perfect way to do that. To learn a language critical to the U.S.'s national security and economic interests nationwide will allow me to pursue this commitment and philosophy fervently, which I intend to do.”

He calls his career goals “big and numerous” and says that working on political campaigns boosted his interest in politics and government.

“To those who know me, it's no secret that I’m thoroughly committed to entering the field of politics, campaigns or government when I graduate from CU. I intend on using my studies and experiences to seek a role in the federal government.”

He hopes to work in the Department of State, Homeland Security, intelligence services, civil military service or policy administration.

I want to live a life of service to the country that has given me so much. I know it is my birthright to be an American, but I see it as an incredible and awe-inspiring privilege to say I am.”

“I want to live a life of service to the country that has given me so much. I know it is my birthright to be an American, but I see it as an incredible and awe-inspiring privilege to say I am.”

Baldwin says that for as long as he can remember, he’s had a “deep interest” in language and linguistics.

“They’ve been an intellectual love of mine,” he says. “I taught myself to read at age 4 because I was so deeply invested in language and its capability for beautiful, complex expression. I find it incredibly interesting that people worldwide have such different ways of expressing themselves. Language links us all.”

He credits his middle school Spanish teacher in San Antonio for bolstering his interest in languages, and adds that she encouraged him to excel in class.

“My teacher never told me to slow down, to stay on pace with the class, to stop answering all the questions she asked,” he says. “She always gave me more material to push my studies further and took time … to give me additional practice with the language. The CLS program was the perfect opportunity to pursue language at the rapid pace I’m capable of, and it challenged me every day. I absolutely loved that.”

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Political science undergrad Cooper Baldwin wins prestigious U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to learn ‘one of the most critical languages for future United States policy.'

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