10 for 10: Centers making an impact

Amanda J. McManus — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:20:40 +0000

10 for 10: Centers making an impact Amanda J. McManus Mon, 11/17/2025 - 14:20

Centers and labs at CMDI are important not just because of the insights discovered by the researchers and creatives working within them, but because of the impact they offer to the public.

Here are some signature labs and centers from CMDI’s first decade.

Center for Communication and Democratic Engagement: Aims to learn from deliberation, dialogue and educational events tied to communication and democratic practice.
Center for Documentary and Ethnographic Media: Creates opportunities for the public to engage with documentary films, especially through the signature Mimesis festival, in Boulder.
Center for Environmental Journalism: Journalists who complete a fellowship from the center have been responsible for award-winning work on environmental issues.
Center for Media, Religion and Culture: Studies the complex relationship between media and religion in an entangled world.
Community Engagement, Design and Research Center: Partners with communities at home and abroad to build resilient, equitable cities and neighborhoods.
Immersive Media Lab: Invites people to explore augmented and virtual reality environments to develop different perspectives on emerging challenges.
Media Archaeology Lab: A peerless collection of obsolete, but functional, technology to experiment with and imagine roads not taken in tech and society.
Neuro D Lab: Explores the intersection of design, neurodiversity, equity and innovation to ensure designs—from products to wayfinding—work intuitively for all users.
Sustainability and Storytelling Lab: Aims to understand how stories influence the ways we practice sustainability and shame unsustainable methods.
Visual Evidence Lab: Studies how the legal system can be better equipped to handle video and photographic evidence presented in court, including deepfakes and generative A.I.

Here are 10 centers and labs that have created public impact in the college’s first decade.

Off

Traditional

Fall 2025

White

Media Archaeology Lab

10 for 10: Centers making an impact

Off