Cloud alert
Colorado State University's Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, or CIRA, has earned a top award from NASA for its ongoing data processing work on the CloudSat satellite orbiting Earth. The CSU-conceived CloudSat is the world's only cloud-profiling radar in orbit. NASA recently extended the CloudSat mission through 2011 and approved enhanced scientific experiments above and beyond the original proposal – the only Earth science mission currently granted that permission by NASA. NASA honored CIRA with a Public Service Group Achievement Award for processing data critical to getting CloudSat's information to the international science community.
Presidential honor
Two CSU scientists were recognized by President George Bush as emerging leaders in science and engineering. Amy J. Pruden-Bagchi and Jacob Roberts received the Presidential Early Career Award at the White House, the only two researchers from Colorado universities honored this year. Pruden-Bagchi, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was recognized for her work using molecular biology to investigate antibiotic-resistant genes in the environment. Roberts, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, investigates ways to cool super-cold gasses of atoms, permitting more accurate study of quantum objects' size, shape, and behavior. The two CSU scientists were among 56 researchers honored.
Productivity plus
Six academic departments at Colorado State have been named among the top 10 most productive in their disciplines in the national 2006-2007 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. The index ranked 7,400 programs in 172 disciplines at 375 institutions and encompassed 217,254 faculty members. Faculty members’ publications, federal grant dollars awarded, and honors and awards were considered. CSU’s top departments: Atmospheric Science (No. 2), Horticulture and Landscape Architecture (No. 3), Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management (No. 5), Biology (No. 5), Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship (No. 6), Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology (No. 8).
Conservation leader
Colorado State University has named Robin Reid as the director of the new Center for Collaborative Conservation in the Warner College of Natural Resources. Reid will provide vision and leadership to the newly created center, which will provide both a local and international focus on the conservation and sustainability of natural resources. Formerly a principal ecosystem scientist and global project leader at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, Reid led research, education, and outreach on conservation and development issues in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the western United States. She began her new post Jan. 1.
More than horseplay
Colorado State University has received $3 million from multiple champion quarter-horse breeder and racer Abigail K. Kawananakoa of Hawaii to establish a University chair in equine orthopedics for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The College’s Orthopaedic Research Center, where the chair will reside, is known worldwide for its research and clinical work to prevent joint problems in racehorses and cutting horses and for its orthopedic injuries research, with some recently expanded work in human athletes. Kawananakoa's horses have won the All American Futurity and the Los Alamitos Million, the two biggest quarter horse races in the United States.
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