Students

Student-built rocket flies into the stratosphere

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:52:14 +0000

Student-built rocket flies into the stratosphere Jeff Zehnder Mon, 11/10/2025 - 09:52

Jeff Zehnder

Go for launch!

The 12-foot-tall rocket roared off the pad, streaming higher and higher until it was barely more than a pinprick in the morning sky.

At 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 12, the ��ɫ��Ƶ Sounding Rocket Lab (SRL) successfully launched a rocket to 90,000 ft. in altitude.

Designed and built by students in the club, the Mamba III rocket was a multiyear effort for SRL.

“Over 100 students worked on this project,” said Robert Umali, the team solids/composites lead and an aerospace sophomore. “Our test fire in March performed flawlessly. This rocket is built like a tank.”

Built From Scratch

Although off-the-shelf rocket plans are available online, the team elected to design theirs from the ground up, said Tyler Boim, team co-captain and an aerospace senior.

“Anything that we can make in-house we do. We fully made our avionics, composites, structures, and propellant. You understand each part and why it’s there. We’re not building Legos. You become a better engineer,” Boim said.

Putting the extra work into an independent design has also had career benefits for members like Nick Kieft, fellow team co-captain and an aerospace senior.

“It’s experience for industry. In internship interviews, most of what I talk about with companies is the team. I manufactured this, designed that, tested this,” Kieft said.

The successful launch in California’s Mojave Desert was a moment of exhilaration for all the team members, but only one portion of the day’s excitement, as the rocket body also contained sensors and cameras to track the flight and its landing.

Hitting Mach 3.36

“Mamba had a maximum Mach number of 3.36, equivalent to a velocity of 2,393 mph. Consistent communication of the rocket's flight computers throughout ascent and descent enabled us to determine a landing position and recover the vehicle. The final GPS coordinates were within 50 feet of the landing location,” Kieft said.

Getting to the finish line was not always easy. The team experienced significant setbacks in launches on the previous Mamba I, which suffered a nose cone failure, as well as Mamba II, which exploded midflight.

“Mamba III used the same principles of the original design, but was reworked to account for lessons learned. We spent an entire year recharacterizing the propellant. We overbuilt this rocket to guarantee there would be no failures,” Boim said.

Next Steps

With the successful launch, the team is moving on to a much bigger goal called Spaceshot. They are beginning work on a new rocket design that can reach at least 350,000 ft. in altitude and become only the second student rocketry organization in the world to cross the atmospheric boundary into space – internationally designated at 328,000 ft.

“There will be big infrastructure improvements. We’ll be developing it over the next year or two,” Boim said.

Although that launch will be after senior team members like Boim and Kieft graduate in May 2026, each team stands on the shoulders of earlier graduates, incorporating their design and education in the next iteration.

“I won’t necessarily be here for that launch, but a lot of the work you do leading up to it is just as valuable and rewarding,” Kieft said. “There’s smaller milestones along the way. SRL takes all the important first principles we learn in class to the next level.”

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AISES names ��ɫ��Ƶ Top 200 Colleges for Indigenous students 2026

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:50:45 +0000

AISES names ��ɫ��Ƶ Top 200 Colleges for Indigenous students 2026 Charles Ferrer Mon, 11/10/2025 - 08:50

Charles Ferrer

The Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES) has named ��ɫ��Ƶ as one of the top 200 colleges for Indigenous students in its 2025-2026 national rankings. AISES is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the representation of Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in STEM fields.

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��ɫ��Ƶ's Chem-E-Car team wins international poster design competition

Susan Glairon — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 23:37:29 +0000

��ɫ��Ƶ's Chem-E-Car team wins international poster design competition Susan Glairon Thu, 11/06/2025 - 16:37

Susan Glairon

The win came at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ international Chem-E-Car competition in Boston, where ��ɫ��Ƶ’s poster stood out among 56 teams.

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Arianna McCarty reaches new heights with Astronaut Scholarship

Susan Glairon — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 23:10:40 +0000

Arianna McCarty reaches new heights with Astronaut Scholarship Susan Glairon Tue, 11/04/2025 - 16:10

Susan Glairon

Arianna McCarty, a chemical and biological engineering senior, has distinguished herself through a remarkable combination of academic and research excellence, earning the Astronaut, Boettcher and Goldwater scholarships. Her research spans computational genomics, the respiratory microbiome and tissue engineering aimed at improving heart health.

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AISES student leader inspired at NASA internship

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:53:47 +0000

AISES student leader inspired at NASA internship Charles Ferrer Mon, 11/03/2025 - 13:53

Charles Ferrer

Redhorse with OPTIMISM, a full-scale twin of the Perseverance rover that is exploring Mars.

Shellene Redhorse took her passion for aerospace engineering beyond the classroom to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) this past summer.

Redhorse, a fourth-year aerospace engineering student and president of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s chapter of Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES), spent her internship at one of the world’s most renowned research centers.

Redhorse joined the Spacecraft Mechanical Engineering Division at JPL, where she worked on VenSAR, a Venus synthetic aperture radar that will launch aboard the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission in the early 2030s. The instrument, built in partnership with NASA, will map the planet’s surface and study its volcanic and geological activity.

“It’s incredible to be part of something that will orbit Venus one day,” Redhorse said. “Knowing that even a small piece of what I worked on will help us understand another planet is surreal.”

She worked with several teams that specialized in deployables, structures and thermal engineering giving her hands-on experience in spacecraft design and testing. She modeled test setups in CAD, worked with Nomex honeycomb tiles, conducted structural testing and even helped cycle thermal samples through high and low temperatures in a HALT chamber.

“I learned a ton about CAD and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing which was challenging but rewarding,” Redhorse said. “It’s one thing to design something on a screen, but it’s another to know that hardware you helped create will actually be manufactured and tested.”

While her internship was technical, it also had moments that brought wonder.

Redhorse toured the massive JPL campus located in Pasadena, California where legendary missions like the Mars rovers and Voyager spacecraft were born. One highlight was visiting the Mars Yard, where researchers tested rover replicas like OPTIMISM, a twin of Perseverance, and Scarecrow, a lighter model designed to mimic Martian gravity.

Another favorite moment was seeing one of the earliest color reconstructions of Mars, created by NASA engineers using data transmitted as numbers and colored in by hand.

“They only had bits of numbers and made a color-by-number image using crayons,” Redhorse said. “Seeing that creativity reminded me that science and engineering are human experiences.”

Representing Native excellence in STEM

As one of the few Native interns at JPL, Redhorse carried a sense of purpose throughout the experience. While the internship was a dream experience, Redhorse, who is Diné and Chickasaw, was excited to pave the way for more Native representation in science and engineering.

“There are few Natives, but we’re strong,” she said. “I met another intern from the Navajo Nation. It felt powerful to represent and be proud of who I am and where I come from.”

What brings me joy is supporting other Native students and learning about aerospace. I love sharing knowledge, lifting each other up and finding happiness in community.

After graduating, Redhorse is considering graduate school where she hopes to continue exploring aerospace, robotics or mechanical engineering. She’s been inspired by mentors who’ve shown her what’s possible. One of those is Aaron Yazzie, a Diné mechanical engineer at JPL, whose story originally motivated her to pursue aerospace.

Redhorse says one thing remains constant for her — determination to keep helping others along the way, especially Native students.

“Grab as many opportunities as you can, even if they feel outside your comfort zone, just go for it,” Redhorse said. “People are more supportive than you might think and there’s a strong community here at CU Engineering and the Campos Student Center to help you along the way.”

Redhorse with fellow Native NASA scientists, including Lauren Denson, Kelly Luis and Aaron Yazzie.

Mars Yard, a site on the JPL campus, is filled with Mars-like rocks and sediment simulating the planet's surface.

Shellene Redhorse, an aerospace engineering student and president of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s chapter of Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES), took her passion for space science beyond the classroom to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory this summer.

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Shellene Redhorse presenting her mechanical engineering internship project at NASA's JPL.

Shaping the Future of Aerospace: Smead PhD Scholars

Michelle Wiese — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 23:17:14 +0000

Shaping the Future of Aerospace: Smead PhD Scholars Michelle Wiese Thu, 10/30/2025 - 17:17

The ��ɫ��Ƶ’s Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is pleased to welcome the 2025 PhD Scholars into The Smead Program.

They join the cohort of current Smead Scholars to explore, achieve and lead in aerospace engineering sciences.

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Skydiving into a PhD

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 19:07:56 +0000

Skydiving into a PhD Jeff Zehnder Thu, 10/16/2025 - 13:07

Jeff Zehnder

Adam Harris is advancing the frontiers of aerodynamics as a non-traditional student, finishing up a doctoral program in which he never expected to enroll.

“I’m writing computational fluid dynamics and finite element codes to study flow control by phononic materials and structures. A phonon is the quantum of vibrational energy, a quasi-particle that could give birth to a whole new species of technology,” Harris said.

A PhD student in the materials science and engineering program, Harris began his college journey in 2012 as a psychology major, but his time at ��ɫ��Ƶ did not last long.

“I didn’t show up to classes and just really didn't care. I was placed on academic probation my first semester and academic suspension my second,” Harris said.

A native of Miami, he elected to stay in Boulder, working in construction and landscaping. In 2014, Harris enrolled at Front Range Community College for an associate’s degree in business.

Skydiving Hobby

Harris also started skydiving as a hobby, hanging out at Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, making up to 10 jumps a day. Eventually, he was hired there for a paid ground crew position.

“I was surrounded by people who were monitoring weather, maintaining aircraft, and discussing flight mechanics. I started teaching myself basic aerodynamics, watching TED talks and physics documentaries online. It all became more and more interesting to me,” he said.

After finishing at Front Range, Harris decided to continue onto a four-year business degree at ��ɫ��Ƶ. Because of his past suspension, enrolling required an appointment with an admissions advisor. The meeting would change the direction of his life.

Changing Gears

“I told her about all the science, engineering, and physics I was being exposed to. She looked at me suspiciously and said, ‘Are you sure you want to study business?’ Nope, put me down for physics,” Harris said.

He steamrolled through his courses, earning As and Bs in subjects where he had previously shown little interest. In the five years since his first stint at ��ɫ��Ƶ, Harris had grown significantly.

“Turns out I really love math. I think my success was a product of motivation and how much I enjoyed where I was, the people around me, what I was learning, and relevance to my passions. I have a GPS in my skydiving helmet and I would always try to connect course concepts to data acquired from wingsuit flights,” he said.

As he was completing his bachelor’s, a connection with Mahmoud Hussein, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, opened the door to graduate school.

Graduate School

“I was still enjoying classes but I paid for undergrad myself, so I didn’t want to continue accumulating debt. I started talking to Mahmoud, and when I learned engineering PhD programs cover tuition and living expenses, there was no question. What an opportunity,” Harris said.

Hussein became his graduate advisor as Harris earned two master’s degrees – in aerospace and materials science. He expects to finish his PhD in materials science next spring.

His dissertation is centered on phononic subsurfaces (PSubs), which could lead to radical increases in fuel economy for jet aircraft and hypersonic vehicles. It has been a focus of Hussein’s lab for 15 years, beginning at the theoretical level and now approaching the applied stage, thanks in part to a major Office of Naval Research grant awarded last year.

“This started with purely computational work and now we’re 3D printing PSubs. We can validate the PSub’s tuned frequency response with a laser vibrometer, and we have candidate prototypes that yield the response we expect. We’re going to begin the first wind tunnel tests in collaboration with the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory at ��ɫ��Ƶ very soon,” Harris said.

What's Next?

As he writes his dissertation, Harris’s research background offers a wealth of career opportunities, but he is hoping for a particular dream job that would combine fluid dynamics and computational modeling with his love of skydiving.

It may sound like a fantasy. It is not.

“There’s a company in California that builds parachutes used for space craft atmospheric re-entry,” Harris said. “The job description is everything I’m doing at ��ɫ��Ƶ, plus a requirement of parachute rigging experience, which I have.”

Wherever Harris lands, he is a long way from his beginnings in Boulder as an 18-year-old psych major.

“I think this is where I was supposed to be all along,” Harris said. “I just wasn’t aware of it back then. The synchronicity is really cool.”

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Researchers pioneer fluid-based laser scanning for brain imaging

Charles Ferrer — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:29:16 +0000

Researchers pioneer fluid-based laser scanning for brain imaging Charles Ferrer Tue, 10/14/2025 - 12:29

Researchers explored a fluid-based optical device known as an electrowetting prism to steer lasers at high speeds for advanced imaging applications. This new frontier in miniature lasers opens the door to new technologies in microscopy, LiDAR, optical communications and even brain imaging.

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Sharafuddin earns Ryland Graduate Fellowship for control theory research

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 16:28:17 +0000

Sharafuddin earns Ryland Graduate Fellowship for control theory research Charles Ferrer Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:28

Evan Sharafuddin, a first-year electrical engineering PhD student, has been selected as the recipient of the Dwight E. and Jessica D. Ryland Graduate Fellowship for the 2025-26 academic year who is pursuing wind turbine control research.

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Biomedical engineering undergraduate helps uncover new treatment for respiratory syndrome

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 17:39:33 +0000

Biomedical engineering undergraduate helps uncover new treatment for respiratory syndrome Alexander Jame… Fri, 09/26/2025 - 11:39

The project, like something straight out of a health sci-fi movie, combines RNA-based gene therapy with tiny microrobots for drug transport to help treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

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