FOR RELEASE ON NOVEMBER 20, 2024
CO-LABS Media Contact:
Samantha Derosier
415-972-9566
2024 Governor's Awards Recognize the Best of $2B
in Federally Funded Research in Colorado
CO-LABS honors Colorado’s top scientists and engineers for the 14th year, presenting awards for cutting-edge science, drawn from an incomparable community of investigators and collaborators
DENVER, Colo., November 20, 2024 – Representing the nation’s highest concentration of federally-funded projects and laboratories, and $2B of investments in the state, Colorado’s non-profit consortium of federal laboratories and research institutions, CO-LABS, is recognizing the top federal research projects and scientists at the 2024 Governor’s Awards tonight. CO-LABS’ membership of leading research labs and private investors will assemble to recognize their best at the Governor’s Awards on Wednesday, November 20, from 5:00 - 9:00 pm, at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
In addition to awarding three groundbreaking Colorado research projects and scientists, the event will also feature a presentation on the future of quantum technology in Colorado’s front range. Massimo Ruzzene, Vice Chancellor at University of Colorado Boulder, will talk about his Nobel prize winning team’s quantum work that is driving over $2 billion in additional private investment in the state, and adding more than 10,000 new quantum jobs. Past Governor’s Award winner, Longpath Technologies, will also update attendees on their methane monitoring technology that continues to transform the energy sector across the world.
“This globally significant work being done here in Colorado brings billions of dollars of investment into our state,” said CO-LABS Executive Director Dan Powers. “The annual Governor’s Award highlights Colorado’s prestigious scientific community, and their role as a state economic driver and international research innovator.”
The 2024 awards recognize brilliant and impactful partnerships, technologies and research across a spectrum of scientific fields:
• Nearly half of Colorado’s 2.5 million residents live in areas facing high wildfire risk. The USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station has played a key role in implementing fire science to protect Colorado residents, and is the recipient of this year’s Pathfinder Partnership Award. The work of their Wildfire Research Team (WiRē) shows that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to prepare fire adapted communities, and education efforts should be tailored to each community. Their approach aims to empower Colorado wildfire practitioners who work at the frontlines of risk reduction with local, relevant data to build a common foundation for successful adaptation.
• Dr. Manuel "Matt” Mendoza will receive the Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award for his groundbreaking research that senses seismic activity by firing lasers into fiber optic cables to document tremors and earthquakes. Fiber optic cables are already installed across the U.S., spanning ocean floors, but can be leased to scientists for seismic detection. Typically, researchers have used seismometers to detect earthquakes, but this new approach is a more accessible method for collecting closely spaced measurements throughout miles of a fiber optic cable. This new technology has exciting potential for seismic sensing because it could enhance the detection network at a relatively low cost, tying into massive existing systems that can withstand harsh conditions.
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) received the Technology Transfer Award for their pioneering work revolutionizing laser science. Frequency combs are ultrafast laser systems that emit a steady stream of pulses at a stable, repeating rate. This repetition can be used as a ruler to perform precise measurements with extreme accuracy. Used in atomic clocks, gas detection and the searches for exo-planets, its implementation has been limited due to large size, expense, power consumption, and complexity. However, microcombs are miniaturized versions of the same technology that are poised to revolutionize laser applications because of their compact size, low weight, and low power consumption. Through pioneering microcomb research, the NIST team has invented methods to shrink them from large-scale laboratory systems to portable microfabricated devices. This has led to the use of microcombs in numerous innovative applications, with even more possibilities as the devices become smaller, less expensive, and more capable.
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CO-LABS is a non-profit consortium of federal laboratories, research institutions, businesses and economic development organizations that provide financial and in-kind support for programs that promote the retention and expansion of Colorado scientific resources. Through events, economic analyses, strategic communications and networking activities we work to:
• PROMOTE Colorado as a global leader in research and technology
• EDUCATE the public about the labs’ impact and importance of sustained funding for research
• CONNECT the labs, universities and businesses to facilitate partnerships and technology transfer
To learn more, visit www.CO-LABS.org or contact Executive Director Dan Powers at awards@co-labs.org.
Governor’s Awards for High Impact Research:
Started in 2009, the annual Governor's Awards for High-Impact Research celebrates the brilliant ground-breaking discoveries and innovative research from Colorado’s ecosystem of federally-funded laboratories and institutions. That year, following the creation of CO-LABS in 2007, Governor Bill Ritter suggested hosting a celebratory and spotlighting event; the various labs were prompted to submit nominations and a Selection Committee was convened of professional researchers, technologists, academics and economic development experts to identify remarkable research having “high impact” on society.
Each year at this event, CO-LABS spotlights the men and women creating our future through brilliant technological and engineering discoveries in aerospace, energy, agriculture, public health, weather prediction, wildlife ecology, communication, earth science and dozens of other fields of research right here in our Colorado communities. Over the years Governors Ritter, Hickenlooper, and more recently Jared Polis have congratulated and recognized winners with these awards and comments recognizing their impact on our country’s leadership in science.
See more videos and information from the 2024 Awards at www.2024GovAwards.com.