Campus News Briefs Fall 2020
While in quarantine, CU Boulder professor of piano David Korevaar performed and recorded all of Beethoven’s sonatas on his living room piano.
21
Years on faculty at CU Boulder
3.23.20
First sonata posted to YouTube
6
Weeks to complete the sonatas
32
Sonatas performed
17,621
YouTube views as of Oct. 8
2020
250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth
Cannabis and Pregnancy
Marijuana use during pregnancy has been linked to childhood sleep problems for up to a decade, according to a CU Boulder study, which is the first to suggest marijuana use can impact children’s sleep long term. As legalization spreads, roughly 7% of pregnant women in the U.S. are using marijuana to help curb morning sickness. Lead author John Hewitt, director of CU’s Institute for Behavioral Genetics, said, “This study is one more example of why pregnant women are advised to avoid substance use, including cannabis.”
Teensy, Fast and Strong
Inspired by cockroaches, mechanical engineering assistant professor Kaushik Jayaram created one of the world’s smallest, fastest robots, HAMR-Jr. Weighing less than a paperclip, the four-legged robot is roughly the size of a penny. It is able to carry 10 times its body weight and moves about one foot per second. According to Jayaram, there are a lot of potential applications with HAMR-Jr., such as airplane engine inspections or human surgeries. "I want to build robots that can get out of the lab and run around like bugs,” Jayaram said.
New Center to Advance Quantum Science and Engineering
With a $25 million National Science Foundation award, CU Boulder is launching a new quantum science and engineering research center, led by physicist and JILA fellow Jun Ye. The center will partner with 11 other research organizations in the U.S. and abroad — including Harvard, Stanford and MIT — to create new technologies using advancements in areas related to quantum entanglement, quantum sensing and more.
“We’re asking how we can take advantage of recent advances in quantum physics to actually solve useful problems for society,” said Ye.
Everything...connects back to wanting to make sure that Black women in particular — [and] Black people in general — get to pursue [their] dreams in the daytime, not just when everyone else is asleep.”
-Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, during a virtual panel for CU students, faculty and staff on Sept. 16.