Five mechanical engineering research projects win PACES awards

alse6588 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:13:12 +0000

Five mechanical engineering research projects win PACES awards alse6588 Tue, 08/11/2026 - 10:13

Alexander Servantez

These awards connect research, creative work, and teaching and learning activities for faculty, staff members and students across campus with partners from Colorado communities and beyond. More than $7 million in funding, benefiting 5.5 million people, has been granted since 1999.

“We are proud of the rigorous, community-engaged work our faculty and staff are doing,” said PACES Assistant Vice Chancellor David Meens. “These public-serving projects highlight CU �鶹ӰԺ’s powerful service throughout Colorado and beyond.”

According to OCE, this year’s application process was extremely competitive. Across campus, PACES received 31 proposals totaling $571,728 in funding requests.

Of these requests, PACES was able to fund 22 total proposals totaling $400,000. Read below to learn more about the Rady Mechanical Engineering faculty and students whose projects earned PACES funding this year.

Professor Michael Hannigan (left) and Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight (right).

SCENIC26: Environmental Sustainability Through Rural School Wildfire Inquiry (Daniel Knight, Michael Hannigan and Joseph Polman)

Wildfires are becoming an increasingly common part of life across Colorado, but many rural schools have limited access to engineering education and environmental monitoring tools.

That’s why Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight and Professor Michael Hannigan will expand the Colorado Science and Engineering Inquiry Collaborative (SCENIC) by introducing a new wildfire-focused curriculum to high schools across the state.

Students will investigate how wildfires affect local air and soil quality using monitoring technology developed at CU �鶹ӰԺ, while engineering students will serve as mentors throughout the school year. By combining hands-on research with community partnerships, the project aims to inspire the next generation of engineers while helping students explore environmental challenges affecting their own communities.

Professional Research Assistant Evan Coffey (left) and Teaching Professor Shalom Ruben (right).

Listening to Communities: Co-developing Toolkits to Measure Sound and Air Pollution (Evan Coffey, Ellen Considine and Shalom Ruben)

When residents of Denver's Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods raised concerns about noise and air pollution, they asked researchers for help gathering the data needed to better understand the problem.

Professional Research Assistant Evan Coffey and Teaching Professor Shalom Ruben are striving to provide that help by working alongside community members to develop affordable sensor toolkits capable of measuring both sound and air pollution.

Residents will help determine where sensors are deployed, learn how to interpret the results and use the findings to support future community-led environmental assessments and policy discussions. The project also gives CU �鶹ӰԺ students hands-on experience in community-engaged research and environmental monitoring.

Professor Emerita Shelly Miller.

Pilot Monitoring of Urban Pesticides for Human Health and Biodiversity Protection in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado (Riley Mulhern, Karen Bailey and Shelly Miller)

Pesticides used in residential neighborhoods can affect both human health and local ecosystems, yet little data exists on how they move through urban environments.

A new PACES project led by Professor Emerita Shelly Miller will partner with the City of �鶹ӰԺ to monitor common residential pesticides using low-cost silicone samplers placed in yards and on dog collars.

The research will pair environmental measurements with biodiversity data and community input to better understand pesticide exposure and develop a blueprint for long-term monitoring that can help guide future public health and environmental policy.

Building Community Infrastructure for Air Quality Monitoring at San Lazaro Mobile Home Park (Enrique Lopez and Shelly Miller)

Residents of San Lazaro Mobile Home Park in �鶹ӰԺ are preparing for a multi-year coal ash excavation at the nearby Valmont Power Plant, raising concerns about potential air quality impacts.

Building on an existing community partnership, the PACES project will support the next phase of the project by training bilingual community health leaders, expanding air quality education and helping residents create their own response plan if pollution levels become concerning.

Rather than simply collecting environmental data, Miller and her team will focus on ensuring families understand what the information means and how to use it to protect their health long after the research concludes.

The Office of Outreach and Community Engagement (OCE) at CU �鶹ӰԺ has awarded five Public and Community-Engaged Scholarships (PACES) to faculty and students from the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. These awards connect research, creative work, and teaching and learning activities for faculty, staff members and students across campus with partners from Colorado communities and beyond.

Off

Traditional

White