SHARKIVE! CU ART MUSEUM SCORES BIG - ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: DRONE RACER CU'S OWN INDIANA JONES CWA HIT PARADE HOW GOOGLE CAME TO BOULDER - University ...
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Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
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Alumni Magazine Spring 2018
Boulder, CO 80309-0459
Alumni Association
459 UCB
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
DRONE RACER
CU’S OWN INDIANA JONES
CWA HIT PARADE
HOW GOOGLE CAME TO BOULDER
SHARKIVE!
CU ART MUSEUM
SCORES BIG
NOW
JANUARY 2018
In “The Rehearsal Artist,” a new work by CU
Boulder dance professor Michelle Ellsworth,
the artist rotates inside an eight-foot-diameter
wooden wheel. The audience sees only her
head, encased in a box with an assortment of
loose items — dolls, food, tiny furniture, plants.
Ellsworth is fixed in position, but the objects all
move, prompting reflection about “the nature
of stability.”
The New York Times proclaimed the work,
performed at the American Realness festival
in New York in January, “eccentric and
marvelously original.”
1 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Coloradan
Photo SPRING 2018
by Nicholas 2
Cote
FEATURES
EDITOR’S NOTE
There was a time when I
lived a few blocks down
the street from an art mu-
seum with no entrance
fee. When I was out and
about running errands,
I’d sometimes pop in to
see my favorite painting,
Van Gogh’s “Night Café.”
I’d go straight to it,
imagine the inner lives of
its figures, picture myself
in the scene, marvel
over the thickness of the
paint and brushstrokes —
evidence of Van Gogh’s
own hand.
The whole visit would
last five minutes.
Then I’d be on my way,
pleasantly jolted by a brief
encounter with genius.
In Boulder, the CU Art
Museum’s increasingly
rich collection offers its
own delightful opportuni-
ties for communing with
artistic splendor. Thanks
to the pending arrival of
the Sharkive (page 15),
visitors — you, perhaps?
— will be able to behold
work by legends of print-
making, including Red
Grooms, John Buck and
Betty Woodman.
COVER “Elvis,” Red 15 The Sharkive 29 Drone Racer Stopping by could
Grooms: ©Shark’s Ink., CU Boulder acquires a major trove of modern art. Jordan Temkin (Art’14) is a $100,000 pro. make your day.
Lyons, Colo. Illustration Admission’s free.
courtesy Bud Shark.
21 The Bridge 33 Research on the Road
ABOVE Jordan Temkin Avery Bang’s (MCivEngr’09) nonprofit has built CU Boulder researchers take a creative approach Eric Gershon
(Art’14) is a paid member of hundreds of footbridges in poor regions world- to studying cannabis.
the Drone Racing League wide. Next up: A bridge in a U.S. boomtown.
(DRL), which holds competi-
tions worldwide in places as 37 @Last
diverse as sporting arenas 25 Life after Death on the Internet How Google came to Boulder.
and abandoned shopping As our lives go digital, CU’s Jed Brubaker is study-
malls. Photo courtesy DRL. ing what happens to all that data after we die.
DEPARTMENTS
1 NOW Rehearsal Artist 8 BOULDER BEAT 23 INFOGRAPHIC 47 The President’s View 61 Letters
Paul Danish CWA
5 INQUIRY 49 Sports 65 THEN
Beverly Kingston 11 LOOK Specimens 43 Alumni News Lost and Found
55 Class Notes CONTACT ERIC GERSHON AT
7 Campus News 13 ORIGINS Archaeology 45 CU Around EDITOR@COLORADO.EDU
3 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Coloradan SPRING 2018 4
INQUIRY BEVERLY KINGSTON
STOP THE VIOLENCE We’re not systematically addressing the Your work focuses on violence pre- the Colorado State Patrol. They follow
Beverly Kingston (PhDSoc’05) directs underlying root causes of violence. We vention in young people. Why’s that? up on every report. Many incidents in our
CU Boulder’s Center for the Study and need to put resources into supporting The best violence prevention begins early state have been prevented by taking that
Prevention of Violence (CSPV). Here she the healthy development of our kids, our and continues through childhood and positive action.
discusses preventive measures for children schools and our communities. adolescence — we’ve tested effective pro-
and mass shootings, and what needs to be grams to prevent violence throughout the Given your subject of study, how do
done for the violence to end. What can we do about mass life course. We also have intervention pro- you avoid feeling sad, overwhelmed
shootings? grams for those youth already engaged in or scared?
Do you define violence the way the I use the tip of the iceberg analogy. At violent behaviors that can substantially re- I can get discouraged because these
rest of us do? the tip are the shootings — what make duce the likelihood of serious violence and shootings keep happening and we keep
I use the Centers for Disease Control and the news. We were called quite a bit offer enormous cost savings to society. repeating the same information over and
Prevention’s definition of violence, which after Las Vegas, and what we say is, over again with little sustained change.
says youth violence occurs when young ‘You’ve got to look underneath.’ We What do you make of the way we But I get really excited and hopeful be-
people between the ages of 10 and 24 know 20 to 25 percent of middle school talk about violence in the U.S.? cause we do know so much about how
intentionally use physical force or power students report being bullied in the We’ve talked about violence in a limited to prevent violence. After the Newtown
to threaten or harm others. At our center, past 30 days. Eighteen percent of our way over time. If we were actually to put shooting, I was new to my job and I
we don’t only focus on violence. We also high school kids have seriously consid- in place the key aspects of what makes reviewed the 2001 Surgeon General’s
look at anything that gets in the way of ered suicide in the past year. In middle nurturing environments, we’d be taking Report on Youth Violence to prepare for
positive, healthy youth development. school, it’s about the same. Twenty- action to reduce violence. We also need talking to the media. I was shocked to see
three percent of high school students to have public conversations about how that in the intro of the report, it said we
What attributes do violent people reported being in a physical fight in the racial disparities have affected the social have everything we need to know right
tend to share? past year at school. determinants of health and how those now to prevent violence. I wonder what it
We talk about risk and protection factors, There’s a lot of hurting kids, and a factors have impacted violence. is going to take to act on what we have.
similar to risk factors for cancer or heart lot of lower levels of violence going on. I have a friend who works with victims.
disease. The more risk factors you have, Mass shootings are going to keep hap- When confronted with violence, how Her three-year-old son was killed in the ’90s
such as a teenager engaging with delin- pening if we don’t take a comprehensive should a person react? in a drive-by shooting in Northeast Park Hill.
quent peers or weak prosocial ties, and the public health approach to addressing What we’ve known since Columbine and She said one of the things she started ask-
fewer protective factors you have, such youth violence and these sufferings of these mass shootings is a lot of people ing herself afterward was, ‘What were the
as supportive parents, the higher the likeli- our children. The good news is we know have information about the shooter. They kids who shot my son not getting, and how
hood of problems and violent behaviors. a lot about what works to prevent vio- saw red flags and warning signs, but can we give it to them?’ That drives me.
lence. If we were able to put into place didn’t know what to do with them. In Col-
America seems especially violent. what works, we could reduce violence orado, we have Safe2Tell, an anonymous Condensed and edited by Christie
Why? by 30 percent. bystander reporting system answered by Sounart (Jour’12).
5 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo by Glenn Asakawa Coloradan SPRING 2018 6
BOULDER BEAT By Paul Danish
News SPRING 2018
CU Boulder Law Professor Named to
State Supreme Court In May 1971, a riot broke out on The Hill, resulting in arrests and the destruction of several businesses.
MELISSA HART JOINS OTHER COLORADO JUSTICES WITH BUFF TIES RIOT OF ’71 By 10:45 p.m. the police gave up trying
It was the worst Hill riot ever. to control the crowd, which had grown to
It lasted three days. 600, and retreated to 13th and Euclid as
In her role as direc- professor — left the court for a position Three police cars were overturned. rocks, beer bottles, taunts and fists flew.
tor of Colorado Law’s on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Jones Drug lost $23,000 in merchan- From 10:45 to 11:30 p.m. the rioters
Byron R. White Center, (That seat came open when its prior oc- dise to looters. “systematically trashed The Hill,”
Melissa Hart brought cupant — former visiting Colorado Law The Colorado Bookstore sustained especially targeting the businesses most
a lot of distinguished professor Neil Gorsuch — joined the U.S. $25,000 in losses. It bricked up its hostile to street people.
judges to CU Boulder. Supreme Court last April.) signature two-story windows rather than Looters raced across Broadway to hide
Now she’s become one herself — in The Colorado Supreme Court has at replace them. their loot under campus shrubbery, and
December, Colo. Gov. John Hickenlooper least two other members with strong Cops in riot gear cleared the streets cops lay in wait to nab them.
named the CU law professor to the state Buff ties: Justice Nathan B. Coats with tear gas — twice. At 11:30 p.m. police in riot gear and
Supreme Court. (Econ’71; Law’77) is an alumnus. Chief There were so many arrests a tent jail gas masks marched down 13th Street
An expert in constitutional law, Justice Nancy E. Rice has been an ad- had to be set up. from Euclid drenching The Hill with
Hart first came to CU in 2000, after junct law professor since 1987. The spark was struck Thursday, May tear gas.
a pair of prominent legal clerkships, a Hart will continue to teach a course 20, 1971. Sunday night a crowd of about 300
law firm job in Washington, D.C., and at CU. Boulder police executed a version returned to The Hill for another round.
experience as a trial attorney in the U.S. The law school will name a new direc- of what today is called broken-window This time 140 police officers fired tear gas
Department of Justice. tor for the Byron R. White Center for the policing — arresting 30 street people (aka and repeatedly charged the rioters, who
A graduate of East High School in Study of American Constitutional transients, hippies and freaks in the par- dispersed into the surrounding residential
Denver and Harvard Law School, she Law, named after former lance of the day) on mostly minor charges neighborhoods, where clashes continued
served as a U.S. Supreme Court clerk for U.S. Supreme Court like blocking sidewalks, disorderly for the next four hours. It wasn’t totally
former Justice John Paul Stevens. Justice Byron R. conduct, jaywalking and talking dirty in over until Tuesday, May 25.
“I am really excited to join the six White (Econ’38). public (yeah, you could get arrested for Hardly any CU students were involved.
justices currently on the court in working that back then). The thing about the riot that made the
to make sure that our system is efficient EG On Friday, May 21, a large crowd con- most lasting impression on me was the
and fair — that the work it does is clear gregated on The Hill, “angry and looking bricking up of the Colorado Bookstore.
and transparent, and that it works for for trouble,” leading Hill merchants to To this day I still feel pangs about that
people all over Colorado,” call the cops. when I walk past the building, which is
Hart said after Hicken- Fourteen more arrests ensued. now a Walgreens. For me it’s an epitaph
looper announced her A larger, angrier crowd gathered Satur- for the counterculture.
appointment, according to day night. Since 1971, the riot has faded from
The Denver Post. Dennis Dube (Jour’71), who cov- memory, even legend. Chances are most
Hart — whose grandfather ered the riot for a local magazine from alumni have never heard of it. The Hill
Archibald Cox served as U.S. a nearby rooftop, reported that around has reinvented itself two or three times
Photos by ©iStock/MarkusBeck /
Solicitor General under John 9:30 p.m. about 50 people surged across (and is currently doing it again). The
F. Kennedy and as Watergate College Ave. from the Charcoal Chef businesses change. Continuity comes
Colorado Law (headshot)
special prosecutor — had toward five cops alongside the Hilltop from the customers who, thanks to the
previously made the shortlist for a Building, where the police had a new time machine across the street, remain
seat on Colorado’s seven-member substation, “with one freak running full forever young.
Supreme Court, in 2015. speed across College and round-housing
She got another shot after Allison an officer in the face.” Paul Danish (Hist’65) is a Coloradan
H. Eid — a former Colorado Law Things deteriorated fast from there. columnist.
7 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo from 1972 Coloradan yearbook Coloradan SPRING 2018 8
Campus News
JOHN GRISHAM LIKED IT
To Speak Arapaho Bestselling novelist John Grisham found an article DIGITS
by Colorado Law professor Paul Campos so compel-
2.1
PRESERVING THE LANGUAGE OF AMERICA’S GREAT PLAINS ling, he calls it the inspiration for his latest book, The VARSITY LAKE
Rooster Bar.
CU Boulder scholars are helping to a dissertation that explores how Arapaho As Grisham — author of the The Firm, The Pelican
rescue the Arapaho language, once a grammar helps its speakers complain Brief, The Client and other huge bestsellers — publicized
major tongue in the Great Plains region, about other people without naming the new book late last year, he repeatedly cited Cam-
from near extinction. them directly. pos’ 2014 nonfiction article in The Atlantic, telling
Part of the Algonquian family of But with so few speakers and scarce CBS This Morning that it “really opened my eyes. It
languages, Arapaho has fewer than 200 other resources available, the language was a great piece. The novel was quickly born from
living speakers and no fluent speakers project can help fill the void, she said. that.”
Million gallons of water,
under the age of 60. Initially established in 2003 with a Campos’ article, “The Law School Scam,” is about the at capacity
For the past 15 years, CU linguistics grant from the Colorado Endowment for perils for students and society of expensive for-profit
1888
professor Andrew Cowell, and more the Humanities, the expanded website law schools with questionable admissions standards.
recently doctoral student Irina Wagner now contains a variety of resources, Three students attending a fictional for-profit law
(Anth, Ling’14; MLing’14), have collected including an Arapaho-English dictionary, school are at the center of The Rooster Bar.
and documented many hours of oral pronunciation guides and bilingual cur- After the book came out, Grisham sent Campos a copy
histories, stories and conversations from riculum materials. It also features Native and a note. First bridge built;
28
Native American elders in Wyoming and American stories, prayers and name lists. “It was nice, needless to say, to have a story like that replaced 1935
Oklahoma. Their work has blossomed Find audio clips of spoken Arapaho on featured in a John Grisham novel,” Campos told the
into the Arapaho Language Project — a the Arapaho Language Project website: Boulder Daily Camera.
website providing language learners with Colorado.edu/csilw/alp.
tools for incorporating Arapaho into Additional clips are available on the
their everyday lives. CU Boulder Today website — search the HEARD AROUND CAMPUS
“In reality, for the language reclama- words “Arapaho” and “gossip,” and scroll
tion to work, young parents should be to the bottom. “ LET’S SAY YOU SEE A
speaking it,” said Wagner, who’s been on
GREAT WHITE SHARK Thousand square feet,
4/1
the project since 2014. She’s working on By Amanda Clark (MJour’19) surface area
AND YOU ARE SCARED
AND YOUR BRAIN WANTS
TO FORM A MEMORY OF
nííhooyóó' WHAT’S GOING ON. YOU
IT IS YELLOW
HAVE TO MAKE NEW Date irrigation ditch
starts feeding lake, a
hinén henéécee PROTEINS TO ENCODE
manmade water source
for campus irrigation
BUFFALO systems
11/1
MAN
THAT MEMORY.”
bóoó
ROAD — CU Boulder scientist Charles Hoeffer, on his
recent research about the role of the protein AKT.
héébe kooníini'íin SOFT ROBOTS Date ditch supply is
12
HELLO HOW ARE THINGS? CU Boulder engineers are developing a new breed of shut off for season,
“soft” robot that can handle fragile objects, such as lowering water levels
fruit, yet also lift heavy ones, such as a jug of water.
Made of various elastic materials and liquids and
powered by electricity, the versatile, self-healing robots
depend on something like artificial muscle to generate
“the adaptability of an octopus arm, the speed of a
hummingbird and the strength of an elephant,” said
Christoph Keplinger, the mechanical engineering pro-
fessor whose research group leads the work.
For more details, see CU Boulder Today online. Resident red-eared
Search “flexible robots” and “octopus.” slider turtles (approx.)
9 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Illustration by Dan Page Coloradan SPRING 2018 10
LOOK SPECIMENS
Dipper
Cinclus mexicanus
Asian Clam
Corbicula
fluminea
Damselfly
Hetaerina
americana
Coryphodon
Coryphodon
Elephant’s Head
Pedicularis groenlandica
LIFE IN COLORADO’S FRESHWATER
The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History is home to nearly 5 million
objects and specimens. Twenty-eight of them star in a new exhibition of photographic
prints called “Life in Colorado’s Freshwater,” now on display at the museum and nearby
on campus. View them all online at colorado.edu/cumuseum/exhibits.
11 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photos by Felix Salazar, courtesy University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Coloradan SPRING 2018 12
ORIGINS ARCHAEOLOGY OUR OWN INDIANA JONES Museum of Natural History and a professor them flutes, sandals, baskets, bags, Since the 1981 debut of Steven Spiel- If Earl Morris (Psych1914; MA1916) of anthropology. pottery and weapons, Lekson said. berg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first wasn’t the inspiration for Indiana Jones, Understanding the early Southwest Morris studied various native societies Indiana Jones film, various sleuths have you could be forgiven for thinking so: He seems to have been destiny for Morris, throughout the Southwest and Central argued that Hiram Bingham III, who redis- looked the part. who was born in New Mexico in 1889 and America, and was especially influential covered Machu Picchu, seems to match A preeminent archaeologist of the reported finding his first artifact, a dipper in revealing the story of the ancestral the character most closely. But George American Southwest’s Four Corners bowl, at age three. Pueblo Indians, once called Anasazi. Lucas, who wrote the film’s story, has area and a seminal figure in the study During a four-decade-plus career, he He’s also well known for his discovery said the character was based on a type of pre-European human societies in excavated thousands of artifacts and and reconstruction of the Great Kiva, or — “a soldier of fortune in a leather jacket the broader region, Morris traveled to many ruins, supported by museums, great room, at what today is Aztec Ruins and that kind of hat” common in 1930s far-flung dusty digs in a truck called “Old scientific organizations and universities, National Monument in New Mexico. (His serial films — not on a specific person. Joe,” a fedora shadowing his face. including CU, leading to a scrupulous dwelling there is now the visitor’s center). So, Earl Morris, who died in Boulder in “There are very few places I’ve worked portrait of the region before European Morris worked closely with his first 1956, wasn’t a pop culture archaeologist. where Morris wasn’t there before me,” settlement. wife, archaeologist Ann Axtell Morris, He was a real one, and among the best. said Stephen Lekson, curator of ar- The museum today contains thou- who in 1933 wrote a general interest chaeology at the University of Colorado sands of items Morris unearthed, among book called Digging in the Southwest. By Eric Gershon 13 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo ©University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Coloradan SPRING 2018 14
ART
The
SHARKIVE
CU BOULDER ACQUIRES A MAJOR
TROVE OF MODERN ART.
By Eric Gershon
Queen Elizabeth had just traveled celebrated Colorado printmaking studio Buck, Robert Kushner, Betty Wood- and all future works.
the Tube, the first reigning British with his wife and fellow artist, Barbara. man and Hung Liu. Major museums in The nearly $1.35 million acquisition,
monarch to ride it. Over four years in Britain, the Sharks New York, Chicago and San Francisco years in the making and enabled by
The Tate released 90 pigeons in honor participated in a revival of fine art print- own works produced through artists’ benefactors, is among the university’s
of Picasso’s 90th birthday. making, learning new techniques and collaborations with the Sharks. And by biggest art purchases to date, and will
The Beatles split up, but the Rolling working with the likes of David Hock- mid-2018, the CU Art Museum will have increase the campus museum’s total
Stones were still packing Wembley’s ney. The experience set the stage for the greatest Shark’s Ink collection of all holdings nearly 40 percent.
Empire Pool. Sharks Lithography, established on Bluff — the complete Sharkive, as it’s called. “This will be one of the most intact,
This was London in the early 1970s, Street in Boulder in 1976. In February, CU Boulder announced comprehensive collections of its kind,”
and Bud Shark had come to make art. Now called Shark’s Ink, it emerged as its purchase of the signed archival said museum director Sandra Firmin.
“We arrived during the heyday of one of America’s premier printmaking impression of every original Shark’s Ink A $750,000 gift from the Kemper
swinging London,” said Shark (pictured), studios, a destination for luminaries of print — about 750 original artworks — Family Foundations, UMB Bank provided
then in his mid-20s and soon to found a the form, including Red Grooms, John plus more than 2,000 related materials the largest share of the cost.
15 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo by ©Getty/Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post Coloradan SPRING 2018 16
ART THE SHARKIVE
CU’s acquisition of the Sharkive customized stone or metal plates. Jasper scenic hillside property
keeps in Colorado a major trove of Johns, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein and in Lyons, Colo., in 1998.
modern art, and makes accessible to Picasso all made lithographs. “One day I said, ‘I don’t
scholars, students and visitors one of Bud Shark discovered the medium in have any work.’”
the most thorough collections anywhere Moorhead, Minn., near his hometown He took some contract
of a major printmaking studio. The of Fargo, N.D. It was 1966 and he was a projects “to get things
thousands of ancillary items related to University of Wisconsin student home rolling,” he said. But his
the artworks — sketches, photographs, for winter break. Visiting a gallery where goal was to work with
color proofs, correspondence — provide he’d taken painting classes, a new art- artists, participating in
a full picture of the artistic process that work caught his eye. the act of creation and
led to the finished art. “It kind of looked like a drawing, but jointly owning prints the
I knew it wasn’t a Sharks would sell through
drawing, because the dealers and galleries or
BUD REMEMBERS THE drawing wasn’t on the directly to collectors. “I plan on continuing to print until I can't anymore,” said Shark, above.
paper, it was in the pa- Good luck struck early.
YEARS TO COME AS INTENSE: per,” he said. “I talked Within months, Cohen came calling. “You have to think backwards and
COLORFUL, DEMANDING, to the gallery director,
who was a friend at
His London gallery had asked for new
art, and he said he’d do it, provided he
in layers,” said Firmin, the museum
director. “Bud really guides artists
EYE-OPENING. that point, and said,
‘What is it?’ He said,
could work in Boulder with the Sharks
— “a huge break for us,” Bud said.
through that.”
Bud then produces the prints —
‘It’s a lithograph.’” During a month-long stay, Cohen — applying colors one at a time through
“Outsiders often think that art is about Back in Madison, Bud found a lithog- whose prior work was the subject of a multiple pressings for each artwork.
the object,” said ceramicist Jeanne Quinn, raphy course, and his life’s work. show at The Tate that same summer — After the artist signs the numbered im-
a CU associate professor of art, “but At graduate school in New Mexico, he produced six original lithographs. They pressions, typically 40, Bud cancels the
really art is about the process.” met two hugely influential people: Fellow sold through his gallery, putting the plates, guaranteeing a limited edition.
Shark’s Ink's processes will soon be an art student Barbara Ball, his future wife Sharks’ fledgling Colorado studio on “We don’t know what it’s going to
open book. and Shark’s Ink partner, and the rising the radar of international tastemakers. look like until we put all the colors on
“People from around the world will British abstract painter Bernard Cohen. “That was a turning point,” Bud said. together,” he said.
want to come and study this collection,” Through a printmaking workshop Since then, the Sharks have worked The final prints, which range in size
said benefactor Sheila Kemper Diet- called Tamarind, then in Los Angeles, with about 160 artists of all kinds from about 10 by 12 inches to 6 feet
rich, a Colorado entrepreneur whose Bud found he enjoyed the process and — ceramicists, painters, sculptors, by 6 feet, sell for between $300 and
father founded the Kemper Museum of techniques of lithography as much as the filmmakers, as well as printmakers — to $10,000 each, depending on size, com-
Contemporary Art in Kansas City and design of art. Tamarind also suggested render their visions as prints. plexity and artist, Bud said.
whose husband, Walter Dietrich, is a a business model in which the master The Sharks do it all with help from
past chairman of the CU Art Museum’s
advisory board. “The ways this collection
printmaker co-owned the artworks with
the artist and marketed them.
YOU HAVE TO THINK longtime assistants Roseanne Colachis,
whose diverse duties include assembling
can be studied are endless.”
Lithography is a printmaking
“That experience was what made me
decide I wanted to be a collaborative
BACKWARDS AND three-dimensional prints, and printing
assistant Evan Colbert.
technique that involves pressing printer,” Bud said. IN LAYERS. “We couldn’t do what we do without
layers of ink and color into paper with As art school ended, Cohen con- them,” Bud said.
nected the Sharks with a For years, Barbara, a writer, painter The first Shark’s Ink artworks arrived
studio in London, where and cook, has led production of an at CU in mid-winter, as curators were
a printmaking revival was exhaustive Sharkive catalog. She is busy adding museum-quality storage
getting underway. scheduled to publish a book about her units for the collection and planning
Bud remembers the life, art and recipes in April. ways to make it widely accessible.
years to come as intense: Shark’s Ink remains a busy place. Each In late February, a small number of the
Colorful, demanding, year about a dozen invited artists come prints went on display. The full collection
eye-opening. to work in the 1,800-square-foot studio, arrives this summer, and by mid-2019
After the Sharks became a quiet, tidy workshop with west-fac- most of the Sharkive will be available for
parents, family in Colorado ing views of Mount Audubon and vast view by appointment. A major CU Art
drew them to Boulder. stretches of land thick with trees. Museum exhibition is planned for 2021.
“I was pretty naïve The artists — Bud favors “icono- Curators are also considering future
when I opened the stu- clasts” — live with the Sharks, steps traveling mini exhibitions.
dio,” Bud, now 71, said in from the studio, putting in long hours They’ll have a growing collection to
an interview at Shark's over visits of as long as two weeks. choose from.
Ink, which moved to a The artists conceive a design. Bud “I plan on continuing to print until I
advises on color combinations, paper can’t anymore,” Bud said.
The Ming Sisters: selection and the subtleties and hazards
Betty Woodman of lithographic technique. Eric Gershon is editor of the Coloradan.
17 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Woodman image © Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colo. Both images courtesy Bud Shark Coloradan SPRING 2018 18ART THE SHARKIVE
1
2
3 4 5
8
7
6
9
1. The Cat: John Buck 2. Spells and Incantations: Jane Hammond 3. Self-Portrait with Liz: Red Grooms 4. Aliens
Sans Frontières: Enrique Chagoya 5. Crossing the River: Leaping: Hung Liu 6. Eye Candy: Evan Colbert 7. Wave
Warrior: Don Ed Hardy 8. Dulzura: Rafael Ferrer 9. Morning, Noon, Night: Robert Kushner
19 SPRING 2018 Coloradan All images ©Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colo. Courtesy Bud Shark. Coloradan SPRING 2018 20URBAN DESIGN
The BRIDGE Avery Bang (MCivEngr’09) knows a
simple footbridge can change lives.
As CEO of the nonprofit Bridges to
On social media, local developer
Zeppelin Development had proposed a
bridge design that involved putting train
Prosperity, she and her team have con- boxcars in the river.
AVERY BANG’S NONPROFIT HAS structed more than 250 pathways over “Me being the nerdy bridge engineer
BUILT HUNDREDS OF FOOTBRIDGES otherwise impassible rivers in countries thought, ‘That’s not possible,’” Bang said.
WORLDWIDE, GIVING ISOL ATED LOCALS as far away and far apart as Rwanda, She decided the 17-year-old Bridges
IN POOR COUNTRIES ACCESS TO VITAL Bolivia and Haiti. Typically built by locals to Prosperity should pursue its first-ever
RESOURCES. NOW SHE’S WORKING ON working with Bridges to Prosperity staff U.S. project — and could do it for $3
A BRIDGE IN A U.S. BOOMTOWN. at a cost of about $60,000, the bridges million by using the same materials they
connect nearly one million people to would use for a bridge outside the U.S.
schools, medical providers, food and jobs. “We could build this same bridge in
By Christie Sounart But not every community that needs a Nicaragua for $100,000,” said Bang,
bridge is far away: As Bang sees it, parts noting the permitting and materials cost
of Denver could use one, too. is much higher in the U.S.
Beginning late this spring, a cable- The organization partnered with
suspended footbridge conceived, designed Zeppelin, which pledged $1 million and
and funded by Bridges to Prosperity will serves as the developer. Bang’s group
be built across Denver’s South Platte separately is working to close the re-
River. It will connect the isolated, low- maining $750,000 fundraising gap.
income Globeville neighborhood with the To design the bridge, Bang approached
booming River North Art District (RiNo) frequent collaborator Scott McNary
and nearby Brighton Boulevard. (CivEngr’81; MS’84), founding partner
Bang saw a need for the bridge while of Broomfield, Colo.,-based engineering
running along the Platte nearly four firm McNary Bergeron and Associates.
years ago. RiNo — where she lives and Because the bridge must be built at a
Bridges to Prosperity has its headquar- skew with minimal supports in the flood-
ters — is a thriving neighborhood rich prone river, he employed a standard
in retail stores and groceries, healthcare suspension design with a more than
providers, schools and citywide transit 270-foot-long arched walkway, swooping
connections. But the Platte and two cables and two giant steel towers.
interstates separate the often-neglected There are plans for a street artist
Globeville residents from RiNo’s abun- to adorn it, tentatively called the “Art
dance, mainly accessible by car or bus. Bridge.” It is expected to open by fall.
“This bridge is about serving a low- For now, Bang said, Bridges to Pros-
access population,” said Bang, who studied perity will continue to focus on needs
civil engineering at CU and joined Bridges outside the U.S. But she hopes the
to Prosperity as a volunteer in 2006 after Globeville-RiNo project proves bridges
observing a footbridge project in Fiji. in America can be reimagined to the
She became CEO in 2008. benefit of underserved populations.
Denver officials have seen the need “There are a billion people in the
for a bridge in the area for nearly a world who can’t get to where they need
decade, Bang said, but estimate it would to go,” she said.
take years and $6 million to build. Some of them are right here in America.
Downstream, the Millennium and High-
lands footbridges cost $10 million and $5 Christie Sounart (Jour’12) is associate
million, respectively. editor of the Coloradan.
21 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo by Glenn Asakawa / rendering courtesy Bridges to Prosperity Coloradan SPRING 2018 22INFOGRAPHIC CWA
SEVEN DECADES OF THE WORLD TODAY
CU Boulder’s annual Conference on World Affairs
Panels of Selected 2018 FUN FACTS
turns 70 in April. the Past Speakers ABOUT THE CWA
Founded in 1948 as a way to exchange ideas on Traditional Families: Going, Amanda Gorman
central issues of our time, the five-day extravaganza Going, Gone Inaugural U.S. Youth Poet Laureate
gathers scores of movers and shakers from all Heather Roff First
The Importance of Adventure
quarters for spirited discussions about the state of Research Scientist for Google conference
1948
What Would the Founding DeepMind
the world. Nuclear security, artificial intelligence and
Fathers Do?
climate change will get a hearing this year, among Kate Williams
5
dozens of other topics. And if the past is a guide, (Anti)social Media 1% for the Planet CEO
the lighter side of society will surface, too: Selfies, The Blues Saved My Life Kim Severson Runs for
zombies, video games and Tinder have all had their What Water Is Trying to Tell Us The New
moment in the sun. York Times
How Politics Derailed Science
For the full 2018 lineup, see colorado.edu/cwa. food culture
Millennials in the Workplace correspondent
Anthropology of War
days every
April, this year
April 9-13
Brings
speakers and
2007 performers
JOE BIDEN from across
U.S. Vice the nation
President and and globe to
senator Boulder
1966
2016
100
RALPH
NADER
Consumer
advocate,
presidential
candidate Unpaid partici-
pants travel to
the conference
STEVE
1970 WOZNIAK*
(ElEngr ex’72;
and are hosted
by locals
HonDoc
1955
200
Sci’89)
ELEANOR
2004 Co-Founder
of Apple Inc.
ROOSEVELT ARIANA
Former First
Lady of the
ROGER
EBERT
1973 HUFFINGTON
Co-founder of
*Wozniak’s
appearance Panels, perfor-
United States (HonDoc- ANNIE The Huffing- was jointly mances and
Hum’93) LEIBOVITZ ton Post arranged with
the Cultural discussions
Film Critic Photographer
1961 Regular
2007
Events Board
participant
2002 20,000+
2017
starting in
1970 Live campus
audience
HENRY
KISSINGER
1988 RACHEL
Full list of 2018
PATCH MADDOW participants:
Statesman; TED TURNER
later, Nobel Media mogul ADAMS TV host and RICK colorado.edu/
Peace Prize and philan- Physician political BAYLESS cwa/2018-speakers-
winner thropist and comedian commentator Chef performers
23 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photos courtesy Conference on World Affairs; JStonePhoto
/ Shutterstock.com
courtesy TBD Juli Hansen / Shutterstock.com (Rachel Maddow); Coloradan SPRING 2018 24
(Annie Leibovitz); PerennialsPhotos/Flickr (Patch Adams) Michael Bulbenko (Steve Wozniak)Illustration by Josh Cochran Life after DEATH on the Internet AS OUR LIVES GO DIGITAL, JED BRUBAKER IS STUDYING WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THAT DATA AFTER WE DIE. By Lisa Marshall If Jed Brubaker were to die tomorrow, his husband, Steven, would become the steward of his Facebook page. His profile picture would remain as it is today, a neat headshot of the 36-year- old assistant professor sporting a goatee, pale blue glasses and a slightly mischie- vous smile. His cover image might be switched to the lake in Utah where he’d like to have his ashes spread. Above that picture would be a single word, “Remem- bering,” carefully chosen to alert visitors that he was gone but, in this sacred online space, not forgotten. Brubaker has painstakingly thought through this scenario, not because he is obsessed with death or Facebook, but because it’s his job to think about it. As one of the few scholars in the nation to study what happens to our data — including our social media presence — after we die, he’s been instrumental in developing Facebook’s Legacy Contact, the feature that enables users to determine the postmortem fate of their profile. Now, as a founding faculty member in CU Boulder’s new informa- tion science department, he’s working to further improve the ways people expe- rience death online, via new algorithms, apps and features designed to sensitively 25 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Coloradan SPRING 2018 26
DIGITAL LIFE LIFE AFTER DEATH ON THE INTERNET
acknowledge a fact tech companies have more minutes of scrolling confirmed his
tended to ignore: People die.
“In social computing, companies think
sinking feeling.
She was dead, but Facebook had con-
I'M THAT GUY —
about designing for all kinds of different
aspects of our lives — wedding anni-
tinued to send out birthday reminders
and advance her age in her profile. On-
THE DEATH GUY.
versaries, birthdays, you name it,” said line, she was 23. In the flesh, she never
Brubaker. “But they have overlooked per- made it to 20. Like Comment Share
haps the most profound one of all, which “It was eerie,” he recalls.
is when those lives come to an end.” Not long after that, Facebook launched
That’s where he comes in. a well-meaning algorithm called “Re- at all — by “memorializing” or freezing with for decades, for instance, we are
“I’m that guy,” he said. “I’m the connect” which sent a message to users their account. The profile still existed for now subjected to more individual deaths
death guy.” encouraging them to “share the latest people to post on, but no one had access than any generation that has come before
news” with Facebook friends who hadn’t to control it or manage it. us. That raises sticky questions.
PATHWAYS logged on for a while. The launch, shortly In some cases, adolescent users died “How are you supposed to grieve the
Brubaker’s circuitous career path wound before Halloween, was a PR disaster, as suddenly, leaving behind a profile photo death of someone you would have oth-
through the arts, psychology and tech many users got messages nudging them their parents found objectionable (a erwise forgotten?” he said, noting that
before leading to a nascent field that to post on the walls of people who hadn’t party pic, a snarky cartoon). When loved when people grieve too openly online,
manages to incorporate all of the above. logged on for good reason. They’d died. ones asked to have the photo changed, they’re often accused of “rubbernecking”
Growing up in Utah, where he was “It was a technical screw up with very Facebook — lacking any idea what the or “grief tourism.”
an avid dancer, he dreamed of a career deep social consequences, but how could deceased person would have wanted — In one recent study co-authored with
in theater. But his empathetic nature Facebook have done any differently?” would decline. In one case, a grieving Katie Gach, a doctoral student at CU’s
drew him toward psychology. He earned Brubaker recalls. “If people are dead, father who was not friends with his son ATLAS Institute, the duo analyzed thou-
that degree at University of Utah while they can’t remove their own accounts, on Facebook asked if he could be added sands of online comments responding to
doing web design on the side, a gig that and if Facebook doesn’t know they are as a friend so he could participate in the the deaths of Prince, David Bowie and
detoured him into the tech startup world dead, how can they exclude them from remembrances. He couldn’t be. actor Alan Rickman. They found that
for five years. these algorithms? It was a bigger prob- Once the company got wind of Bru- commenters routinely mocked others.
Once that life ceased to fulfill him, he lem than anyone realized at the time.” baker’s research, it enlisted his help, not Some even dissed the dead.
pursued a master’s in communication, As Brubaker watched heartbroken only to provide insight into the problem, “These people were fighting in what
culture and technology at Georgetown family members express their frustration but to help solve it. was essentially an online wake. This
University. When his adviser suggested on social media — one woman was asked In February 2015, when Brubaker was would never happen in a normal, pre-
he get a PhD in information science, he to contact a friend who had recently still a student, Facebook launched Legacy news-feed world,” said Brubaker, who
shot him a blank look: “I said, ‘What is been murdered; another was encouraged Contact, allowing users to designate a believes subtle changes could be made
information science?’” to post on the wall of her deceased son steward of their account who could write to algorithms so the most toxic online
— he arrived at his next a final post, change or update profile comments (which tend to get the most
I HOPE DEATH IS A research project.
He would spend the
or cover photos, add friends and even
download photos to share with loved
clicks) don’t necessarily rise to the top.
He and his students are also mulling
LITTLE BIT KINDER next five years interview-
ing hundreds of social
ones not on Facebook.
The carefully chosen word “Remember-
outside-the-box ideas that could some-
day extend the way we interact with the
TO PEOPLE. media users about their
encounters with postmor-
ing” would gently indicate the person had
passed, while inviting visitors to interact.
dead via their data.
Want to go to grandma’s favorite
tem accounts. “It can often be so hard for young re- restaurant and order her favorite dish on
“He saw this issue searchers to get the outside world to care her birthday? Maybe you could tap into
emerging and took it upon about their research,” said Hayes. “To her Yelp data to find out what it was.
himself to completely have Facebook launch this product based Missing an old friend? Maybe you
The field, which explores the messy redefine a new research area,” said Gillian on his research while he was still writing could summon a data-driven, holographic
intersection of social science and com- Hayes, a professor of informatics at UC his dissertation was just amazing.” representation of her.
puter science, seemed a perfect fit. Irvine and Brubaker’s adviser at the time. Brubaker knows this sounds creepy.
“I tend to gravitate toward the stuff A KINDER, GENTLER WAKE But there was a time when photographs
that doesn’t make sense yet, where the DIGITAL TOMBSTONE Brubaker continues to work with or videos of the dead seemed creepy to
fundamental research question is WTF?” Almost overwhelmingly, people he Facebook to study and refine Legacy the living. As technology changes, we
he said. interviewed about their interaction with Contact, and his research has inspired change too.
In 2009, while working toward his the pages of dead loved ones said they other social media companies to explore “Whether it will be acceptable or not
PhD at the University of California liked having a sort of “digital tombstone” how they deal with user deaths. all depends on how it is designed,” he said.
Irvine, he was scrolling through the where they could post messages, share At his Identity Lab on the CU campus, How would he like to see his own
Facebook page of an acquaintance when stories and grieve. Brubaker also has begun exploring other memory live on?
he sensed something odd. But privacy settings often had sad challenges related to online discourse “I just hope that as a result of my work,
Posts on her “wall,” or digital message unintended consequences. about life, identity and death. death is a little bit kinder to people.”
board, seemed to come mostly on birth- At the time, Facebook managed Because social media enables us to re-
days and carried a somber tone. A few member deaths — if it learned of them discover acquaintances we haven’t spoken Lisa Marshall writes for CU Boulder.
27 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo courtesy Jed Brubaker Coloradan SPRING 2018 28DRONE Racer
JORDAN TEMKIN IS A $100,000 PRO.
By Christie Sounart
Photo courtesy Drone Racing League
29 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Coloradan SPRING 2018 30SPORTS DRONE RACER
Boosted by ESPN and the drone community, Temkin emerged as a leading figure in drone racing. Racers perform tricky maneuvers, such as careening through hoops and around obstacles.
Before they brought him money and transported into the air. more drone-friendly than Boulder — and Temkin emerged as a leading figure in
a measure of celebrity, drones offered “I absolutely fell in love with that,” he entered races across the U.S., many of drone racing.
Jordan Temkin (Art’14) a way to said. “Just the idea of being able to fly.” which featured up to 150 competitors.
stand out.
Eager to distinguish himself from his
The adrenaline rush was the same one
he felt while ski racing. And he wanted
Temkin’s performances caught the
attention of the New York-based Drone TEMKIN IS THE
fellow art students during his senior
year at CU, Temkin realized he could
more of it.
The rewards have been more than he
Racing League, founded in January 2016
by a former Tough Mudder executive. WORLD’S FIRST
use drones to capture footage from
unique angles. A skier and photographer
imagined — cash prizes, free trips, a TV
show on ESPN and two racing contracts
The league invited Temkin to compete
in its inaugural season against 11 other PROFESSIONAL
from Seattle, he envisioned aerial action
shots of his friends on mountain bikes
with the Drone Racing League (DRL).
The transition from art student to
racers in a series of five competitions
across the U.S. He readily accepted. The DRONE PILOT.
and skis. drone racer was swift. races were filmed in locations as diverse
All he needed was a drone of his own. After graduating in 2014, Temkin as the Miami Dolphins’ football stadium, In DRL’s second season, he again took
So he built one, using inexpensive worked full time at a Boulder sandwich the former Bell Labs headquarters the championship — filmed in London
parts he bought online and a frame fash- shop and continued building, flying in New Jersey and an abandoned Los — and another $100,000, year-long con-
ioned on his 3D printer. and racing drones with a few others Angeles mall. tract. His parents were in attendance. All
around Colorado. The 10-episode series aired on ESPN told, DRL’s first two seasons attracted
I FELL IN LOVE WITH Unlike his leisurely flights
through Boulder’s canyons
in fall 2016. It highlighted competitors’
top-speed thrills as they raced through
more than 55 million broadcast views in
more than 75 countries, said Gury.
THE IDEA OF BEING and over trees, competitive
racing required him to master
the dark venues and darted among flashy,
neon-lit obstacles. The inevitable crashes
“I can see myself doing this for as
long as I can get away with it,” said
ABLE TO FLY. tricky maneuvers such as
careening through hoops and
were spectacular.
Temkin won the championship, its
Temkin, who adopted the pilot name
“JET,” his initials.
around obstacles at speeds one-year, $100,000 contract and the title Temkin occasionally prepares himself
“It took me about six months before sometimes reaching more than 100 “world’s first professional drone pilot.” for competition by setting up a course
I was actually having fun with it,” said miles per hour. He always wore goggles “Jordan is able to stay in the zone and filled with hula hoops and soccer goals
Temkin, 26. “It was more frustrated that allowed him to see only what the concentrate when it counts,” said Ryan with the nets cut out. But that’s not his
tinkering up until then.” drone saw, referred to in the drone Gury, DRL’s director of product and favorite way to practice.
After a few troublesome attempts, world as flying “FPV,” or first-person technologies. “I remember his first race Instead — as he did at the start of it
Temkin successfully flew his drone in view. Crashes were — and still are — at Bell Labs. He crashed out of the first all — he prefers to grab his drone, drive
September 2014 with a GoPro camera common. few heats and was doing quite poorly. to the mountains, slip on his goggles and
strapped to it. Standing in Boulder’s As drones became more familiar in When I approached him to see how he fall into the reverie of flight.
Chautauqua Park, he pulled on a pair society at large, so did competitive races. was managing, he smiled and said, ‘All “I get to go to the very top of moun-
of goggles that live-streamed Flatirons The cash prizes grew. And Temkin often good, man. I just have to win the rest.’ tains,” he said.
footage as he controlled the drone from emerged the winner. And then he did.”
the ground. He quit his job at the sandwich shop, Boosted by the ESPN broadcast and Christie Sounart (Jour’12) is associate
He felt as if he himself was being moved to Fort Collins — which was the fast-growing drone community, editor of the Coloradan.
31 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photos courtesy Drone Racing League Coloradan SPRING 2018 32SCIENCE
RESEARCH
On the Road
CU BOULDER SCIENTISTS TAKE
A CREATIVE APPROACH TO
STUDYING CANNABIS.
By Trent Knoss
33 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Coloradan SPRING
Illustration 2018
by Tavis 34
CoburnSCIENCE RESEARCH ON THE ROAD
The most unorthodox cannabis research same tests under the influence. The that same year in Colorado, they began strains used in official federal government
lab in Colorado is always on the move. result: A before-and-after snapshot that exploring potential avenues for studying statistics average between 5 and 6 percent
You may have driven behind it on Foot- keeps the CHANGE Lab on the right a drug with major question marks not THC content, but those sold recreation-
hills Parkway on its way to a testing site. side of the law. only about its ability to impair, but also ally in Denver and Seattle average closer
You may have walked past as it idled on a “We’re able to add the elements of lab- its potential to alleviate inflammatory to 20 percent — a staggering reality check
neighborhood lane, collecting blood sam- oratory control that we would like to have conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, that made national news.
ples from a volunteer. The nondescript in place without dosing the volunteers or anxiety and insomnia. “If you’re studying
Dodge Sprinter does its best to keep a
low profile, but you may already know it
providing the products,” Bidwell says.
Afterward, the van rumbles off to its
In the background,
CU’s long, fraught
ATTITUDES wine or tobacco, for
example, you study
by one of its nicknames: The CannaVan, next appointment with fresh data that will association with mari- ARE CHANGING. the stuff people
say, or The Mystery Machine. help answer key questions. But a larger juana loomed large. The actually use,” Vergara
A van that drives around studying one remains: Why is studying an import- school has worked hard to dissolve old said, adding that the research only
stoned people! In Boulder! The snarky ant public health matter so complicated? stereotypes, symbolized by photos of a underscored the need for up-to-date
jokes practically write themselves. But haze-filled Norlin Quad every April 20. information on cannabis.
look closer and it becomes apparent HARD SCIENCE (The campus is designated as smoke- Legal cannabis continues to face uncer-
that the unusual project, led by CU’s For now, cannabis has gained a nation- free and prohibits marijuana use, tainty. Federal enforcement could change
CHANGE Lab, is succeeding where past wide foothold. Over the past five years, possession and distribution.) any time. Colorado lawmakers could enact
cannabis research efforts have stalled. eight states have legalized recreational Erring on the side of caution would have new laws affecting recreational usage.
“People always want to talk about the use and 29 states allow medical marijuana been understandable. Still, the CHANGE Dispensaries and regulators maintain a
van, which is really just a mobile phar- prescriptions. In 2016, cannabis sales in Lab pushed ahead with ambitious proposals, wary truce. But the CHANGE Lab’s work
macology lab,” said assistant professor North America totaled $6.7 billion; they poking and prodding at the guidelines to has buoyed optimism that the underlying
Cinnamon Bidwell. “It’s gotten a lot of are expected to continue growing by 25 find ways of doing meaningful research science finally could start catching up.
fun names, but it’s actually one of the percent annually through 2021. with one hand tied behind its back. “I hope our efforts and our ex-
most important tools we have to study “Attitudes are changing and have been “We went back and forth with uni- periment designs embolden other
cannabis use.” for a long time,” said professor Kent versity leadership, and they were super universities to pursue these kinds of
Cannabis research requires a mix of Hutchison of the CHANGE Lab and the helpful in terms of trying to problem studies, too,” Hutchison said.
creativity and caution. Despite Colo- Institute of Cognitive Science. solve with us,” Hutchison said. He's planning more studies designed to
rado’s legalization of adult recreational Widespread legalization created a The group also found a natural ally in test hypotheses about positive uses of the
use in 2012, the plant remains illegal boom in readily available cannabis prod- assistant professor Nolan Kane, a CU drug. Cannabis may be able to help wean
federally. Researchers at federally funded ucts. In terms of THC, the plant’s main biologist who had been pursuing ways users off opioids, for example, or help the
universities like CU may not handle, psychoactive ingredient, several common to sequence cannabis DNA. Kane, who elderly with pain and inflammation. He
store, consume, purchase or provide marijuana strains average close to 15 co-founded the Cannabis Genomic also wants to examine cannabis use by
cannabis to research subjects without percent potency — a four-fold increase Research Initiative with postdoctoral military veterans to see whether it allevi-
putting their institutions in potentially since the 1990s. But cannabis edibles are student Daniela Vergara, wanted to create ates or exacerbates post-traumatic stress
serious legal jeopardy. even higher, and some concentrates can a compendium of strains and decode the disorder, a divisive topic among veterans.
The van offers a workaround. After even approach 95 percent potency. With plant’s genetic mechanisms. In 2016, Bidwell secured nearly
it arrives at an off-campus private such wide-ranging options and little or “Cannabis is fascinating because it has $900,000 from Colorado’s Department of
no trustworthy science lots of genetic differences, which is why Public Health and Environment to study
to refer to, the public is you can do so many things with it,” Ver- high-potency cannabis use with her mobile
navigating blind. gara says. “It’s used for hemp fiber, paper, laboratory. The award, coupled with
“Research has lagged oil, and the seeds are edible… There are funding for Hutchison from the National
behind significantly,” literally hundreds of compounds that can Institute on Drug Abuse, represented a
Hutchison said. “And be extracted from it. But without further watershed moment for the lab. The van
that’s the crux of the study, we still don’t really know why it project officially had the green light.
problem: Consumers with interacts with our body the way it does.” Bidwell will soon have operated the van
no information.” for about a year. Her team has started a
Bidwell added: “In the REALITY CHECK crowdfunding campaign to acquire a sec-
context of a research Kane and Vergara had encountered the ond one, in hopes of expanding its work.
study, nobody has assessed same frustrating restrictions, but hit on Meanwhile, she hopes data collected by
how intoxicating these the idea of acquiring DNA data from the current Dodge Sprinter helps fill the
products are or studied independent testing laboratories and cannabis information gap.
the effects on behaviors then partnering with a seed company to “I think individuals are savvy and they
such as driving.” compile genetic information from sample want to base their personal decisions or
residence, a non-CU-affiliated volun- Enter the CHANGE Lab. Co-directed plants. Third-party groups aren’t subject personal medical decisions on empirical
teer enters and completes a series of by neuroscientists Bidwell, Hutchison to the same restrictions as CU, and a data,” she said. “Right now, they don’t
cognitive tests as well as a blood draw. and professor Angela Bryan, it began spreadsheet wouldn’t break any rules. really have that and so they’re grasping
Then he reenters his home, consumes in 2012 as an outgrowth of the group’s In 2016, the duo (working with Bidwell for straws.”
a high-potency cannabis product and interest in addiction and cognitive and Hutchison) published genomic re-
comes back to the van to retake the function. With cannabis on the ballot search showing that the common cannabis Trent Knoss writes about science for CU.
35 SPRING 2018 Coloradan Photo by Patrick Campbell Coloradan SPRING 2018 36You can also read
