Rozmiarek

Local middle schoolers get a crash course in Earth science at INSTAAR Middle School Showcase

Gabe Allen — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Local middle schoolers get a crash course in Earth science at INSTAAR Middle School Showcase Gabe Allen Fri, 04/25/2025 - 13:00

Gabe Allen

Earlier this month, Organic Geochemistry Laboratory manager Lennart van Maldegem posed a question to a group of eighth graders from behind a table jumbled with jars of candy, food coloring and pipettes.

“This is the organic chemistry lab, where we search for molecular fossils, they’re not visible,” van Maldegem said. “They’re mixed up in a rock with all of this other stuff, so how do we separate the fossils out? What do you think?”

INSTAAR PhD student Robert Kelleher shows students how to conduct a "candy chromatography" experiment. Gabe Allen, 2025.

“Explosions?” someone suggested, to laughter. In the end, the answer was, of course, chemistry. For the next 15 minutes, the students took turns pipetting food coloring onto coffee filters, adding water and then watching as the die separated into its composite colors.

“Candy chromatography” was just one of 12 activities that INSTAAR researchers organized during the annual INSTAAR Middle School Showcase. Throughout the day, more than 200 students from Angevine Middle School traversed the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community campus in small groups.

INSTAAR PhD student Kevin Rozmiarek shows Angevine Middle School eighth graders how to operate a research drone on at the INSTAAR Middle School Showcase. Gabe Allen, 2025.

In one activity on the southwest lawn, PhD student Kevin Rozmiarek showed students how to operate a research-grade drone equipped with a thermal camera. Rozmiarek has led research efforts to measure atmospheric gasses in Alaska and Greenland using similar aircraft. He explained that the same drones used for research also support the University of Colorado’s Police Department and Emergency Management team during events.

Scott Kittelman at the Skywatch Observatory outside the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community building during the INSTAAR Middle School Showcase. Gabe Allen, 2025.

On the other side of INSTAAR’s campus, University of Colorado Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences professional research assistant Scott Kittelman gave students a tour of the University of Colorado “Skywatch Observatory.” Using various analogies and examples, Kittelman explained how the instruments at the observatory measure a wide variety of atmospheric conditions.

Kittelman focused especially on the pyranometer, which measures solar radiation. He told the students that the simplest possible experiment would be to measure when it got light, at sunrise, and when it got dark, at sunset everyday.

“What would I learn, scientifically? Kittelman asked his audience. “I might learn something about the seasons on this planet—that the day length changes. And, if I learned that the days were longer, and I was measuring temperature too, I might find that there is a relationship between temperature and the day length.”

Kittelman has been an avid science educator throughout his career. He says his motivation is simple. Good science education lays the foundation for a new generation of scientists.

“Science is about inspiration. If you inspire kids early on, they find they have a talent for it and you get the best scientists that way,” Kittelman said. “Einstein’s father inspired him when he gave him a toy compass and explained that the needle was compelled by magnetic forces.”

INSTAAR chatted with a dozen or so students over lunch, in between the workshops and the bus ride home. Everyone seemed to come away from the day with a slightly different takeaway. Some reflected on a new insight.

“You have to learn about the past before you can say anything about the future,” Edward said, citing his group’s trip to the Stable Isotope Lab’s ice core freezer. “You see how it was back then to see how it is today.”

Others were enamoured with the scientific instruments they encountered.

“It was pretty cool when the guy flying the drone could see all the way across Boulder,” Kyoshi said.

Almost everyone agreed on one thing. Touring INSTAAR was better than being back at school. And, if skipping school for a day is the thing that inspires the next Nobel laureate, so be it.

Click an image below to enlarge.

If you have questions about this story, or would like to reach out to INSTAAR for further comment, you can contact Senior Communications Specialist Gabe Allen at gabriel.allen@colorado.edu.

More than 200 students from Angevine Middle School recently visited INSTAAR, where researchers led hands-on demonstrations. The goal of the showcase is to inspire future scientists at an impressionable age.

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Earth Day: 6 sustainability stories from INSTAAR in 2025

Gabe Allen — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 23:41:24 +0000

Earth Day: 6 sustainability stories from INSTAAR in 2025 Gabe Allen Tue, 04/22/2025 - 17:41

Gabe Allen

INSTAAR researchers investigate fundamental questions about ecosystems, climate systems and landscapes.

Today marks the 55th annual Earth Day, a global celebration of our planet, its natural systems and the idea of a sustainable future. In honor of the occasion, INSTAAR is sharing stories from the first four months of 2025 about INSTAAR’s environmental research.

As mountain glaciers melt, risk of catastrophic flash floods rises for millions (The Conversation US)

Last month, INSTAAR faculty research scientist Alton Byers and Wesleyan University professor of earth science Suzanne OConnell wrote a guest article in the Conversation US. The pair, a mountain geographer and earth scientist respectively, described how melting glaciers are amplifying the risk of catastrophic flooding in mountain communities around the world. Some governments and organizations, including the U.N., have focused efforts on research into mitigation tactics and early effective warning systems.

Franklin Institute selects Katharine Suding for the Bower Award for Achievement in Science

Next month, INSTAAR faculty fellow and professor of distinction in ecology and evolutionary biology Katharine Suding will officially receive the Bower Award for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute. The award honors prominent scientists and innovators who have changed the world for the better. Suding is a preeminent restoration ecologist who has left an indelible mark on the concepts of ecosystem resilience, restoration and biodiversity.

Desert reservoirs capture and store organic carbon, according to new research

Dams have long been a controversial topic among environmentalists. While they can sometimes harm aquatic ecosystems, they can also provide benefits, like increased water storage. Recently, a group of INSTAAR researchers uncovered another potential benefit of certain reservoirs. In a recent paper, they describe how one large reservoir in New Mexico captures and stores carbon beneath layers of sediment during droughts and flash floods.

Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing (CU Boulder Today)

Kevin Rozmiarek is a drone enthusiast, but he’s not just a hobbyist. He’s using unmanned aircraft to do science. In a recent publication, Rozmiarek and his colleagues documented changes in Greenland’s ice sheet. Their study relied on samples of atmospheric water vapor collected by drones, an approach that could improve simulations of sea level rise.

International research collaboration uncovers key driver of Himalayan glacier melt

This winter, INSTAAR research scientist Karl Rittger lent his talents to an intercontinental team of scientists seeking to understand exactly how and why Himalayan glaciers are melting. Rittger’s unmatched methodology for analyzing dust-covered snow from satellite imagery led the team to key insights. They found that dust storms were picking up pollution from heavily populated areas and depositing it on the mountains.

New research demystifies carbon cycling in freshwater lakes around the world

Back in 2019, INSTAAR faculty fellow Isabella Oleksy, then a PhD student, put out a call to collaborators for data on phytoplankton activity in freshwater lakes. In the end, researchers from all over the world contributed to the dataset. Oleksy and collaborators then used the data to refine a mathematical model of primary productivity for freshwater lakes. The new model could help earth scientists better understand the carbon cycle, which could lead to better climate predictions.

INSTAAR researchers investigate fundamental questions about ecosystems, climate systems and landscapes. These six stories highlight the environmental research that the institute is doing in 2025.

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Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing (CU Boulder Today)

Gabe Allen — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:38:25 +0000

Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing (CU Boulder Today) Gabe Allen Thu, 03/27/2025 - 14:38

An INSTAAR-led study measured water vapor in Greenland’s air, collecting data crucial for improving climate models and forecasting Arctic changes.

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The Arctic's permafrost-obsessed methane detectives (Wired)

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 22:00:12 +0000

The Arctic's permafrost-obsessed methane detectives (Wired) Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/07/2023 - 16:00

Matt Simon

The Far North is thawing, unleashing clouds of planet-heating gas. Tyler Jones, Bruce Vaughn, and Kevin Rozmiarek use detectors on drones or carried by hand to measure methane release from permafrost in Alaska.

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Rozmiarek

Local middle schoolers get a crash course in Earth science at INSTAAR Middle School Showcase

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Earth Day: 6 sustainability stories from INSTAAR in 2025

As mountain glaciers melt, risk of catastrophic flash floods rises for millions (The Conversation US)

Franklin Institute selects Katharine Suding for the Bower Award for Achievement in Science

Desert reservoirs capture and store organic carbon, according to new research

Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing (CU Boulder Today)

International research collaboration uncovers key driver of Himalayan glacier melt

New research demystifies carbon cycling in freshwater lakes around the world

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Drone experiment reveals how Greenland ice sheet is changing (CU Boulder Today)

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The Arctic's permafrost-obsessed methane detectives (Wired)

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