Research Centers & Labs
We are adding faculty and facilities strategically to build interdisciplinary programs and research units.
The College of Engineering's primary home is the engineering building on the main campus, but we have a variety of other buildings and facilities on the main campus, at the Foothills campus, elsewhere in Fort Collins and in the surrounding area. Facilities are a top priority for the college, with a new building in the architectural planning phase. This new facility will include interdisciplinary research pods, teaching space, and faculty and graduate student offices.
Centers and labs by department/program
Click on one of the subject headers below to view either centers or labs.
Centers at the College of Engineering
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere | An interdisciplinary effort with the Department of Atmospheric Science, CASA focuses on improved methods for detecting and predicting dangerous weather using networks of radars. |
| Center for Earth-Atmosphere Studies | Fosters the training and education of scientists working on climate and radiation-cloud problems. A joint CSU-NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center activity that enriches atmospheric science research at both institutions. |
| Center for Explosive Research and Testing of Geomaterials | Conducts laboratory and field explosive research and testing on geomaterials. |
| Center for Networked Distributed Energy | |
| Composite Materials, Manufacture & Structures | Composite Materials, with the focus on advancing the fundamental knowledge related to the application of these materials. Addresses research and educational issues related to composite materials. |
| DOD Center for Geosciences | Conducts interdisciplinary research in the geosciences for the U. S. Department of Defense. |
| Engineering Research Center | The ERC is an 110,000-square-foot research facility supporting faculty and student projects in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering. |
| Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology Center | This center is developing laser technologies to help create the smallest, most powerful computer circuits ever generated, as well as other advanced nanotechnologies of critical importance to the national economy. |
| Industrial Assessment Center | Has been providing manufacturers with free plant assessments and suggestions for improved operations since 1984. Integrates emerging technologies into the K-12 classroom and helps teachers stimulate students' interests in science, math, technology and engineering. |
| Nelson & Shepard-Miller Graduate Geotechnical Laboratory, Geoenvironmental Lab & Advanced Geoenvironmental Testing Center | Serves as a center for the development and utilization of advanced testing capabilities for implementation in geoenvironmental engineering practice. The objectives are: to offer advanced testing capabilities that meet the requirements and demands of the geoenvironmental engineering industry, and to increase existing equipment and testing capabilities at Colorado State University in the areas of unsaturated and saturated flow and transport, particularly with respect to materials being used in the geoenvironmental industry. |
| Optoelectronic Computing Systems Center | |
| Performance Engineering Research Center | |
| Radar and Communications Group | |
| Rocky Mountain Magnetic Resonance | Rocky Mountain Magnetic Resonance was established as a center to foster the development and application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to a broad range of areas of great interest to science and society. Our extensive equipment represents all the major modalities of NMR: high-resolution and solid-state spectroscopy and imaging (whole-body and materials). Scientists, engineers, and clinicians with extensive experience in applications of spectroscopy and imaging to materials and biomedicine come together to develop new opportunities for extending NMR methodologies and for education and training. Our center offers a full range of services to clients from academia, government, industry, and clinics. We stand ready to provide services on all our equipment, design custom experiments and analyses, and collaborate to develop new research proposals or projects. |
| Rocky Mountain Materials Research | Currently working on the development of some novel gradient semi-IPNs for biomedical applications. |
Labs at the College of Engineering
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Applied Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics Laboratory | This laboratory is focused on the development, control, and use of ultrafast (duration of < 10-13 seconds) optical pulses. In general our group explores new ways to control and exploit new physical phenomenon to understand and control atomic and molecular systems and produce new capabilities in ultrafast optical sources. Currently, a major thrust of our work is to explore the creation of impulsive molecular coherences and use those coherences as an ultrafast optical modulator. We use these modulators to sculpt the spectral and temporal properties of ultrafast laser pulses ﾖ enabling new capabilities. Additionally, we are exploring new types of nonlinear optical phenomenon for ultrafast laser pulse conversion. |
| Articulated Motion Laboratory | This laboratory supports research activities in the simulation, analysis, design, and control of articulated motion generated by either biological or robotic systems. The emphasis is on the class of articulated systems that are kinematically redundant, and therefore capable of highly complex and dexterous motions. Current research activities include the development of failure tolerant robotic systems for use in hazardous or remote environments and the design of automated assembly and inspection systems for industrial applications. |
| Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosol Laboratory | A major two-story structure housing state-of-the-art research in atmospheric chemistry and aerosol and cloud physics. Facilities include an aerosol research laboratory, inorganic and organic analytical laboratories, two instrument design laboratories, a teaching laboratory, and office space for students, faculty and staff conducting research in atmospheric chemistry. The lab also operates a mobile air quality research laboratory equipped with instrumentation for characterization of aerosol chemical, physical, and optical properties. |
| Atmospheric Science Weather Laboratory | This laboratory makes available current and historical weather information to faculty, students, and staff for use in educational and research activities. |
| Bently-Nevada Advanced Dynamics Laboratory | |
| Chester E. Smith Structures & Materials Laboratory | The mission of the Chester E. Smith Structures and Materials Lab is to provide high quality and technical support for classes and other educational activities involving the mechanical testing of construction materials or fairly small structural members or components. |
| Chill Radar Facility | Formerly located in Chicago, Illinois (thus the name CHILL), this facility is operated by the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Atmospheric Science. |
| Civil & Environmental Engineering Water Quality Laboratory | The lab is a fully-equipped water quality laboratory in the Engineering Building. It provides civil and environmental engineering graduate and undergraduate students a modern laboratory/ classroom that is equipped with state of the art analytical equipment. |
| Clean Room - Semiconductor Processing | |
| Communication Laboratory | |
| Computer Networking Research Laboratory | Conducts research projects dealing with hardware, software, protocol and performance issues related to communication networks. Projects include efficient implementation of protocols for Next Generation Internet, and performance modeling of optical and wireless networks. |
| Computing Hydrology Laboratory | Supports graduate teaching and research in surface hydrology and water resources management. |
| Concrete Materials Laboratory | Supports teaching and research activities on aggregates, concrete materials, and small concrete structural units. Supports student projects in these areas. |
| CSU Atmospheric Sounding System Facility | This facility consist of a 403 MHz Doppler wind profiling system, a Radio Theodolite system, and a boundary layer tethered balloon system. |
| CSU Satellite Earth Station | Laboratory facilities dedicated to the acquisition, display, and analysis of satellite and other weather data products. This facility is dispersed and housed partly in CIRA and partly in the main Atmospheric Science building. |
| CSU-CHILL National Radar Facility | The facility is a state of the art Doppler and polarimetric radar used for advanced radar engineering and radar meteorology research. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Colorado State University, the radar is available to researchers around the country. CSU is the only university in the U.S. to operate such a radar for educational and research purposes. |
| Digital Signal Processing Lab | Current activities include basic and applied research in the areas of sonar signal processing for underwater target classification, adaptive filtering and estimation, target detection and tracking in radar, sonar, and infrared imagery, automatic cloud data analysis from satellite imagery using neural networks, compression schemes for stereo and video images, spectral estimation and channel equalization for communication systems, and neural network training and architectural adaptation. |
| Distributed Computing and Communications Laboratory | The research conducted in the laboratory includes the design, modeling, control, optimization, simulation, and application of: (1) heterogeneous parallel and distributed computing systems, and (2) communication systems and networks. |
| Dow Chemical Unit Ops Laboratory | Serves as the primary instructional laboratory for the Chemical Engineering program. Houses experiments dealing with fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and separation processes. |
| Dynamic Systems and Controls Research Lab | The Dynamic Systems and Controls Laboratory focuses on the development of advanced control techniques for complex multivariable systems. The theoretical and computational tools developed here may be applied to a wide variety of physical systems. In particular the lab currently has experimental studies of active vibration suppression for flexible structures (e.g., servo control in computer disk-drives), efficient control of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and the use of (robotic) haptic interfaces as part of a multi-sensory computing system. |
| E-Beam Laboratory | |
| Electronics Circuits Lab | |
| Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory | A senior design program that creates vehicle and engine design through the involvement of students in ambitious, real life design projects. |
| Environmental Engineering: Instrumentation Laboratory | Basic and routine water analyses are performed in this lab which houses the laboratory chemicals. Although the labﾒs primary purpose is for research, it is used in several environmental engineering graduate level courses that require lab experience and graduate projects. |
| Environmental Engineering: Wet Chemistry Laboratory | Contains instruments used to measure and analyze concentrations of pesticides as well as other trace organics and inorganics, used primarily for graduate student research. |
| Epitaxy Laboratory | |
| Femtosecond Laser Facility | |
| Flash Flood Laboratory | Conducts research in meteorology, hydrology, and geology associated with flash flood identification, forecast and mitigation. Conducts systems research associated with the process of flash flood warnings and warning systems. Investigates heterogeneous systems, data sets, and organizational structures to process flash flood information associated with emergency management, flood mitigation and growth planning by local governments. |
| Fu Hua Chen Geotechnical Laboratory | Conducts research and provides education in the areas of geoenvironmental topics, earthquakes, explosives, expansive soils, expert systems, dam safety and mine tailing. |
| GIS Engineering Design Laboratory | Supports several graduate courses in Civil Engineering, training sessions in support of undergraduate Civil Engineering Courses, special workshops and short courses on the application of GIs in Engineering, and graduate student research. |
| Groundwater Advanced Visualization and Engineering Computer Laboratory | Supports sponsored research conducted by the Groundwater Program. Contains high-speed computers and other equipment for scientific visualization of groundwater data and computer modeling. |
| Groundwater/Porous Media Laboratory | Supports teaching, research and service activities for studying agricultural chemical transport in soils, groundwater and porous media, examines transport properties, and investigates environmental restoration of soils. |
| Harold H. Short Civil Infrastructure Systems Laboratory | The Harold H. Short Laboratory for Urban Water Infrastructure Studies is dedicated to the study of water use management in urban areas, and research into management and uses of alternatives that will lead to better water use and reduced infrastructure costs. The lab is also a teaching lab for urban water systems analysis and urban storm water systems management. |
| Hydraulic Research Laboratory | world class facility comprised of flumes and associated equipment for hydraulic model studies and hydraulic research. Supports research, trains undergraduate and graduate students and provides hydraulic testing and support services. |
| Hydrologic & Water Resources Computing Laboratory | Provides computer software and hardware requirements for graduate students engaged in research in the Hydrology program. |
| Hydromachinery Laboratory & Turbine Research Facility | Developed for conducting specialized research on hydromachinery (valves, meters, turbines), on pipeline transients, and on unique piping networks. The lab is used to conduct research, support undergraduate and graduate teaching, and provides testing services in areas not available in the private sector. |
| Jack E. Cermak Thermal Fluid Sciences Laboratory | The Thermal-Fluid Science Laboratory includes a collection of experiments and instrumentation design to compliment instruction in basic fluid mechanics, hydraulics, experimental methods, heat transfer and thermodynamics. The laboratory is equipped with a selection of flumes, wind tunnels, water tunnels, pipe flow and network experiments, engines, heat exchangers; as well as computers, data-acquisitions, equipment and software, oscilloscopes, multi-meters, and other equipment. The laboratory provides the instructor with the opportunity to demonstrate concepts or for the student to creatively inquire into mechanical principles. |
| Laser and Plasma Lab | |
| Linear Circuits Lab | |
| Lockheed-Martin Engineering Design Studio | The lab provides facilities for student groups working on engineering design projects. |
| Manufacturing Instructional Lab | |
| Materials Engineering Lab | Focusing on developing thin film devices, processes and hardware for high throughput and environmentally benign vacuum manufacturing. |
| Microwave Systems Laboratory | |
| Optical Spectroscopy Laboratory | |
| Orthopedic Bioengineering Research Lab | |
| Plasma Engineering Research Lab | Research is focused on broad beam ion sources and their components for both space-based and terrestrial applications as well as the performance of surfaces treated using the terrestrial sources. |
| Radiation and Remote Sensing Laboratory | A single story building and a mobile laboratory supporting atmospheric radiation measurements. Instrumentation includes infrared and solar interferometers and radiometers, ultra violet radiometers, special photometers, visible and near infrared lidar systems, infrared calibration facility, smart tracking systems, and inferential cloud microphysics probes. |
| Real Time Systems Lab | |
| Robotics and Autonomous Machines Lab | Established for research and teaching to extend our understanding of the organizing principles underlying autonomous systems and to develop the engineering principles that will guide their synthesis. |
| Scanning Electron Microscopy Lab | |
| Sedimentation Laboratory | Compilation of specialized equipment to analyze sand, silt, and clay particles associated with the transport of sediments in streams and rivers. The lab is used to support the research conducted in the Hydraulics lab and to train undergraduate and graduate students. |
| Semiconductor Processing Laboratory | |
| Signal Processing and Communications Laboratory | The Laboratory for SP & C is studying signal processing and communication for high-performance radar, sonar, and data communication. The unifying theme in all of these studies is a trade-off between beamformaing, matched filtering, and diversity combining in space-time or frequency- time. The PhD students affiliated with this laboratory are studying waveform design for space-time and frequency-time radar and communication, time-frequency distributions for nonstationary random processes, canonical decompositions of nonlinearly mapped two channel data, nonproper complex models in communication, multi-variable conjugate gradient methods for iterative filtering, and methods for determining when a channel supports beamforming and when it supports diversity combining. In support of these theoretical studies, the laboratory is developing a software platform for programming TI DSP hardware to run signal processing and communications programs. |
| Solar Energy Applications Lab | Established to carry out experiments in solar heating and cooling of buildings and solar water heating. |
| Systems and Controls Lab | |
| Thin Films Lab | |
| Turbulence Processing & Control Laboratory | Provides experimental and computational infrastructure for fundamental studies of turbulence, turbulent flow-solid body interaction and their control. |
| VLSI System Architecture Lab | The research activities in the VLSI System Architecture Laboratory are mainly in the areas of design and testing of novel VLSI based systems and of VLSI design methodologies. The activities in the VLSI based systems include real-time vision chip architecture, high performance DSP architecture for FFT, DCT and wavelet transforms, architectures for DRAM/logic merged technology, and CMOS-based sensing and imaging chip architectures. The activities in the VLSI design methodologies include development test metrics for VHDL verification and techniques for manufacturing test simulation (MTSIM) and test strategy selection at early stage of the design cycle. The VLSI System architecture Laboratory cooperates closely with and is supported by our industrial partners which include Hewlett Packard, Symbios Logic, LSI Logic, and Samsung Electronics. Research activities are also supported by government agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute. |
| Waste Water Treatment Research Pilot Plant | The Water Treatment Research Pilot Plant is located at the south end of the Hydraulic Laboratory and has a design flow of 76 L/min (20 gpm) with ten unit processes, including rapid mix/coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, ozonation, absorption, ion exchange, air stripping, and membrane filtration. Removals of contaminants can be done on any combination of unit processes or any unit processes can be isolated for more fundamental research. On line sensors include: Hach streaming current, Hach turbidimeters, Met One particle counters, and Signet pH, temperature, conductivity, and pressure. The facility is controlled by a MicroDac board with micro-relays to control pumps and valves with unit conversions of 20 mv analog signals to digital calibrations. The facility is operated by a PC computer with backup power and alarm system to provide alerts concerning problems. A break in a water line, for example, would result in an orderly shutdown. The plant can be operated continuously for indefinite periods and can be operated unattended as needed. The computer is connected to the CSU Net for transfer of data, and for remote monitoring and control. The pilot plant has been utilized on a number of research projects since it's construction in 1992, including projects sponsored by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the USEPA, and the American Water Works Association Research Foundation. The pilot plant has been used regularly in teaching design of water treatment processes. |
| Water Resource Systems Computing Laboratory | Provides unique computer software and hardware requirements for graduate students engaged in research in the Water Resources Planning and Management program. |
| Wind Engineering and Fluids Laboratory | One of the international laboratories where the foundations of wind engineering were established. This laboratory has three large meteorological and seven smaller specialized wind tunnels to simulate atmospheric flow over the surface of the earth. Specialized features and instrumentation permit measurements of velocity, pressure, concentration, and temperature. |