Eleventh Annual Event Honored Colorado’s
Top Scientists and Engineers
for Projects Having a Significant Impact on Society!

Eleventh Annual Event Honored Colorado’s Top Scientists and Engineers for Projects Having a Significant Impact on Society! On November 12, 2019 CO-LABS celebrated brilliant discoveries from the realms atmospheric science, nanotechnology and laser physics, extreme weather and flood dynamics, global greenhouse gas tracking, and tax-payer funded grants enabling commercialization of Nobel-Prize winning technology to track methane leaks - and all projects were the result of amazingly creative, complex and necessary multi-agency partnerships. ​ Our premier scientific research recognition event in Colorado saw 250 researchers, entrepreneurs, business leaders and government officials celebrate the exceptional and groundbreaking work of scientists and engineers from Colorado’s federally-funded research labs and institutes. The winners: Dual Comb Spectroscopy Methane Detection Technology based on Nobel Prize-winning research in Colorado can detect methane emissions as small as a quarter of a human breath from over a mile away #NIST #CIRES #RASEI #LongPathTechnologies Estimating Extreme Weather to Avoid Flood Risks and Improve Community Resilience A multi-agency, private sector partnership to calculate flood risks to dams in Colorado with incredible precision to improve public safety - AND serve as a national model #ColoradoDNR #NOAA #USGS #FEMA #FERC and many others! Discovery of Emission Violations to the Montreal Protocol A data sleuthing effort that revealed outlaw emissions of CFC-11 - violations of Montreal Protocol emissions standards - resulting in China making a national-level plan to comply with the Protocol #NOAA #CIRES and many others! See the winners' spotlight videos on CO-LABS' YouTube channel and more info at www.2019GovAwards.com/the-winners

WINNER: 2019 Governor's Awards - Estimating Extreme Weather to Avoid Flood Risks. A multi-agency, private sector partnership to calculate flood risks to dams in Colorado with incredible precision to improve public safety - AND serve as a national model. In the last 100 years, the leading cause of dam failure and resulting loss of life has been overtopping due to inadequate or improperly designed spillways. With increases in severity and frequency of extreme precipitation events, current modeling practices of rain and snowfall has shown to be inadequate for assessing possible public safety issues regarding dams and spillways. Leveraging 21st century scientific and engineering advances and applying creative approaches, a unique federal-state-private sector team of nationally recognized scientists, engineers, public safety officials and dam owners designed and implemented an innovative scientific approach to understanding extreme precipitation in the Rocky Mountain region. This Award involves a significant multi-partner effort, with key stakeholders including: William McCormick - Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) Kelly Mahoney - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Jeffrey Lukas - University of Colorado - Boulder Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)/ Western Water Assessment (WWA) Charles McWilliams - United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) David Keeney - United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Kenneth Fearon - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) William Asquith - United States Geological Survey (USGS) James Demby - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Bill Kappel - Applied Weather Associates (AWA) Tye Parzbok - MetStat, Inc. Will Silva - Acclivity Associates Read full details in their nomination at www.2019govawards.com/the-winners

WINNER: 2019 CO-LABS Governor's Awards for High Impact Research Dual Comb Spectroscopy Methane Detection Technology based on Nobel Prize-winning research in Colorado can detect methane emissions as small as a quarter of a human breath from over a mile away. Principal Investigators: Ian Coddington, Applied Physics Division, NIST Greg Rieker, CTO, LONGPATH Technologies, Inc. Nathan Newbury, Applied Physics Division, NIST November 12, 2019: Combining the engineering expertise of the University of Colorado – Boulder, the laser spectroscopy expertise of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and micro-meteorological modeling expertise of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NIST, this team began a multiyear effort to build the first ever field-ready dual-comb spectrometer capable of pinpointing small methane leaks from over 1 mile away. As a nod to taxpayer-funded research, funding from ARPA-E and DARPA enabled the team to expand to conquer the series of key developments that were required to realize this system. In 2018, members of the team and local business experts founded LongPath Technologies to provide monitoring services to oil and gas partners. With established industry partnerships and systems deployed in four locations, their work is shifting the paradigm of methane leak detection and is a technology informing the evolution of environmental regulations, such as Colorado’s 2019 legislation SB-181 which stipulates continuous monitoring for certain oil and gas infrastructure. CO-LABS is emphasizing the unique collaborations among many partnering organizations that made this pathfinding work possible, including: Caroline Alden, Research Scientist, CIRES Esther Baumann, Senior Research Associate, Applied Physics Division, NIST Sean Coburn, Research Scientist, University of Colorado Boulder Kevin Cossel, Physicist, Applied Physics Division, NIST Fabrizio Giorgetta, Senior Research Associate, Applied Physics Division, NIST Andrew Goldstein, CEO, LongPath Technologies Inc. Kuldeep Prasad, Engineer, Fire Research Division, NIST Eleanor Waxman, Chemist, Applied Physics Division, NIST Ted Weaver, Former CEO, LongPath Technologies, Inc. Robert Wright, Research Engineer, University of Colorado Boulder Read full details in their nomination at www.2019govawards.com/the-winners

2019 Governor's Awards - Discovery of Emission Violations to Montreal Protocol: A data sleuthing effort that revealed outlaw emissions of CFC-11 - violations of Montreal Protocol emissions standards - resulting in China making a national-level plan to comply with the Protocol. Principal Investigators: Stephen A. Montzka, NOAA Geoff S. Dutton, CIRES Eric Ray, CIRES The methodical detective work undertaken by these scientists allowed them to announce to the world that despite indications of success, the Montreal Protocol was in fact being breached in a substantial way by a country in eastern Asia. The United Nations Ozone Secretariat responded rapidly with a call to address the issue, specifically calling out this team’s research. This discovery became an immediate topic of discussion at the United Nations and in other international and national agencies, and within the scientific community. A few months after those findings were made public, China made a commitment to the United Nations to immediately curtail the production of CFC-11 within their boundaries. Country-wide searches and crackdowns on CFC use in the country have been conducted. Furthermore, an international workshop (attended by Montzka) explored a range of actions China might take to address this issue, including the creation of a national atmospheric measurement network for the detection and quantification of CFC-11 emissions across China. This outcome, which can be attributed directly to this team’s long-term and accurate measurements of CFC-11 in the atmosphere and their skill in communicating this critical information to a global audience, will benefit people worldwide for generations to come. See complete details of the winners research at www.2019GovAwards.com/the-winners