University of Colorado Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder  is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system and was founded five months before Colorado was admitted to the union in 1876.In 2010, the university consisted of nine colleges and schools and offered over 150 academic programs and enrolled 29,952 students. Twelve Nobel Laureates, nine MacArthur Fellows, and 18 astronauts have been affiliated with CU-Boulder as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history. The university received nearly $454 million in sponsored research in 2010 to fund programs like the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and JAIL.The Colorado Buffaloes compete in 17 varsity sports and are members of the NCAA Division I Pac-12 Conference. The Buffaloes have won 28 national championships: 20 in skiing, seven total in men's and women's cross country, and one in football. Approximately 1,500 students participate in 34 intercollegiate club sports annually as well On March 14, 1876, the Colorado territorial legislature passed an amendment to the state constitution that provided money for the establishment of the University of Colorado in Boulder, the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, and the Colorado Agricultural College in Fort Collins.Two cities competed for the site of the University of Colorado: Boulder and Canon City. The consolation prize for the losing city was to be home of the new Colorado State Prison. Canon City was at a disadvantage as it was already the home of the Colorado Territorial Prison.The cornerstone of the building that became Old Main was laid on September 20, 1875. The doors of the university opened on September 5, 1877. At the time, there were few high schools in the state that could adequately prepare students for university work, so in addition to the University, a preparatory school was formed on campus. In the fall of 1877, the student body consisted of 15 students in the college proper and 50 students in the preparatory school. There were 38 men and 27 women, and their ages ranged from 12- 23 years.During World War II, Colorado was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a navy commission.

The main CU-Boulder campus is located south of the Pearl Street Mall. It consists of academic and residential buildings as well as research facilities. The East Campus is about a quarter mile from the main campus and is composed mainly of athletic fields and research buildings.Currently Freshmen and others attending the University of Colorado Boulder have an option of 22 on and off campus residence halls.Residence halls have 17 varieties of room types from singles to four-person rooms and others with apartment style amenities.There are several communities of residence halls located throughout the campus, and in a separate area called Williams Village which is connected to the main campus via the Buff Bus service. The University also offers Residential Academic Programs  in many of its Residence Halls. Raps provide students with in-dorm classes tailored to academic interests (international affairs, environmental studies etc.The Engineering Center is located on the North-East side of campus, on the corner of Colorado and Regent. The Engineering Center consists of 660,000 square feet (61,000 m2) of classrooms, computing facilities, offices, and laboratories. There are six unique engineering departments which are: Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Rankings published by the US World and News report ranked the Undergraduate Engineering Programs at 34th overall and 19th among public engineering programs nationwide. Graduate Engineering Programs at CU are ranked 34th overall and 20th among public engineering programs nationwide. This architecturally distinctive and modern center is home to the nation's largest nontechnical centrifuge, ion-implantation and microwave-propagation facilities, spectrometers, electron and other microscopes, and a structural analysis facility.CU Engineering houses many signature programs. The Integrated Teaching and Learning Program gives students hands on design experience in the award winning ITL Laboratory. The 34,000-sq. ft learning facility provides students and educators with a flexible, visible learning environment.The Design Center Colorado  is situated within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. The DCC gives students hands on experience by connecting them with faculty and industrial advisers on sponsored projects. CU Engineering is also part of the K-12 Engineering Outreach, pioneering new engineering programs for students and teachers at the elementary, middle and high school levels, and directing the national Teach Engineering digital library collection of free science, math and engineering lessons and activities available to teachers.