Internationally Recognized Research Centers

Our Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering faculty have established seven internationally recognized research centers within the department—six of which remain active today.

Building Energy Smart Technologies Center

CADSWES is an interdisciplinary center for the research and development of decision support tools for management of water and environmental resources. Established in 1986, CADSWES is housed in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.Ìý

The mission of CADSWES is to research, design, prototype and develop integrated decision support systems to help solve real-world water resources and environmental problems.

Its primary research sponsors are the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The CADSWES R&D team includes water and environmental engineers and scientists, software engineers, management information scientists and researchers from other disciplines as well as graduate and undergraduate students from CEAE and other departments. The R&D team collaborate internally and with sponsoring agencies and academic faculty to carry out applied research in the areas of hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, policy evaluation, data analysis and decision science. The results of research are implemented in computer tools used by sponsoring agencies for system management.

CADSWES endeavors to contribute significantly to improved management of water resources and environmental systems by

  • undertaking relevant research and serving as a university center for collaboration of relevant research among researchers, agencies, faculty and students;
  • working closely with resource management agencies to understand and respond to decision support needs;
  • applying powerful and appropriate information technologies to advance the results of research to useful decision support tools;
  • maintaining, supporting and teaching the use of the decision support tools to facilitate improved resource management by government agencies and others;
  • educating students in the development and use of decision support tools and in the issues and methods of resource management.

Center WebsiteÌý

The Center for Environmental Mass Spectrometry (CEMS) laboratory focuses on the detection of pharmaceuticals, hormones and other organic contaminants in water and evaluates the effectiveness of methods for removing these compounds.

Agilent Technologies Inc. provides the core liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer (LC/MS) instrumentation for the lab via collaboration.

The topic of pharmaceuticals in drinking water recently gained increased visibility when an Associated Press survey revealed that an assortment of drugs including antidepressants, antibiotics and birth control prescriptions were detected in the municipal drinking water of 24 major metropolitan areas serving 41 million Americans.

CEMS was established in 2008 at the University of Colorado Boulder by Imma Ferrer, research PhD, , PhD, and E. Michael Thurman, research PhD. .

Michael Thurman is a 30-year veteran of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) who has focused his research in water testing.ÌýImma Ferrer is the chief analyst of CEMS and is responsible for the highest quality accuracy measurements and operation of the laboratory. Distinguished Professor Karl Linden directs research on the treatment of pharmaceuticals in water and plays a key role in laboratory development and design.
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Updated Dec. 2, 2025

The Mortenson CenterÌýС»ÆÊé Boulder combines global engineering education, research, and partnerships to improve development tools and practice. We train engineers to recognize the issues at the core of development challenges and collaborate withÌýpartners across campus and the world toÌýcreate sustainable, scalable, evidence-based and equitable engineering solutions to global development problems.Ìý
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Through our interdisciplinary engineering program, we deliver global engineering education that equips students and professionals to drive poverty reduction and promote sustainable prosperity. Research efforts in the Mortenson Center are conducted with faculty, students, staff and external partners and focus on improving global development tools and practice. Our research themes include: organizational theory and systems science; impact evaluation; ending drought emergencies; in-situ and remote sensing; water, sanitation, energy and infrastructure; carbon finance for water delivery and security; food security and agricultural technologies and methods; and engineering in disaster relief, shelter and infrastructure.Ìý
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CenterÌýWebsiteÌý