Centers & Institutes
The Butler Institute for Families
The Butler Institute for Families works to strengthen child and family well-being by improving the programs, systems and communities that serve them. Their efforts include developing training systems for child welfare workers and advancing programs for early-childhood literacy. A number of their initiatives center on protecting and benefiting Native American youth and families.
Institute for Human-Animal Connection
The Institute for Human-Animal Connection studies the various relationships between humans, animals and the environment. They believe respectful, responsible interaction with other living things is essential for global stability, sustainability and equality. Fields studied include community-based animal welfare, animal abuse and its connections to domestic violence, and the international wildlife trade.
Institute for Relationship Science
Institute for Relationship Science advance psychological science by feeding intellectual curiosity, investing in people, collaborating for discovery and positively impacting the communities that they serve.
The Marsico Institute for Early Learning & Literacy
The Marsico Institute is dedicated to improving learning environments and academic outcomes for children 8 years old and younger. With 93% of brain development occurring before the age of five, proper relationships and learning opportunities during these early years are crucial in setting children up for success later in life. The Institute evaluates and develops methods for improving early literacy and ensuring children are able to start on the right path.
Pardee Center for International Futures
The Pardee Center aims to explore, understand and shape our global society's many different possible paths into the future. They created International Futures, a freely available computer tool that models long-term development and interaction of human social and environmental systems for 186 countries. The system is being used by governments, businesses and international organizations to improve how they understand dynamic systems and to help shape reasonable expectations for development. Students are involved in updating data and improving the algorithms behind the system.
The Stress, Early Experience and Development Institute
SEED Research Center works to address fundamental issues at the nexus of human development and adversity while applying scientific knowledge to policy and practice. As a community of students, postdocs and faculty, our mission is to advance SEED Science, a unique approach to understanding stress, early experiences and development. This approach promotes intergenerational health, wellbeing and resilience by fostering rigorous interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research with collaborative community partners.
Applied Research & Technology Institute
The Applied Research & Technology Institute has diverse areas of expertise spanning the physical and social sciences. Institute researchers work to expand and improve STEM education, address issues in space exploration and security, and conduct classified studies and custom research, development and testing services. Clients include the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Corvid Technologies.
Colorado Research Institute for Security & Privacy
The Colorado Research Institute for Security & Privacy is devoted to finding ways to improve information security. Their hope is to create tools and techniques that will be useful for a broad audience. Current projects include improving the privacy of data sharing and helping laypeople better understand their own information security risks.
Conflict Resolution Institute
The Conflict Resolution Institute works to discover ways to de-escalate, end and ultimately prevent conflict. Their research draws from communications, management and international relations, and has equal application in politics, business and personal relations. Graduate students who work with the institute can even get hands-on experience in mediation.
Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service & Training (FIRST)
The Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service & Training works with incarcerated adults, child welfare cases, offenders with neuropsychological deficits and various other populations to better understand and improve the mental health issues surrounding criminality. The Institute also offers therapy and assessment to underserved forensic populations and education for law enforcement and other agencies that frequently deal with mental health issues in a forensic context.
Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) works to advance innovative and practical solutions to the problems within America’s legal system so that it is trusted and trustworthy. Their efforts include reforming the civil justice process so it is fair, efficient, reliable and accountable; increasing access to justice and improving outcomes for families and self-represented litigants; identifying methods to best select and retain quality judges; and ensuring tomorrow's lawyers are prepared to handle the country's rapidly changing legal environment.
Institute for Comparative and Regional Studies
Comprised of four regional programs on Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, the Institute for Comparative and Regional Studies (ICRS) conducts research, facilitates dialogue, and provides advanced instruction in comparative and regional studies to address the pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
The Institute for Enterprise Ethics
The Institute for Enterprise Ethics is dedicated to advancing ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable practices in corporate leadership. Researchers collaborate with business leaders to develop ways to make ethical behavior, social responsibility and sustainability essential parts of the fabric of American corporate culture.
Kennedy Institute
The Kennedy Institute works to support and develop programs that promote educational success among vulnerable children. Efforts include research on methods to improve early childhood math education and and developing a replicable new model of preschool curricula.
Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging
The Knoebel Institute creates and implements solutions for issues related to aging. It takes a holistic approach to problem solving, incorporating engineering, natural sciences, social work and psychology. Current research efforts range from understanding the impact concussions during youth have on the development of Alzheimer's later in life to improving public attitudes toward aging.
Scrivner Institute for Public Policy
The Scrivner Institute for Public Policy was established in 2018 by Doug and Mary Scrivner. The Scrivner Institute works at the intersection of real-world problems and practical policy solutions to those problems. It is by its nature interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, bridging knowledge between academic disciplines and today's most crucial issues.
Transportation Institute
The Transportation Institute is at the center of a distinguished network of transportation leaders. Their efforts focus on improving logistics and increasing supply chain efficiency worldwide. They work to create solutions that will benefit both the general public and market leaders.
Unmanned Systems Research Institute
Before Amazon can deliver packages by drone, serious technological issues need to be addressed. The DU Unmanned Systems Research Institute works to tackle these issues by developing a super light weight radar system that can be used to sense and avoid, and by providing significant technical advances to automated flight capabilities. Currently, the Institute is working on issues of lift and drag with an unconventional wing design.