

Colorado and Wyoming are famed for their wide open spaces and incredible landscapes. They’re also very, very dry.
Changes in rainfall and snowpack are already impacting agriculture, tourism, and the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the western United States. The wicked problem of helping communities adapt to extreme weather events and a changing environment isn’t one for the future, it’s making itself known in real-time.
Today, we’re headed west to meet our next NSF Engine, the ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming, in short, the CO-WY Engine, where I’ll be talking to CEO Mike Freeman about the region’s unique resources and how they’re building a community-based commitment to environmental sensing. ASCEND stands for Advanced Sensing and Computation for ENvironmental Decision-making.
Mike Freeman has dedicated the past 15 years to building up the science and technology innovation ecosystems in Colorado and surrounding areas. He brings several decades in public sector leadership, management consulting, non-profit management, and venture capital to his role at the CO-WY Engine.
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