7th AnnualUniversity of Colorado
Sleep and Circadian Summer School
Aug 2-8, 2026
Supported byNIH/NHLBI T32 “Transdisciplinary Training in Sleep and Circadian Rhythms”, NIH/NINDS R25 "Multi-Institutional Summer Undergraduate Research Program to Promote Sleep and Circadian Research Careers",College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice Chancellor for Research, andtheDepartment of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder
Organizing committee: Keenan Kushner PhD, Andrea Lugo, Grissy Sime Mora, Gabriel Nah PhD, Maeve Sheehey, Prof. Ken Wright
The 7thAnnual Colorado Sleep and Circadian Summer School will be hybrid. Approximately 50 trainees will be selected to attend the summer school in person and have access to the full program. Some educational offerings will also be made available virtual.
The 7th Annual Colorado Sleep and Circadian Summer School is free (i.e., there is no registration fee). Trainees and/or their mentors are responsible for travel to and from Boulder as well as hotel and food.
The educational program will include morning lectures, afternoon workshops, networking sessions, and professional development sessions.
The educational program is provided by Colorado faculty and visiting faculty.
In Person Visiting Professors
- Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD - Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Jimmy Dooley, PhD - Purdue University
- Claudia Moreno, PhD - University of Sao Paulo
- Hao Duong, PhD - Morehouse School of Medicine
- Jason DeBruyne, PhD - Morehouse School of Medicine
Including educational and professional development sessions provided by some of the faculty from the Colorado T32 program
Summer School Program
All times are Mountain (MDT, UTC/GMT - 6 hours)
Sessions with a * will be provided in hybrid format via webinar
Sunday 2rd Aug – Registration and welcome – University of Colorado Boulder
Welcome evening for students and faculty |
| 1800 – 1930 | Registration for students, welcome and networking session University of Colorado Boulder Campus 111 |
Monday 3rdAug – University of Colorado Boulder
| Morning session | Introductory lectures University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
0845–0900 0900–1015 | *Ken Wright, PhD- Introduction to the summer school Plenary Claudia MorenoPhD– Chronobiology and Work |
| 1015–1045 | Coffee break |
1045–1200 | Plenary Jimmy Dooley PhD- Sleep and development - how REM and NREM sleep change and evolve across early development |
| 1200–1230 | Data blitz session 1 |
| 1230–1345 | Lunch |
| Afternoon session | University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
| 1345–1500 | Plenary Hao Anh Duong PhD - Circadian gene expression |
| 1500–1530 | Coffee break |
| 1530–1630 | KenWrightPhD–Recommendations for healthy light exposure |
| 1615–1745 | Poster session 1 (In person only) – University of Colorado Boulder Campus 111 |
Tuesday 5th Aug – University of Colorado Boulder
| Morning session | Lectures -University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
| 0900-1015 | Plenary Jason DeBrune PhD – Sleep homeostasis and circadian behavior in Angelman Syndrome: From humans to mice |
| 1015-1045 | Coffee break |
| 1045-1200 | Josie Broussard PhD - Tissue-specific insulin signaling |
| 1200-1230 | Data blitz session 2 |
| 1230-1345 | Lunch |
| Afternoon session | Afternoon workshops (in person only) University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
1345 – 1445 | Grant writing– Writing a compelling Aims Page: Starting with Why Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Josie Broussard PhD |
| 1445 – 1515 | Coffee break |
| 1515-1630 | Lab and People Management - Radical Candor and Strengths-Based Management Josie Broussard PhD, Claudia MorenoPhD, Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Jason DeBrune PhD |
| 1645–1815 | Poster session 2 (In person only) – University of Colorado Boulder Campus 111 |
Wednesday 6th Aug
| Morning session | Lectures University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
| 08450-1000 | Plenary Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD - Bi-directional relations between diet and sleep |
| 1000-1030 | Coffee break |
| 1030-1145 | Charles Hoeffer PhD - Developing machine learning approaches to scoring sleep in mouse models |
| 1145-1300 | Stacey Simon PhD - Behavioral interventions for youth sleep problems |
| Afternoon session | Free afternoon - Hike/other activities |
Thursday Aug 7th
| Morning session | Lectures University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
| 0900-1015 | Rachel Rowe PhD- Thermoregulation and sleep - immune interactions |
| 1015-1045 | Coffee break |
| 1045-1200 | Oscar Gonzalez PhD- Computational modeling in sleep research |
| 1200-1330 | Lunch |
| Afternoon session | Afternoon workshops (In person only) University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
1330-1445 1445-1515 | Rigorous research methods: - Measuring dietary intakes and metabolism
- Collecting data in rural communities
Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD, Claudia Moreno, PhD, Ken Wright PhD |
| Coffee break |
| 1515-1615 | TBD |
1615-1730 | Careers in sleep and circadian science Tina Burke, PhD Rachel Markwald, PhD Cyrus Martin, PhD Michael Twery, PhD Mark Rosekind, PhD Safety, sleep/fatigue, and policy leader; Prior Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, 15th Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,Distinguished Policy Scholar Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Chief Safety Innovation Officer at Zoox.
|
Friday Aug 8th
| Morning session | Lecture University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
| 0845-1000 | Renske Lok PhD - Big data analytics, and the do's and don'ts |
| 1000-1030 | Coffee break |
| 1030-1145 | Workshop Future opportunities in Sleep and Circadian Science Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD, Claudia MorenoPhD, Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Jason DeBrune PhD,RachelRowePhD,andKen Wright PhD |
| 1145-1300 | Lunch |
| Afternoon session | University of Colorado Boulder Campus 100 |
1300-1715 | *R25 Sleep and Circadian Scholar Presentations |
- Akanksha Mathivanan
- Yireh Cho
- Emelyn Cook
- Matthew Kim
- Christian Morgan
- Benjamin Broadway
- Isabel Rivera-Correa
- Jaina Gandhi
- Emily Eager
- A-ٲԾ
- Max Boyington
- Skyler Barton
- Andreq Wong
- Jacob Esneault
|
| 1715 | Closing remarks and poster prizes |
Application for the in-person summer school is open and trainees will be admitted on a rolling basis. Please send a request for application to kenneth.wright@colorado.edu
for the virtual (WEBINAR portions) summer school is now open.
