Public research university in Boulder, CO that is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system.. CU Boulder has been called a Public Ivy, a group of publicly funded universities considered to provide a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.

CU Boulder is a member of the Association of American Universities, a selective group of major research universities in North America, and is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity. In 2021, the university attracted support of over $634 million for research and spent $536 million on research and development according to the National Science Foundation, ranking it 50th in the nation. In 2021, the university received over $634 million in sponsored research to fund programs like the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and JILA

The university consists of nine colleges and schools and offers over 150 academic programs, enrolling more than 35,000 students as of January 2022.

To date, 5 Nobel Prize laureates, 10 Pulitzer Prize winners, 11 MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipients, 1 Turing Award laureate, and 20 astronauts have been affiliated with CU Boulder as alumni, researchers, or faculty.