C3 Lab - Community-Centered Computing Lab

The official website for the C3 Lab (Community-Centered Computing Lab) at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

About the C3 Lab

The C3 Lab is a research lab in the Department of Computer Sciences at MSU Denver, co-directed by Dr. Daniel Pittman and Dr. Ranjidha Rajan. We design and build technologies that support communities through accessible data systems, applied AI, and user-centered computing.

Current Projects

• Colorado Sustainability Hub - A statewide sustainability-data platform integrating AI, geospatial systems, and natural language interaction. Features Bili, an AI-powered sustainability assistant. (NSF Award #2318730 + NAIRR Pilot)
• RILE Connect - A statewide STEM mentorship and opportunity-matching platform connecting K-12 schools, higher education, nonprofits, and industry partners (SIPA GovGrants)
• Roadrunner Connect - MSU Denver's all-in-one mobile and web platform for campus event discovery and engagement, built by students for the community
• Peer Support Hub - A unified platform for coordinating SI, TA, and LA peer support programs at MSU Denver (MSU Denver)

Website

Visit the live site at: msu-denver.github.io/c3-lab

Site Features

• Responsive design optimized for mobile and desktop
• WCAG AA accessible (skip links, focus states, color contrast)
• SEO optimized with sitemap.xml and meta tags
• MSU Denver branded with official colors

Development

This site is built with Jekyll and hosted on GitHub Pages.

Local Development

# Install dependencies
bundle install

# Run local server
./serve.sh

The site will be available at http://localhost:4000/c3-lab/

Prerequisites

• Ruby 2.7+
• Bundler (gem install bundler)

Project Structure

c3-lab/
├── _config.yml         # Jekyll configuration
├── _layouts/           # Page templates
├── _includes/          # Reusable components (header, footer)
├── _projects/          # Project collection pages
├── _posts/             # News/updates
├── assets/
│   ├── css/style.css   # Main stylesheet
│   └── images/         # Images and icons
├── index.html          # Homepage
├── about.md            # About page
├── team.md             # Team page
└── projects/           # Projects index

Contributing

This repository is maintained by the C3 Lab team. For questions about contributing, please contact the lab directors.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 C3 Lab, Metropolitan State University of Denver. All rights reserved.

Contact

Lab Directors:

• Dr. Daniel Pittman - dpittma8@msudenver.edu
• Dr. Ranjidha Rajan - rranjidh@msudenver.edu

Department of Computer Sciences: msudenver.edu/computer-sciences

Interested in joining? Express Interest Form