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An estimated 9,000 people are expected to attend the winter commencement ceremony at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Dec. 21 and those planning to drive should arrive early to avoid traffic delays. Commencement begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Coors Events/Conference Center, and guests should plan to arrive before 9 a.m. Early arrival will give all guests time to be in their seats by 9:10 a.m. and will avoid delaying the ceremony.

Trevor Martin, who will graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder Dec. 21 in the winter commencement ceremony, will kick off the New Year working for MTV covering the 2008 election in Colorado. Martin, 23, who is graduating with bachelor's degrees in marketing from the Leeds School of Business and media studies from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will work as a citizen journalist for the popular television station.

A new book, co-edited by Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, blends stories, scientific reports, personal essays and even poems to illustrate the intrigue many people have with America's largest cat, the cougar. Called "Listening to Cougar," the book explores the mysterious nature of the animals more commonly referred to as mountain lions and the powerful effect they have on people, especially those who have had personal experiences with the elusive, wild animals.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will hold its winter commencement ceremony on Friday, Dec. 21, at 9:30 a.m. in the Coors Events/Conference Center on campus. The university ceremony is free and open to the public. Because of possible traffic delays, early arrival is strongly advised. Guests should plan to be seated by 9 a.m. People entering the events center also may be subject to search and are asked not to bring large purses or bags to the ceremony.

The Gill Foundation recently pledged a $20,000 matching grant to benefit gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Over the next year, the CU Foundation will raise funds to match the gift.

The University of Colorado at Boulder expects to begin construction of its planned $63.5 million Visual Arts Complex in late March with completion of the 170,000-square-foot building scheduled during the 2009-10 academic year. The new structure will replace the aging Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Building, which will be razed in late December after nearly a century as a campus landmark. Campus art experts believe the new complex will enable students and faculty to synthesize art, art history and high technology and establish a vital new hub for creative expression in Colorado.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will be one of three schools featured in an in-depth look at the 2007 Solar Decathlon competition by the Discovery Home Channel/Planet Green network. The one-hour program, called “Solar Showdown,” will air Monday, Dec. 17, at 6 p.m. MST and again at 9 p.m. MST on the Discovery Home Channel, a digital cable-only network. The show is expected to air three more times on Dec. 18 and is part of a preview of the new Planet Green network, which will replace Discovery Home in early 2008.

New observations by NASA's Cassini spacecraft indicate the rings of Saturn, once thought to have formed during the age of the dinosaurs, instead may have been created roughly 4.5 billion years ago when the solar system was still under construction.

While two new studies by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences predict wetter storms for the Arctic and for the Northern Hemisphere because of global warming, whether or not this means more net precipitation depends on the latitude.

The 2007 melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet broke the 2005 summer melt record by 10 percent, making it the largest ever recorded there since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder climate scientist.