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A scheduled, sanctioned University of Colorado at Boulder Naval ROTC national competition set for Saturday, April 28, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. will involve the use of firearms, and university officials want to alert the public so that people will not be alarmed given the events on school campuses during the past two weeks.

University of Colorado at Boulder students, faculty, staff and visitors can now pay for campus parking at solar-powered stations that offer a variety of payment options, including a pay-by-phone feature designed for the digital generation. "Our goal is to increase convenience and reliability while providing our patrons with more payment options," said Casey Jones, director of CU-Boulder's parking and transportation department. "If this test is successful we hope to expand the new technology to other parts of campus."

Six University of Colorado at Boulder students will receive scholarships from a program aimed at grooming the next generation of leaders who have a high sense of civic duty, ethical standards and strong academic goals. This year's Puksta scholars are Ashley Tillman, Stephanie Rodriguez, Bryant Mason, Julie Hayes, Andra Wilkinson and Ruth Steinmetz. Each will receive a $4,500 scholarship for the 2007-08 academic year from the Puksta Scholars Program, which encourages students to get involved in positive ways in the local community, said program coordinator Peter Simons.

A new book by a University of Colorado at Boulder professor examines how the national media cover modern presidential elections amid increasing control over messages that get to the electorate, deep political divisions, public backlash over campaign mudslinging and the emergence of blogs and other "new media."

A variety of alternative energy systems and devices will be among the engineering student projects showcased at the University of Colorado at Boulder's ITL Spring Design Expo on Saturday, April 28. The event, which is free and open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., will include 75 projects, ranging from a "hybrid" speedboat that could operate on a hydrogen fuel cell to an educational playground exhibit about the generation of wind energy developed for a local elementary school.

Three journalists who have written about the war-torn Middle East - including a Wall Street Journal reporter who uncovered the poignant story of one Marine's heroism in Iraq - will share their experiences with University of Colorado at Boulder journalism students during a panel discussion this week. The event will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, in the Armory building, room 206A on the CU-Boulder campus.

An Aboriginal tribe's knowledge of the stars, and its culture, stories and music will be explored at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Fiske Planetarium on April 26-27 at 7:30 p.m. John Stocke, a CU-Boulder professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences, will be joined by Australian storyteller and educator Paul Taylor to present "Aboriginal Skies."

More than 170 eighth-graders from Boulder's Southern Hills Middle School will visit the University of Colorado at Boulder on Tuesday, April 24, for an excursion involving lab tours, talks, science games and a field trip along Boulder Creek. The students will be hosted by CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the National Snow and Ice Data Center on the university's East Campus. The students will be at CU-Boulder from about 9 a.m. to noon. The East Campus is located at 30th Street and Marine Street.

The televised launch of a NASA mission involving University of Colorado at Boulder faculty, staff and students to probe mysterious clouds, possibly tied to climate change, will be presented Wednesday, April 25, at 1:30 p.m. on the east campus. The program is being hosted by CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which built two of the three instruments for the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission, or AIM. LASP will control the NASA spacecraft from campus.

The southwestern United States has experienced a significant delay in its annual summer monsoon rains in recent decades due to warmer sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, according to a new study at the University of Colorado at Boulder.