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Ice particles are key players in the ever-changing panorama at Saturn, according to a new study led by a University of Colorado at Boulder professor using an instrument on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft now at the ringed planet. Larry Esposito of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said data from the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer, or UVIS, indicates much of Saturn's system is filled with ice, as well as atoms derived from water. Esposito is the principal investigator for the $12.5 million UVIS instrument riding on the craft.

Note to Editors: Contents embargoed until Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 9 a.m. PST. A region between radiation belts surrounding the Earth was filled with concentrated radiation during the ferocious "Halloween" solar storms of October and November 2003. The radiation surge was the most intense ever observed in this region, called the "Van Allen Radiation Belt Slot."

University of Colorado Professor Michael Lightner has been elected to lead the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest technical professional society with more than 360,000 members in 150 countries. Lightner is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will begin offering a new professional development course through its Division of Continuing Education in February called Six Sigma Black Belt, which has been used by Motorola, General Electric, Honeywell, Ford and other companies to minimize the cost of poor quality.

Six University of Colorado at Boulder professors will receive Big 12 Faculty Fellowships in 2004-05 to conduct research in music to virtual reality, Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor Christine Yoshinaga-Itano announced. Each institution in the Big 12 conference has established faculty fellowships of up to $2,500. The recipients spend one or two weeks in residence at another Big 12 institution to do research or creative work and are selected each fall by the Office of Diversity and Equity.

Editor's Note: Bilham will take part in a 1 p.m. panel discussion Tuesday, Dec. 14, in the press office at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Hundreds of thousands of earthquake fatalities could be averted if building contractors and homeowners were alerted to elementary construction principles, especially in the world's six deadliest earthquake countries led by Iran, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's Office of Diversity and Equity has awarded 16 grants to support gender, ethnic and cultural diversity in scholarly work and teaching. This year's projects include the study of Inca ruins and national identity in Peru and campus workshops on primate conservation in Vietnam. The Implementation of Multicultural Perspectives and Approaches in Research and Teaching grants were announced by Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, vice provost and associate vice chancellor of diversity and equity.

Dr. Richard L. Byyny, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder since 1997, today announced that he has accepted a position as executive director of a new health policy center at the University of Colorado Hospital at Fitzsimons in Aurora, effective March 1. He will continue in his current post until an interim chancellor is named.

An estimated 9,000 people are expected to attend the winter commencement ceremony at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Dec. 17 and those planning to drive should arrive early. Commencement begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Coors Events/Conference Center. It is recommended that guests arrive well 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.

Editors: A photograph of a rock glacier at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research site west of Boulder, Colo., is available by calling (303) 492-3114. A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered evidence of microbial activity in a rock glacier high above tree line in the Rocky Mountains, a barren environment previously thought to be devoid of life.