°µÍø½ûÇø

University of Colorado at Boulder student artists are hoping their class project, a work comprised of miscellaneous trash collected from students' favorite Boulder walkways, will send a message to those inclined to litter. "We hope that others might be made aware of the trash people have thrown away in Boulder along some beautiful places to walk," said Professor George Rivera, instructor of CU-Boulder's "Art and Contemporary Society" Maymester course.

The National Science Foundation has granted $1.5 million to a team of CU-Boulder scientists and graduate students who are working with the Boulder Valley School district on a program designed to improve science, math and literacy in area schools.

Some of the University of Colorado at Boulder's engineering outreach programs will be leaving campus this summer to provide better access for K-12 students and teachers across the state. Presented by the acclaimed Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, the weeklong "Kids Invent Toys" workshop will be offered at Alicia Sanchez Elementary in Lafayette today through June 20, and then at the Western Colorado Math and Science Center in Grand Junction July 14-18.

Kids age four to 16 can still get in on the fun of the University of Colorado at Boulder's CU Science Discovery summer program of classes and wilderness camps. Space is still available in a number of the nearly 200 weeklong classes offered, including "Kids Chemistry," "Lego Structures," "High-Tech Expeditions," "Marble Madness," "Science Magic," "Physics for Fun," "Model Rockets," "Kid Pix," "Electronics for Girls," and many others.

University of Colorado at Boulder Chancellor Richard L. Byyny has announced details of campus budget reductions resulting from a $16.7 million shortfall in state support. With the latest round of budget cuts, the permanent funding base of state support for CU-Boulder has been reduced by about $30 million in the last 18 months, cutting state funding for the campus by nearly 29 percent. State funds now comprise less than 8 percent of the total Boulder campus budget.

Twenty undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder have received the prestigious Jacob Van Ek Award for outstanding academic achievement and contributions to the university and Boulder communities. The recipients were honored last month along with faculty members they named as mentors. The award was established in 1973 to honor Jacob Van Ek, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at CU-Boulder from 1929 to 1959. Van Ek died in 1994 at the age of 97.

Despite greatly increasing food production for humans, the growing use of nitrogen as a nutrient is affecting people's health far beyond just the benefits of growing more crops, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder-led study. Study leader Alan Townsend of CU-Boulder's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research said changes in the global nitrogen cycle, while beneficial in increasing crop growth, appear to pose a growing health risk. Roughly half of the inorganic nitrogen ever used on the planet has occurred in the past 15 years.

For teenagers who are skeptical of religious institutions, films and television shows featuring supernatural themes may offer deeper religious reflection than conventional churches, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder journalism professor. Lynn Schofield Clark's new book, "From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural" explores teen spirituality using evidence from more than 250 in-depth interviews with teens and their families. Clark is an assistant research professor at the CU-Boulder School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

High school and middle school students from the Denver Public School's Computer Magnet Program will be attending camp at CU-Boulder this summer. But instead of swimming, playing football or tossing a Frisbee, they'll be shooting their own video movies, making their own digital music and burning their own CDs and DVDs. DigitalCUrrents Summer Day Camp runs from Monday, June 9, through Friday, June 27, at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The Hubble Space Telescope's "greatest hits" will be highlighted at CU-Boulder's Fiske Planetarium on Friday, June 20, at 8 p.m. Rob Morris, an astronomy educator at the Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory at the University of Colorado at Boulder will present a live show on the "Hubble Space Telescope and Beyond." The audience will take part in a unique hands-on demonstration to learn how the Hubble works. The show also will include a look ahead to the next generation of space telescopes and their potential for the future.