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Reporters planning to cover the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus Wednesday, May 22, through Saturday, May 25, should pick up press badges from the pressroom in the Coors Events/Conference Center, room 2. The pressroom will be open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will provide reporters with competition information and badges allowing reporters in closed events, including the Opening Ceremonies. Highlights of World Finals events follow:

The public is invited to see the competition among 700 student teams from around the world during the annual Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, Wednesday through Saturday at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Odyssey of the Mind is an international program that challenges students to come up with the most creative, original and imaginative ways to solve a selection of problems. The program's mission is to develop creative-thinking skills in students from kindergarten through college.

For the first time since the University of Colorado at Boulder's Old Main was restored in the 1980s, the United States flag once again will fly from the north tower, thanks to several individuals and campus committees that donated time and money to erect a new aluminum flag pole. Tomorrow (May 22) at 1 p.m., an ROTC color guard will raise the all-weather flag. Work crews secured the pole on top of old Main last weekend. Lights also were installed at the base of the pole to illuminate the flag around the clock.

Ancient, buried footpaths visible using satellite instruments but invisible on the ground to the human eye will be studied in Costa Rica this summer after a 20-year hiatus by University of Colorado at Boulder and NASA archaeologists.

The origin of light will be explained through a number of experiments, and will use lasers to drill through materials, during the Saturday, May 25, CU Wizards show titled "Lasers and Light." Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane, physics professors at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will present the show at 9:30 a.m. in Duane Physics, room G1B20. Murnane is one of five CU-Boulder faculty members who have received the MacArthur Fellowship or "genius grant."

The University of Colorado at Boulder has announced several immediate changes to its lawn irrigation program in an effort to support city of Boulder plans to reduce water consumption in light of recent drought conditions. The Boulder campus is implementing an irrigation water conservation plan that will reduce historical spring and summer irrigation consumption by a minimum of 25 percent to 50 percent, according to Jeff Lipton, executive director of Facilities Management.

Students at the University of Colorado have redesigned their zero-energy solar home -- Colorado's only entry in the national "Solar Decathlon" contest -- to make it more adaptable to a variety of building sites, construction budgets and homeowner needs. The team will present its new design to the public on Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to noon, in the Environmental Design Building, Room 134, on the CU-Boulder campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that occurred near Gilroy, Calif., on Monday was the fourth to have been correctly plotted on a forecast anomaly map developed by researchers at the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.

The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder has selected five journalists as Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism for 2002-2003.

The University of Colorado at Boulder is getting a boost from the Puksta Educational Foundation in its effort to educate students to be responsible citizens, according to Michael Grant, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education. The assistance comes in the form of a new scholarship program, called Puksta Scholars. The scholarships are open to a select number of students whose charge is to be catalysts for positive change in the campus culture and in local communities.