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Science Explorers, an outreach program affiliated with CU-Â鶹ӰԺ's Science Discovery Program, is offering a workshop Feb. 1 at the Colorado State Fairgrounds called "Water: From Ice Caps to Water Taps." The workshop is one of several being offered by the Science Discovery Program to help promote learning among teachers as well as students. Sponsored by the South Central Board of Cooperative Educational Services and the CU President's Office, the workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to students and teachers from Pueblo Area schools.

Applications for freshman admission to the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ for fall 2002 are running 15 percent above the same point last year, following two years of record increases. Almost 13,000 applications have been received to date, and the final total is expected to reach about 20,000. Less than one month remains before the Feb. 15 deadline. In considering applications for admission, full and equal consideration is given to completed applications with all required credentials that are postmarked by Feb. 15.

University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ space physicist Daniel Baker will give a talk on Monday, Jan. 28, about the mysteries of the tiny planet Mercury and his involvement in NASA's upcoming mission there. Baker, who is director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, or LASP, will speak from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the JILA auditorium, located on the lower level of the JILA tower in the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ Duane Physics building. The talk is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark and along Colorado Avenue, near Folsom Street.

The University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ has contracted with Earl McLaughlin, president of Â鶹ӰԺ Tomorrow, to work as a community relations consultant on a special project designed to study university/community dialogue on issues of mutual concern. McLaughlin will serve as an arm of the Community Advisory Committee on a six-month assignment. He is charged with helping the campus gather information about community concerns, issues and perceptions and assessing the flow of information to citizens about university activities.

CU-Â鶹ӰԺ students are invited to participate in an organ and tissue donor registry drive at the University Memorial Center Jan. 28-31. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about organ and tissue donation and test their knowledge in order to win a RIDE snowboard. Donor Alliance Inc., a federally designated organ procurement organization serving Colorado and Wyoming, will sponsor the organ and tissue donor registry drive, which is the first drive held at CU-Â鶹ӰԺ.

CU-Â鶹ӰԺ's Peer Mentor Program for International Students is a student-based volunteer group of more than 30 that helps new international students become more familiar with the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ campus. The idea of a "buddy program" for new students originated in 1995 and led to a grant from the Cooperative Grants Program of the Association of International Educators for the Peer Mentor Program for International Students.

A team of aerospace engineering sciences students at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ has been selected as one of six finalists in NASA's MarsPort Engineering Design Student Competition to design a deployable greenhouse that could help support astronauts on a long-term mission to Mars. Teams from Cornell University, Olin College of Engineering, St. Louis University, University of Central Florida and University of Florida also were selected as finalists from among 21 proposals.

Although international students attending college in the United States are expected to face greater difficulty securing student visas this year, applications from international students applying to the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ are up 18 percent as of early January.

Editors: Reporters and photographers are invited to attend JC Ancell's retirement party from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. today in the East Glenn Miller Ballroom of the University Memorial Center. A ceremony featuring several speakers will begin at 3:30 p.m. When asked what he plans to do with his retirement after 34 years at CU-Â鶹ӰԺ's University Memorial Center, JC Ancell said he's going to ride his Harley from coast to coast -- then do it again.

University of Washington water expert Dennis Lettenmaier will speak on Jan. 25 on the evolution of hydrological models for long-range stream flow forecasting and their potential for assessing climate change on western U. S. water resources. Free and open to the public, the 4 p.m. talk, "Implications of Hydrologic Variability and Change for Western Water Management," will be held in the auditorium of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. The CIRES auditorium is room 338 in the CIRES building on the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ campus.