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Three tiny unmanned airplanes equipped with sophisticated instruments are buzzing over the Arctic sea ice near Barrow, Alaska, providing University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ researchers with new atmospheric and environmental data.

Hundreds of students from throughout Colorado will converge on the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ campus to present a slew of unique projects, many a year in the making, during the 20th annual Colorado History Day. Â鶹ӰԺ 700 students in grades six through 12 will compete in the event on Saturday, April 28, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ campus. The students will present projects, all stemming from a historical theme chosen by the program's national coordinators. This year the theme is "Frontiers in History: People, Places and Ideas."

As environmental concerns have expanded from localized problems such as smog and toxic waste dumps to global issues such as climate change and species elimination, many view environmental challenges as an increasing threat to economic development. But where many see obstacles, Tom Dean sees opportunity.

A director of the venture capital firm that funded Yahoo!, E*Trade and GeoCities will speak on Tuesday, April 24, to a University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ College of Business class. Bradley Feld, a managing director of Softbank Venture Capital, will speak at 3:30 p.m. in room 100 of the Mathematics Building, located at the corner of Colorado Avenue and Folsom Street. The talk, which is part of the college's Profiles in American Enterprise class, is free and open to the public.

Under the umbrella of a newly designed writing program, all freshmen entering the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ will soon be required to enroll in a program in writing and rhetoric. While many CU-Â鶹ӰԺ freshmen are currently required to enroll in a writing class their first year, nearly 70 percent bypass it by scoring high enough on their SAT or ACT tests, according to College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Spear, who will oversee the new program.

The University of Colorado Student Union in collaboration with the fraternities and sororities of the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ are sponsoring "Farrand Field Fest 2001" to take place on Tuesday, April 17. The event is designed to recognize the student groupsÂ’ positive involvement in the local community as well as on the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ campus.

CU-Â鶹ӰԺ alumnus Yongyi Song, a librarian and researcher at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania who was arrested in China while conducting research on the Cultural Revolution, will speak about his work on April 20 from noon to 2 p.m. at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. The talk will be in the Center for British Studies in Norlin Library. Song's presentation will last about an hour and will be followed by a question-and-answer period and reception. The talk is free and open to the public.

A free forum on cancer awareness will be held at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ on Monday, April 16, in Benson Earth Sciences room 150 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Jigme Stormcrow, a breast cancer survivor, and David Raben of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center will headline a panel of cancer survivors and support personnel from CU-Â鶹ӰԺ's Wardenburg Wellness Center. The event is aimed at raising consciousness of cancer issues within the community and is open to the public.

Students in the College of Engineering and Applied Science will apply their design skills and engineering know-how for the sheer fun of it April 16-20 as they compete in the annual Egg Drop and Model Rocket Competition, two of the highlights of Engineering Days 2001 at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. Engineering Days, or "E-Days," is a weeklong, tongue-in-cheek celebration of the engineering profession organized by students each spring. Students throughout the Â鶹ӰԺ campus are invited to participate.

John Maclean, author of "Fire on the Mountain," will give a talk on "Storm King: The Fire and Its Legacy" on Tuesday, April 24, at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. Maclean, a veteran journalist for the Chicago Tribune, will speak at 7 p.m. in room G1B20 of the Duane Physics Building in an event co-sponsored by the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ Center of the American West and the Â鶹ӰԺ County Wildland Fire Cooperators.