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Alternative fuels, including ethanol and solar power, will be demonstrated and discussed and the physics of mass will be featured during two separate science outreach programs April 21 at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. The CU Wizards show "The Chemistry of Energy" is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. in the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry building, room 140. At 2 p.m., the Saturday Physics Series show -- the "Mystery of Mass" -- will meet in Duane Physics, room G1B30. Both programs are free and open to the public.

A satellite carrying two University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ instruments to study silvery-blue clouds that mysteriously form 50 miles above Earth's polar regions every year is slated to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 25.

An Emmy Award-winning documentary about University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ students who contributed to a NASA space mission to Pluto will be screened at an upcoming film festival in Turkey. Organizers of the annual Eskisehir International Film Festival at Anadolu University will screen "Destination: Pluto and Beyond," which was produced by three former CU-Â鶹ӰԺ journalism school students. Festival organizers also have invited a group of journalism scholars to the event, which will take place May 5-15 in one of Turkey's oldest cities.

An array of cultural performers - from belly dancers to mariachi musicians - and international booths offering gastronomic delicacies from around the globe will be among the featured attractions at the 15th annual International Festival at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. This year's festival, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, April 14, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the University Memorial Center, or UMC.

University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ chemistry and biochemistry department Professor Margaret Tolbert has been awarded the 2007 Hazel Barnes Prize, the highest faculty recognition for teaching and research given by the university. Tolbert was honored for her contributions to understanding the chemistry and climate of planetary atmospheres, including past and present Earth. She also was cited for her teaching and research efforts with undergraduates and graduate students, 15 of whom have won prestigious NASA and Environmental Protection Agency fellowships in recent years.

The West African Highlife Ensemble, the only academic group in the country to specialize in Ghana's unique musical genre, will perform this month in its annual concert at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. The seventh annual African Highlife Concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at Macky Auditorium.

Jeff Bzdelik has been named the 17th men's basketball head coach for the University of Colorado men's basketball program, Athletic Director Mike Bohn announced Wednesday morning during a press conference at the University Memorial Center on the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ campus. To hear the press conference in its entirety, visit the broadcast section of the News Center Web site at www.colorado.edu/news/broadcast/ to access an MP3 audio recording of the press conference.

The maximum extent of Arctic sea ice in winter 2007 was the second lowest on satellite record, narrowly missing the 2006 record, according to a team of University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ researchers.

A master's degree project by a University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ journalism student uncovered a morass of bureaucratic roadblocks faced by injured Iraq War soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center six months before similar stories broke in the national press. Kelly Kennedy, now an Army Times reporter, began compiling information for her master's thesis last summer, focusing on inadequate treatment and other health care issues faced by military service members hospitalized at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C.

Seven University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ graduate specialty programs were ranked in the top 25 nationally in the new but limited U.S. News & World Report annual graduate school rankings.