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Editors: "Making a Real Killing: Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West" is available from the University of New Mexico Press (1-800-249-7737), and will be in bookstores in October. For a review copy call Peter Moulson (505) 277-7553, or e-mail: peterm@unm.edu . For four decades the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, located 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver, was a key facility in the United States nuclear weapons race.

Director of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ-BoulderÂ’s Natural Resources Law Center Gary Bryner will explore the challenges Americans face in preserving national parks, wild lands and biodiversity for future generations as part of the Fall ChancellorÂ’s Community Lecture series on Wednesday, Oct. 6. Bryner is the former director of the Public Policy Program at Brigham Young University and also served as the Natural Resources Law CenterÂ’s El Paso Energy Corporation Law Fellow in 1997, studying issues of mineral development in federally protected areas.

Mark Twain — the humorist, river boat captain, newspaper reporter, logger and writer — spent several years trudging around the West, absorbing experiences that would one day surface in his famous stories and books. Those experiences will be one of the topics covered by Leland Krauth, associate professor of English at the University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder, during his talk "A Talent for Posturing: Mark Twain in the West," on Oct. 5 from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in room 235 of the University Memorial Center.

Joseph F. Becelia, a career member of the United States Foreign Service, has replaced Mary Ann Casey as Diplomat in Residence at the University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder, and will spend the next year lecturing, teaching and reaching out to the public about foreign policy. The U.S. Department of State has placed Becelia -- one of only eight nationally dispersed Diplomats in Residence -- at Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ-Boulder for the 1999-2000 school year to work with students and others interested in foreign affairs.

Recipients of the 1999 BFGoodrich Collegiate Inventors of the Year award and the 1999 Marshall Sherfield Fellowship included two students from the University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder. Chemical engineering major Andrew Neice received the prestigious BFGoodrich award for his "porous membrane" invention during his freshman and sophomore years with Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ-Boulder's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program.

Two University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder professors have been awarded a $200,000 grant to implement a redesigned, two-semester course in introductory astronomy. The Center for Academic Transformation at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute — in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trust and Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ-BoulderÂ’s Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society, or ATLAS — has awarded the grant as part of its Pew Grant Program in Course Resdesign.

More than 4,000 parents and families of University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder students are expected to converge on campus for the annual Fall Parents Weekend Oct. 8-10. The event draws parents from across Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ, from nearly every state and several foreign countries. "The weekend is an opportunity for parents to learn more about the university, visit with their student and see the Boulder campus in beautiful fall colors," said Terry Hilkemeier, chair of the event and a member of the Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ-Boulder Parents Association Board of Directors.

To some people, stars are just lights in the sky. To others, they form wonderful shapes, images, and even constellations and calendars. University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Astronomy professor Catharine Garmany, who will be presenting the Fiske PlanetariumÂ’s live astronomy show "Constellations and Calendars" on Oct. 1 and Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m., falls into the latter category. "People just want to understand the sky," Garmany said. "And as an astronomer, I want to help them see whatÂ’s up there."

EDITORS: A complete schedule of events is attached. "Celebrating Our Community" is the theme of October's LesBiGayTrans Awareness month activities sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at the University of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ at Boulder. A variety of activities are scheduled throughout the month, including panel discussions on gender identity, the portrayal of gays on television, bias motivated incidents and politics.

A research campaign in the Indian Ocean indicates there are ocean-atmosphere interactions similar to El Niño events in the Pacific, but are not always tied to El Niño as previously had been believed by climate researchers.