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Researchers at JILA, an internationally renowned research and teaching institute operated jointly by the University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø and the National Institute of Standards of Technology, have won federal funding expected to total $15 million over the next five years. The competitive National Science Foundation grant is the nation's largest in the field of atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics. It will be shared by 18 JILA faculty and will support more than 25 graduate students each year, said CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman of physics.

Avaya and University of Colorado Announce Joint Research for Natural Language Speech Recognition Technology AvayaÂ’s Grant will Drive New Communication Innovations within Enterprises and Educational Institutions

A group of 24 teachers from across the United States will wrap up a four-week institute funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities on "Perceiving the American West" on Friday, Aug. 3, at the University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø. The middle and high school teachers spent the past month learning about the American West through lectures, discussions and field trips. Several CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø professors were involved in the program.

Photo Editors: Walkers will enter Norlin Quadrangle at 5:30 p.m. to begin the closing ceremony with breast cancer survivors leading the way. The University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø Office of Community Affairs will host the closing ceremony for the Colorado leg of the "Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day," a national event to raise money for breast cancer research taking place in nine cities during summer 2001. An estimated 8,000 people, including 3,000 walkers, will be on campus Sunday, Aug. 5, at 5:30 p.m. for the closing ceremony in Norlin Quadrangle.

University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø alumnus H. Joe Smead has established an endowed chair in the department of aerospace engineering sciences in memory of A. Richard Seebass, the former aerospace professor, department chair and dean of engineering who died in December 2000.

The University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø will confer 1,076 degrees during the summer commencement ceremony Saturday, Aug. 11, at 8:30 a.m. The summer ceremony, which is much smaller than the spring and winter ceremonies, is the only one held outside on the lawn of the historic Norlin Quadrangle in the heart of the Â鶹¹ÙÍø campus. The ceremony will include the reading of all the graduates' names and will last about two hours. If it rains the ceremony will be held in an abbreviated form.

In a unique funding arrangement, CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø's Porter Biosciences Building soon will be equipped with an energy-efficient heat recovery system funded in part by a private donation from Â鶹¹ÙÍø residents Chuck and Patricia Palmer. The $300,000 system will be installed into the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of the laboratory building. Porter Biosciences is typically one of the largest energy users on campus because it continually exhausts 100 percent of its conditioned air from the building. Typical buildings exhaust only about 15-25 percent.

A total of 118 blankets and towels were collected during the University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø's community blanket and towel drive for the Â鶹¹ÙÍø Shelter for the Homeless and the Â鶹¹ÙÍø and Longmont Humane Societies. CU's Office of Community Affairs partnered with the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity to distribute blankets to the homeless shelter. Students joined with university coordinators to recycle the items as they moved out of the residence halls last spring, which led to a successful outcome of the drive, said Gail Siegel, community affairs director.

NEWS TIP SHEET CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Experts Available to Comment on July 25 CSAP Results Two testing experts from the CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø School of Education will be available to comment on the release of Colorado Student Assessment Program reading, writing, math and science test results for grades four to 10 on Wednesday, July 25. Lorrie Shepard, dean of the School of Education and professor of education, can be reached Wednesday afternoon at (303) 492-8108. Shepard is frequently cited as a national authority on standardized testing and assessment and kindergarten readiness.

The Perseid meteor shower, one of the best celestial treats of the year, will be visible in night skies throughout Colorado in early August. The natural fireworks will be most active Aug. 8-15, peaking Aug. 12 during the early morning hours between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. when more than 50 meteors per hour could be visible, according to experts at the Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø.