Academics

To see the most up-to-date analysis, announced in an Oct. 4 news release, click here . A University of Colorado analysis of state-by-state factors leading to the Electoral College selection of every U.S. president since 1980 forecasts that the 2012 winner will be Mitt Romney.

A sounding rocket launching from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia Aug. 23 will be carrying two University of Colorado Boulder student-built payloads and a pair of other payloads developed by students from Virginia Tech, Baylor University and the University of Puerto Rico.

The University of Colorado Boulder will play a key role in a NASA mission launching this week to study how space weather affects Earth’s two giant radiation belts known to be hazardous to satellites, astronauts and electronics systems on Earth.

University of Adelaide news release In a major breakthrough, an international team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and University of Colorado Boulder has proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief. The team has discovered the key mechanism in the body’s immune system that amplifies addiction to opioid drugs. Laboratory studies involving rats have shown that the drug (+)-naloxone will selectively block the immune-addiction response.

Dozens of activities await new students at the University of Colorado Boulder starting Aug. 23, including a welcome convocation and a “Global Jam” international food and music fest. The free events give new students a chance to get acquainted with each other, the campus and surrounding community before classes start on Aug. 27. The activities are scheduled in addition to orientation sessions that cover the details of class registration, policies and student services at each college.

Volunteers from a variety of campus groups will be available to help new students move their belongings into residence halls at the University of Colorado Boulder Aug. 21 and Aug. 23 as New Student Move-In begins next week. New students will move in Aug. 21 through Aug. 23 with the majority of freshmen moving in on Aug. 23, according to Kambiz Khalili, executive director for Housing and Dining Services. The volunteer movers will be stationed near all campus residence halls to help students and their parents move belongings into the halls as quickly as possible.

CU Opera provided student vocalists for the lead roles in the Colorado Music Festival’s presentation of Hans Krasa’s “Brundibar," June 28-29.

Michael Radelet , professor of sociology, is an expert on the use of the death penalty in Colorado and the United States. He has documented all of Colorado’s executions and notes that Colorado abolished the penalty between 1897 and 1901, came within one vote of abolishing it again in 2009 and has executed only one person since 1967. “We've always debated the death penalty in Colorado, and the general thrust of our history is in the direction of abolition,” he said.

Kenneth Foote , professor of geography, studies how events of violence and tragedy are memorialized and remembered. He has visited hundreds of sites that have been scarred by incidents of violence or tragedy in the United States and abroad, and is the author of the book “Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy.” He can be reached at kfoote@colorado.edu or 303-641-3346.