Academics

On Sunday, May 20, Coloradans will see a “bite” taken out of the sun as the moon moves across the sun causing a partial solar eclipse. The eclipse starts at 6:22 p.m. with maximum eclipse at 7:30 p.m. and the sun will set at 7:50 p.m. Watch live this Sunday:

An $8.3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund an international team of scientists, including a University of Colorado Boulder professor focused on finding new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent a critical global health problem: malnutrition in infants and children.

Just prior to entering the University of Michigan Law School, Wendy Chi taught in a Bay area under-resourced school. That experience motivated her to plan a career combining education and law, and brought her to CU-Boulder.

University of Colorado Boulder twin sophomores Srinidhi Radhakrishnan and Saikripa Radhakrishnan -- both chemical and biological engineering majors -- have been awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarships. The scholarships are worth up to $7,500 for educational expenses each year and are given to students who intend to pursue careers in the fields of math, science or engineering.

Nine students who make up the first graduating class of the Mechanical Engineering Partnership Program with Colorado Mesa University will receive degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder this week. The students have attended classes full time at CMU in Grand Junction, with CMU faculty teaching the lower-division courses and CU-Boulder faculty teaching the upper-division courses.

University of Colorado Boulder Professor John Wahr of the physics department has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a top honor recognizing scientists and engineers for their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Boroka Bo, a 31-year-old senior sociology major, is graduating May 11 from the University of Colorado Boulder, 17 years after emigrating from the Transylvania region of Romania to the United States as a political refugee. This spring, Bo received a prestigious Soros Fellowship, a program that awards 30 fellowships annually to naturalized citizens, green card holders or children of naturalized citizens. It provides up to $90,000 in support to students who plan to use their graduate education to contribute back to their communities.

University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today named Steven Leigh as dean of CU-Boulder’s College of Arts and Sciences. Leigh currently serves as an associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The appointment is effective July 1.

Two University of Colorado Boulder undergraduate student teams have been named among the 10 top winners from a field of 3,697 teams that entered the international Mathematical Contest in Modeling. Results of the 2012 contest were announced this month by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications. The contest took place at the students’ home institutions Feb. 9-13.

Student-built devices ranging from innovative new products to adaptive technology for people with disabilities will be among more than 60 student inventions showcased at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Engineering Design Expo on Saturday, April 28. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory on Regent Drive south of Colorado Avenue. Projects will be exhibited both indoors and outdoors on the Herbst Plaza.