Academics

The Big 12 announced it has reached agreement with the University of Colorado regarding its withdrawal from the Conference effective June 30, 2011, subject to final approval from the other 10 school's governing boards.

Dark-colored dust that settles on snow in the Upper Colorado River Basin makes the snow melt early and robs the Colorado River of about 5 percent of its water each year, says a new study co-authored by researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder-based Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's fall 2010 census figures show an enrollment of 29,952 degree- and licensure-seeking students, a total enrollment within 1 percent of last year, with increases in graduate, international and students of color enrollment.

The University of Colorado Board of Regents today awarded three professors the university's highest faculty honor, designation as Distinguished Professor.

Professor Thomas Veblen of the geography department can address the ecological effects of wildfires in Colorado; climate change and wildfires; fires and bark beetles; and wildfires. He can be reached at 303-492-8528 or Thomas.Veblen@colorado.edu . E-mail is the best way contact him. Jane Bock, retired professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, can address western wildfire ecology. She can be reached at 970-593-0343 or 303-579-9739, or by e-mail at Jane.Bock@colorado.edu .

Student Involvement Week will highlight myriad opportunities for University of Colorado at Boulder students to be involved with their campus and the greater Boulder community beginning Sept. 7.

Observations made with NASA's newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope of a nearby supernova are allowing astronomers to measure the velocity and composition of "star guts" being ejected into space following the explosion, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates, who have been helping to control five NASA satellites from campus, participated in the unusual decommissioning of a functioning satellite with a failed science payload in recent days, bringing the craft into Earth re-entry to burn up yesterday.

Large changes in the sun's energy output may drive unexpectedly dramatic fluctuations in Earth's outer atmosphere, new research indicates. A study published today links a recent, temporary shrinking of a high atmospheric layer with a sharp drop in the sun's ultraviolet radiation levels.

The University of Colorado at Boulder today announced the formation of an exploratory committee to consider the structure and organization of a new interdisciplinary academic program of information and communication technology.