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A panel discussion on the role of women in Afghanistan will be held on Sunday, Dec. 9, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Mathematics Building, room 100, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The keynote speaker will be Fruzan Parvanta, a native of Afghanistan. A representative of the CU-Boulder Muslim Students Association will moderate the panel. According to Ellen Maslow, coordinator of the event, Parvanta will report on a conference on Afghan women being held in Brussels later this week.

The Office of Victim's Assistance at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded a $350,000 grant from the Violence Against Women Act, an office of the Department of Justice. Nearly 100 universities applied for funding from a program designed to reduce violence against women on campus and only six new universities received awards. They join 38 other universities that will continue to receive support from the $11 million federal program.

Sherry Ortner, professor of anthropology at Columbia University will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Saturday, Dec. 8, on her recent work examining social categories in American high schools. Sponsored by the CU-Boulder anthropology department, the 2001 Distinguished Cultural Anthropologist Lecture will be held at 6 p.m. in room 270 of the Hale Science Building. The free public event will conclude with an opportunity for questions and commentary.

In 1911, Captain Robert Scott and his team embarked on an expedition across Antarctica; it wasn't long thereafter that each man perished in an icy death. Research into the expedition is the basis for a slide lecture presentation by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist Susan Solomon on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m. The talk is in CU-Boulder's Old Main Chapel.

Thirteen faculty members from the University of Colorado at Boulder have received Faculty Fellowships for academic year 2002-2003, according to Jerry Peterson, interim vice chancellor for research in the Graduate School. "We are pleased to provide the fellowships to faculty who have demonstrated clear research objectives, who have distinctive track records and whose research shows significant potential impact for their respective fields," Peterson said.

From robots battling to scoop up the most ping-pong balls to a variety of machines built from recycled materials, K-12 students interested in building things will enjoy the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory's Fall Design Expo on Saturday, Dec. 8.

TO CU's DENNIS SMALL CENTER Interactive Theatre will be back at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Tuesday, Dec. 4, to bring its unique brand of theatrical education to students, staff, faculty and local residents. The production, titled, "So, How Much Did You Get," will start at 6 p.m. in the Dennis Small Cultural Center in room 305 of the University Memorial Center on campus.

Scientists are unraveling the mystery of how lobsters "untangle" underwater odors in their search for prey, predators and mates, findings that may have applications for robots to someday follow chemical trails to locate explosives or dangerous chemicals underwater or on land.

A University of Colorado at Boulder experiment designed to gather precise data on the sun's ultraviolet output and the response of Earth's upper atmosphere to solar radiation is slated to be launched aboard a NASA spacecraft on Dec. 7. The Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Experiment, or SEE, is one of four instruments on NASA's Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics-Dynamics, or TIMED, spacecraft. TIMED is scheduled to be launched aboard a Delta vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for a planned two-year mission.

Two University of Colorado at Boulder professors have been nominated to receive the prestigious designation of distinguished professor, pending approval by the Board of Regents on Dec. 13. The nominees are Jane Menken, professor of sociology and director of the Institute of Behavioral Science, and Steven Maier, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Neuroscience. They would join only 18 other CU-Boulder faculty members who currently hold the title of distinguished professor.