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Editors: A complete schedule of events follows the news release. The University of Colorado at Boulder will launch a novel Fast Hybrid Test facility for earthquake engineering Nov. 15 as part of a national effort to improve the engineering of buildings, bridges, transportation systems and other structures to withstand severe earthquakes.

Aspiring professional opera singers and concert soloists can now receive highly specialized post-master's degree training at the University of Colorado at Boulder's College of Music. The professional certificate in opera and solo voice performance, which officially began this fall at CU-Boulder, is one of only a few such programs in the country, according to the university's director of opera studies William Gustafson.

Two University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members have been elected fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for 2004. CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Richard McCray of JILA and Professor Veronica Vaida of the chemistry and biochemistry department were among 308 AAAS members worldwide that were awarded fellow status in 2004.

CU-Boulder's Wardenburg Health Center has provided information and consultation to students, faculty and staff since late this week when word of Professor Eric Cornell's hospitalization with a rare form of Group A streptococcal infection became known, said Wardenburg Director Robert Cranny.

Nobel laureate Eric Cornell, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and adjoint professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been hospitalized with a serious illness. According to a statement from the family, "Eric has been hospitalized with an infection caused by the bacteria that causes strep throat. This is a common bacteria, but the condition Eric now has - necrotizing fasciitis - is not common. Anyone close to him who develops cold symptoms and is concerned should see their doctor for a test for strep.

Editors: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend the Nov. 4 event. Colorado's oldest women's studies program will celebrate its 30th anniversary at the University of Colorado at Boulder Nov. 4 with a private reception including some of the program's original faculty members and students. CU President Elizabeth Hoffman will offer remarks at the reception, which will be held at the Koenig Alumni Center from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The event is not open to the public.

As winter approaches, its short dark days can cause some people to slip into a deep depression lasting anywhere from a couple of weeks to the entire winter. People suffering from this type of depression may have what's known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, a condition that develops from a combination of genetic vulnerability and inadequate light exposure, according to David Miklowitz, a University of Colorado at Boulder psychology professor. In Colorado, the peak period for SAD is November through March, he said.

Citing progress made in recent months by the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law on the adequacy of the school's physical facility, the American Bar Association has terminated its accreditation review. In 2003, the ABA found the law school building out of compliance with accreditation standards. Now that the school is proceeding to construct a new building, the ABA said its concerns are being addressed.

Paul Sereno, an internationally known paleontologist who has discovered dinosaurs on five continents, will give a public lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Monday, Nov. 8. His talk, "Dinosaurs on Drifting Continents," will be held in Macky Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Sereno's presentation is the 40th George Gamow Memorial Lecture, a prominent lecture series that brings renowned scientists to CU-Boulder to speak to general audiences of non-scientists. Sereno is a professor at the University of Chicago.

California's varied landscape, once attributed mostly to plate tectonics, is better explained as a chain reaction that began when the Sierra Nevada mountain range cropped up some three million to five million years ago, according to new findings by a team of geologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder.