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The University of Colorado at Boulder is responding in a number of ways to today's shooting at Virginia Tech including offering students counseling services, and a variety of community outreach efforts in residence halls. In addition, the campus will issue reminders on safety precautions.

Conference on World Affairs participant and presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware spoke Friday at the University of Colorado at Boulder on the topic "America's Interest, Iraq's Future." Sen. Biden's talk from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. today in Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus focused on his plan to withdraw American troops from Iraq and to help stabilize the Iraqi government.

Conference on World Affairs participant Joseph Wilson spoke Thursday at the University of Colorado at Boulder on the topic "The Politics of Truth." Wilson's talk from 9:30-11:30 a.m. today in Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus focused on the controversy surrounding his wife, retired CIA Operative Valerie Plame-Wilson, who is at the center of a Justice Department investigation to determine who was involved in disclosing her identity to reporters in the spring of 2003.

Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory will celebrate National Astronomy Day on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus on Saturday, April 21, with an array of family-oriented activities from noon to 10 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will include demonstrations of the new Science on a Sphere exhibit at Fiske Planetarium and numerous educational activities focused on astronomy in the planetarium and observatory. The observatory's telescopes also will be available for public use after 8 p.m., weather permitting.

The University of Colorado at Boulder has received a $99,376 grant from the Daniels Fund to enhance K-12 student achievement in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM. The funds will be used to support three College of Engineering and Applied Science programs designed to move K-12 students in Colorado toward STEM success in higher education. Â鶹ÒùÔº with backgrounds typically underrepresented in engineering -- including girls, minority students, low-income youth and first-generation college-bound youngsters -- will be targeted.

The Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program of the University of Colorado Law School has received more than $750,000 from private and non-profit donors to help establish a new clinic and to fund research. Pam Samuelson and Robert Glushko of Berkeley, Calif., have donated $500,000 to establish a Technology Policy Law Clinic. The donation follows a $250,000 gift from the Dale Hatfield Research and Scholars Program to create a fund to support technology policy research, regulatory education and stipends for students to pursue public interest work in technology policy.

Conference on World Affairs Speaker Rachel Maddow spoke Wednesday morning at the University of Colorado at Boulder on the topic "Can America Take a Punch: Reactions and Overreactions to Terrorism." Maddow's talk from 9-10 a.m. today in Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus focused on America's ability to provide basic necessities in the face of natural or manmade disasters such as Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Alternative fuels, including ethanol and solar power, will be demonstrated and discussed and the physics of mass will be featured during two separate science outreach programs April 21 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The CU Wizards show "The Chemistry of Energy" is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. in the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry building, room 140. At 2 p.m., the Saturday Physics Series show -- the "Mystery of Mass" -- will meet in Duane Physics, room G1B30. Both programs are free and open to the public.

A satellite carrying two University of Colorado at Boulder instruments to study silvery-blue clouds that mysteriously form 50 miles above Earth's polar regions every year is slated to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 25.

An Emmy Award-winning documentary about University of Colorado at Boulder students who contributed to a NASA space mission to Pluto will be screened at an upcoming film festival in Turkey. Organizers of the annual Eskisehir International Film Festival at Anadolu University will screen "Destination: Pluto and Beyond," which was produced by three former CU-Boulder journalism school students. Festival organizers also have invited a group of journalism scholars to the event, which will take place May 5-15 in one of Turkey's oldest cities.