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A better understanding of solar storms and how best to protect astronauts from space radiation is needed as NASA pushes toward manned missions to the moon and Mars in the coming decades, according to a new National Research Council report.

As part of ongoing efforts to reduce its $25 million-a-year energy bill, the University of Colorado at Boulder is rewarding staff members who implement money-saving strategies in campus buildings. By following five specific program recommendations, winners of the Buff Energy Star Award for fiscal year 2005-2006 helped reduce energy use in three buildings by 5 percent compared to the prior 12 months, paring campus energy costs by more than $90,000. For their efforts, each will receive a one-time $1,000 bonus.

Four finalists for the position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications at the University of Colorado at Boulder are visiting the campus this week and next for interviews with campus officials. The four were selected from 130 applicants in a national search, said Paul Voakes, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication who heads the search committee.

Some of the best and brightest computer science students in the Rocky Mountain region will face off Saturday, Oct. 28, in an all-out "battle of the brains" contest of logic, strategy and mental endurance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest, sponsored by IBM, is the oldest, largest and most prestigious programming contest in the world, with more than 6,000 teams competing in 84 countries this fall.

The University of Colorado at Boulder aims to be a "No Flu Zone" and as part of that effort is offering flu and meningitis shots for students through Wardenburg Health Center's daylong clinics on Thursday, Oct. 26, and Friday, Oct. 27.

Resident advisers in University of Colorado at Boulder residence halls who are used to helping new students learn their way around campus this fall are dispensing advice about reaching for hand sanitizers and soaps in bathrooms, dining halls and other public places. Flu season is here, and with it the potential for germs to spread quickly among the 6,000 students who live in 21 residence halls on campus.

University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have discovered what appears to be the first evidence of parasites in the gut contents of a dinosaur, indicating even the giants that roamed Earth 75 million years ago were beset by stomach worms.

Departments across the University of Colorado at Boulder have been gearing up since last spring for the possibility of a pandemic flu outbreak in the event the H5N1, or avian influenza virus, makes its way to the United States and begins spreading from person-to-person.

American Indian advocates John Echohawk and Billy Frank Jr., who spent decades fighting for Indians' legal rights and fishing rights, will be honored by the University of Colorado at Boulder's Center of the American West on Nov. 2. The center will present Echohawk and Frank with its highest honor, the Wallace Stegner Award, at 7 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

University of Colorado at Boulder Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson has won the 2006 Colorado Book Award in the history and biography category for "Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations." Wilkinson was one of 12 authors honored Oct. 18 at the 15th annual Colorado Book Awards ceremony held in Denver and sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Book. "Blood Struggle" chronicles the dynamic rebirth of American Indian society and culture.