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The brightly painted fish and dolphins on the walls, and the toys littering the corners suggest this office is a place for kids, even though it's located in the basement of the Muenzinger Psychology building on campus at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In fact, the room is decorated with kids in mind, according to CU-Boulder Associate Professor Yuko Munakata of the psychology department. But it's not a faculty day care center or a playroom, it's Munakata's cognitive research center.

Following are statements from University of Colorado at Boulder Chancellor Richard L. Byyny and Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Equity Ofelia Miramontes regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy in law school admissions and ruled that the University of Michigan's point system, which considers race as a factor in undergraduate admissions, is unconstitutional.

Earthworks, a professional development workshop for secondary school science teachers sponsored by CU-Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, will run through June 27. "The goal of our program is to help middle and high school teachers design Earth science curriculum for their students," says Genny Healy, CIRES' Earthworks coordinator. "Our philosophy is that people learn science by doing science. We teach scientific inquiry using a hands-on approach and help teachers find new strategies for bringing science into the classroom."

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY June 20, 2003 Representatives of the Boulder County Health Department will test a mass immunization plan in a simulated exercise at the University of Colorado at Boulder today at 11 a.m. The test of a simulated mass immunization of 8,000 students and several hundred CU-Boulder staff members will be at the Coors Events/Conference Center on campus.

NEWS TIP SHEET Key campus administrators, faculty, staff and students at the University of Colorado at Boulder are available for comment regarding the forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action in the University of Michigan cases. Responses to the Supreme Court's decisions by CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard L. Byyny and Ofelia Miramontes, associate vice chancellor for diversity and equity, will be available soon after the decisions are announced.

The mechanical engineering department at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded a five-year, $900,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a new program where graduate students will research and design devices for improved treatment of heart disease.

Surging student interest in energy issues has sparked the creation of a unique new environmental studies graduate curriculum set to begin this fall at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The energy specialization within the environmental studies master's degree program will include core courses and electives in classes such as "Solar Technology," "Environmental Economics" and "Renewable Energy Policy."

The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder has received a $960,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to continue the program through 2007. The McNair Program prepares selected CU-Boulder undergraduates to study at the doctoral level. It is a federally funded program primarily designed to prepare low-income, first-generation college students to pursue a Ph.D. Colorado Congressman Mark Udall's office recently notified McNair Director Ramona Beal of the welcome news.

University of Colorado at Boulder student artists are hoping their class project, a work comprised of miscellaneous trash collected from students' favorite Boulder walkways, will send a message to those inclined to litter. "We hope that others might be made aware of the trash people have thrown away in Boulder along some beautiful places to walk," said Professor George Rivera, instructor of CU-Boulder's "Art and Contemporary Society" Maymester course.

The National Science Foundation has granted $1.5 million to a team of CU-Boulder scientists and graduate students who are working with the Boulder Valley School district on a program designed to improve science, math and literacy in area schools.