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A $6.8 million study at the University of Colorado at Boulder will examine three generations of families in an effort to determine the influence of genetics in problem alcohol use. The five-year study also will collect extensive information on environmental factors such as marital status, education and employment in an attempt to disentangle the influences of the environment and genetics on problem alcohol use.

Editors: Media are welcome to attend the balsa wood glider contest, boat-building and racing event, and other activities this Thursday, Feb. 8. Contact Carol Rowe, (303) 492-7426, for a detailed schedule of events. Up to 200 high school students from 20 schools throughout Colorado will apply their skills to building boats and flying gliders of their own design during the Colorado Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Spring Fling 2001 at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Feb. 8-9.

A collection of 36 posters celebrating women scientists will be the focus of a public reception at Fiske Planetarium on Thursday, Feb. 8, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The poster collection is the work of Pamela Davis Kivelson from the UCLA Science and Art Center, part of the university's physics department. "This reception is really a celebration of the strong presence of women in the sciences at CU-Boulder, as well as the arrival of this wonderful collection," said astrophysical and planetary sciences Professor Fran Bagenal.

Editors: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend this event, which is not open to the public. University of Colorado President Elizabeth Hoffman will address students enrolled in the CU-Boulder Minority Arts and Sciences Program at an awards ceremony on Feb. 9 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the British Studies Center in Norlin Library. The event is to recognize the community of 93 undergraduate students for collectively achieving a 3.2 grade-point average last semester.

The world's great leaders have many traits in common, including being inspirational, compassionate, ethical and courageous. But few were born leaders - they had to learn those skills. Â鶹ÒùÔº at the University of Colorado at Boulder interested in becoming effective leaders while working toward their chosen degrees can now do so through a new leadership program.

Recent discoveries about the universe and its evolution will be the topic of "The Big Bang," a live show at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Fiske Planetarium on Friday, Feb. 16, and Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. CU-Boulder Professor Andrew Hamilton will take the planetarium audience on a trip back in time to learn about the "big bang" and how the Milky Way and its stars were formed. The term big bang refers to the theory that the universe began at a single point in space and has been expanding ever since.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's journal of Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research has been ranked the No. 1 geography journal in the world for its impact and citation by the prestigious Institute of Scientific Information. The ranking is for the journal's 1999 publications, which are the latest rankings released by the Washington, D.C., based institute, according to CU-Boulder's Kathleen Salzberg, managing editor of the journal.

Teachers and students from elementary and middle schools along the Front Range will descend on the University of Colorado at Boulder Feb. 6 to become forensic scientists for a day. The 105 students and 21 teachers from 12 different schools will participate in a series of hands-on workshops at the Coors Events/Conference Center designed by CU's Science Explorers. "The purpose is to give teachers and students in fifth through eighth grades a day of hands-on science, and to hopefully make science fun for them," said Lannie Hagan, Science Explorers coordinator.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder announced the winners of its second annual Ally of the Year Awards, presented to campus activists and allies who advocate for the GLBT community. According to Beverly Tuel, director of the center, a second "Ally of the Year" award was presented this year because of the number of outstanding nominations.

NEWS TIP SHEET University of Colorado at Boulder alumna and NASA astronaut Marsha Ivins is slated to make her fifth journey into space on Feb. 7, when NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to blast off from Cape Kennedy, Fla. Set for launch at 8:11 a.m. MST, Atlantis and its six-person crew will attach the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, to the International Space Station. Destiny is the first lab to be delivered to the International Space Station and marks the beginning of the 2001 space science odyssey for the station and the Expedition One crew now on board.