CU News
News from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
CU-BOULDER NAMES MOE TABRIZI ITS FIRST DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY
Dec 22nd
The University of Colorado at Boulder today announced another major step toward greening its campus by naming Moe Tabrizi director of campus sustainability. The appointment was effective Dec. 2, 2010.
Currently CU-Boulder’s energy conservation officer, Tabrizi will continue to work in collaboration with the CU Environmental Center, Housing and Dining Services and CU Student Government to further CU’s many campus sustainability initiatives.
“As a university, we’ve already made large strides in achieving goals in sustainability,” said Frank Bruno, vice chancellor for administration. “In order to get beyond what we’ve already achieved, there will be a need for greater collaboration and innovative ideas. Elevating Moe’s current position will help to facilitate and coordinate these efforts.”
As CU-Boulder’s first sustainability director, Tabrizi is charged with the task of meeting the “Greening the Government” Governor’s Energy Orders, as well as campus initiatives that include:
–Reduce energy consumption by 20 percent by 2012
–Reduce water consumption by 10 percent by 2012
–Reduce petroleum use by 25 percent by 2012
–Reduce paper use by 20 percent by 2012
–Utilize energy efficient and sustainable design standards on all new construction and applicable renovation projects. All such projects shall seek to meet or exceed LEED Gold Certification.
CU-Boulder recently was awarded the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, or STARS, Gold rating. The Gold rating is the first to be awarded to a college campus. With more than 230 colleges and universities registered with STARS, this rating accurately compares colleges and universities around the nation, and is a key measurement of CU’s national leadership on sustainability issues.
Tabrizi will spearhead CU’s combined efforts on a number of challenging long-term tasks, such as achieving carbon neutrality. He will serve as the campus’s chief sustainability coordinator and spokesperson on issues of sustainability. He will interface with key campus leaders, as well as with officials from state and local government and from other universities, to ensure that CU-Boulder maintains its national leadership position on sustainability issues.
“I am honored by this appointment,” said Tabrizi. “I look forward to working with valued campus partners – including our amazing student leadership at the Environmental Center – and to making new progress on a bold sustainability agenda.”
In addition to moving the campus forward on many goals and initiatives, he will continue in his role as the assistant director for engineering in the department of planning, design and construction.
For more information about CU-Boulder’s sustainability efforts visit Resource Conservation and http://ecenter.colorado.edu/index.php.
Live Shot of Lunar Eclipse CU to host Lunacy Party: Boulder Lunar eclipse tonight
Dec 21st
Live shot of Lunar ecipse
 (Courtesy Stuart Robbins) |
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium, in partnership with the Sommers-Bausch Observatory, will host a viewing party of the total lunar eclipse on Monday, Dec. 20, starting at 10 p.m.
Fiske Planetarium will offer a free talk about the moon by education programs manager Matt Benjamin beginning at 10:30 p.m. in the planetarium’s theater. Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Following the talk, attendees are invited to walk up the hill to nearby Sommers-Bausch Observatory to view the eclipse in its entirety, weather permitting. Telescopes will be available for public observation and attendees are encouraged to dress appropriately for outdoor star viewing.
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium, in partnership with the Sommers-Bausch Observatory, will host a viewing party of the total lunar eclipse on Monday, Dec. 20, starting at 10 p.m.
Fiske Planetarium will offer a free talk about the moon by education programs manager Matt Benjamin beginning at 10:30 p.m. in the planetarium’s theater. Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Following the talk, attendees are invited to walk up the hill to nearby Sommers-Bausch Observatory to view the eclipse in its entirety, weather permitting. Telescopes will be available for public observation and attendees are encouraged to dress appropriately for outdoor star viewing.
The eclipse viewing begins about 11:30 p.m. and will continue through 2 a.m. on Dec. 21. Staff from the planetarium, the observatory and related academic programs will be on hand to discuss the eclipse and answer questions. Cameras and lawn chairs are welcome.
This year’s event is a rare moment of celestial timing and alignment; in North America, the next lunar eclipse coinciding with the winter solstice will not occur until 2094.
For more information call Fiske Planetarium at 303-492-5002.
Contact
Matthew Benjamin, 303-492-4073
matthew.benjamin@colorado.edu
Erin Frazier, University Communications, 303-492-8384
erin.frazier@colorado.edu
source popsci
For the first time since 1638, a total lunar eclipse will be visible from North America on the longest night of the year. That night just happens to be tonight, starting at 11:32 AM, so all you moon-oglers will have to stay up awfully late (or wake up perversely early) to catch it.
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The eclipse, in which the Earth’s shadow completely blocks out the moon, will last for a particularly long time tonight–it will start at 11:32 PM (Boulder Time), with the total eclipse beginning at 12:41 AM. (West coasters can do the time zone math themselves, and watch the eclipse in shorts with their movie star neighbors on the beach, or whatever they do out there.)
The total eclipse will last for a whopping 72 minutes, until 1:53 AM, during which the moon will appear to change colors, most noticeably to bright orange-red. But do not be alarmed! The moon is not on fire, functioning as some kind of pagan punishment to celebrate the winter solstice. It’ll be changing colors due to the light filtering through Earth’s atmosphere and reflecting on the moon’s dull surface.
For their part, NASA will be hosting a live chat with Marshall Center astronomer Rob Suggs and researcher Mitzi Adams, and will also host a live feed, in case you live in a dungeon or something and can’t see the moon (in which case, you should really look into moving once your dungeon’s lease is up).
source sure start.
Viewers in Boulder will see the eclipse begin around 12:32 am EST. Totality will occur from 12:41 am to 1:53 am EST. During this phase the moon will show as a rusty orange-red color.
This event will mark the start of winter solstice 2010. The shortest day of the year has fallen previously on December 21 but never with the lunar eclipse. It has been centuries since the two events coincided.
The next time this will occur will be in 84 years. While not as long as this last wait, it will still be far beyond the lifetime of most who will witness it tonight.
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Christmas telescopes might end up being unwrapped a bit early, though, in anticipation of a more detailed view of the lunar surface. Light rays bending around and through the edges of the earth’s atmosphere are expected to bathe the moon in sunset like colors, ranging from yellows to oranges and even dark brick reds.
On the west coast of the US, the total eclipse will begin on December 20, at 11:41 pm (PT).
This lunar eclipse coincides with the winter solstice, which means the moon will appear high overhead, making it easy to watch if the weather is good. Astronomers say that, due to recent volcanic eruptions that have dumped tons of ash and dust into the atmosphere, this may be a much darker lunar eclipse than usual.
The total eclipse will be visible in Greenland, Iceland, North America, Central America and western portions of South America. Western Europe will see the early stages of the eclipse before the moon sets, and parts of Asia will get to see a partial eclipse when the moon rises.
CU-BOULDER PROFESSOR WALEED ABDALATI NAMED CHIEF SCIENTIST AT NASA
Dec 13th
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden has selected University of Colorado at Boulder faculty member Waleed Abdalati to serve as the agency’s chief scientist effective Jan. 3 for a two-year appointment.
Abdalati, 46, is an associate professor in CU-Boulder’s geography department and a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Abdalati, who directs the Earth Science Observation Center at CIRES, will oversee and advocate for NASA science.
Abdalati’s research focuses on understanding changes in Earth’s ice cover and what they mean for life on our planet. Abdalati and his CIRES colleagues use satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques along with field observations and modeling to learn about ice sheets and high-latitude glaciers, their vulnerability to climate change and their contributions to sea-level rise.
“It is an honor for a research institution such as CIRES to have one of our own chosen as an elite in a national science agency,” said CIRES Director Konrad Steffen. “It’s especially helpful now given that the White House has strengthened NASA’s focus on Earth science research.”
“I’m very happy here and I hope to return from Washington, D.C., in a position to serve my CU-Boulder colleagues and students even more effectively,” said Abdalati, who will retain his faculty appointment at CU-Boulder. “But this is an opportunity I want to take advantage of because I so strongly believe in the importance of what NASA does for the nation, society and the world.”
In his new position, Abdalati will serve as chief adviser to Bolden on matters relating to agency science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of NASA’s current science investments. Abdalati also will work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget.
The new position marks his return to NASA. During his first tenure at the space agency Abdalati served as the head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He also managed the Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He returned to CU-Boulder from NASA more than two years ago.
“We are excited to have Waleed return to the agency during such a critical transition period,” Bolden said. “His experience, wide range of scientific knowledge and familiarity with NASA will greatly benefit the agency. He will be a true advocate for our many and diverse science research and exploration programs.”
Abdalati will continue advising his graduate students, returning a few days a month to Boulder from the Washington, D.C., area, where he will move with his family. “The administrator has told me that my university ties are very important to him, and he has been very supportive of my desire to actively maintain them throughout the assignment,” he said
Abdalati received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University in 1986, a Master of Science in aerospace engineering sciences from CU-Boulder in 1991 and a doctorate in CU-Boulder’s geography department in 1996. During this period he spent four years in Steffen’s laboratory.
Abdalati has received numerous awards for his research and service to NASA, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and two NASA Group Achievement Awards.
“I will be representing all of the science in the agency, ensuring that it is aligned with and fulfills the administration’s science objectives, and advocating for NASA science in the context of those broader government science agendas,” he said.
