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Two University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have developed intriguing theories on the mysterious demise of the Chaco Canyon Pueblo people and the larger Chaco region that governed an area in the Southwest about the size of Ohio before it collapsed about 1125.

What often is described as abandonment of Southwestern village sites by ancient inhabitants is frequently inaccurate when the archaeological evidence is scrutinized, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder anthropologist.

Clusters of sunspots form their own weather patterns on the sun, according to new observations by a team of University of Colorado at Boulder researchers. Professor Juri Toomre of JILA said large complexes of magnetic sunspots cause downdrafts in their vicinity that are fed by winds flowing into the sun from the surface and dissipated by strong winds flowing out from deep below the sunspots.

"Environmental Responses to Anthropogenic Perturbations" is the topic of a day-long symposium to be offered by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder Friday, Feb. 21. Registration is required by Tuesday, Feb. 18, but the symposium is free and open to the public. All sessions will be presented by a CIRES fellow in the Old Main chapel. Sessions begin at 9 a.m. and extend until 5 p.m., each lasting 35 minutes. The day opens with a continental breakfast in Old Main at 8:30 a.m.

The CU Parents Association has awarded $40,000 in grants to programs designed to enhance the experience of undergraduates on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Preference was given to projects that met the association's goals of enriching student life, building community, promoting diversity, improving student safety, enhancing career counseling and improving communication with parents and students.

Editors: A complete Diversity Summit agenda can be found at http://www.Colorado.EDU/cu-diversity/ . The University of Colorado at Boulder's Eighth Annual Campus Diversity Summit, "Bias, Blame and Bigotry: Stressors on Diverse Communities," will be held Feb. 19-21.

The CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business has appointed Lisa Nelson as director of the school's awards programs. Her appointment was effective Jan. 23. As director, Nelson's responsibilities include the creation and facilitation of a national awards program to recognize corporations that engage in socially responsible and environmentally friendly business practices.

The many discoveries of the Galileo spacecraft in its journey through space and around Jupiter will be explored at CU-Boulder's Fiske Planetarium on Friday, Feb. 21, and Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal will present her live show "Galileo: Mission to Jupiter," as part of the planetarium's monthly astronomy talks. The live talks are given by CU-Boulder professors and guest lecturers.

The annual Off-Campus Housing Fair for students, staff and faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder will be held Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the University Memorial Center. The event allows participants to collect information on housing opportunities for next year from a variety of property management companies and landlords, according to Susan Stafford, director.

Kristi Anseth, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been selected to receive the Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the American Society of Engineering Education. The award, given to only one young engineering faculty member across the country each year, recognizes Anseth for her "outstanding and far-reaching work on exploring, designing and characterizing new generations of photopolymerized bio-materials for medical applications."