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The murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is an outrage and unacceptable to our society. Shepard was beaten, pistol-whipped, tied to a fence and left to die by several young people because of his sexual orientation. Any student death brings sadness. A death caused by this particular kind of violence is appalling. As educators, we work diligently to promote acceptance between diverse groups. When violence and death occur because of hate against an individualÂ’s differences, it affects all of us.

On Halloween, the CU Wizards series will combine physics, chemistry and engineering to fascinate local children with a presentation titled "liquid crystals." Professors Noel Clark, David Walba and Joe Maclennan of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Chris Conery of Broomfield High School will teach children some of the basic concepts of liquid crystals using exciting experiments and lively visual displays. The presentation will be held Saturday, Oct. 31, at 9:30 a.m. in the Duane Physics building, room G-030, on the CU-Boulder campus.

A University of Colorado at Boulder professor is part of a science team working with a miniaturized, futuristic space probe capable of navigating its own way through space and powered by a solar-electric propulsion system.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Colorado at Boulder $3.1 million to support the Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center. The grant marks the joining of CU-Boulder to an elite group of 25 universities funded by NSFÂ’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program, which includes Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Princeton and Stanford. The funding is spread over four years and is renewable.

University of Colorado at Boulder students interested in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering are invited to apply to the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program in November. Interested CU-Boulder students need to obtain preliminary applications for the scholarship by contacting J.D. Meiss at 303-492-3731 by Nov.1. Students must submit their preliminary applications by Nov. 15.

The McNair Scholars Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder is still accepting applications for spring 1999 academic programs through Oct. 23. Designed to help students who are underrepresented in graduate education earn doctoral degrees, the program is named for Ronald McNair, an African-American astronaut killed in the 1986 Challenger shuttle explosion.

A rash of school shootings in rural and suburban areas has alarmed the nation but most schools are very safe, according to a nationally renowned expert in juvenile violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "It's much safer to be in a school than at home or in the streets in front of your home," said Delbert Elliott, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The school shootings shocked people because of where they occurred.

The times have changed for a CU-Boulder panel discussion on school safety being held in conjunction with the Oct. 15 White House Conference on School Safety. The White House conference will be downlinked from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. MDT via satellite to the Coors Events/Conference Center, room 4, followed by a local panel discussion. The event is free and open to the public. The White House panel will feature First Lady Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Attorney General Janel Reno and Education Secretary Richard Riley.

Jim Hansen, an All Big-Eight tackle and 1992-93 team captain at the University of Colorado who shunned a chance to play in the National Football League in favor of a Rhodes Scholarship, has received his doctorate from Oxford.

Most people know what to do when they open their front doors on Oct. 31st and find themselves confronted by a vampire, a mummy and a werewolf: they give them some candy. According to CU-Boulder Professor Michael Preston, the history of trick-or-treating is an interesting and varied one. And today, "There's much more adult humor. There is an awful lot of cross-dressing," said Preston, as opposed to past generations, when there was not as much emphasis on disguise. For example: