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In the basement of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-BoulderÂ’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, a monstrous centrifuge sporting an 80,000-pound swinging arm and a box to tote hefty payloads whirls a miniature earthen dam at 200 miles per hour.

Rodney King, O.J. Simpson, Louise Woodward. The names represent not just people but criminal trials that critics claim spotlight the deficiencies of the American system of justice. During the trials, lawyers and legal experts assured Americans that these cases were not typical and that the U.S. trial system remains the best in the world. But according to ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder law professor and former federal prosecutor William T. Pizzi, these cases are typical and our legal system is not the best.

MEDIA ADVISORY M. Cherif Bassiouni, professor of law at DePaul University and Chairman of the United NationsÂ’ Commission of Experts investigating human rights violations during the Bosnian civil war, will deliver the 42nd annual John R. Coen Lecture in the Fleming Law Building on the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder campus. Bassiouni will be available to answer reporters' questions concerning suspected human rights violations in Kosovo on Thursday, April 8, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Fleming Law Building at ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder. Call 492-3084 to arrange an interview.

The physical affects of buildings, classrooms, signs and symbols on visitors and members of the campus community will be the topic of a forum at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder on April 20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in conference rooms 3 and 4 at the Recreation Center. Professor James Banning of CSU, who studies the relationships among people and the university environment, will give a slide presentation on the impact that these spaces, including graffiti, art, posters and access, may have on diverse groups and the spirit of multiculturalism.

Two ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula known as the Larsen B and Wilkins are in "full retreat" and have lost nearly 3,000 square kilometers of their total area in the last year, say scientists in ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ and the United Kingdom. Researchers at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at BoulderÂ’s National Snow and Ice Data Center and the British Antarctic Survey attribute the retreats to a regional warming trend. The trend has caused the annual melt season to increase by 12 days to a total of 20 days over the last 20 years, they said.

The University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at BoulderÂ’s department of applied mathematics has been awarded a major equipment grant from Sun Microsystems of Sunnyvale, Calif. Valued at about $120,000, the grant includes a large Sun Enterprise server and 15 high-performance graphic workstations. The grant supplements a $35,000 equipment grant from the National Science Foundation. ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-BoulderÂ’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School and the applied mathematics department provided matching funds.

Award-winning author and poet C.L. Rawlins will present a lecture titled "In Gravity National Park: Peaks and Depths of the New West," on Wednesday, April 21. The talk will be held at 7 p.m. in the Chautauqua Community House in Boulder. Rawlins will read selections from his newest book, "In Gravity National Park," which recently won the Mountain and Plains Bookseller's Award for poetry. His poetry is known for expressing praise of and respect for landscape and nature. A book signing will take place after the lecture.

The student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder School of Law will hold a two-day conference titled "Civil Rights for All: NOW!" at the Fleming Law Building beginning on Friday, April 16th. The first day will feature nine discussions and will open with a debate on the protection of hate speech featuring David Yun, a Denver attorney, and Kristen Mix from the ACLU, and will close with live music at the Fleming Law Building featuring "CommunistsÂ’ Party." The Friday proceedings will run from noon to 11 p.m.

The city of Grand Junction and the Chamber of Commerce have asked the Real Estate Center at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder to evaluate the cityÂ’s development process. Byron Koste, director of the center, will lead a panel of five experts who will work with Grand Junction-area developers, builders, business leaders and other constituencies that have expressed concern with the cityÂ’s growth plan.

Two students in the Applied Mathematics program at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder tied for first place in a national statistics competition that required them to build a statistical model for predicting whether one of 4,000 different mushrooms would be poisonous.