Student wins scholarship

A UA student has been awarded one of two UA Cares Graduate Scholarships for 2005. Amanda Plourde, a civil engineering graduate student, received a $6,000 scholarship from UA Cares for her public service work.

Plourde served two years in the Peace Corps in Ghana, is president of UA’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders and is a Peace Corps Fellow.

Last spring semester, Plourde’s internship involved helping the Tohono O’odham American Indian tribe explore green building options for a senior citizens’ complex. She researched straw-bale, rammed-earth, cast-earth and adobe building technologies. She also explored building orientation and solar power as additional components of “green” building design.

Feud about Pluto and a 10th planet topic of lecture today

The discovery of a distant body, larger than Pluto and possessing moons will be the topic of debate today at the Steward Observatory.

The lecture, titled “Controversy Surrounding Pluto and the 10th Planet,” will begin at 7 p.m. tonight in the Steward Observatory Room N210.

Some astronomers have been calling for the demotion of the planet Pluto to be recategorized and numbered as an asteroid — despite the fact that it has a gravitationally determined shape, an atmosphere and one, or possibly three, moons, the combination of which would make it unique among asteroids.

Steward Observatory has been hosting public evening lectures in astronomy since 1924.

After the lecture, a 21-inch telescope will be open for public viewing, weather permitting. The lecture and the use of the telescope are free of charge and open to the general public.