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FLC partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory to promote Indigenous women in physicsTwo students selected for an internship with nuclear and particle physicists

Los Alamos National Laboratory has partnered with Fort Lewis College to provide an internship program for undergraduate Indigenous women interested in a career in physics.“Indigenous women are the most underrepresented group in physics degree completion and careers, and we’re in a region where the demographics are heavily Native American,” said co-principal investigator Astrid Morreale, physicist with the Nuclear and Particle Physics and Applications group at Los Alamos National Laboratory in a news release.The new program aims to build a pipeline of talent from the undergraduate level in the Four Corners to get them enrolled in graduate programs and eventual careers in physics, including at national laboratories such as Los Alamos.“It’s a bit of an incoherence, where we’re here doing high-level science and engineering, yet still underrepresented groups are either not coming to us or we’re not bringing them in,” Morreale said. “This program represents an effort to turn that around.”

Two FLC students were selected to be the first participants in the program:

Julie Nelson, an engineering and math major with an emphasis in physics, and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Ariello Platero, also an engineering and math major with an emphasis in physics, and a member of the Navajo Nation.

“This internship and the research I am privileged to participate in will be the first steps I take in pursuit of a career in physics,” Nelson said. “Obtaining the knowledge no longer seems out of reach because of this opportunity. I am thrilled to get hands-on experience at Los Alamos National Laboratory and explore the research side of academia while collaborating with scientists and mentors about the contributions of nuclear and particle physics that can benefit humanity.”The students will receive year-round mentoring from laboratory physicists while attending FLC. Included in the program is a 10-week internship in Los Alamos and a two-week visit to CERN, the European Council for Nuclear Research.“As a Navajo woman in the STEM field, I am very excited to work with the Los Alamos team, because it gives me an opportunity to contribute to and to help pave the way for new and exciting physics discoveries,” Platero said. “I am looking forward to continuing on this path to graduate school and to representing my tribe and showing the younger generation that we can do great things if we apply for these opportunities and put in the work.”Students in the program will also be able to participate in the American Indian Resource Group that promotes access to Native American resources and a sense of community and inclusion while learning about high-energy nuclear physics at the laboratory.Nelson and Platero will work alongside Morreale and co-principal investigator Cesar Luiz da Silva, staff scientist and fellow Nuclear and Particle Physics and Applications group member.While the program aims to help Indigenous women advance in physics, Morreale stresses that the laboratory and the field of physics have much to gain by bolstering participation from underrepresented groups.“We don’t see this program as the laboratory just helping students,” she said. “We need them. They would help us if they came here. We want to have different ideas and different points of view in our discipline. We’re trying to help our field by bringing in new talent and perspectives.”The program began on Nov. 15, and funding has been secured through the U.S. Department of Energy for the next two years.Nelson and Platero will conduct gluon saturation research, seeking to discover a new state of matter in which gluons are densely packed and give rise to properties not unlike ordinary glass. Gluons are fundamental particles that glue all visible matter together and can be studied with detectors being constructed at Los Alamos and then deployed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.njohnson@durangoherald.com

FLC partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory to promote Indigenous women in physics

Two students selected for an internship with nuclear and particle physicists

Photos: Mancos takes on Haxtun in Colorado’s 8-man championship gameBluejays lose to Haxtun in historic season

Photos: Mancos takes on Haxtun in Colorado’s 8-man championship game

Bluejays lose to Haxtun in historic season

Mancos beats Sanford in state semifinals

The Bluejays will face Haxtun for the state title in eight-man football

Polis releases budget proposal focused on crime, homelessness and business recoveryColorado governor unveiled $40 billion plan for 2022-23 fiscal year

Gov. Jared Polis wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars next fiscal year to ease the financial burden of government fees on businesses, reduce homelessness and combat rising crime.The Democrat, who is heading into the final year of his first term and preparing for reelection in 2022, unveiled the wish list Monday as part of his $40 billion budget proposal for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The plan incorporates state tax revenue and federal coronavirus relief dollars and calls for an 8.5% increase in discretionary spending by the Legislature, which will determine how much of Polis’ plan to pursue.Polis said the budget “doubles down” on his previous initiatives and is “our response to the call of the moment” as Colorado works to recover from the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.“These are proposals that Coloradans will see and feel in their everyday lives,” Polis said.

The governor’s proposal also calls for major investments in efforts in education and to combat climate change and pollution, including the hiring of 50 new staffers for Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division and spending $150 million to purchase electric school buses to replace their diesel-guzzling counterparts.

One of the largest line items in Polis’ plan is $600 million to address the state’s $1 billion unemployment insurance trust fund deficit. The $1 billion is owed to the federal government, and businesses will have to pay a surcharge to help cover the tab.Half of the $600 million will go toward buying down the debt while the rest will be distributed to lower the employer surcharge.Polis wants $100 million of the $600 million to come from federal coronavirus relief dollars the state received earlier this year. State lawmakers haven’t committed to that spending, though Republicans would like to see as much federal aid money go toward the deficit as possible.Another $50 million would be spent under Polis’ plan to prepay six months of fees businesses will owe to implement Colorado’s new paid family and medical leave program. Voters approved the program in 2020 through the passage of Proposition 118.“It would push (businesses’ payments) out closer to when the benefits kick in,” Polis said.There’s also a $51 million proposal to help businesses hire workers, including through job-training programs and apprenticeship programs. There would also be tens of millions of dollars set aside to increase child care options.The governor wants to spend $113 million on public safety. The dollars would go toward grants to reduce recidivism and boost forensic and investigative resources. Polis also wants to spread initiatives where behavioral health experts respond with police officers, which have been successful in Denver.The spending plan also includes $200 million to reduce homelessness, spread across drug and alcohol treatment investments, intervention strategies and community response efforts.“Homelessness has risen to the level of state priority,” Polis said. “We can no longer just say ‘Denver, you deal with it, it’s your fault. Colorado Springs you deal with it. Aurora you deal with it.’ I think it’s become an issue that affects all of us. ... We can either keep doing the same thing, which is not working, or we can say, ‘You know what, cities can’t do this alone. The state needs to step up.’”Crime and homelessness are two areas that Republicans are already attacking Polis on heading into the 2022 election. The issues haven’t been spending priorities for the governor in prior years.

One new proposed program the governor unveiled Monday would pay local transit agencies to offer free fares on high ozone pollution days. This year was the worst in recent decades when it comes to ozone pollution for the northern Front Range.“It can play a role in changing habits and support long-term increases in ridership,” Polis said of the proposed program.Polis also wants to spend $10 million for an environmental study for the potential buildout of a Front Range passenger train system and direct money to help drive down energy-use in cannabis cultivation.Finally, the governor’s budget proposal calls for setting aside $1.8 billion for future budget obligations, including for schools, transportation and affordable housing, as well as $2 billion as a reserve for future economic downturns.The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.

Polis releases budget proposal focused on crime, homelessness and business recovery

Colorado governor unveiled $40 billion plan for 2022-23 fiscal year

Southwest Colorado expected to receive moisture from ‘atmospheric river’ moving in from PacificWeather Service says rain needed with dryer-than-normal winter expected

A large amount of moisture from the Pacific Ocean, known as an “atmospheric river,” is headed for Southwest Colorado. “It’s basically this strong plume of moisture that comes off of the Pacific,” said Erin Walter, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction. “It’s like this continuous stream, almost like a jet but in the form of moisture.”Over the weekend, the atmospheric river dumped more than 5 inches of rain in the San Francisco area, Walter said. Most of the moisture from the storm system will be dropped in California over the Sierra Nevada’s and the Great Basin, with Southwest Colorado getting the last bit of that precipitation on Tuesday. “We aren’t going to see feet of snow like the Sierra Nevada’s, but we are going to see some precipitation,” Walter said. Southwest Colorado has been experiencing warm conditions, which will be a determining factor in how much precipitation falls in the region, Walter said. “We’re seeing snow amounts higher up Tuesday morning, and then as the system moves through, some colder air will move in behind it,” Walter said.

Towns along U.S. Highway 160 should expect around a quarter of an inch of rain Tuesday, with some areas potentially seeing higher, localized amounts of rainfall around half an inch. “I would expect at least a quarter of an inch for Durango, Cortez and Pagosa Springs,” Walter said. As for snow, Silverton is expected to get about an inch of powder in the city, with around 5 to 8 inches in higher elevations of the San Juan Mountains. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its winter outlook for temperature, precipitation and drought Thursday. NOAA said this will be the second La Niña year in a row. La Niña seasons are caused by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Tropical Pacific.

“The Southwest will certainly remain a region of concern as we anticipate below-normal precipitation where drought conditions continue in most areas,” said Jon Gottschalck, with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.Southwest Colorado is expected to have 40% to 50% higher temperatures than normal, 33% to 40% lower precipitation than normal, and drought conditions expected to worsen. “Any moisture is definitely welcomed,” Walter said. njohnson@durangoherald.com

Southwest Colorado expected to receive moisture from ‘atmospheric river’ moving in from Pacific

Weather Service says rain needed with dryer-than-normal winter expected