The National Science Foundation has awarded over $999,000 to three Indiana University faculty members for a unique effort intended to shed light on how children best learn about complex systems and how new technologies can best serve that learning. The project will develop electronically enhanced puppets, or "e-puppets," that allow students to simulate biological phenomena such as honeybees collecting nectar or ants scavenging for food.

Award-winning microbiologist Margaret McFall-Ngai, an expert on host interactions with rare bacteria, on Wednesday will present the 2013 Joan Wood Lecture. The lecture is part of a series designed to provide a forum for undergraduates to interact with women in science-related careers.

The Indiana University Board of Trustees will hold a brief special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11, to delegate one or more persons to act as spokesman on behalf of the trustees in discussions with Indiana University Health. The meeting will convene at 3:45 p.m. in Room 500 of the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Civic engagement with a special focus on service learning is the theme of the second biennial Indianapolis Women's Philanthropy Conference on Friday, Nov. 8 in Indianapolis. Open to the public, the event offers a day of philanthropic exploration, education, and networking among leading nonprofit professionals and volunteers. The conference will take place at the Campus Center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie this week became the first IU president to visit Ghana, meeting with senior officials at the nation's oldest university, the University of Ghana, to explore ways to expand one of IU's most productive and successful international partnerships.

Eileen Julien, professor of French and comparative literature in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, has been appointed the new director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Julien, who joined the IU Bloomington faculty in 1992, has a distinguished career in research and writing that explores the connections between Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Indiana University Bloomington personnel representing various departments and offices across campus will participate, with 16 county, state and federal agencies, in a tabletop exercise Sept. 10 sponsored by the Monroe County Local Emergency Planning Committee. The exercise will focus on a train derailment adjacent to the IU Bloomington campus.

Indiana University will dedicate the prow of the World War II battleship USS Indiana in an invitation-only ceremony before IU takes on Navy at this weekend's football game. The university will also publicly celebrate the dedication in several ways, including a performance by The USO Show Troupe by the prow at Memorial Stadium's west entrance.

For the fourth year, the Hoosier to Hoosier Community Sale exceeded previous sales records, earning $32,800. Sale organizers were concerned a new off-campus location would deter shoppers, but early bird attendance increased, with more than 700 people entering within the first hour and a half of the sale.

IU will honor the GlobalNOC's past and future at a 15th anniversary celebration Tuesday, Sept. 10, in the Informatics & Communications Technology Complex on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus.

The Indiana University Office of Sustainability has established an innovative partnership between Indiana University Bloomington and the Local Growers Guild that will allow local farmers and community organizations to collect pre-consumer food waste from campus dining facilities for off-campus composting.

This year's incoming freshman class established new highs for academic quality, and its members are part of the largest group of students ever to begin an academic year at Indiana University, according to census figures released today by the university. A record 107,132 students are enrolled on seven Indiana University campuses, which also set a record for credit hours of 1,225,281.5.

Experts on foreign affairs, cybersecurity, military intelligence, diplomatic history and related topics will gather this week at Indiana University Bloomington to discuss the classified documents released by Edward Snowden and their implications for national security. "Can You Hear Me Now? A Panel Discussion on Edward Snowden and the NSA Surveillance Program" will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, in room 123 of the IU Maurer School of Law, 211 S. Indiana Ave.

An Indiana University graduate-level course with a service-learning focus has worked with a local group of conservationists and concerned citizens to promote the use of native Indiana plants in landscaping. Students collaborated with Monroe County Identify and Reduce Invasive Species to create educational materials for the Go Green, Grow Native! initiative.

Glenda Ritz, state superintendent of public instruction for Indiana, will speak about her experiences during her first eight months in office during the next Education Policy Chat by the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy at Indiana University.

Four local growers and 14 restaurants will take place this month in Indiana University's Big Red Eats Green Festival, a celebration of local food and locally owned businesses. Big Red Eats Green was created in 2011 to raise awareness of local foods among IU students, faculty and staff. This year's event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the IU Art Museum.

Classified budget figures and successes and failures by American intelligence agencies, exposed for the first time this week by The Washington Post, show a massive bureaucracy with misplaced priorities, according to an Indiana University cybersecurity and privacy expert Fred H. Cate.

Christoph Irmscher, Provost Professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named director of Indiana University Bloomington's Wells Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and academic opportunities for some of the campus's most promising students.

Campus View Child Care Center, an Indiana University center that enrolls children from 6 weeks to 3 years old, received an Eco-Healthy Child Care Certification in recognition of its work to implement environmentally healthy best practices. Eco-Healthy Child Care is an program of the Children's Environmental Health Network that supports child care facilities committed to creating a healthier environment and reducing children's exposure to health hazards.

On Nov. 15, three Indiana University graduates will receive IU's Distinguished Alumni Service Award, the university's highest award given only to an alumna or alumnus. The recipients are Chief Justice Shirley Schlanger Abrahamson, Wisconsin Supreme Court; legendary soul musician Booker T. Jones; and former U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige.

The third annual Resale Trail will link seven sale events featuring used or repurposed items including furniture, clothes and more on Saturday, Aug. 24. First organized in 2011, the Resale Trail is designed to encourage community members and students returning for the fall semester to purchase used items in good condition and at affordable prices, while helping to divert waste from the landfill.

Next Wednesday, Aug. 28, marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a landmark event in the U.S. civil rights movement and the setting for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Experts at Indiana University are available to comment on the march and its significance for contemporary America.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie will leave Saturday for a two-week trip to Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, the first trip to Africa by a sitting IU president in more than two decades. McRobbie will also be the first IU president to tour the groundbreaking AMPATH program in Kenya, a partnership between IU and Moi University in Kenya and one of the world's largest and most comprehensive programs to combat HIV/AIDS.

Bucking a downward trend of most membership organizations around the country, the Indiana University Alumni Association experienced an increase in membership over the last nine months of the fiscal year that ended June 30.