Local primary and high school students will have an insight into science and the career opportunities it offers during the Australian Museum Science Festival – Science Unleashed on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 October.  Australian Museum Program Manager, Ms Catherine Beehag, said “The Festival is a unique opportunity for school students to engage with scientific ideas that capture their imagination. Whether it’s the Powerhouse Museum’s Sustainable Solutions workshop or Charles Sturt University’s Crime Scene forensic biotechnology workshop, there is something to inspire students of all ages. We recognise that in Australia we must do more to interest kids so they can feel the excitement of science and discovery.” Primary school students will visit the Science Unleashed Expo in the Convention Centre, CSU in Wagga Wagga, for hands-on activities and to meet local scientists from 9.40am to 2.20pm on Tuesday 30 October. Read the full program here. High school students will visit CSU on Wednesday 31 October. Read the full program here. The program is a partnership between the Australian Museum, 3M Australia, ANSTO and Charles Sturt University.

There’s nothing quite like a musical recital at sunset to appreciate the finer things in life. On Friday 2 November, Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Wagga Wagga City Council will co-host Music Under The Leaves in the city’s Botanic Gardens. The recital by members of the Riverina Conservatorium of Music is a widely anticipated annual event, and this year it features classical guitar, the RCM Staff Jazz Ensemble, Meredith and The Conmen, and Clarinessence. Well known performers, Jeff Donovan, Tamaris Pfeiffer, Lauren Davis, Brett Thompson and Meredith Adams are part of the impressive line-up. The event will start at 6pm in the Botanic Gardens, Macleay Street. CSU wine will be served after the performance.

They are less than two months from their graduation from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, and the final-year animation and visual effects students will put their art on display during a free screening of students’ recently completed films in Wagga Wagga on Sunday 21 October. Lecturer Mr Andrew Hagan from the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU in Wagga Wagga said, “Over their three-year degree, the students have gone from drawing basic concept sketches through to creating sophisticated internationally-competitive animations. Embracing the rich history of traditional animation with the latest advances in industry-leading software, the students have painstakingly created hundreds of thousands of frames. I encourage the local community to come along and celebrate these meticulously crafted artworks in high-definition projection and cinema-quality sound.” The Bachelor of Arts (Animation and Visual Effects) students are due to graduate from CSU in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 11 December. The Animation And Visual Effects Graduate Screening 2012 will begin with refreshments from 6pm at the Forum 6 Cinemas in Trail Street, Wagga Wagga and then the screening starts at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public. You can view a trailer for the Animation And Visual Effects Graduate Screening 2012 here. Meanwhile, an exhibition of the art of final-year photography students from CSU in Wagga Wagga opens on Saturday 20 October. Read more on CSU News here.

Almost 280 000 Australians suffer from dementia and Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher Dr Adam Hamlin will discuss what happens to the brain as we age at a free public lecture in West Wyalong on Thursday 25 October. Dr Hamlin, from CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences, will outline current breakthroughs in our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, and what scientists are doing to find potential treatments for these conditions. “One of the greatest challenges of modern neuroscience is to understand what happens to the brain as we age and why it becomes vulnerable to diseases such as Alzheimer’s,” he said. “At the moment there’s no cure and no drugs that slow the progression of the disease. If we are going to find a cure or a treatment we must be able to detect it early.” A National Health and Medical Research Council Fellow, Dr Hamlin is carrying out research to discover more about brain cell death in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Read more on CSU News here.

The television studio at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will have a younger audience than usual when CSU students recreate the popular ABC Television program, Play School on Friday 12 October. Under the supervision of television production lecturer Mr Patrick Sproule, the Bachelor of Arts (Television Production) students will record  an episode of Play School before a live audience of children from the nearby CSU Children’s Centre and Goodstart Early Learning Ashmont. Bachelor of Arts (Design for Theatre and Television) students have re-created the Play School set for the children. Acting students will play the role of Play School presenters. “Having a live audience adds a further element of reality and feedback to our students' learning experience with the children usually being quite forthcoming with comments on what they like most in the production. With a colourful and detailed set and great performances from our acting students, it also provides a fantastic opportunity for the children to see how one of their favourite television shows is made in the studio environment,” said Mr Sproule. The children will also be given a tour of the Play School set in the television studios. The television studio is one of the facilities available to students in the University’s School of Communication and Creative Industries. Read more about the Bachelor of Arts (Television Production), (Acting for Stage and Screen) and (Design for Theatre & Television) degrees here.

A leading water ecologist from Charles Sturt University (CSU) believes the allocation of environmental water and various environmental works and measures designed to spread water across the wetlands will allow the environment of the Murray Darling Basin to adapt to climate change. “These works spread water across the wetlands, allow wetlands to drain, and allow fish to migrate,” says Professor Max Finlayson, director of CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society. “The ecological condition of the Murray River and its many wetlands has been the subject of much contention and many policy responses in recent years, including the current Murray Darling Basin Plan. This has included major concerns over ecological changes in major wetlands along the river.  I will use my experiences from the mouth of the Murray to illustrate some of the quandaries we face.” Professor Finlayson will present his views at the next public seminar in the Murray-Darling Basin Seminar series, titled ’Climate change adaptation for the Murray River’, at 4pm on Thursday 4 October at CSU in Albury-Wodonga.

Charles Sturt University's (CSU) lawn bowls team has won through to the gold medal match of the Australian University Games (AUG) in Adelaide to defend the national title it won last year. CSU team manager, Mr Nik Granger, said the team had won five of its seven pool games to qualify third for the play-offs behind the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the University of NSW (UNSW). “We lost to both universities in the pool stage, but we beat UNSW in the semi-final and the team is confident it can knock over UWA in the final”, he said. CSU first earned a place in the top tier of the AUG in 2009 and won a first division bronze in 2010 before taking the national title last year. Mr Granger said the past 10 years had seen a sharp increase in the standard of competition at the Games, which were now Australia’s largest annual multi-sport event. “There are Olympians, Commonwealth Games medallists, and various state and national representatives throughout the competition,” he said. “CSU will have students from our Albury-Wodonga, Wagga Wagga and Bathurst campuses competing as well as several distance education students.”

The link between nutrition and heart health will be explored when the Senior Manager of Food Supply at the Heart Foundation speaks at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga this Friday 28 September. Ms Barbara Eden will be a guest lecturer for Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nutrition and Dietetics) students from the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga from 9am to 11am. With cardiovascular disease the leading cause of death in Australia, Ms Eden will also speak with local health professionals and CSU staff from 1.30pm to 3pm. Lecturer in nutrition and dietetics, Ms Jackie Priestly, said, “Charles Sturt University is extremely fortunate to be able to host Barbara to update our nutrition and dietetic students and local health professionals on the latest evidence and effective strategies in the fight against cardiovascular disease.”  

A celebration of the diverse cultures that make up Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will be held on Friday 28 September. The Global Day activity begins on the sporting field when 100 students and staff from the CSU Study Centres in Melbourne and Sydney take on a team from CSU in Wagga Wagga in friendly cricket and soccer matches. Members of the student social organisation, the International Students Club will also put their cricket skills to the test in a match against University staff. CSU Student Support Officer, Mr Roger Ansell said the day will wrap up with live music and international food at the Crow Bar with students encouraged to wear their national costume. “Charles Sturt University is proud to host students and staff from many different cultures and backgrounds, Mr Ansell said. “The University thrives on this diversity. Global Day is a chance to not only recognise the diversity, it’s a day to celebrate, share and appreciate our differences in music, sport, dance, food and religion while also celebrating our ‘sameness’ in just about everything else.”