Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 31

GALACTIC GEMS International Space Hall of Fame is packed with Space Age wonders C3 (man ri'cimpcc 4 Section 1 "This will provide one more avenue for students to be able to reach us." GARY KUYKENDALU ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF UNM'I OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS CALABACILLAS CANVAS ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL r' 1 I MARK HOLMJOURNAL GLIMPSE OF FUTURE: A rendering by artist Michael Wallace shows how replicas of dinosaur bones could look embedded In the walls of the Calabaclllas Arroyo. UNM 1 Accepts Students On Web Applications Can Be Sent Online Arroyo Walls To Showcase Pains off Past 'f BONES OF INSPIRATION: Artist Michael Wallace checks out a casting a dinosaur that was unique to New Mexico. Re-creations of fossils, channel and show slice By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer In the basement of a bland government building, Michael Wallace and his assistants are crafting everything from dinosaur bones to Jell-0 boxes out of clay. It's all part of an innovative project designed to turn the walls of the Calabacillas Arroyo, which runs between Paradise Hills and Cottonwood Mall, into a history lesson. The 22-year-old section of the arroyo between Coors Boulevard and the Rio Grande needs to be rebuilt to handle future growth, but the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority isn't planning to put in standard concrete levees.

I Instead, the agency has hired Wallace to make it look like water has cut a deep channel through the layers of Albuquerque's history. The walls will be made of several hues of tinted shotcrete, a sprayed-on concrete. The bottom portion will be covered with a mixture of native soil and cement. Because the Calabacillas Arroyo is one of the region's main aquifer recharge windows, the bottom of the channel will remain unlined to allow storm water to seep down into the ground. Embedded in the walls of the channel will be fossils from the Mesozoic Era, which began about 230 million years ago, to the present what Wallace calls "anacroliths" or rocks out of time.

"I thought if a real fossil can tell part of the story of Earth's history, then I could make fake fossils to tell the story of human history," he said. "I thought it would be great public art because you're using a geological metaphor for history." A walking path will run along the north side of the arroyo from Coors to the Rio Grande. The wall of the arroyo will begin near Coors with the bones of a 20-foot-tall Pentaceratops, a five-horned dinosaur unique to New Mexico, and a tyrannosaurus Rex. Across the arroyo will be a section on the early Cenozoic Era when large mammals such as mastadons, camels and saber-toothed tigers roamed the Southwest. Part of that section, which is being designed by Wallace's collaborator, Mike Certo, will focus on the evolution of the rhinoceros.

"It's a little-known fact that rhinos were quite prevalent in North America and the oV 7 By Juan A. Lozano Journal Staff Writer People applying for admission to the University of New Mexico can travel a new road to reach their goal: the Information Superhighway. On Nov. 4, UNM's Office of Admissions began accepting undergraduate applications through the Internet. Individuals now can access an admission application on UNM's Web page, fill it out on their computers and send it in to the university electronically.

UNM's Web page addressiswww.unm.edu. So far, the university has received 85 online applications, said Gary Kuykendall, associate director of UNM's Office of Admissions. "By 5 p.m. on the first day it was up, we had four applications," he 1 said. "We've been quite surprised at the results and how fast we've gotten (applications)." UNM is only accepting onlint applications for undergraduate admissions.

Graduate admission applications will probably be accepted sometime in the future, Kuykendall said. "The Web seems to be something that is becoming a bigger and bigger part of many students' lives," he said. "This will provide one more avenue for students to be able to reach us." Kuykendall said he believes online admission applications will one day surpass the traditional way of applying to schools with paper applications. A week after UNM began accepting applications through its Web page, Eastern New Mexico University in Portales jumped on the technology bandwagon. Prospective students can access Eastern New Mexico's Web page at www.enmu.edu.

So far Eastern New Mexico has received between eight and 10 online applications, said Larry Brock, the school's director of admission. But like UNM, Eastern New Mexico currently is accepting undergraduate applications only. Although students will be able to avoid some paperwork with online forms, they'll still have to send their application fees, transcripts and test scores by mail. "Within five years, everyone will be accepting applications on the Web," Brock said. Other four-year universities in the state that have online applications include New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and New Mexico Tech in Socorro.

New Mexico Tech started accepting online applications in 1994, NMSUinl995. From June 1995 to June ,1996, NMSU received 85 electronic applications for undergraduate admission. From July 1996 to February, it received 209 electronic applications. NMSU also accepts applications for graduate admission. "We've had no major problems with this at all," said Angela Mora, NMSU's director of admissions.

"I think we'll expect our applications to increase." NMSU's Web page address is www.nmsu.edu. New Mexico Tech's address is www.nmt.edu. Kuykendall said online applications are one of the ways UNM's Office of Admissions one day will be free of paper. "We're working on saving transcripts electronically," he said. "Probably within the next year, we'll have some of our files maintained totally electronically." artifacts will line sides of ofNM.

history Themes for arroyo walls Comanche Elementary School Toys and wheels through the ages Extinct and endangered animals 'They're still here" Local species that withstood the test of time Zla Elementary School Evolution of tools New Mexico during the depressions Pueblo encounters Trade Into and out of New Mexico Navajo Elementary School Rural lifestyles of the South Valley Cooking Religion Light sources and fasteners Sierra Vista Elementary School Decorated containers Inez Elementary School Rio Grande ecosystem Albuquerque Museum Spanish Colonial origins of Albuquerque National Atomic Museum The atom in New Mexico Museum of Natural History Evolution of the rhinoceros Project volunteers: Archaeology of Albuquerque and the New Mexico area Southwest," Wallace said. In fact, rhinos got their start here millions of years ago, said Spencer Lucas, curator of paleontology and geology at the New Mexico Natural History Museum. "Rhinos actually originated in North America," he said. "We days and Saturdays through the end of the year. The transit department also will provide a free shuttle to carry shoppers between Winrock Center and Coronado Shopping Center.

The shuttle will run every five to 10 minutes during most of the hours stores are open through Dec. 24 and again on Dec. 26. Riders should ask the driver for MARK HOLMJOURNAL of the skull of a Pentaceratops, and wheels through the ages" for its theme. "We wanted to try to do something the kids are directly involved with," O'Gawa said.

The class will focus on the wheels of skateboards, roller blades and old steel-wheeled roller skates. Carrie McGill's Zia Elementary School class will choose artifacts that tell the story of trade in New Mexico. "Hopefully by the end of this year I should have about 100 objects from these kids made in clay and ready for me to cast in concrete," Wallace said. Larry Blair, AMAFCA's outgoing executive engineer, said he hopes the project will help Albuquerque to make more of its rich geologic history. "If we could pick up on that theme for Albuquerque as a whole, I thought it could be interesting," he said.

Blair hopes AMAFCA's project also will convince others that it's easy to include the shapes, forms and colors of the region's natural geology into major structures such as bridges and roadways. Although the design presents some engineering challenges, Blair is confident that contractors will be able to make it work. Construction should begin early next year. The entire project is expected to cost about $1.79 million, including about $128,000 for the art components. Adding the artistic features increased the cost of the project about 7 percent to 8 percent Season a violation of federal clean air standards possible.

When that happens, the city tells residents to not have wood fires and asks them to voluntarily limit driving. Bus route or ride-sharing information is available by calling Calabcsillas Arroyo leveor roconstruction 12 mile Q. GIBSONJOURNAL atom, but that's OK, Wallace said. "Part of what I'm aiming for from an artistic standpoint is that some of these things are going to be obvious and some of them are going to be not so obvious," he said. "I want people to be puzzled and stimulated to learn more." Eventually, he hopes to get some funding to create a guidebook for the project.

In between the prehistoric and modern sections are segments on the pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Territorial, World War II and post World War II eras. Wallace is even leaving a blank "future layer" near the river. To get all the artifacts he'll need, Wallace has drawn three museums and five elementary schools into the project. Mark O'Gawa's fourth- and fifth-grade class at Comanche Elementary School picked "toys being an SOV (single occupant vehicle) driver, we can expect to breathe a little easier," Watkins said. The Uptown area, which is home to offices, hotels and restaurants in addition to the two malls, has been a major contributor to the city's air-quality problems.

Weather conditions in the autumn and winter months sometimes make 11 ii 12 mile have this rich fossil record of the rhinoceros in New Mexico." Lucas, who is lending his scientific expertise to the project, said it has lots of value as an educational tool. Tm really happy that someone's willing to do more than just put in blank concrete there," he said. "In Albuquerque when you look out the window, you see a tremendous amount of geological history and I'm not sure people are aware of that." The Jell-0 box comes in farther down the arroyo. Spies at Los Alamos National Laboratory once used the placement of a Jell-0 box to signal each other when there was new information available, said Jim WadelL historian at the National Atomic Museum. People may not recognize the Jell-0 box as part of New Mexico's role in the history of the the last time of the shuttle.

The Friday and Saturday 10-cent bus fares apply to all city SunTran buses and trolleys through Dec. 27. The regular fare is 75 cents. Transit Director Anne Watkins said cars and trucks cause 80 percent of Albuquerque's wintertime pollution. "If everyone cuts automobile use by one day a week and avoids ever Transit Dept.

Cuts Bus Fares for Shopping By Michael Turnbell Journal Staff Writer Albuquerque's Transit Department is reducing bus fares on Fridays and Saturdays to encourage people to leave their cars at home at least one day a week during the Susy holiday shopping season. I Beginning today, bus fares will be rolled back to 10 cents a ride on Fri 4 V-.