Notables

Rajesh Bhaskaran, lecturer in mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named director of the Swanson Engineering Simulation Program in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Rajesh received his B.S. in 1989 in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, worked as a research scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization and received his Ph.D. in 1996 in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University. He then worked as a staff scientist at Beam Technologies and as a research associate at Cornell. Sidney Leibovich, the Sibley School director and S.B. Eckert Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said of Bhaskaran, "We expect him to provide outstanding leadership in this important new initiative that we believe will become a model for the country."

Jonas Korlach, a fourth-year Cornell Ph.D. candidate in the field of biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, won an award for best student paper at the sixth international workshop on Single Molecule Detection and Ultra Sensitive Analysis in the Life Sciences Sept. 29 in Berlin. The prize was 1,500 Deutschemarks. Korlach won the contest, in which undergraduate and Ph.D. students were invited to participate, with a paper on "A New Strategy for Sequencing Individual Molecules of DNA." Other authors of the paper included Harold Craighead, director of the Nanobiotech
nology Center at Cornell and professor of applied and engineering physics, and Watt W. Webb, professor of applied physics and the S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering. Korlach studies in Webb's laboratory.

Nancy Kok, an alumna and a counselor in the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, has been awarded the annual Corinne Galvin award by the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission. The award is based on the theme "Quality of Life in Tompkins County." Kok, who, in addition to her work at Cornell, serves as the director of media and education for the Nonviolence Empowerment Organization, was selected for "her tireless work for the Free Burma campaign and for the Burmese refugee community in Tompkins County."

Melissa Navarro '01, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been awarded the William DeWinter award. The award is given annually by the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission to a young person involved in human rights work, informing the public on human rights and working toward positive solutions on these issues. Navarro has promoted human rights, on and off campus, and has served as a role model for local Latino children. She also is active in many organizations on campus, including La Asociación Latina, MEChA, La Lucha, Esperanza and the Public Service Center.