Notables

Wendell L. Roelofs, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Insect Biochemistry, received the Kenneth A. Spencer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Food and Agricultural Chemistry on Feb. 28. The award is presented annually by the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Kansas City Section to encourage those engaged in research, education and industry to continue the quest for excellence in their fields. Upon receiving the award, Roelofs delivered a lecture titled "Defining Sex Signals in Moths and Mammals," in which he reviewed some of the interesting techniques used in characterizing the various chemical signals employed by insects and their use in pest control systems. Roelofs was the first chemist to join the entomology department at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. He successfully brought together the disciplines of chemistry and biology to characterize new sex pheromone structures and to confirm biological activity with behavioral flight-tunnel assays and field tests. The Kenneth A. Spencer award consists of a medal and an honorarium of $5,000, and it has been presented annually since 1955.

From the College of Architecture, Art and Planning: Assistant professor of architecture David Lewis' firm -- Lewis, Tsurumaki, Lewis, of New York City -- was designated recently as one of the "Design Vanguard of 2000" -- 10 young design firms offering "intriguing ideas of where architecture is headed" -- according to the editors of Architectural Record. Ann-Margaret Esnard, assistant professor of city and regional planning, recently received the President's Award of the American Institute of Certified Planners. And the students in Esnard's planning studio on Dryden, co-taught with Rolf Pendall, assistant professor of city and regional planning, won the American Planning Association's National Student Project Award. And last month, Kenneth Reardon, associate professor of city and regional planning, was in Florida to receive the Ernst Layton Award for Faculty Professional Service from the New England Resource Center for Higher Education.

Michael G. Villani, professor of entomology, received the Outstanding Service Award of the Turfgrass Council of North Carolina during the 39th Annual North Carolina Turfgrass Conference and Show in January. Villani, who specializes in turfgrass and soil insect ecology, has worked at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva since 1984. Villani studies predator/prey and pathogen/host interactions within the soil. He has developed unique radiographic techniques to study soil insect behavior and developed new IPM strategies to control the insects that invade commercial plantings as well as ornamental and urban landscapes. "For many years, Mike has exemplified the type of individual who gives much more than he takes," said Rick Brandenburg, entomology professor at North Carolina State, who presented the award to Villani. "He plans his program to provide the maximum benefit for the overall good of the industry and the people who work within it rather than the individual recognition of the scientist."

Wendy Lombardo, assistant director of the International Students and Scholars Office, which serves 4,000 students and scholars from more than 120 countries, has been awarded a scholarship from the Fulbright Commission to visit Germany with 25 other college administrators from around the United States. The U.S.-Germany International Education Administrators Program is an intensive seminar to familiarize U.S. international education or senior-level university administrators with German higher education, society and culture. The seminar will take place May 5-20.