Notables

Joseph A. Burns, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy, has been elected vice president of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for a three-year term starting in June. The AAS, with more than 7,000 members, is the primary professional organization for American astronomers and astrophysicists. Burns, whose research concerns celestial mechanics and the structure of the solar system, previously chaired two of the society's five divisions. He led the AAS's Division for Planetary Sciences in the mid-1980s and currently directs its Division on Dynamical Astronomy. He will take office at the AAS semi-annual meeting in Pasadena, Calif., June 3-7.

Cornell undergraduates won fourth place out of 31 collegiate entries in this year's NASA-sponsored Great Moonbuggy Race, held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Ala., the weekend of April 7. In addition, the Cornell team won the Pit Crew Award. On the Cornell team were: Brett Lee, Brad Crowley, Vince Luh, Gabi Benel, Troy Dunkelberger, Chris Boitnott and Rob Shyda (all '02 mechanical engineering), Stanley Song ('03 electrical engineering) and Matt Siegler ('03 physics). The team's adviser was Andy Ruina, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics. In the race, two Cornell riders, situated one in front of the other facing forward, steered a triangular-trussed frame on four bicycle wheels around a track. The race winner had the lowest total time, composed of the race time and the assembly time. Although Cornell had the third fastest race time, it was the team's longer assembly that put it into fourth place.

Senior theater arts major Antonio Anagaran, from Honolulu, has been named the 2000-01 recipient of the Edward M. Murray Committee on the Arts Scholarship. The scholarship was established this year by the Cornell University Council Committee on the Arts (COA). With the guidance of Sidney Goldstein (A.B. '52, M.D. '56), chair, the COA works to raise awareness of Cornell's arts programs and to increase the visibility of its cultural activities and resources. The Edward M. Murray Committee on the Arts Scholarship will be awarded annually to an undergraduate student majoring in arts and culture-related programs to provide financial assistance to an artist showing exceptional promise in their field. The scholarship is named in memory of Edward M. Murray, Cornell professor of music theory as well as composer, conductor and pianist.

Experimental X-ray physicist Donald Bilderback, associate director for the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source and adjunct faculty member in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics, was one of nine outstanding graduates who received Distinguished Alumni Awards from Purdue University's School of Science at an annual awards banquet April 20. Bilderback received his doctorate in physics in 1975 at Purdue. The awards were established in 1990 to recognize graduates' contributions and achievements in science and related fields, and the awardees were honored during a daylong series of programs and events.

After a national competition, junior Melissa Hu, Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a Freeman Award for Study in Asia to support her summer research in China. Hu, from Houston, Texas, is a College Scholar studying biochemistry and cultural anthropology at Cornell. Her summer research will be conducted in Beijing at Peking University, where she will perform chemical analysis on plants used in traditional Chinese medicine with potential anti-cancer activity. She will work under the supervision of Dr. Chen Zhangliang, vice president of Peking University and director of China's National Laboratory on Protein and Plant Genetic Engineering.

Doctoral student Derek K. Oler has been awarded a prestigious $20,000 fellowship grant from the Deloitte & Touche Foundation through its Doctoral Fellowship in Accounting Awards program. Oler was one of 10 doctoral students in accounting nationwide to receive a grant from the foundation, a non-profit arm of the Big Five professional services firm Deloitte & Touche LLP. Since 1971, about 900 doctoral students have received the competitive awards, given to "enhance the overall quality of accounting and business instruction." All students who are considered for the awards are recommended to the selection committee by the accounting faculties of their respective schools. An independent committee of distinguished educators then selects the fellowship recipients.