CU alumnae group awards seven research grants to faculty members

The President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW), an alumnae group that serves as an advisory council to Cornell's president, has awarded its 2001 research grants to seven women faculty members.

Established in 1992 to help advance the careers of women in academia through support of research leading to tenure, PCCW's Affinito-Stewart Grant Program has presented more than $262,000 to 121 women at Cornell. The program is named to honor the group's founders, Lilyan Affinito, a 1953 graduate of Cornell, and Patricia Carry Stewart, a 1950 graduate. Both are trustees emeritae and members of the Cornell University Council.

This year, the seven grant recipients will receive a total of $37,195 in funding from PCCW. Grant applications were reviewed by a committee of 19 faculty members, who rated them according to scholarly merit, research design, feasibility and relevance to promotion and tenure. Five PCCW members who are academics at other universities reviewed the faculty-rated proposals and awarded the grants.

Faculty members who received 2001 Affinito-Stewart grant awards are:

• Patricia A. Cassano, assistant professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences, for "The Relation of cSHMT and Folate Status to the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease."

• Ruth N. Collins, assistant professor, Department of Molecular Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine, for "An Investigation of Rab Protein Membrane Recruitment."

• Laurie E. Drinkwater, associate professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for "The role of carbon abundance in determining soil organic matter composition and microbial community function."

• Quirine M. Ketterings, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for "Phosphorus Storage Capacity of Honeoye Soils in New York State."

• D. Medina Lasansky, assistant professor in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, for "Tuscan Vernacular Architecture."

• Susanne Pohl, assistant professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, for research for her book manuscript on the "prosecution and punishment of manslaughter in Zurich and southwest Germany, 1350-1600."

• Rebecca Schneider, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, for "Reenactment and Contemporary American Civil War History Plays."

PCCW was established in 1990 with the mission of advancing the involvement and leadership of women students, faculty, staff and alumnae within Cornell and throughout its many constituent communities. There are 267 members.