Briefs

Campus Life awarded: Campus Life was awarded the prestigious 2002 Brio Business Performance Award in the category of financial management. The award was the result of the successful implementation of the Brio Performance Suite and the on-demand delivery of the monthly financial report to Campus Life staff. The Brio Achievement Awards, co-sponsored by Forbes, Computerworld and Intelligent Enterprise magazines, award outstanding achievements in applied business intelligence. Awards were given to those companies that demonstrated return on investment, impact on strategic objectives, impact on business processes, innovation, applicability and pervasiveness. Mike Schlossberg, Campus Life analyst specialist, led the deployment of the Campus Life Brio and was responsible for creating the new "Campus Life Report." Schlossberg's team included Steve Buschini, infrastructure manager, who set up and supported the Brio infrastructure; and Bob Dattola, database administer, who was responsible for the Brio and reporting databases. "Implementing Brio radically changed the report distribution process at Campus Life, enabling us to better understand and control costs, increase revenues and operate more efficiently," said Sunny Donenfeld, director of information systems and services, in a statement to Brio. Donenfeld and his team will soon be rolling out Brio to other departments within the division of Student and Academic Services.

CAAA banquet a success: The 11th annual Cornell Asian Alumni Association (CAAA) Pan-Asian Banquet was held Jan. 25 at S. Dynasty Restaurant on 48th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. Two-hundred and two people attended, many of them members of CAAA, and also several other Cornell alumni. The guest of honor, Her Excellency Chan Heng Chee, ambassador of Singapore to the United States and Cornell graduate with a master of art degree in 1967, spoke at the dinner. Cornell President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes also made several remarks. The occasion was festive -- featuring a 10-course banquet -- with several people in evening clothes and cultural attire. More than $20,000 was raised at the banquet. The money will be used to continue to fund the CAAA Tradition Fellowship to benefit worthy Asians and Asian-Americans attending Cornell.

Got idea? Get money: Thought of a new way to make a better widget? Created a new technology that could revolutionize the way things are done? Developed an innovative solution to a problem that could become a business? Enter your idea in the third annual Business Idea Competition, sponsored by BR Ventures, a fund for startup ventures managed by students at the Johnson Graduate School of Management. The deadline for entering is Feb. 7. Winning ideas earn cash prizes:First place is $10,000, second place is $2,500 and third place is $1,000. Top entries also will have the opportunity to present their idea to a panel of venture capital professionals, receive incubation services from the Big Red Incubator and win funds and legal services to help start their business. Submissions will be accepted from Cornell students, alumni, faculty and staff members. The only requirement is that someone from the entry team must have a connection to Cornell. Winners will be chosen by BR Ventures and members of its advisory board of venture capital professionals based on merits and likelihood of yielding successful businesses. Entering is easy. To download the two-page application, see this Web site:http://brv.cornell.edu/competition/index.htm. Winners are expected to be announced Feb. 20. Questions? Send e-mail to:BICquestions@bigredventures.cornell.edu.

BOOM projects sought: Students: It's time to sign up. Bits On Our Minds (BOOM) 2003 will be held Wednesday, March 5, in Upson Hall. Bits on Our Minds is a showcase of student efforts and creativity in digital technology and applications. It's hosted by the Department of Computing and Information Science, but includes disciplines throughout the university. If you have an exciting student project in this area, please use this great opportunity to show off your work. See http://www.cs.cornell.edu/boom for more information, or e-mail boom03@cs.cornell.edu.