Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:
"For children, it's a double tragedy. It means orphans lose parents but also are deprived of the means of survival. ... Yes, Zambia has a law. But now widows are living in a society which is not accepting those laws. ... you need to enforce the law and educate society that children will benefit from this."-- Muna Ndulo, Law School professor and director of its Institute for African Development, discussing how tribal customs in some African countries like Zambia override laws designed to protect the rights of widows and children, in The Christian Science Monitor, May 13.
"You can think of these rovers as being robot field geologists. Their job is to go to these sites, to read the geologic record just as a geologist with a hand lens and rock hammer does. Today, Mars is cold, it's dry, it's barren, it's a very, very inhospitable place for life. But when we look at it from orbit, we see dried-up river beds, we see dried-up lakebeds, we see minerals that say water maybe was here."
-- Steven Squyres, professor of astronomy who is project scientist for NASA's Mars rover project, describing the mission of the two rovers that will be launched in June, in The Washington Post, May 12.
"It is a triumph of public health. I think this should not be underestimated. Essentially, what the Canadians have really shown is that what could have been a major catastrophe can be controlled by early diagnosis and isolation of cases. As far as I can tell, this is unprecedented."
-- Carlos Castillo-Chavez, professor of biomathematics and director of the Cornell University Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute, commenting on efforts by Canadian health officials to stem the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Canada, in The Washington Post, May 3. He developed a mathematical model that plots the SARS epidemic's course both before and after Canadian health authorities implemented strategies for controlling it. His analysis showed that rapid public health intervention limited illness and death. The article also appeared in the Seattle Times, among other news media nationwide.