Notables

Jennifer Wilkins, senior extension associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, was recently selected as one of eight recipients of the Food and Society Policy fellowship, chosen from 150 applicants. With primary support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, these one-year professional fellowships allow food and agriculture experts to improve communications about food, diet and health issues pertaining to youth. Wilkins will work on such issues as youth obesity and diet, school nutrition and the overall connection between the food system and the quality of diets -- and hence the health -- of America's youth. Wilkins' current work focuses on the development of strategies to increase consumer awareness about and engagement in issues affecting their food and agriculture system. She has initiated and provided leadership on a number of innovative applied research projects and extension programs that relate to community food systems. She conceptualized and developed the only regional food guide in the United States, "The Northeast Regional Food Guide." In 2003, the Cornell Farm to School Program, which she directs, received the Dannon Institute Award for Excellence in Community Nutrition. The fellowship program is administered by the Thomas Jefferson Institute of Columbia, Mo., in partnership with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy of Minneapolis, Minn.

Peter Gregg '06, a biological and environmental engineering major at Cornell, and Adam Kaczmarek '06, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be bicycling across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, this summer to raise money for the Widows' and Children's Fund, benefiting widows and families of fallen firefighters, including those lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The students will be following the same route to be taken in September of this year by 35 members of the New York City fire department's (FDNY) cross-country bike team, who also will be riding in support of the fund. Both students are members of Theta Chi fraternity, and Gregg is president of the Cornell chapter. People interested in donating to the fund and supporting the fund-raising ride should send a check, with a note attached indicating it's in support of Gregg and Kaczmarek's trip, to the following address:

FDNY Cross Country Bike Tour
404 W. 46th St., 6th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10036

For more information about the FDNY's fund-raising bike ride in the fall and the Widow's and Children's Fund, visit: http://www.fdnycrosscountry.org/. Those contributing to support of the students' ride also are asked to send an e-mail to Gregg, at pwg7@cornell.edu, to let him know of their donation.