Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:
"I admire Einstein's ability to write beautifully about simple things, like why the tea leaves collect in the middle of the cup when you stir it, and why there is a place on the sand between the water and the beach where it is easiest to walk."
--N. David Mermin, the Horace White Professor of Physics, reflecting on Albert Einstein in a special issue of Discover magazine (September) devoted to the father of relativity and quantum theory.
"It is shocking. One of the major dimensions of this growth is the fact that we've got a young age distribution worldwide. It will take about 70 years before these young are old enough [to stop reproducing] and the world population stabilizes."
--David Pimentel, professor of ecology, commenting on the global population explosion on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Aug. 24.
"There's so much hype around the low-carb diet. People who buy into it will buy anything that's associated with low-carb."
--David Levitsky, professor of nutritional sciences, commenting on the vitamin supplement industry now hopping on the low-carb bandwagon. The story was carried by the Associated Press and published in more than two dozen newspapers and other media outlets, including Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, CNN.com and carried by at least 30 NBC and ABC affiliate television stations, including ABC News, on Aug. 19.
"It's complicated and expensive to do good applied research. Getting people to change their behavior is a very complicated process."
--Ron Goetzel, director of Cornell's Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, in an article about employee wellness programs and the difficulty in assessing their effectiveness, in The Washington Post, Aug. 17.
"To use the tag line 'curves' instead of 'plus size' -- that's excellent marketing. You're making it seem more womanly, and in that way more appealing."
--Susan Ashdown, associate professor of textiles and apparel, discussing clothing marketers' efforts to make women more comfortable with large sizes, in a Scripps Howard News Service article appearing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, among other newspapers, Aug. 3.
"You rarely would get a white student walking up to an African-American student and saying, 'Wow, I've never met a black person before.' But that's not uncommon for Natives. You're always having to explain who you are."
--Danielle Terrance, a student development specialist for Cornell's American Indian Program, discussing her experiences as an Akwesasne Mohawk, in an article about a five-day course presented by admissions officials to help Native American high school students apply to elite colleges, in Education Life in The New York Times, Aug. 1.
"The results of our analysis indicate that the benefits of HRT outweigh the risks in women who have recently entered menopause."
--Edwin E. Salpeter, professor of physics emeritus at Cornell who did the statistical analyses for a study on hormone replacement therapy, in Pharmacy Times, July 25.
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