Soundbites

Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:

"The high-end business in hotels has just become so inconsistent. People don't know what to expect anymore, and for that price they should."

--James Eyster, professor in the School of Hotel Administration, discussing how paying top dollar for a hotel room doesn't necessarily guarantee luxury, in The Wall Street Journal Weekend Journal, April 30.

"If I have a model that can do a lot of the things the Earth does, even if it's not to scale, then some truth will be hiding in it. If I can make the model work, I can learn something from the Earth, like a biologist using a mouse to approximate a human."

--Eberhard Bodenschatz, associate professor of physics, describing his work with wax models to investigate tectonic forces in sea-floor ridges, in The Washington Post, April 26.

"I think the use of computers to simulate things is almost irresistible."

--John Guckenheimer, professor of mathematics, discussing the use of computer modeling in The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 16.

"The [presidential commission] was the opening act to warm up the audience. This report is by technicians who understand the problem and are articulating it."

--Fred Schneider, professor of computer science and chairman of a committee of the National Research Council that prepared the report Trust in Cyperspace, calling for increases in funding for research in information security and changes in current computer security procedures. The report expands on an October 1997 report issued by the Presidential Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. Scheider's comment was quoted by the online service TechWeb on April 16.

"We're trying to reshape the environment in which students make choices. We're trying to increase student awareness of and intolerance for the second-hand effects of other people's drinking by drawing attention to the problems excessive drinking inflicts on the entire community."

--Dr. Tim Marchell, director of substance abuse services at Gannett Clinic, discussing Cornell's joint program with the University of North Carolina to change attitudes about alcohol and campus drinking practices, quoted in an article on teen-age drinking by New York Times columnist Jane Brody, reprinted in the April 14 issue of the San Jose Mercury News.